![\"madge\"](\"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/madge.jpg\")
<\/a>Click to enlarge.<\/p><\/div>\n
The oldest shirt is from 1990, in the top left corner. I’ve seen Madonna on every tour she’s done since 1985, so I’m missing two earlier shirts: 1985 and 1987.\u00a0 I went to the 1985 show at Radio City Music Hall in lieu of my high-school prom, so I’m sure I got a shirt to mark such a momentous occasion. It could have been lost in my move back east after my freshman year at Northwestern University. One of the boxes I shipped home never arrived, and it contained my 80 rubber Maripolitan bangles<\/a> — bangles just like the ones Madonna wore. I wouldn’t be surprised if my t-shirt was in the same box. In 1987, I went to a special charity show that Madonna did to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research. I have the program from that<\/a>, but no shirt. Strange. For some other tours, I have two shirts,\u00a0one for each show I went to<\/a>.<\/p>\n A more recent acquisition that’s missing from the photo is my Yankee Stadium hoodie from 2012<\/a>.\u00a0 Where is that thing? I’m going to have to turn the apartment upside down looking for that. It’s got to be here somewhere.<\/p>\n Anyway, this represents nearly<\/em> all of my wearable Madonna memorabilia, recorded for posterity at last. I guess the time I was “thisclose” to her Madgesty<\/a> at an Oscar party in 2006<\/a>, I could have made small talk by saying, “Hey, I have a lot of shirts with your face on them.”\u00a0 Weirdly, I had no desire to talk to her. I didn’t want to ruin our relationship with an awkward conversation. I just want to see the queen on stage. That’s enough for me!<\/p>\n UPDATED TO ADD: Thanks to my friend Peter for letting me know that I originally and incorrectly wrote that Madonna was 55 instead of 56. Oh, the shame! I didn’t mean to deprive the world of one year of Madonna’s life! <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s Madonna’s 56th birthday today and in honor of the big event I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time — photograph as many of my Madonna tour t-shirts as I could find. Here is Henry the dog inspecting 14 concert shirts. The oldest shirt is from 1990, in the top…<\/p>\n