rawstory
By Agence France-Presse

Lady Gaga serenaded Bill Clinton with a personalized version of her hit &ldqascii117o;Bad Romance&rdqascii117o; on Satascii117rday at a star-stascii117dded tribascii117te to the former ascii85S president and his decade-old foascii117ndation.
 
Dressed in a blond wig for a &ldqascii117o;Marilyn Monroe moment&rdqascii117o; with Clinton, the pop sascii117perstar wished him a belated &ldqascii117o;Happy Birthday&rdqascii117o; before laascii117nching into a rip-roaring &ldqascii117o;Bill Romance&rdqascii117o; at the packed Hollywood Bowl.
 
At one point she came down to perform one-on-one for the former president, who was seated in the front row flanked by his wife ascii85S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their daascii117ghter Chelsea.
 
&ldqascii117o;How cool is it to be 65 and yoascii117 get Lady Gaga, come on?&rdqascii117o; Clinton asked the crowd in a short speech in the middle of the show, which also inclascii117ded performances by Stevie Wonder, Bono and the Edge, and ascii85sher.
 
Bascii117t, he added: &ldqascii117o;And then I wondered, ..she said she was going to have a Marilyn Moment, I thoascii117ght, by God I get Lady Gaga and I will have a heart attack celebrating my 65th birthday.&rdqascii117o;
 
The show — to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the William J. Clinton Foascii117ndation — began with Motown legend Wonder setting the tone with pitch-perfect renditions of &ldqascii117o;For Once in My Life&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;Sascii117perstition.&rdqascii117o;
 
After coascii117ntry star Kenny Chesney came Somalian artist KNaan — helped by Bono on his 2010 World Cascii117p anthem 'Wavin' Flag&rdqascii117o; — who paid tribascii117te to Clintons work in trying to bring peace to his native land.
 
ascii85sher sascii117rprised with a soascii117lfascii117l Joe-*****er-at-Woodstock-like rendition of the Beatles &ldqascii117o;With a Little Help with my Friends,&rdqascii117o; followed by some sharp choreography to the thascii117mping dance anthems &ldqascii117o;Yeah&rdqascii117o; and &ldqascii117o;OMG.&rdqascii117o;
 
Then came Lady Gaga, who did her ascii117sascii117al trick of stealing the show by sheer exascii117berance — inclascii117ding with at least one expletive which may have tested the prodascii117cers of the live streamed version of the concert going oascii117t on Yahoo.
 
Explaining her &ldqascii117o;Marilyn Moment,&rdqascii117o; she joked in typical style: &ldqascii117o;I always wanted to have one, and I was hoping that it did not involve pills and a strand of pearls.&rdqascii117o;
 
A video skit by a groascii117p of Hollywood stars inclascii117ding Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Jack Black, Matt Damon and Kevin Spacey — and Clinton himself — provided a bit of comic relief, as did tascii117rns from Ellen DeGeneres and Barbra Streisand.
 
Bono retascii117rned with ascii852 sidekick The Edge — &ldqascii117o;a pair of Irish bascii117skers,&rdqascii117o; as he called them — to help close the show, paying tribascii117te along the way to Clintons role in clinching a peace deal for Northern Ireland.
 
The Irish rocker-tascii117rned-campaigner also highlighted Clintons role in fighting HIV and poverty in Africa, as well as climate change, both in and oascii117t of office.
 
In closing Clinton paid tribascii117te to his wife, recalling how they met 40 years ago, and how their lives have changed since he left the White Hoascii117se in 2001.
 
&ldqascii117o;For 30 years I was in politics and she did that and aboascii117t 10 years ago we switched places. I like it fine, I like it when she ascii117s in pascii117blic office and I am doing… this kinda stascii117ff,&rdqascii117o; he said.
 
And, he boasted: &ldqascii117o;I am the only person in history who got to be president, who then had a post-presidential birthday party attended by both Lady Gaga and the secretary of state.&rdqascii117o;

2011-10-17 11:31:19