Madonna kicks off ‘Sticky and Sweet’ tour

Cardiff, Wales – Even at 50, the queen of pop just can’t stop courting controversy.

As Madonna kicked off her international “Sticky and Sweet” tour last weekend, she took a none-too subtle swipe at the presumptive Republican nominee for U.S. president.

Amid a four-act show at Cardiff’s packed Millennium Stadium, a video interlude carried images of destruction, global warming, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Zimbabwe’s authoritarian President Robert Mugabe – and U.S. Sen. John McCain. Another sequence, shown later, pictured slain Beatle John Lennon, followed by climate activist Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and finally McCain’s Democratic rival Barack Obama.

The rest of the show had the usual Madonna fixtures: sequins, fishnets, and bondage-style outfits drawn from the 3,500 items of clothing reportedly whipped together by 36 designers specifically for the tour. Dancers sauntered across stage in top hats and tail coats, and Madonna tried her hand at break-dancing and pole-dancing.

Some 40,000 fans – many in pink cowboy hats and boas – were treated to a heavy metal version of “Borderline,” while “La Isla Bonita” served as backdrop for a flamenco routine. The show, billed as a musical mishmash of “gangsta pimp,” Romanian folk, rave and dance – was an homage to Madonna’s continuous reinventions over the past three decades.

Following Cardiff’s opening concert, “Sticky and Sweet” moves across Europe, hitting London’s Wembley Stadium on Sept. 11 and Paris on Sept. 20. From there, it goes to North America in October before wrapping up Dec. 18 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Biden’s memoir now a best seller

New York – A memoir by Sen. Joe Biden, once as forgotten as his presidential run, is now a best seller.

A day after Sen. Barack Obama chose Biden as his running mate for the Democratic ticket, Biden’s “Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics” was in the top 10 on Barnes & Noble.com and in the top 40 on Amazon.com.

It was so in demand that on Sunday it was listed as out of stock by both booksellers.

“We’ll be reprinting,” said Tom Perry, deputy publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, which released the memoir in the summer of 2007, several months after Biden announced his candidacy for president.