inside this issue - Hercules International Elton John Fan · PDF fileHello and welcome to the...

June 2002 Issue No: 59

since 1988

THE MAG

inside thisissue:

EXCLUSIVEinterview withGus Dudgeon

Elton speaksabout thecurrent musicscene

How TVappearanceshave influencedElton's career

New Eltoncandles

European tourreport & set list

What does EJthink of thefans?

PlusNews, Lyric Quiz,Your letters, Small Ads,Cartoons, Photos,Tour Dates and more!

Hercules. The Elton John Fan Club2

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Printed articles do not necessarily reflect the editors'opinions. All information is based on the best ofknowledge and belief. Reproductions permitted onlyby prior arrangement with HERCULES.

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COPYRIGHT: HERCULES

Deadline for Issue No. 60is 10 August 2002

No. 60 will be released September 2002Front cover pic:Elton shares a relaxedmoment as he prepares toaddress the US Senate with aground breaking speechregarding funding for AIDSresearch, April 11 2002

FAN CLUB INFORMATION

Fanzine of the Elton John Fan Club

Issue No. 59JUNE 2002

Hercules is a registered memberof the National Association ofFan Clubs

THE MAG

CONTENTS

FEATURES

Gus Dudgeontalks to Hercules ........14

Lunch around the world ............................23

Newsnight Interview ....18

St Petersburg Times Face to Face revue ....13

Tell me what the papers say ....................21

TV camera never lies ....10

What does he really think of us ..................20

When the rain set in...Verona concert review ............................9

REGULARS

Club Information ............2

News Bullets ....................4

Lyric Quiz ......................21

Membership Matters ....24

Letters to the Editor......26

Small ads ........................27

Tour Dates ......................27

HERCULES Chief Editor Tammi Law49 Horseshoe CrescentPeatmoorSwindon SN5 5AXUNITED [email protected]

Editorial Assistants:Barbara Turner, Michael S English

Design: Turnstyle Design

Translations:Sabine AsenkerschbaumerMireille Mölbert

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Hello andwelcome to the

summer issue of TheMag, number 59.

The big news this quarter is Elton’s tour with theband, which started in Australia and received ravereviews for the 9 sell-out arena gigs. The tour iscurrently heading across Europe, see page 27 fordetails of the dates. On page 9 we have a reviewof the first European show, with details of the setlist.

As most of you will know, the fanzine will befinishing later this year. Please read the details ofyour remaining membership fee details, and howthe changes at Hercules will be affecting you, onpage 24.

Elton often seems to be involved in many areasof current affairs these days, not just the musicindustry. His interest in fashion and art is welldocumented, and recently he addressed the USSenate as his interest in fund raising for Aidsresearch and politics grows. As a result of thesemany interests, he is often seen on our TV screens.We have a light hearted look back over Elton’smany TV appearances in the US over the years, andhow television helped launch his career, in ourspecially written article on page 10.

We are very excited that Gus Dudgeon, whohad such an influence on Elton’s early career, choseto speak to Hercules recently. Read part one of ourexclusive interview on page 14, where Gus revealswhat Elton’s famous temperament was like in theearly days. Part two of this fascinating interviewwill follow in our September issue.

Thanks for all your letters and please continueto send them in. I look forward to seeing many ofyou at Elton’s forthcoming UK shows later thissummer. I hope that those of you lucky enough tobe seeing Elton and the band during their currenttour have a fantastic time!

Quarterly Fanzine. Issue 59. June 2002. 3

FROM THEEDITOR...

Phot

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ELTON AND BAND KICK OFF EUROPEAN SUMMER TOUR 2002

After a short holiday torecover from the success of boththe Face to Face AND theAustralian tour, Elton and theband kicked off their Europeansummer tour 2002 in Benidorm,Spain, on May 22. The tour willcontinue with shows in Italy,France, Belgium, Denmark,Norway, Finland, Sweden,Germany, Netherlands,Switzerland, Austria, the UK andIreland. Surprises in the set listincluded Holiday Inn and HaveMercy on The Criminal. Seereport on page 9 for more detailsof the set list.

QUEEN'S JUBILEE CONCERT ON VIDEO

Don’t worry if you missedQueen Elizabeth's jubileeconcerts, you'll still be able tosee Elton’s performance onvideo. "Party at the Palace" onJune 3, celebrated the 76-year-old monarch's 50 years on thethrone. Held at BuckinghamPalace, the concert included apre-recorded performance byElton, who was unable to attendthe live show due to touringcommitments. He was the firstever pop star to perform atBuckingham Palace when hewent there to record hiscontribution in May.

The official video of theevent will also includeperformances from BrianWilson, Eric Clapton, PaulMcCartney, Phil Collins, RodStewart, and Bryan Adams, whoall performed on the day of theconcert. The video will bereleased on July 2.

ELTON SLAMS UK GOVERNMENT OVER AIDS

Elton has said the UKGovernment should be"ashamed" of its record on Aidsspending. He appealed to theBritish Prime Minister, Tony Blair,to pile more cash into the fightagainst the disease. Elton turnedon the Government and said:"They should be thoroughlyashamed of themselves. I didvote for them, but I'm disgustedwith the way the health servicein England is operating and tosomeone who is passionate aboutAids, every year seeing theamount of aid money allocatedto Aids go down is not good."

Speaking in Vienna on May19th, where he was attending thefundraising Life Ball, Elton said: "Iwould appeal to the Governmentand Tony Blair to say, come on,we had a great record on Aidswhen we first started. That recordis now not as good as it wasunder the Thatcher government.You should be ashamed ofyourselves - you're socialists, orso you're supposed to be."

A Department of Healthspokesman defended theGovernment's funding record,insisting that spending onHIV/Aids treatment ha actuallyincreased year on year.

CINEMA AGAINST AIDS Elton joined Elizabeth Taylor

as they co-hosted a fund raisingdinner for the AmericanFoundation for AIDS Research'sCinema Against AIDS, on May23. The other hosts at the dinnerin Cannes, France, were SharonStone, David Lynch and Iman.Elton helped raise more than$1.6 million at the annual gala,leading revellers in full black-tieregalia in a rousing finale of Twistand Shout.

ELTON QUITS WATFORDElton has resigned as

chairman of Watford, ending a25-year association with theEnglish first division club. "Withthe huge changes taking place infootball, it is obviously necessaryfor the board to be led by achairman who will be able todevote more time to the clubthan I have been able to," Eltonsaid in a statement on the club'sWeb site.

"The directors will nowcommence their search for asuccessor and I am sure that theywill find the right person whowill be able to devote time andenergy to leading the clubthrough these difficult times,"added Elton. Elton, who returnedto Watford five years ago, hasalso resigned as a director of theclub.

Watford's chief executive TimShaw thanked the singer for hisrole in overseeing Watford's risefrom the old fourth division inthe late 1970s to the upperreaches of the first division. "Onbehalf of the club and all itssupporters, I want to thank Eltonfor everything he has done,"Shaw said in a statement. "Thereis no doubt that, without hisvision, energy and investment,the club would never have madethe progress that it has over thelast 25 years."

ELTON A WINNER ON BROADWAYThe League of American

Theatres and Producersannounced the winners of theSecond Annual NationalBroadway Theatre Awards(NBTAs) at a gala event on May20, in Manhattan. The BestMusical award went to Elton’sAida, which received a total offive awards, including Best ActorMusical (Patrick Cassidy), BestActress in a Musical (Simone):Aida led the pack with ninenominations in total.


Full details of the following news items have appeared on our Website


ELTON AND DAVID AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Elton and David Furnish madethe short trip down to theChopard party in Cannes fromtheir villa in Nice on May 17.The couple told The Mirror overdinner at the Majestic Hotel howthey usually avoid the packedCannes Film Festival but wantedto pop into the jewellery firm'sbash for a couple of hours.

"We're so pleased to see you,"Elton told Jessica Callan."I havebeen reading all about you girlsin Heat magazine and I have onething to say - I want to hear moregossip about you!" David let usin on Elton's favourite bit of thenight at Posh and Becks's WorldCup party last week. He said:"Elton loved meeting all thefootballers. They're his favouriteguys."

THIS IS YOUR NEW SONGElton has re-recorded his

classic hit Your Song as theofficial song of Sport Relief, sistercharity campaign to ComicRelief. Elton has teamed up withopera star Alessandro Safina toperform the rousing duet,released in the UK on July 1. Thesong - recently voted Elton's all-time best song by fans - wasrecorded in New York in earlyMay. Elton commented: "I firstrecorded Your Song in 1969 andit has always been one of mymost popular. I know somepurists will think it wrong to re-record it, but I think this versionwith Alessandro Safina isinspiring. Sport has the power tochange people's lives and,hopefully, people like me wholive for music and sport can usetheir passion to help make realchanges to the lives of others."

ELTON PRAISES QUEEN ELIZABETH II Elton admitted he doesn't

know whether Queen Elizabeth IIwill like the music that he andother rock stars perform for herGolden Jubilee, but he's sure ofone thing: she won't let on if shedoesn't. "I don't know how muchthe queen likes pop music," Eltonsaid in an interview on BBCtelevision on May 17. "She grinsand bears it. She is probably thebest in the world at grinning andbearing it at every occasion,whether it's Maori dancing orpop music. I feel so sorry for herwhen she goes to all thesedifferent countries, has to standthere and watch things, and shemust be bored out of her mindhalf the time." But, he said, shenever shows that "because she issuch a professional."

POSH & BECKS THROW CELEBRITY PARTY

Elton and David were guestsat their close friends’ party, whenEngland soccer captain DavidBeckham and his pop singer wifeVictoria threw a celebrity-studded dinner on May 12, toraise money for a children'scharity. Dozens of stars attendedthe lavish Japanese-themedgarden party at the couple'smansion in the UK countryside,nicknamed Beckingham Palace.Guests, who were asked to dressin "white tie and diamonds"included many of England'sWorld Cup soccer squad, tennisstar Greg Rusedski, designerVivienne Westwood and actressJoan Collins. Elton and Davidjoined the Beckhams on the toptable, and Elton was asked todeputise for them by greeting the300 guests at the door.

THE GUINNESS BOOK OF BRITISH HIT SINGLES

To tie in with the publicationof the latest edition of TheGuinness Book of British HitSingles on May 24, a poll of31,000 people wascommissioned. Candle in TheWind 97/Something About TheWay You Look Tonight came 21st.The list was headed by BohemianRhapsody, Imagine and Hey Judein the top 3 places.

BENEFIT SHOW IN ERFURT Elton has decided to donate

the royalties of his forthcomingconcert in Erfurt, Germany, onJune 16th to the victims of theschool massacre. He got thenews about the tragic event whilehe was on tour in Australia. "Iwas deeply shocked when I sawthe coverage on CNN," Eltonsaid. "It is hard to imagine theemotions of the people on site ifyou are so far away, on adifferent continent. I wanted toshow my solidarity with thevictims and their families whenme and my band come toGermany, especially as we willbe coming directly to Erfurt."

ELTON HOSTS WEDDING Elton made himself at home at

the glittering wedding of Suncolumnist Jane Moore – after all,it was in his own house. Thesinger hosted the ceremony asJane tied the knot with Sonymusic chief Gary Farrow at hismansion at Old Windsor, on May4. Later Elton and David joinedthe couple and 200 guests for thereception at top London hotelClaridges.

AN AUDIENCE WITH LULULulu’s new album Together

was released on May 20 onMercury Records, and includes atrack named Teardrops, a duetwith Elton. Other artists whoappear on the album, a collectionof duets, include Paul McCartneyand Sting. A TV special, "AnAudience With Lulu" was shownon ITV1 on May 18; Elton joinedthe Scottish singer on stage toperform Teardrops, and the pairperformed a fantasticallyenergetic live version.

THE BODYGUARDOne of Elton's former

employees has made a careerchange. Alf Weaver is the authorof ''The First Rock'n'RollBodyguard''. Rod Stewart, JimiHendrix, Liza Minnelli, DavidBowie, Sonny and Cher, andMarc Bolan were among hisother clients. Weaver discussesdrug dealers, the press and LiveAid as well. Although hardlycomprehensive - and Eltondoesn’t feature - the book is stillan entertaining read.

EMINEM THE JOKERThe duet between Eminem

and Elton at the Grammy Awardsshow last year all started as ajoke, according to the rapper. Thetwo performed Stan, Eminem'ssong about a deranged fan.Eminem tells "Access Hollywood"he had considered boycotting theGrammys because of thecontroversy over the alleged anti-gay sentiments in his lyrics. Hetold an executive for his recordlabel that he wouldn't go to theGrammys unless Elton John wenttoo. Eminen called the remark "astab in the dark," to get out ofgoing. But Eminem said therecord executive called back andsaid "We can get him" - and therest is Grammy history.

ELTON ADDRESSES US SENATE

Elton told a U.S. Senate panelon April 11 that the world'srichest nation must do more tostop the world's worst epidemic.Elton had never addressed apolitical body before and he saidin an interview before the hearingthat he was quite nervous. But hetestified eloquently about theglobal scourge, which has alreadyclaimed some 25 million lives."This is the government of therichest nation in history and I'mhere asking you for more moneyto stop the worst epidemic inhistory," he told the SenateHealth, Education, Labor andPensions committee. You can seethe transcript of Elton's speech onour website www.eltonfan.net

OLD VIC THEATRE CHIEF Elton has taken over as

chairman of the Old Vic TheatreTrust. The formation of the trusthas ensured the future of thehistoric West End venue. Eltonreplaces Lord Bernstein in thekey position. Elton said: "I amproud to join the Old Vic TheatreTrust as the new chairman. I amimmensely excited aboutcontributing to the future of thisgreat theatre."

VIRGIN MEGASTORE IN MELBOURNE

Fireworks, an LA-style fanfareand a brief appearance fromElton marked the opening of theVirgin Megastore in Melbourne,Australia. Elton flew intoMelbourne from New York on themorning of April 16, 2002, forthe start of his Australian Tour.Flanked by bodyguards, he saidnothing as he walked on to aspecially built stage to join SirRichard Branson in officiallyopening the South Yarra store. Abemused Elton waved to thecrowds while Sir Richard sprayedchampagne, which nearly hit themusical superstar.

FASHION GODS BY DAVID FURNISH

According to UK newspaperreports, Victoria and DavidBeckham have allowed filmcameras inside theirHertfordshire mansion for DavidFurnish, who is making adocumentary about the fashionindustry for Channel 4. With aworking title of Fashion Gods, itis described as a sequel toTantrums and Tiaras. Behind-the-scenes access to the fashionhouses of Versace and Gucci hasalready been filmed and isexpected to feature spectaculardisplays of prima-donnabehaviour by some famousnames. David has already filmedbackstage at the Oscar nightparty held by Elton: "Elton wassupposed to be dressed for thebash by Donatella Versace, butshe kept him waiting for threehours while he wandered up anddown in his dressing gowngetting more and more upset. It'sapparently very funny indeed,"said a Channel 4 source.



7

ELTON PLAYS "FANTASY HIT LIST" GAME

Elton enjoys playing animaginary game show in whichthe people he hates are shotdead. The singer plays the fantasygame with friends. He told Heatmagazine: "We discuss who we'dlike to kill. We have this gamecalled Culling. It's like animaginary TV show where thehost has a loaded gun and hetracks down someone wenominate and kills him."

Asked to disclose who is onhis imaginary hit list, Elton said:"No! I'll get into trouble. I'madvocating killing people here!"But he admitted: "There are a fewtabloid journalists I couldmention. That's all I'll say. Someof them don't deserve to live."

Elton also said he never usesthe internet - despite starring in aRoyal Mail advert last Christmasto promote online shopping. Inthe interview, Elton gives a rareinsight into his relationship withDavid. Despite having fivehomes packed with works of art,Elton says his most treasuredpossession is a photograph, "It's apicture of David when he was alittle boy and it's by my bed," hesaid. "It's not worth anything, butto me it's worth everything."

ELTON RECALLS TEEN YEARS Elton says that he was hardly

a catch in high school. When hewas a teenager he was "nerdy,obsessed with music andoverweight. Nothing's changed!"he says. Eventually, though, thepreoccupation with music led tohis career and to fame. Elton saysthat along with that came theautograph seekers. He says heenjoys giving autographs butthinks there are some times whena fan should perhaps hold back,like when he is at the movies orin the men's room.

SHOPPING DOWN UNDER The Sun newspaper reported

on April 22 that Elton has goneon one of his legendary spendingsprees during his sell-out tour ofAustralia. He spent £350,000 onartwork in Adelaide andMelbourne including £50,000 ona single painting.

AIDA BIRTHDAY ON BROADWAY Aida celebrated its second

birthday on Broadway on March23. To help celebrate the show'sanniversary, Elton visited thecompany backstage. He alsostayed to watch the musical andreceived a standing ovation fromthe audience during intermission.Aida is being performed at thePalace Theatre which is located atBroadway and 47th Street.

NEW MUSICAL?The New York Post reported

on April 25, that Elton isconsidering a musical productionof the box-office hit movie "BillyElliot" for the financially troubledOld Vic in London.

ELTON AND BERNIE TO BE HONOURED

Elton John and Bernie Taupinwill be honoured in Britain withthe Music Industry Trusts' DinnerAward 2002 in recognition of theduo's vast contribution to musicin the UK. The award will bepresented at the 11th MusicIndustry Trust Dinner at London'sGrosvenor House on November4, 2002, when more than 1,000guests from the worlds of musicand entertainment will be onhand to honour and celebrate thepair's achievements.

ELTON LIKES "MALLS AND MOVIES" Don't be surprised if you run

into Elton at your local mall ormovie theater. That's where helikes to spend his free time whenhe's performing on tour in theUSA. "I go to the mall or thecinema and see a movie or seetwo movies," Elton told Peoplemagazine for its March 11 issue."To me, that's a luxury - to go tothe cinema in America at 1 pm."

He said he also tries to keepfit while he's on the road. "I puton weight very easily," he said. "Iplay tennis maybe four or fivetimes a week, and I take a tennispro on the road because I getbored in a gym and I don't likethe treadmill very much - but I'lldo it under pressure."

OSCAR-NIGHT BENEFIT PARTY Elton hosted his 10th Oscar-

night benefit party at Moomba inWest Hollywood on March 24, tobenefit his Aids Foundation."We're not taking over from theVanity Fair party," Elton said. "TheVanity Fair party is the party togo to. We raise money for a goodcause as well. They spendmillions on their party. We don'tspend anything on ours." Thisyear's event raised a record$500,000, aided by a $175,000donation from M.A.C. Cosmetics'AIDS Fund.

BLUESOLOGY’S STEWART BROWN We are sad to report that

Stewart Brown died in April aftersuffering from a heart conditionfor some years. Stewartperformed at the Herculesconvention at The Cavern inLiverpool last year which saw thereunion of Elton’s old band forthe first time in 33 years. All atHercules would like to expressour sympathies to Stewart'spartner, Suzy, and all his friendsand family.

Quarterly Fanzine. Issue 59. June 2002.



BITE YOUR LIP!

American cosmeticscompany, M.A.C., has featuredElton in their latest AIDS fundcampaign, which also featuresGarbage frontwoman ShirleyManson and Mary J. Blige. InMarch, the company launchedtheir Viva Glam IV lipstick atstores across the USA. Allproceeds from the Frosted RoseAnd Gold Shimmer lipstick willbenefit services for men,women, and children affectedby AIDS/HIV.

RAINFOREST FOUNDATION BENEFIT CONCERT

Elton, Sting, James Taylor,and Ravi Shankar were justsome of the performers for theannual Rainforest FoundationBenefit Concert at New York'sCarnegie Hall on April 13. Theevent is produced yearly byRainforest Foundation co-founder (and Sting's wife) TrudieStyler.

HONEY MAN FINALLY RELEASEDOn October 30, Universal

Records released a 4 CD boxset of Cat Stevens songs, whichincluded the very rare HoneyMan duet with Elton. For years,Elton John fans have beenlistening to the substandardversion of Honey Man onvarious bootleg releases. Theaudio quality of the bootlegversion was very grainy with alot of static. The version on thisbox set, however, is superb,superior, and far out shines allpreviously unauthorizedreleases. Although Universal'spress release only mentions thatElton provided piano for HoneyMan, he in fact sings the leadvocals during all of the versesand joins in on the Chorus.

ELTON & RYAN

Elton and Ryan Adams,rockers separated by ageneration, mingled theircountry and rock 'n' rollinfluences in April as they paidhomage to their heroes and toeach other's music at anintimate Nashville performancein the Grand Ole Opry House'sStudio A. The show was ataping for Crossroads, a newshow on country video networkCMT that teams a country artistwith a rock artist to explorecommon influences and makenew, largely unpredictablemusic. The set featured a strikingAdams vocal lead on TinyDancer. The two alsocollaborated on classic countrysongs such as Jim Reeves' He'llHave To Go and the rock’n’rollclassic Jerry Lee Lewis' GreatBalls of Fire.

LIZA MINELLI'S WEDDING On March 13 Elton spoke of

his excitement at attending LizaMinnelli's wedding, despiteadmitting that he prefersfunerals. He was among a hostof stars including Sir AnthonyHopkins, Michael Douglas andElizabeth Taylor at the New Yorknuptials when Liza wedAmerican music producer DavidGest. "I can't wait for thewedding. It will be fantastic,absolutely amazing. It's unusualfor me to look forward to awedding, normally I hate them,"Elton said on GMTV. "I wouldnormally rather go to a goodfuneral than a wedding. At leastthen you are paying a tribute tosomeone's life rather than adepressing wedding where youknow it won't last more than ayear and a half. Some aredifferent though and special andthis one will definitely be that".

F2F SHOWS POSTPONED Elton and Billy Joel

cancelled all remaining USA"Face to Face" shows in Marchand April on the strict order ofBilly Joel's doctor. The showshave been re-scheduled forSeptember and October 2002. Please see page 27 for details.


Elton John and band perform a wet show at Verona's arena on May 25, 2002

It was a hot day in Verona, butthe rain set in approximately

90 minutes before the showstarted at 9.00 pm sharp.Although it had stop raining bythe time Elton and the bandcame onto the stage, it cameback an hour later during IGuess That's Why The Call It TheBlues. And it didn't stop untilthe show was over.

Just before Elton kicked off aset of solo songs with Candle InThe Wind members of his crewhad to wrap the piano and allother band instruments in orderto keep them dry. Elton wasalready wet at that time, as wasthe keyboard of his piano, andmost parts of the stage. Later inthe show he ironically dedicatedOriginal Sin to "the people whobuilt the stage". "This is thewettest I've ever been", Eltonsaid when returning for the first

encore, Don't Let The Sun GoDown On Me.

As far as the musicalhighlights of the evening areconcerned, one has to mentionBallad Of The Boy With The RedShoes and the wonderfulversion of Holiday Inn. TheRyan Adams cover Oh MySweet Carolina sounded like itwas written by Elton himself.From a musical point of view, itwas great to hear AmericanTriangle ending with the samenote that started Have MercyOn The Criminal, although itseemed kind of odd to combinethese two songs that way whenlooking at the lyrics.

Elton was in a great mood, aswas the band who he introducedas "The Subterrainians". And itwas like so many times before:The wetter the weather, thebetter the show was.

Report and photos by Stephan Heimbecher

when the rain set in...

THE COMPLETE SET LIST:

Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding

Bennie And The JetsDaniel

Someone Saved My Life TonightBallad Of The Boy With The

Red ShoesPhiladelphia Freedom

The WastelandRocket Man

I Guess That's Why They Call ...I Want Love

This Train Don't Stop There...Take Me To The PilotCandle In The Wind

SacrificeSorry Seems To Be The Hardest

Oh My Sweet CarolinaAmerican Triangle

Have Mercy On The CriminalHoliday InnTiny DancerOriginal Sin

I'm Still StandingCrocodile Rock

Don't Let The Sun ...

Your SongThe audience take cover from the rainunder plastic!

EJ’s piano is covered as he continuesto perform CITW


TV CAMERA NEVER LIESBy Reggie Zippo

After television wasintroduced to the

masses in 1939, musicalentertainers from allcorners of the globe

have utilized thismedium in the USA to

promote, jump start,enhance, and otherwise

display their variedtalents to a hungry

viewing audience. FromLiberace to ABBA, Elvis

to Madonna, and TheBeatles to U2, the giantsand undiscovered talents

of the music industryhave all had the

opportunity to gainpopularity and

credibility through thesmall screen we all callTV. And, Elton John is

no exception!

Some critics say that Eltonwas born to be on TV as a greatmusical talent, in part because ofthe outrageous, funny, animated,and flamboyant way his stagepersona attracts fans of all ages.In addition, his heartfeltcontributions to charity events,the controversial issues heembraces, and the keen sense hehas to present himself as fresheach time he ventures out intothe public eye are all qualitiesthat ensure a leading success.But, most fans will argue that it issimply his pure musical talentthat has kept Elton in theforefront of TV since his USAdebut on The Andy WilliamsShow in 1971.

On January 16, 1971, Eltoncaptured the nation's heart witha solo version of Your Song,which was his first number onehit in the USA. There were noantics, no strange costumes, andno band. It was just a barebones approach that mesmerizedall who tuned in to watch theprogram that evening.

This was a very smart moveon Elton's part. Following in thefootsteps of Liberace, Elton's firstpriority was to gain a fan base forhis music. His off-the-wall stagepersonality would be graduallyintroduced to the public in yearsto come. Although Elton wouldlater admit that he was extremelynervous during this particularperformance, he appearedflawless and quite confident tothe watchful eye of the TV studiocamera.

In England, Elton continued towin fans over on TV in much thesame manner as he did in theUSA. On December 7, 1971, heappeared on the popular "OldGrey Whistle Test" musicalprogram to perform Tiny Dancer,which was not yet a major hit forElton. He later recalled that heenjoyed this TV program inparticular because of itsapproach in allowing the gueststo perform any song of theirchoosing. The song didn't have

to be a hit. In fact, non-hit songswere encouraged.

This gave Elton the uniqueopportunity to let the TVaudience in on what they weremissing if they had not yetpurchased the album. In thiscase it was "Madman Across TheWater". The only requirement tobe on the show was to have noless than two albums alreadyreleased. By this time, Eltonmore than satisfied thatrequirement with six albumsunder his belt.

Jumping forward to 1975 andmany costume changes later, the"Cher" variety show introduced aside of Elton that was rarely seenon TV up to that point. Alongwith Cher and the talented BetteMidler, Elton joined forces as atrio to sing a string of songs,some of which were Elton's ownhits. However, when Elton camerolling out in an electric wheelchair dressed up as an aging oldman to participate in a comedysketch about elderly rock stars,fans could hardly believe that hewas the same Rocket Man theyhad previously adored on stage.Who was this convincing oldcodger that kept Cher and Bettelaughing uncontrollably allthrough the entire skit? He wasjust Elton being his funny self!

In 1977, he would repeat thisexpression of funny antics on thepopular Muppet Show. Dressedup as a colorful, flamboyantchicken, Elton bopped his waythrough "Crocodile Rock" whilesurrounded by many Muppetcharacters, including a crocodileof course. Elton said that thiswas the most fun he had everhad on a TV variety show, but hewas quite intimidated when itcame time to sing a duet of"Don't Go Breaking My Heart"with Miss Piggy. At first, Eltonforgot the words to the song andMiss Piggy stormed off aftersaying that she was not used toworking with amateurs (she wasjoking of course), but afterseveral takes the pair pulled it off


with much success.While giving a September

1980 concert in Central Park,New York, TV viewers once againwitnessed how well Elton couldpoke fun at himself whiledazzling everyone with his ownbrand of unique showmanship.Donned in a Donald Duckcostume, Elton confidentlywaddled out on stage tothunderous applause. He couldbarely contain himself fromlaughing, though, as heattempted to sing both fun andserious songs. It was quite amemorable event for everyoneinvolved and Elton would latersay that this event marked thefirst time that he had everrequired a police escort in NewYork. The sheer volume of fansthat had gathered in Central Parkthat day made it impossible forhim to use his own securityforce.

The fun side of Elton wouldtake an about face two yearslater, however, when heappeared as the guest singer onthe hit US TV show SaturdayNight Live.

Long before Elton chose toshed his wild side image duringhis "Reg Strikes Back" period,Elton accepted the role of guestperformer on Saturday Night Livein New York without the aide ofany gimmicks or clothing props.On April 17, 1982, Eltonexposed his serious side toAmerican viewers with a heart-wrenching rendition of EmptyGarden, the classic tribute to hislate friend, John Lennon.

This performance wassignificant in many ways.Lennon's death hit Elton veryhard, and since Lennon was aresident of New York at the timeof his murder, Elton felt it quitefitting to perform this emotionalsong with every ounce of talentpacked into each note andsyllable. Although the TVnetwork (NBC) gathered awhopping 16.8 million viewersthat evening, this would be

Elton's only appearance on SNL.Elton did not totally abandon

his lighter side, though. Hecontinued to wear outlandishcostumes for his concertperformances. Following his stintwith SNL, Elton released theclassic video of I'm StillStanding. In April 1983, theworld was literally exposed tothis very camp video creationthat featured an assortment ofnearly naked young men dressedin body paint from head to toe.

Elton later confessed that hewas primarily drunk for most ofthe video production and that hewas extremely apprehensiveabout dancing in front of thecameras. His video acting hasalways been a bit stiff andunpolished, but at least he wasable to complete this video withFANtastic results.

On July 13, 1985, the LiveAid awareness concert wasbeamed into the living rooms of2 billion viewers world wide,and with it brought a who's whomusic event filled with a spirit ofgoodwill that has goneunmatched by any means. Forhis contribution to help save theworld from famine and despair,Elton provided 5 songs. Alwaysthe crowd pleaser, he sang 3 ofhis hits and a cover tune, but hiscrowning glory came when KikiDee joined him on stage to singtheir trademark duet, Don't GoBreaking My Heart.

Speaking of crowns, FreddieMercury would later say thatElton looked more like theQueen Mum on stage rather thana rock star because of the hatElton chose to wear. The hat isindescribable, but Freddie wasright on target.

Furthering his stance on reliefefforts and causes, Elton againgraced the TV stage for yetanother Aid event on April 7,1990. The fourth annual FarmAid concert brought 70 artiststogether with farmers,environmental and consumeradvocates to Indianapolis,

Indiana for an event that sold outin 90 minutes. The concert wastelevised live on The NashvilleNetwork, and a two-hourhighlight was rebroadcast to 10million viewers on CBS. Eltonsang Daniel and I'm StillStanding, but it was his Candle InThe Wind that brought tears toeveryone who witnessed theevent.

In the months leading up toFarm Aid, Elton revealed hisgenerosity as an artist bybecoming a surrogate father toAIDS victim Ryan White, whowas in the final stages of thedisease by the time Elton hadagreed to perform at the concert.He dedicated the song to Ryan,but was shattered to learn thatRyan had succumbed to thedisease the very next day. Thistragic news, along with hisbloated physique and white hairappearance as he sang SkylinePigeon during Ryan's funeral,famously sparked Elton to finallyshape up and get his personal lifein order by shedding most of hispounds and vices.

Several months later, MTVviewers were treated to a specialElton John event titled MTVUnplugged on August 5, 1990.Originally video taped on May17, 1990, Elton was brought in toperform without the aid of anyelectric guitars or synthesizers. Itwould just be Elton and his grandpiano. Although he still lookedoverweight and aging with whitehair, Elton gave a splendidperformance nonetheless.

The following is an excerptfrom the MTV Unplugged bookthat best describes Elton'sappearance on the series:"Somewhere near the end ofDon't Let The Sun Go Down onMe, it became obvious that Eltonwas enjoying himself. There canbe no other explanation for thefact that the song's endingactually times out longer than thetune itself. Elton's voicevacillated from falsetto tobaritone and then drifted into


gospel tones. It was a startling,awe-inspiring moment thatdemonstrated that careers like hisdon't happen by accident. Eltonthen asked if he could stay anddo some more songs, giving usour first hour long show."

This brought him full circleback to the basic bare bonesapproach he had exhibitednearly 20 years before on TheAndy Williams Show.

Throughout the 90s decadeand into the next century, Eltoncontinued to amaze TV viewersin the USA and abroad. Therewas the 1992 Freddy Mercurytribute concert, whichshockingly paired Elton withHeavy Metal rocker Axel Rose.Then the 1997 death ofPrincess Diana and Elton'srecord breaking tribute songGoodbye England's Rose,which he sang during thetelevised funeral, endeared himto millions. That alone was anamazing feat.

Appearing in such TV showsas The Nanny and Ally McBeal,which helped record salesskyrocket, Elton once againdonned his acting cap to showthe world that he was morethan just a rock superstar. In1998 and 1999, Eltonvolunteered to be animated inthe true sense of the word whenhe was turned into cartooncharacters for both South Parkand The Simpsons respectively.Elton does admit that he staysup late at night just to watchSouth Park on the ComedyCentral cable channel.

In December 2000, 10million TV viewers tuned in towitness Elton's fantastic, hit filledOne Night Only concert atMadison Square Garden, whichwas video taped to coincide withthe album release in Novemberof that year.

At the beginning of 2001,Elton teamed up with thecontroversial rap star Eminem tosing Stan during the GrammyAwards ceremony in Los

Angeles. It was a critic's dreamcome true, but those dreamswere shattered when the paireffortlessly shined as thedarlings of the entire evening.Also that same year, the tragicWorld Trade Center catastrophebrought Elton back to theMadison Square Garden stage,but this time to honor the manylives lost and for those who hadtried in vain to rescue themissing people. As 16 millionTV viewers witnessed rock'sfinest superstars giving theirbest, Elton and Billy Joel offeredtheir Face To Face version ofYour Song, while Eltonindividually sang I Want Loveand the New York laced MonaLisas And Mad Hatters.

The year 2001 also markedanother special event in Elton'scareer. For the first time ever,Elton chose not to act in one ofhis music videos. It has beenwell documented that he hasalways loathed making musicvideos, but this time he decidedto do something about it by notparticipating in front of thecamera at all. While actor andfriend Robert Downey JR. lip-synched to Elton's new hit, IWant Love, Elton was on holidayin France. This formula wouldrepeat itself again in 2002 whenthe video for This Train Don'tStop There Anymore wasreleased with NSYNC's JustinTimberlake providing the actionin place of Elton.

Even though he admits thathe is no longer the "mainexpress", Elton has proven thathe is still in sync with his fansand the general public duringevery TV event that he has everbecome involved. He hasshocked us, moved us, andmade us laugh, but through itall, Elton has shown just howimportant TV can be to a rockstar's career because thecamera never lies!

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The Face To Face tour starring popicons Elton John and Billy Joel may

have reminded some in the sold-outIce Palace crowd of more than 19,400on Saturday of those old Reese'sPeanut Butter Cup televisioncommercials where two uniqueflavors blend to form one surprisinglyyummy result.

Joel and John are so delightfullydifferent. The flamboyant John wore aturquoise suit at Saturday's 3 1/2 hourshow but acted far less campy thanwe've seen him. In fact, the dapperBrit was downright reserved. It wasNew Yorker Joel, dressed in aconservative dark suit, who muggedfor fans and milked lyrics for comedy.

One thing shared by the duo, nowon their fourth Face To Face tour since1994 - with Saturday's show the firstof two dates at the Ice Palace - isdozens of piano-driven pop hits.

The show kicked off with Joel andJohn hamming it up to Yankee Doodlebeneath images of the American flagand the Union Jack. The pair sat attwo grand pianos, Joel singing the firstlines to John's smash Your Song, thentrading verses with his partner. Thetwo launched into Joel's Just The WayYou Are, followed by John's Don't LetThe Sun Go Down On Me before Joelleft the stage to give John his 70minutes in the spotlight.

It takes at least that much time toshowcase John's three-decade careerfilled with hits. His set began with thesynth-heavy instrumental Funeral For AFriend, which sounded very 1970s andlooked the part thanks to John's stuck-in-a-time-warp backing band,musicians he has played with since theHonky Chateau days, includingguitarist Davey Johnstone - he of thelong hair and prog rock arpeggios -

and drummer Nigel Olsson. (LaterJohnstone even pulled out that classicrock staple, the double-necked electricguitar.) That song morphed into therollicking Love Lies Bleeding.

One after another, John deliveredthe hits, with fans rising out of theirseats and boogying to PhiladelphiaFreedom. Wisely, he dipped intomaterial from Songs From The WestCoast, his superb new CD that criticsare heralding as a return to form afteryears of sentimental Disney soundtrackfare. The current hit I Want Love wentover well with fans, followed by theswirling harmonies of the 1970s smashRocket Man, featuring John's dazzlingkeyboard flourishes during a lengthyjam that inspired a standing ovation.

John sang a heartfelt I Guess That'sWhy They Call It The Blues, perhapsone of the finest pop songs everwritten. John's band gave the songextra oomph with their soaring, soulfulharmonies. It brought anotherstanding ovation. Next came Levon,I'm Still Standing, and a zippy sing-along Crocodile Rock, his set's closer.

Joel's set was filled with surprises.He began with Scenes From An ItalianRestaurant, Allentown, then teasedfans with a vote for his third song,which he ignored and performedDon't Ask Me Why.

Joel on Saturday ranted aboutAC/DC being considered as nomineesto the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Then he shocked the audience byintroducing AC/DC lead singer BrianJohnson, a resident of Sarasota, andbassist Cliff Williams, who performedthe raucous Highway To Hell withJoel's band.

Fans' cheers grew even louderwhen the two stars came togetheragain for a final set of combined hits,including Joel's My Life, You May BeRight, and Piano Man and John'sBennie and the Jets.

Copyright St. Petersburg Times2002.

Reprinted by kind permission of theSt. Petersburg Times, St. Petersburg,Florida.

Thanks to Gina Vivinetto andBarbara Oliver.

As members of Elton’s

fanclub, we allknew that therecent Face ToFace tour was

sure to be awinner. But it’s

nice when thelocal journaliststhink so too…..!

The St PetersburgTimes had this to

say about Eltonand Billy’s show

in Tampa, USA onMarch 9th……

"Joel, John delicious together"By Gina Vivinetto (Times Pop Music Critic)

St PetersburgTimes

revue of Face to Face


Gus Dudgeon DW: How did it all start? Wereyou musical at school?

GD: No, I’ve never been amusician and I’m still not onetoday.

DW: How did you get into thestudio side of the musicbusiness?

GD: Total fluke, I’d had 11 jobs in4 years and I got the sack fromevery single one. In fact at onepoint my P45 was 3 jobsbehind me, trying to catch up,because some jobs only lasteda week. We’re talking aboutthe 60s, a different era, a timewhen if you wanted a job youjust went in and got it. Therewas always a vacancysomewhere.…in facteverywhere. I remember goinginto buy a Whoopee cushion,or some stink bombs orwhatever, from The Magic AndFun Shop, which was oppositethe Dominion Theatre inTottenham Court Road,(London), and suddenlythought it would be fun towork in there. So I asked "Haveyou got a job?". The guy said,"Not here in the shop, but wehave a vacancy at the factory",which he told me was inMoorgate, and he said I couldstart tomorrow. I was there forprecisely a week, working in aconjuring trick factory, howridiculous is that? That’s how itwas in the 60s, you can’t do itnowadays.

I had no idea what career I wasgoing to have, but I had alwaysbought a lot of records.Records and clothes were my‘Achilles’ Heel’….. and still areto this day.

DW: What was your first job inmusic?

GD: I just stumbled into a job atOlympic Studios, which wasoff Baker Street at the time. Iused to have two EPs of LonnieDonnegan, I’ve probably stillgot them, and they were cheapand cheesy sleeves. It was thesame photograph on both, ahead and shoulders shot, witha microphone in front of him,and they kept reproducing itwith a different tint on it forthis series of EPs. Behind him,on the wall, were these old-fashioned acoustic tiles with

Gus Dudgeon is arguably one of the most importantpeople behind Elton John’s rise to superstar status in the early

1970s. In April he kindly invited Hercules into his lovelySurrey home where, in his study surrounded by awards and

gold discs from a successful career, Gus tells how he startedin the music business.

talks to HerculesPART ONE OF A THREE PART INTERVIEW, BY DAVID WRIGHT

Gus with some of the gold disks on his walls at home, from his time working with Elton


these little holes drilled inthem. As soon as I walked intoreception at Olympic for theinterview, I saw these sameacoustic tiles behind thereceptionist, and the minute Isaw them a little light- bulb inmy brain went on, and Ithought "Shit, this really is arecording studio!". It had nevercrossed my mind that this waseven a remote possibility as ajob for me. By the time I’dwalked up through the controlroom to meet the boss I washooked. Anyhow, I somehowgot that job and told myself,"Gus, this is it. This is what youhave to do. Don’t lose this gig."

The other jobs I couldn’t havecared less. I just used to getbored and f**k off, andsometimes they didn’t evenrealise I’d gone! They musthave thought, "Hang on, wehaven’t seen him for a month,he must have left!" This wasaround 1961.

DW: Who was the first artist youproduced for?

GD: Well, after about two years I’dleft Olympic, and I’d eventuallybecome a recording engineer atDecca Studios. My firstproduction, after about threeyears there, was for a Swedishband called Ola & The Janglers.Ola now runs one of thebiggest labels in Sweden, he’s avery successful man in therecord business. They were justa funny little pop band. Theydidn’t speak particularly goodEnglish and the producer forsome reason didn’t bother todeal with that. He’d saysomething, and you could seefrom their faces that they hadn’ttaken on board what he wassaying. And when they didn’tdo exactly what he’d wanted,he’d get irritated. I wasthinking "You can’t do this. Thepoor buggers are Swedish, andthey haven’t understood a wordyou’ve said". He just wasn’tlooking in their eyes to makesure they understood what hewas saying. For me, eyecontact is crucial in a recordingstudio, particularly with newartists and musicians.So after the sessions I gottalking with them and theywere really disappointed aboutthe way it had been handled,and they asked me to go over

to Sweden and help them out.They flew me over and I did acouple of sessions with them,which weren’t great, but atleast we got on like a house onfire, and we made a recordwhich was a hit over there, sothey were happy.

Then there was a weird albumproject with a bloke calledZoot Money, and his Big SoulBand. Brass section and all.Andy Summers was theguitarist. Zoot was a big act onthe London circuit. This was atthe time when the Flamingowas going strong, with acts likeGeorgie Fame and GrahamBond. I used to do all thosekind of acts….any R&B, andlots of Blues when I was atDecca. Anyway, Zoot said hewanted to do a ‘live’ albumfrom Klooks Kleek, which wasa gig in a pub a couple ofhundred yards from the studio.He asked if I could help him todo it. He’d actually left Decca,after doing a couple of singlesfor them, with me engineering,and wasn’t on the labelanymore. But I knew the DeccaStudio people wouldn’t knowthat, because Decca’s HeadOffice was at AlbertEmbankment in London, andthe Studios were in WestHampstead. So, for geographicreasons, very often the righthand didn’t know what the lefthand was doing.

I had a great boss at Decca,probably the best boss I had,and he was kind of loose aboutthings. He didn’t mind peopledoing a few little things on theside, so I used to do littlefavours for people and come inover the weekend whennobody else was in. I workedwith David Bowie once doingstuff, over a weekend, whichthey never knew about –andthey’re still unreleased! I’ve gotthem in the loft. I should mixthem some day, they’d be prettyvaluable I would imagine.

Anyhow, so I did this ‘live’album. Decca didn’t have aMobile Truck, but because theclub was close, I figured if Icould make the leads longenough for the mics, I could runthem out of the studio windowand into the club. It was reallyweird, because I was in thecontrol-room at Decca, all on

my own, recording an album,with nobody on the other sideof the glass, but with all thismusic pouring out of themonitors. And we didn’t haveclosed circuit TV then, so I hadno idea what was going tohappen next. Anyhow, Irecorded this album, mixed it, itwent out on EMI, and got myfirst English credit as a producer.Plus I wrote the sleeve notes,and charged them £25!!

After 5 years at Decca I wasgetting a bit bored with it. Ithought about what to do nextas I had never consideredmyself as a great engineer,although I had had easily 40big hits with people fromMarianne Faithfull, to JohnMayall, to The Zombies, andThe Small Faces, while doingthe job. There would be theodd session that would turn outreally well. I had my moments.

I’m not really interested in themechanics of recording. I don’tcare why a desk works, as longas you can push a fader up andhear something. I was alwaysinterested in the music itself,not the business of why it goton tape.

DW: That surprises me. I thoughtthat when you said you werenot a musician you were anexpert in the technical andelectronic side of things.

GD: No, not at all. I’m just amusic fan. I had a lot of hitsgoing just by my ears, I didn’treally know what it all meant.Half the time when I wastwiddling knobs trying to find afrequency, I didn’t know whatthese numbers meant, I justtwiddled them until I foundsomething good.

Or if I was in someone else’ssession, or wandered in andheard a great bass sound, I’d goand see how it was done andremember it, and next time Iwould record a bass I would tryit out.

It was just watching andlearning.

DW: So how did the Elton Johnconnection come about?

GD: I had done ‘Space Oddity’.They had already hired Paul


Buckmaster to do thearrangements because of hiswork on that record.Apparently they went to seeGeorge Martin aboutproduction, and George put hisfoot down and said he wouldlike to produce it, but alsowanted to do the arrangements.He wanted a much biggerinvolvement than justproduction and amazinglyenough they turned him down,which I can’t believe. In thosedays George was ‘IT’.

DW: This was at the end of TheBeatles.

Lo and Behold, God presented me

with EltonGD: Somehow they’d decided they

wanted him to only produce it,because they were so keen touse Bucko doing thearrangements. Obviously Paulwas falling over himself to workwith George, so he was verydisappointed I would imagine.

Paul said, "If you like SpaceOddity, why don’t you go andsee Gus?" I suppose it waspretty obvious really but itdidn’t dawn on them, so theycame to see me and I heard thefirst demo tape, and was like"Thank you God!"

I had had 4 hits with 4 differentartists by then and I wantedone artist to get into a longsituation with. Lo and Behold,God presented me with Elton.

DW: Can you remember the firstsession, the first song yourecorded with him?

GD: The first song, no. It wouldhave been one of the onesdone on 8 track in order toaccommodate the budget.There was a whole furore aboutthe budget and my advancebecause I want carte blanchefor planning the budget, andSteve Brown, who hadoriginally phoned me andasked me if I wanted to workwith Elton, said I couldn’t havecarte blanche, Dick’s neverspent that kind of money. Isaid, "You don’t know whatcarte blanche is until I’veactually planned it all out". I

wanted to know that if I wanted24 strings I could have 24strings and not have to settle for6 or something half-arsed. Iwanted to be able to do thisthing properly, not cut anycorners.

Steve said he’ll never agree tothat, then I told him myadvance and he said "Christ,he’s never paid that kind ofmoney". It was pathetic, it was£250. In fact, even on the lastfew albums I did with him Iwas still only getting a £250advance ‘cos there wasn’t anypoint in cranking it. I wasearning decent money anywayfrom the royalties. So I used toget this joke cheque through for£250!

For some reason Dick gave inon all fronts. He must havethought that Elton had a reallygood shot. And he paid memore and gave me a biggerbudget than he’d ever donebefore.

DW: Would that have beenbecause of the strength of thematerial? Presumably the songswere already written.

GD: Of course. The point is thatDJM was a publishingcompany, not really a bona-fiderecord company. It had therecord label, but that was reallyonly a spin-off, that hadn’t hadany really big successes. Well,certainly nothing on the scaleof Elton.

DW: Obviously Empty Sky didn’tdo anything dramaticcommercially. I was wonderingif for the second album theythen thought "Wow this is thebusiness!"

GD: Maybe, certainly Caleb hadpushed very hard on behalf ofElton to get Dick to take himseriously as an artist and notjust as a writer. But the albumwas never made as a potentialvehicle to launch Elton as anact, it was like "Let’s dofabulously good versions of hissongs and hopefully somebodyelse will cover them". It wasreally a fabulously glamorousdemo. They thought he wouldget a certain amount ofrecognition, and peoplehopefully would want to recordhis songs and it would go from

there, because that was Dick’spublishing head thinking thatway.

DW: So even into the secondalbum they were still thinkingof Elton as a songwriter ratherthan a performer?

GD: Oh yeah. It was only becausethe American record companywere so insistent that he wentover to play there, which hedidn’t really want to do…...hewas fed up with playing live.He’d been doing it for years oncrappy little pianos andbacking soul singers, the wholeBluesology thing.

DW: And now he never stopstouring 30 years later!

GD: They had to talk him intogoing, and when he got therehe didn’t really want to bethere.

DW: Elton’s temperament is wellknown, he’s even put out hisown film about it. What was helike in those days? Is histemperament a product of hissuccess and ego or was hequick-tempered then?

GD: It’s difficult for me tocomment but I get asked aboutit a lot. I only had one seriousargument with him, it didn’tlast very long. It was over themost idiotic thing and afterwe’d had the argument, he’dstormed out of the room, butcame back in laughing his headoff ‘cos it was a stupid thing tobe arguing over. I’ve seen himpull all kinds of stunts, butwhat it’s the result of I don’tknow.

I remember Steve Brown toldme that Elton had always beenlike that. He told me a timewhen they were catching atrain, Steve, Bernie and Elton.Elton was carrying a big heavysuitcase up the platform and itlooked like they wouldn’t catchthe train so he gave his case toBernie and said "Come on, youf**king carry it!" So Bernietakes the case and the trainstarts to move and Elton runsand gets on the train, Stevedoes as well, and Bernie’s stillrunning along the platformcarrying Elton’s bloody case aswell as his own, and Elton’sshouting "Come on for f**k’s

sake, get on the train! What’swrong with you?!". Steve saidhe was always like that, healways expected people to dothings for him.

You have to take intoconsideration that his personallife has been in turmoil foryears and years. In fact as soonas he started becoming a bigstar it was even more of aturmoil. He was living a liebecause he wasn’t admitting toanybody that he was gay. Infact when he did admit he wasgay, the record sales took atumble, as we all thought theymight.

Crazy that they shouldhave….but there you go.

The problem was he had thismajor internal turmoil thatwould throw him through aloop sometimes. It’s verydifficult, when you becomesuccessful, it’s impossible todistinguish between someonewho really likes you and wantsto get on with you as if youwere just the guy next door,and the guy who is aftersomething.

DW: Especially when you have aformer lover cash-in and writea book.

GD: Yes, but he always knew thatkind of thing could happen. Hemust have known that if you’rea big star and you pullsomeone in a gay club there’s agood chance he’s going tomake some money out of it.I’ve seen people who weresupposedly his "boyfriend" whowere quite obviously on the

make. But in a way, I don’tthink it really bothered him, Ithink he used to think it waskind of sad. He knew he wastaking advantage of thesepeople, and that in turn wouldhave given him the internalquestion "What am I doing?"And if you can’t find a lifepartner, you’re always looking,always hoping, which puts youat a disadvantage. It doesn’tmake your life rooted inanything very much. And ifyou’re that successful you wantto share it with someone, I thinkthat’s why he’s always been sogenerous. He loves to share thesuccess he’s had and he isincredibly generous.

So I think his temperament hasalways been there. If you makea lot of money it gives you a lotof power, and a lot of powercan give you the facility tobecome corrupt, or to evencorrupt other people. You’re ableto indulge your wildestfantasies….and your worstbehaviour. And I’ve seen ithappen many times, I don’tthink it’s a unique situation.

DW: What was the process forrecording an Elton John album?The wonderful Goodbye YellowBrick Road DVD described youall going into the studio, writingand recording it all as part of thesame process. Was that usuallythe case?

GD: That was from Honky Châteauonwards.

DW: So you didn’t turn up with 15to 20 songs to work on?

GD: No, up until then there werealways demos. He’d write songs,record them as demos, and we’dwork on the album from there.

DW: It’s been well documented butit seems an unusual way ofwriting an album.

GD: It was because of hisconfidence in his ability tocome up with something goodin a short space of time, whichis something he’s always made abig thing of. And also it wasbecause he said if he ever hadto go to court……he’s ahopeless liar, he goes red if helies and looks reallyuncomfortable, you can see it a

mile away –

He was advised by his legalpeople that it would be veryadvantageous for him not to payEnglish tax, and the only way toavoid English tax on his earningsas a writer was to write thematerial abroad. So I was askedto find a studio in France and Ifinally came up with theChâteau.

The plan was, he would arrivein France and write the songswhen he got there, and thensend his Mum a letter about thesongs he’d just written, whichwould give him the proof if heever had to go into court todefend it, that he wrote them inFrance. So he was writing lettersto his Mum to tell her howthings were going but also togive himself documentary proofthat the songs were writtenabroad. So effectively it becamethe way we worked, by default.If the situation hadn’t arisen thathe needed to write abroad tosave the tax, he would havewritten and recorded morealbums in England. But I guessif you discover that you’reperfectly capable of writing ahit song in half an hour, whynot do it that way on a regularbasis?

When we were doing the IceOn Fire album I just casuallycommented to him, 3 or 4songs into recording his vocals,that he had done the last fourmaster vocals in only threetakes. He thought about it, andthen said, "Oh well, I might aswell keep doing that on everyvocal", and immediately gavehimself a new challenge.

He made a point of continuingto do that all through the vocals.The first take would be a basicrun through, mostly for makingsure the cans were OK, that hewas happy with balance, I’drecord it, just in case, and therewould always be some greatlines in there. Then the nextthree takes would be a full-onattempt to get the vocalabsolutely the way he wantedit, and he would consistentlynail it.

END OF PART ONEPart two will be published in theSept. 2002 issue of The Mag



MADELEINE HOLT: This week,Sir Elton John topped theAmerican charts for thehighest grossing liveperformance, playing withBilly Joel: $1.5 million for anight. These days, only ahandful of people can pullthat off. In 35 years in themusic industry, Sir Elton hasseen it change dramatically,and, he believes, for theworse.

ELTON: Nowadays, recordcompanies want the quickbuck from the BackstreetBoys, from the N'Syncs, fromthe Britney Spears, from theS Club 7s, from the Steps.They've always been around,I'm not knocking the musicperhaps, but it's like packetsof cereal. There are too manyof them, and too many ofthem are just average andmediocre. I think it damagesreal people's chances, realtalent, of getting airplay. It'sjust fodder. It has nodistinguishing marks. A lot ofit, you couldn't tell one fromthe other. There's much toomuch of it.

MH: But the record industry isunder more pressure nowthan ever. Latest figures showglobal sales of recordedmusic dropped last year by5%, the biggest single fall.Sales of CD albums fell forthe first time by almost asmuch. And overall sales inthe biggest market of all,America, echoed the trend.The demand for short-termprofits is intense.

Elton: Nowadays, they thinkmore about their quarterlyearnings. There's nolongevity, thinking, "We wantthis artist to be around in tenor 12 years". It's kind ofheartbreaking, because yousee most of the emphasisplaced on instant success.

Where are those people(the artists) going to be intwo, three years? They'regoing to be on the scrap-heap because someone elsenewer and younger hascome along, and the recordcompany won't care aboutwhat's happened to that actthat they've made a fortuneout of. It's kind of disgustingreally.

MH: Not that the music industryhas ever been exactlybenevolent. But Sir Eltonsays when he started out,you had more of a chance todevelop your talent. Heplayed countless gigs beforegetting a contract. If hissecond album hadn't sold,he reckons his label wouldhave stuck by him. Contrastthis with the industry's latest,and highly lucrative, newphenomenon, TV talentshows where viewers choosean instant star, and some ofthe judges will make moremoney than any of the stars.

Elton: For the guy who won it, Ijust hope someone's lookingafter them. They're on cloudnine at the moment, but inthree or four years, what'sgoing to happen to them?But good luck to them,they're probably verytalented. I hope the recordcompany looks after themand doesn't discard them.

MH: In Britain, Sir Elton'scomments aren't entirely atodds with some seniorthinking in the musicbusiness. The new head ofBritain's only major recordcompany, EMI, has said theindustry is failing because itlacks big global stars.Instead, it's turned musicinto a three-minutecommodity. EMI is right toworry, it has issued twoprofit warnings in the last six

In a heartfeltinterview with the

BBC’s Newsnightprogramme at the

end of February,Elton tells us why he

regrets making theOne Night Only

album, and lamentsall that is wrong withthe music industry…

NewsnightINTERVIEW


months, and blown millionsbuying Mariah Carey out ofher contract. Sir Elton hasone solution.

Elton: If it was me, I'd ban everysingle video being made by anew band. I'd get them onthe road, put the moneythat's put into making avideo, because it all comesout of their royalty statementanyway, at the end of theday. Put it into theirequipment, put it into puttingthem on the road, playingsecond on the bill to people.That's how I started inAmerica.

MH: Breaking into America is aBritish problem. In the mid'80s, British stars took 32%of the market. That's nowfallen to 0.2%. Why?

Elton: To break America, you'vegot to do what Craig Davidhas done, you've got to doevery radio station, you'vegot to get up at 7am and do12 radio stations. You've gotto do go there and play,you've got to do everything,like I did in the first fiveyears of my career.

MH: Robbie William's latestalbum, "Swing When You'reWinning", spent seven weeksat number one in the UK, butwasn't even released in theStates.

Elton: Robbie is clever enoughto know that if he wants tobreak America, his nextalbum has to sound morebeefy, more American. Theyjust play their own bands onthe radio.

MH: It puts some perspective onthe annual celebration of theBritish music industry, theBrits. Sir Elton was up forbest male solo artist and bestvideo, alongside Robbie. Hetakes an active interest in thecurrent scene. He buysrecords every week, and

knowing how much heenjoys shopping, perhaps heis partly responsible for onegood bit of music news.Sales in Britain are up morethan 5%. But much of thatgrowth is down to greatesthits collections. Four yearsago, they made up one in tenof the top 100 best sellingalbums. That's now one infour. Even Sir Elton wasforced, two years ago, torecord a live album of hisbiggest hits.

Elton: I squirmed and kickedand screamed, and then Ihad to do it. It wassuccessful, it sold over twomillion copies world-wide. Itis the record companyeyeing Christmas andthinking, "We're going tomake a quick killing here, solet's put the pressure on". I shouldn't have done thatalbum in a million years, andI did, and I regret doing it.

MH: At a concert in the USthree months ago, sir Eltonkicked up about the musicindustry. He said he was sickof it, and was giving up.That's all he said, until now.

Elton: I said I was retiringbecause I was having a badnight on stage, but there aresome nights where you think"Is it bloody well worth it?".And then, of course, it is,because I just feel that I dohave a duty to speak out,and say it is about time someof these younger acts werenurtured and given the time,but there certainly is thetalent out there. There is asmuch talent out there now aswhen I was doing it. It's justthat people aren't preparedto nourish it, cuddle it like ababy, breastfeed it, and put itinto childhood andadulthood. It doesn't happenvery much any more, and itis terrible.

MH: Sir Elton seems morepassionate about the musicbusiness than ever. Will thatkeep him at the heart of it, oris it time to find somedistance?

Elton: I shall carry on. I think,and this is the first time I'vesaid it publicly, my Achillesheel in the last few yearswhen making records is thatI have had pressure fromrecord companies to makesingles, have singles onalbums, and so you follow. Iam influenced by so manysorts of music, but I try andcopy things or just say, "Oh,I'll try something like this".Therefore, you don't stay trueto yourself, and I haveprobably been guilty of that.I will put my hand up andsay so. I am not going get theairplay that I did when I was23 or 24 and I could do nowrong. But I still feel soyoung at heart that I expectto, and it's just not realistic.In a way it's a relief. It's like,it's over, Elton, you had 31years when you had a recordin the American top 40 everyyear. That can't realisticallyhappen any more.

MH: But it's not over quite yet.He's carrying on with agruelling touring scheduleuntil July. When he doeschoose a quieter life, it maybe good for Sir Elton'screativity, but it can only bebad for an industryexperiencing its worstdecline in 20 years. For hismillions of fans, he is agenuine pop idol, apparentlyworking double time to keepthe money rolling in, whilethe onehit wonders comeand go. Maybe Elton had itright 30 years ago.

Edited highlights from interview with Newsnight Feb 2002

Well, it’s this last answer that we find a bit puzzling,and it hasn’t gone down well with some of you.

Andy, a long-time Elton fan in the UK, phonedme to say "I’ve got tickets to see all but one of Elton’sforthcoming UK shows later this year, but now I’m

wondering whether I want to go. I get theimpression that he doesn’t want to see us there. As

for "living my life through his", well, it’s just not true,and even if it was, I simply couldn’t afford to do it! Ido actually work for a living for the rest of the year!"

And after reading the interview, David, anotherfan in the UK, wrote to me saying "Unfortunately,I’ve always thought that Elton has a fairly lowopinion of us fans, ever since I saw Tantrums &Tiaras, where Elton flicked the V sign when it wassuggested to him that he waves at the fans. I’vebeen waiting for another mention eversince, to see if my impression was correct.Unfortunately, this latest comment justbacks up what I thought."

It is understandable that Eltonsometimes feels frightened if fansreally doknowdetails ofhis flightsand hotels,and we don’t blame himfor that. None of us want tomake him feel terrified.

Personally, I have never known which hotel EJ isstaying in during a tour, and I would never take theeffort to find out. It’s just not relevant, and I knowall the fans I’ve met over the years feel the same.It’s just about appreciating the music, and enjoyingseeing Elton, the man who wrote such beautifulbeautiful songs, performing them for us.

It’s true that many of us enjoy seeing more thanone EJ show when he visits our home countries.Over the years, we have become friends and enjoymeeting up with other Hercules and Rocketmembers. We often recognise familiar faces in thefront rows of gigs as well. But it is often those"same faces" which are the ones enjoyingthemselves the most, and appreciating the music

more than anyone. So, do we think that Elton’s comments

indicate a low opinion of the fans? Well, itlargely depends on the tone of his answer,which of course is impossible to tell when it is

reproduced in print, and we don’t alwaysknow that the answers given are

reproduced in the exact context.

We’ll leave you to make up your own minds.…


Ever wondered what Elton really thinks of the fans? He rarely, if ever, mentions us in interviews.However, in a recent interview with UK magazine Heat, Elton gave us a brief insight into what he thinks

of us, and also talks about his favourite hobby, shopping. We reproduce a few extracts from the interviewhere, and we’ll bring you more extracts in the next issue of The Mag.

WHAT DOES HE REALLY THINK OF US?By Tammi Law

When you’re so into shopping,don’t you ever run out of new stuff

to buy?

No, there’s always something!Clothes for example. Fashion

designers fascinate mebecause it’s extraordinary theamount of new stuff they have

to come up with. Everyseason there’s a new

collection.

Do you find it easy to relax?Don’t’ you have that compulsive

ordering thing that DavidBeckham has?

Well I am totally anallyretentive; everything has to be

in its right place. I do go

around making sure all thepictures are hanging absolutely

straight. But I can relax.Before you arrived I was just

lying there reading a book; I’velearned to relax and switchoff. I enjoy just sitting here

ordering DVDs and CDs… I’dmake a very good secretary.

Do you order them using theinternet then?

No, I’m a Luddite. I don’thave e-mail. I don’t even have

a mobile phone. I orderthrough the office. On

Monday the office faxes me alist of all the new releases andwhen I get Heat magazine I

look at the upcoming releases.

Really?

Oh yes! I have threenotebooks full of lists – one forDVDs, one for books and onefor CDs – all in alphabeticalorder and I cross them off

when I get them in.

Is there anything about you thatyour fans don’t know?

No. Nothing. It’s terrifying.They know what plane I’mcatching, what hotel I’m

staying at. It’s astonishing; Ihave a hard core of fans who

live their lives through mine. Isee the same faces in the front

row of most of my gigs."


J U S T F O R F U N

1 Just across from FridayThe weekend circus rolls

2 He said it with devotionHe sounded so sincere

3 So keep your auditions forsomebody

Who hasn’t got so much tolose

4 Through the soft brown earthThat holds him forever always

young

5 Gonna go West to the seaThe Greyhound is swaying

6 Trying to make wages thatweren’t even there

Taking hell from a foremanwith the build of a bear

7 Looking for an islandIn our boat upon the sea

8 I can’t take any more badwater

I’ve been poisoned from myhead down to my shoes

9 I never learned why meteorswere formed

I only farmed in schools thatwere so worn and torn

10 Sitting in the templeRight between your eyes

11 From boyhood to manStrangers have found

themselves fathers

12 Why I’m a juvenile delinquentIn an East End gang

Have a go at our popular lyric quiz.We give you a line - see if you can

name the song! (Answers on page 27)

LYRIC QUIZ

LYRIC QUIZ

Most Elton fans willremember the infamous

series of false stories The Sunnewspaper printed in the UKback in 1987.

Kelvin Mackenzie was editorof The Sun at the time. PrivateEye, a satirical UK magazine,reports that he recentlyreminisced about hisinvolvement.

As Kelvin recalled, while thepaper was already facing libelwrits from Elton for false claimsabout teenage rent boys, it thencompounded the offence in style.

Mackenzie: "One of the Sun’sfinest (journalists) had come upwith an absolute belter: The storywas that Elton was havingdifficulty sleeping at nightbecause of the barking fromguard dogs that patrolled theperimeter of his mansion outsideLondon. So he had decided tohave the voiceboxes of the dogsremoved…"

This was pure fiction ofcourse, so why was it printed?

Mackenzieblames it all on the reporterand news editor, whopromised the story hadbeen thoroughly checkedand failed to warn himthat a journalist at the

gates could hear barking. Butthose who were there on the dayremember it rather differently.

Sun journalist John Askill hadnot originally filed the story butmerely sent a memo to thenewsdesk following aconversation with an unreliableinformant. The following Sundaythe deputy news editormentioned the memo toMackenzie. Despite Elton’s libelcase Mackenzie ordered Askill torun the story.

Shortly after 6pm, the nightnews editor arrived and askedone of the day shift if anyone hadactually gone to Elton’s mansion.The man said he didn’t know, soa reporter was dispatched whorang back to say he could clearlyhear barking. This informationwas passed to Mackenzie – buthe decided to run the storynevertheless.

The rest is history. Eltonissued a further writ for this storywhich was the first case to cometo court. The Sun settled out ofcourt for a record sum of £1mand printed a grovelling front-page apology.

Tell mewhat thepaperssayBy David Wright


Phot

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Elton fans all around the worldorganised the fund-raising get-

togethers during the weekendnear Elton’s birthday, 25th March.

In total, more than US$6,000was raised for the Elton John AidsFoundation.

The events took on manydifferent forms; some were held inrestaurants, some in theatres, somewere parties at home, and one waseven in the food court of ashopping mall! Nancy, the creatorof the idea, said of her party "Weall ate too much, including an"Elton" cake with a photo of him onit, and sang along to someElton songs. We had agreat time with the raffleprizes and the silentauction, I kept trying tooutbid my friend PeterTrappen on an autographedphoto of Elton but at last Iknew I really should not bethe winner, he was thehighest bidder on thephoto, it brought in$90.00. I hope in the yearsto come this event

continues and with each yeargrows and matures."

Hercules members in the UKspent the afternoon at a countrypub, enjoying early spring sunshineon Saturday March 23. Around 20fans gathered at Elton’s local pub,The Union Inn at Old Windsor, for

their contribution to Lunch AroundThe World. A total of £349 wasraised for the Elton John AidsFoundation. This was a gathering ofsome old friends and we weredelighted to be joined by four guestsfrom eltonjohn.com. There was araffle and an auction. Thank you to

all who attended,particularly to Laura Crokerat eltonjohn.com fordonating some excitingitems for the auction. Andcongratulations to NigelColeman and John Michiewho won the difficult lyricquizzes!

Hercules would like tocongratulate Nancy on thisgreat idea; we too hope itwill become an annualevent.

luncharound the

worldCongratulations to Nancy

Case, from USA, whoearlier this year had theterrific idea for fans tohost lunches to raise

money for the Elton JohnAids Foundation

Nancy Case and her niece

A Single Man?! UK fans very own version of the album cover, taken in front of Windsor Castle,

25 years after the original!

Fans meet at Elton’s local pub, The Union Inn at Old Windsor


THE FUTURE OF HERCULESOn May 8th 2002, our

fan club celebrated its14th birthday. This yearwill see many changes forHercules, and we wroteabout how these changeswould affect you and yourmembership fee in ourMarch 2002 issue. Here’s aquick reminder:

More and more Elton Johnfans, and over 80% of Herculesmembers, are gaining access toElton news via the internet. Ourwebsite www.eltonfan.net isreceiving more than 500 uniquevisitors each day. Hence, thefanzine is old news for many ofits readership in today’s world,where communication hasbecome so fast that we are ableto bring you a review andcomplete set list of a concertwithin minutes after Eltonleaving the stage.

In other words, the fanzineis no longer able to competewith the Internet, and alsocosts more to produce than itgenerates in revenue. It is nolonger possible for us toproduce the fanzineeconomically without a hugeincrease in subscription rates.

Therefore the Herculesfanzine will cease to bepublished, with the finaledition being No. 60(September 2002). Meanwhile,the Hercules Team has decidedto additionally publish a"Farewell" issue in December2002.

With the fanzine no longerbeing available, all Herculesmemberships will end onDecember 31, 2002. If yourrenewal date is on July 1, orOctober 1 this year, we kindlyask you to adjust your renewalfee according to the followingspreadsheet:Renewal Date Europe World

July 1, 2002 euro 10.00 euro 17.50or £ 7.00 US$ 17.50

October 1, 2002 euro 5.00 euro 8.75or £ 3.50 US$ 8.75

If you are paying by creditcard or direct debit, we willautomatically adjust themembership fee for you.

Attention UK members: Thebank has advised us that youmust cancel existing StandingOrders individually. If you arecurrently paying by StandingOrder, please cancel it andarrange for a one-time paymentaccording to the abovespreadsheet.

We are sorry to disappointsome of you by the aboveannouncements, but we wouldlike to assure you that they arethe result of a very longdiscussion about the future ofthe Hercules fan club withinthe Hercules Team. Speaking ofwhich, it has been impossiblefor us to find successors for anyof the Hercules positions whichalso causes us to cut down onsome parts of our services.

If you have any queries onthis, please contact yourcountry/department managerwho will be happy to help you(see addresses on page 2).

idolby Reggie Zippo

Nothing too dramatic there,but then this: "Your picture canbe on the cover of the single!Elton has decided to feature a

collage of fan pictures in "LookMa, No Hands" pose on the

cover."

We were then encouragedto "have someone take a

picture of yourself in "LookMa, No Hands" pose, e.g.riding your bike withoutholding on. Be original!"

No doubt some fans werespurred into action only tofind out that it was an AprilFool joke dreamt up by our

Stephan Heimbecher.

And the fans weren’t theonly ones to be taken in by

this – we noticed some otherElton-related websites

"borrowed" the story from us,and reported the story thinking

it was real news!

Anyone who wasdisappointed may be pleasedto know that this writer was

planning a trip to a localrelative with a digital cameraand in the middle of home

improvements – "I’m a handyman" – and our Editor, Tammi,

called her boss over theweekend to get him to bringhis digital camera into work.

Needless to say the matter wasquietly dropped on Monday

morning!

APRILFOOL!

by David Wright

Those readers who don’tfollow our website will havemissed the story that read,

"it has already been decidedthat Look Ma, No Hands willbe the next single release."

idolby Reggie Zippo


As you may remember,Hercules held a very successfulconvention in March 2001 atthe Cavern Club in Liverpool,UK, which saw the firstreunion of Bluesology forseveral decades. We hadhoped to be able to bring you avideo of this event, so those ofyou who had been unable toattend could enjoy this funoccasion as well.

Our former UK ManagerGeorge Matlock was handling thisproject but following the launchof his new venture he can nolonger commit to producing thisdespite the Cavern event takingplace some 15 months ago. Withcopyright issues unlikely to beresolved we have no alternativebut to refund those members whohave paid for the video. We aresorry for any disappointment thismay cause.

v ideo announcementCavern Club Video...

...regretfully cancelled

SPECIAL OFFERNEW ELTON

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All three of the original scentsare available in new modernpackaging, with another newscent to be available soon.These candles are packaged

in black boxes and the wax isin a silver-coloured cylinder

with lid.

#1 original scent of the Elton Icandle, blend of four flowers;

new candle is hot pink

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leaves/myrtle/peony/musk),medium blue

#4 NEW: orchid, licorice,amber, fig. Candle is black.

We can offer these to you at$10 BELOW RETAIL PRICE.They are $24 (US $) each,plus shipping. Email your

order to me [email protected] sothat I can compute shippingcost, or write to me: SharonKalinoski, P O Box 7745,

Romeoville, IL 60446, USA


YOUR LETTERS

"I'D BUY A BIG HOUSE ..."Except for ''Elton John's

Flower Fantasies'' and''Architectural Digest,'' fewpublications have delved intothe star's domiciles. So it was anice surprise to find TWOprofiles in the March Mag. The''Atlanta Journal'' reprint wasespecially amusing, with itsdescription of the designers'struggle to ''saddle up'' equinesculptures for Elton's annex.Perhaps the team should havecalled upon a Brown DirtCowboy!

Cheryl HermanU.S.A.

ELTON SENDS CARDI heard an interesting little

anecdote whilst in the carlistening to DJ and comedianDanny Baker on BBC RadioLondon. Someone phoned inwith a story that involved SouthAudley Street, London. Once thecaller had gone Danny said, "Iused to work in a record shoparound there, and Elton John,who's offices were opposite,used to come in each week tomake his purchases. I was 15 atthe time, it was before Elton wasout (of the closet), and the press,suspecting, were sniffing around.Express journalists visited me inmy digs that I shared with 2mates. They were saying, youknow Elton don't you, andsuddenly came out with, "Youlived with him for a year didn'tyou?" My mates, straight faced,went along with it and said‘Yeah, that's right he did." Dannywent onto say that he got a cardfrom Elton saying, ‘Sorry aboutall the trouble Danny, but youknow all the press are ******’.He has still got the card!

John Michie, UK

ELTON ROCKS AUSTRALIAI think I must have Elton John

batteries because I have justbeen recharged! Monday 29April at the SydneyEntertainment Centre. It was fan-bloody-tastic and left my wifeand I feeling on top of theworld. We could have rippedthe chairs out and danced rightthrough the entire performance.Opening with Funeral for aFriend some of the songs I can'tget out of my head includeHoliday Inn, Rocket Man (ofcourse), Someone Saved My LifeTonight, Ballad of the Boy inRed Shoes and This Train.

I recall seeing a muchyounger Elton in Brisbane manyyears ago sliding across the topof his piano. Well theacrobatics may have mellowedbut the showmanship isawesome. Needless to say, theElton John albums are still goingaround and around on ourturntable. It was a real surpriseto see Nigel Olsen back ondrums after being absent for solong. If there had been anelection in Sydney Elton wouldhave won! What a night, thisguy is a wizard.

Bob Oscar, Australia (sent to our websitewww.eltonfan.net)

We always love to hear from you; after all, it is YOUR Elton John fan-club. If you have anything you would like to share with other Elton fans, thenplease send your letters to the Editor, Tammi Law (address on page 2),

or e-mail [email protected]

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MEGA FAN ANDY THORPE from London has bought a newcar. Nothing unusual in that,but take a look at his newregistration plate! AT51 ELT.Nice pic Andy!

DATE CITY VENUE

ELTON & BAND TOUR 200222-May Benidorm, Spain Football Stadium25-May Verona, Italy Arena (open air)26-May Pesaro, Italy Sport Palace28-May Paris, France Bercy29-May Antwerp, Belgium Sportpalais31-May Copenhagen, Denmark Parken Stadium01-June Oslo, Norway Oslo Spektrum02-June Oslo, Norway Oslo Spektrum04-June Helsinki, Finland Hartwell Arena05-June Helsinki, Finland Hartwell Arena07-June Gothenburg, Sweden Scandinavium08-June Stockholm, Sweden Globen10-June Frankfurt, Germany Festhalle11-June Rotterdam, Netherlands Ahoy13-June Kiel, Germany Ostseehalle14-June Berlin, Germany Max-Schmeling-Halle16-June Erfurt, Germany Messehalle (Benefit Show)17-June Innsbruck, Austria Neuer Tivoli (open air)19-June Riesa, Germany Sachsenarena20-June Duesseldorf, Germany Rheinhalle22-June Stuttgart, Germany Schleyerhalle23-June Munich, Germany Olympiahalle25-June Vienna, Austria Schloss Schönbrunn (open air)29-June Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadion30-June Zurich, Switzerland Hallenstadion02-July Birmingham, UK NEC03-July Birmingham, UK NEC05-July Newcastle, UK Telewest Arena07-July Killarney, Ireland Fitzgerald Stadium09-July Liverpool, UK King's Dock waterfront 12-July Divonne, France Hippodrome28-Aug Kelowna, Canada to be confirmed30-Aug Calgary, Canada to be confirmed31-Aug Edmonton, Canada to be confirmed01-Sep Saskatoon, Canada to be confirmed

ELTON JOHN & BILLY JOEL TOUR 200213-Sep Tampa, FL Ice Palace17-Sep Atlanta, GA Philips Arena20-Sep Boston, MA Fleet Center23-Sep New York, NY Madison Square Garden25-Sep Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum27-Sep Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum02-Oct Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena04-Oct Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena08-Oct Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena11-Oct Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum13-Oct Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum

ELTON & BAND TOUR 2002 (CONTINUED)03-Dec Manchester, UK M.E.N. Arena05-Dec Belfast, Ireland Odyssee Arena 07-Dec Glasgow, UK S.E.C.C.08-Dec Glasgow, UK S.E.C.C.09-Dec Sheffield, UK Arena11-Dec London, UK Wembley Arena12-Dec London, UK Wembley Arena13-Dec London, UK Wembley Arena

Quarterly Fanzine. Issue 59. June 2002 27

TOUR DATES 2002

Please note: This is not an official Tour Schedule, as it contains unconfirmeddates at time of going to press.

1: Suit of Wolves 2: A Word in Spanish 3: I’ve Seen That Movie Too 4: One More Arrow 5: Blues for My Baby and Me6: Screw You 7: Harmony 8: Border Song 9: Grey Seal 10: Pain 11: Grimsby 12: Street Kids

LYRIC QUIZ ANSWERS

PLEASE NOTE...

SMALL ADS…are free to Hercules members.Send yours to the Editor, TammiLaw (address on page 2), or e-mail her at [email protected]

VINYL SINGLES AND ALBUMS FROM EJ

- they are still around. For afree list write [email protected] or BrunoKohli, member of Elton John FanClub HERCULES, Roessliwiese,CH-8854, Siebnen, Switzerland

REGGIE ZIPPO'S AMAZING COLLECTIBLES

You are invited to browsethrough Reggie Zippo's AmazingCollectibles athttp://reggiezippo1.tripod.com.Reggie has a lot of cool andunusual movie, TV, music, sports,and various collectiblememorabilia for sale. Of course,there are Elton John items as well.Be sure to see the 16 Elton JohnCelebrity Cels available. To contactReggie by snail mail, sendinquiries to Reggie Zippo, PO Box894, Lebanon, Ohio 45036, USA.He is looking forward to hearingfrom you soon!

Eltonjohnworld.com tellsHercules that it is now fully bookedfor the June 1-3 Ultimate Elton JohnTour of UK places of interest for Eltonand Bernie fans in London andLincolnshire. If fans are interested infuture events, please email:[email protected].

The Hercules UK Hotline, whichwas suspended last year, is beingreopened from June 2002. Nowadministered by eltonjohnworld.com,the Hotline is still at 0906 888 2020.

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