THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB Winter 2013€¦ · ANDREW BARNETT - Essex (30 years)...

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

Winter 2013

LONG SERVING MEMBERS:

UIGI BENEGGI - Italy (32 years)ANDREW BARNETT - Essex (30 years)

CHRIS FRANCIS - Kent (35 years)CATHERINE GARDYNE - Scotland (18 years)

CHRISTINE CAINS - Dorset (36 years)BETTINA LINDQUIST - Finland (20 years)

PAUL WALBYOFF - Monmouthshire (27 years)GERALDINE MARTIN - Merseyside (40 years!)

PHILIP THOMPSON - County Durham

tails) - AND.... who knows about that tour teaser?!! Start saving everyone!That‘s it from me for now - have a brilliant, peaceful and fun filled Christmas, and may the New year bring you and yours all you wish for!

2 3 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

W ell it has been a great Queeny year hasn‘t it?!

New Roger album, The Lot, the Cross collection, Brian and Kerry‘s dates and re-leases. Brian‘s book sig-nings, badger savings and wood plantings! WWRY touring in North America, Extravaganza touring the US and the UK, FFAD, Con-vention, Queen and Adam in Vegas, the Studio Experi-ence in Montreux, Cross re-union with the SAS Band Xmas bash (which was ama-zing by the way!), a new deal with Universal just signed, probably more stuff I have forgotten... and to top it all this little teaser from Brian‘s website (brianmay.com) just this week (Dec 3rd) „Queen meeting in Montreux. We discussed touring ! Can‘t tell you what the outcome of this conversation was. But well, interesting! Yep. I know. I‘m bad. But I promise as soon as there is definite news, you will have it. When Queen calls, it‘s hard to hang up“...what can I say?!! Such exciting news!In all, a brilliant Queen year, and next year seems it might be shaping up the same! Brian and Kerry dates in the early part of the year. April 26th we will be ha-ving a big Fan Club Party to celebrate the fan club‘s 40th anniversary! It will be held at Lakeside, in Frim-ley, Surrey (www.lakesidesurrey.co.uk/) Details will be sent out via email soon, PLEASE ensure you are registered on our members only website. If you DON‘T have email, drop me a line or call after Christmas! I am also trying to get the club back in the Guinness Book Of Records for a second time - NO fan club has EVER reached 40 years! We may have a picnic at the Nene Valley Railway in the summer for the anniversa-ry of Breakthru. Then of course the convention, next September (Go to: www.arenatravel.com for full de-

The Official International Queen Fan ClubP.O. Box 141, West Horsley, Surrey KT24 9AJT: +44 (0) 1483 281995, E: [email protected]

Hi Everyone!

Graphic Design:Christoph von Herrath

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01892 617999

From Queen to You


John, 46 year old Queen fan, is beginning to think he is the only fan in Scotland! Looking to get in touch with male and female fans! John Giannandrea, 47 Kilbrennan Drive, Tamfourhill, Falkirk, FK1 4SQ

Love and warm hugsRIP David Richards, who sadly died on Decemebr 20th. A wonderful, talented man, who was responsible for many of

Queen‘s greatest albums. He will be much missed.

website (brianmay.com) just „Queen

meeting in Montreux. We discussed touring ! Can‘t tell you what the outcome of this conversation was. But

Yep. I know. I‘m bad. But I promise as soon as there is definite news, you will have

LONG SERVING MEMBERS:

News Roundup

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB4

News Roundup News Roundup

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB 5

The Candelight Concerts: 8 - 26 February 2014

News Roundup

Due to the phenomenal success of their previous tours, legendary Queen Guitarist Brian May and singing sensation Kerry Ellis are to perform to-

gether once again, in a brand new show, The Candlelight Concerts.Beginning at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage on 18th February, this is a chance to see one of the world’s greatest guitar players, Brian May and Britain’s newest First Lady of song, Kerry Ellis take to stage. Join them for a magical evening of world class acoustic music, perfor-med by candlelight at intimate venues around the UK.Kerry Ellis was the creator of the role of Meat in Queen’s Rock theatrical, We Will Rock You, and went on to be-come a sensation on both sides of the Atlantic starring as the Green Witch in the musical Wicked. Throughout this time, Brian May and Kerry Ellis maintained a special musi-cal partnership, with May producing the fine Ellis debut album ‘Anthems’ in 2010. Their first tour played 12 suc-cessful dates around the UK in 2011, including two sold-out nights at London’s Albert Hall, for which Kerry won the Best Solo Performance award from Whatsonstage.com. The two then returned to the road with their eager-ly anticipated tour in November last year, which was ex-tended in 2013.The Candlelight Concerts will see Brian and Kerry per-form stripped down versions of Queen classics alongside a number of their personal favourite songs, showcasing Kerry’s extraordinary voice with Brian accompanying her on both guitar and vocals.Brian May said: “Although life has taken me into so many

Brian May is launching a new music video, colla-borating not only with his long-time singing part-ner Kerry Ellis, but also with legendary British

screen actress Virginia McKenna.The track is a haunting version of Virginia McKenna’s original song “Nothing Really Has Changed”. The release of the track forms part of May’s hard-fought campaign to oppose the continued slaughter of thousands of Britain’s badgers under the Government’s ‘roll out’ ofthe cull which would see the killing of thousands of healthy animals. May comments: “The so-called trials are going ahead despite fierce public opinion, under conditions of secrecy - nobody is allowed in the areas of the cull, and no photographs may be taken - and with absolutely no form of public accountability. The Govern-ment continues to ignore the whole scientific communi-ty, and the view of the public. The cull is a disaster as was predicted; it was never on the cards that culling could eradicate bTB - only vaccina-tion can do that. Nobody benefits - certainly not the farmers, or the tax-

payer. The Government has plunged, blinkered into this mess. So, after all this, what will have changed ? Virginia’s song, ‘Nothing Really Has Changed’ is the per-fect message for this time.”It was recorded during Ellis and May’s live performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, as part of their ‘Acoustic By Candlelight’ tour, and the video for the song is available to view on YouTube to buy on iTunes. All profits from the sale of this track will go to the “Sponsor Badger Vaccina-tion Fund”. Viewers can also donate to the Fund on You-Tube.

new areas recently, music is still what energises me - the greatest joy. And Ms Ellis is the most inspiring collabora-tor - we’re a pretty good band! I’m grateful for the opportu-nity to bring this show to a wider audience - already working on hardening up the finger ends…”Kerry Ellis added: “I am so excited to be taking to the road again with the candlelight concerts; it‘s humbling to have such demand for our show. I can‘t tell you how much I enjoy performing these songs with Brian and what fun we have with the audiences in these intimate settings. I feel very honoured and can‘t wait to get going.“Tickets for The Candlelight Concerts are on sale now.

Full UK Tour Dates18 February 2014 - Stevenage Gordon Craig Theatre

www.gordon-craig.co.uk / 01438 363 20019 February - Buxton Festival

www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk / 0845 127 219021 February - Scarborough Spa

www.scarboroughspa.co.uk / 01723 821 888, £3922 February - Grantham Meres

www.guildhallartscentre.com / 01476 406158, £3923 February - Bath Theatre Royal

www.theatreroyal.org.uk / 01225 44884425 February - Eastbourne Congress

www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk / 01323 41200026 February - Southend Cliffs Pavilion

www.southendtheatres.org.uk / 01702 351135Tickets priced: £39.00 / £40.00, To book tickets please call the Credit Card Hotline on 0844 758 758For online bookings please visit www.ticketzone.co.uk

Kerry Ellis & Brian May

Badgers!!!

ty, and the view of the public. The cull is a disaster as was predicted; it was never on the cards that culling

tion can do that. Nobody benefits -

Badgers!!!

Registration is now open for the brilliant Breakthru con-vention! After a brilliant weekend in Toronto earlier this year, next year sees it return to Clevelnd, Ohio, July 25 to 27. Always a fantastic, Queen filled weekend, a must for all North American fans! http://www.queenbreakthru.com/ for full information and booking details. See you there!!

Breakthru 2014

November 25, 2013 - The Interna-tional Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the winners of the 41st International Emmy Awards tonight at a Gala event atten-ded by over 1000 international tele-vision professionals and hosted by John Oliver at the New York Hilton. The Great Pretender, Rhys Thomas‘s excellent documentary, tied for the Arts Programming award, with a Ko-rean documentary. Well done Rhys!

New York

“Brian May‘s Red Special - The story of the home-made guitar that rocked Queen and the World“. The book is in the very early days at the moment. No release date except hopefully by christmas next year, it will be published by Carl-ton Books. Brian said on his website (www.brianmay.com) “The Book on the Red Special is ongoing work in progress and is coming on very well! I‘m actually a lot more excited about it than I expec-ted to be!! The pictures alone will be quite shocking to some people - there

is so much that has never been seen!“

New Book

Breakthru 2014

“Brian May‘s Red Special - The story of the home-made guitar that rocked Queen and the World“. The book is in the very early days at the moment. No release date except hopefully by christmas next year, it will be published by Carl-ton Books. Brian said on his website (www.

“The Book on the Red Special is ongoing work in progress and

News Roundup


News Roundup

7 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

The 2014 Official Queen calendar is now available online! www.danilo.com/Shop/Music-Calendars/Queen-2014-Calendar

November 11th saw the release of Roger‘s long awaited new album „Fun On Earth“, plus the definitive box set of his solo work, and his output with The Cross.The Lot comprises of Roger’s solo albums Fun In Space (1981), Strange Frontier (1984), Happiness? (1994), Electric Fire (1998) and Fun On Earth, as well as the three albums by his band The Cross - Shove It (1988), Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (1990) and Blue Rock (1991). Although he was known for enjoying the rock’n’roll lifestyle, Fun On Earth and the breadth of The Lot perfectly showcases Taylor’s versatility and veracious appetite for hard work.The Cross celebrated their 20th anniversary reunion with a gig at the G Live in Guildford, Surrey on December 7th, as part of the SAS Christmas Party concert. But sadly still no news on any possible live dates from Roger!

This year, for Children in Need here in the UK, celebrities were asked to decorate their own Pudsey Bear, and tehse were then auctioned on Ebay, all proceeds benefitting the charity. The designers were Sir Paul McCartney, Coldplay, Sir Terry Wogan, Dame Shirley Bassey, Brian May, Dame Judi Dench, Joanna Lumley and Dame Helen Mirren. Brian’s Astronomy Bear is inspired by his passi-on for astronomy and his Doctorate in Astrophysics, and comes with its very own telescope, so Pudsey can enjoy star gazing, as his creator intended. This is Brian‘s Pud-sey, and he sold for £1550.00!

There is no news to report on this I‘m afraid, although meetings have taken place, casting sessions have been and gone... all I can give you is this quote from Brian, featured on his Soapbox on November 24th...

„For us, a day to DO something, marking a date where we feel a cold wind. And we did.Roger and I met with Graham King, the patient man who has been piloting our Freddie film through tricky waters this last couple of years.And we had a fabulous breakthrough moment. We saw some trial footage which brought big smiles to our faces, and made three decisions which will enable us to press that vital button this coming week, barring inclement acts of the Gods. So we should be actually shooting footage before long. It will come quicker than we think.This is a good wind blowing. Freddie must be smiling, with a glint in the eye.Cheers all, Til soon - Bri“

Queen Calendar

Roger Solo and The Lot A Very Special Pudsey Queen/Freddie Film

You know Robert De Niro in acclaimed acting roles as „Vito Corleone“ in The Godfather Part II and „Jake La-Motta“ in Raging Bull, but he‘s now taking on a new role as producer of the musical We Will Rock You. „Why not?“ De Niro said in an interview before a rehearsal for We Will Rock You in America. „...You never know until you go. ... It‘s just a fun thing to take a shot at, and it‘s not easy.“ The musical, which is being brought to the States after years of worldwide success, is a story created by English playwright and director Ben Elton that encom-passes a catalogue of songs from rock band Queen. As a rock lover himself, De Niro says that project was so-mething he was passionate about.„I was very enthusiastic; Jane [Rosenthal] (co-produ-cer), because of her enthusiasm, I said ‚Let‘s do it!‘ ... The music is great.“ he said.WWRY continues it‘s extensive tour - for full details and dates go to www.wewillrockyou.com.

Brian‘s latest book project, Stereoscopic Adventures in Hell was published by the London Stereoscopic Company (www.londonstereo.co.uk) on Halloween, 31 Oc-tober, and has been written and resear-ched by Brian May, Denis Pellerin and Paula Fleming. It is 280 pages with 500 photographs in colour and black and white and it comes complete with an OWL stereo viewer designed by Brian May.

We Will Rock You

Diableries

News RoundupNews Roundup

The Planting of 157-acre site, May’s Wood, began Saturday September 28 2013. Dr Brian May, founder of Save Me planted the first tree to mark the start of a Save Me project to establish a new native woodland on a 157-acre site in Bere Regis, Dorset. In total, more than 100,000 trees and shrubs will be planted over the next 12 months in what is one of the largest new woodland planting schemes in the south of England this year. Brian‘s Save Me woodland plan-ting scheme aims to create a significant wildlife haven and enhanced ecological habitat on a site to the southern side of the village of Bere Regis which was previously agricultu-ral land. For further information on this, and all Save Me projects, go to http://www.save-me.org.uk/

May‘s Wood


Roger appeared on the BBC‘s „The One Show“ on October 18th, to promote Fun On Earth, The Lot and Extravaganza. I was asked to find some fans to be in the audience at quite short notice, but as usual, there were many willing people out there! The photo shows all of those who attended - thanks guys!

night with a maximum occupancy of two persons per room. £10.00 per person non-re-fundable deposit is required when booking either by paypal or cheque, and full payment is required in cash on arrival.Tel: 01803 389229 / email: garytaylortqy @aol.com for enquiries and bookings (mobi-le: 07944435883).You can find us on Facebook at‚ B&B in Torquay - For Queen Fans‘.And for further information on the area visit www.englishriviera.co.uk/places-to-visit/english-riviera/torquay

B&B IN TORQUAY - FOR QUEEN FANS

Do you fancy a break in Devon, in the gorgeous Sou-th West area of England? For a weekend getaway, midweek break or longer holiday, come and enjoy

the hospitality at our friendly home in Torquay. The Torbay area is known as The English Riviera and we enjoy the mildest climate in the whole of Britain.We are situated in peaceful Wellswood, between Babba-combe and Torquay, just a 10 minute walk and a 4 minute drive to the main town centre, harbour side and sea. We are also on the local bus route from Torquay town and harbourside.We offer 2 clean, comfortable and quiet double rooms with own en-suite shower facilities. Each bedroom looks out over the peaceful rear garden and comes complete with flat screen TV, double gla-zing and heating. There is a Queen theme running through the whole house as well as the guest bedrooms.A choice of hot and cold breakfast is opti-onal at an additional cost of £5 per per-son. We also cater for vegetarians. We do not offer evening meals but there are many local restaurants catering for every taste.Accommodation costs £20 per person per

B&B IN TORQUAY - FOR QUEEN FANS

night with a maximum occupancy of two persons per room. £10.00 per person non-refundable deposit is required when booking either by paypal or cheque, and full payment is required in cash on arrival.Tel: 01803 389229 / email: garytaylortqy @aol.com for enquiries and bookings (mobile: 07944435883).You can find us on Facebook at‚ B&B in Torquay - For Queen Fans‘.And for further information on the area visit www.englishriviera.co.uk/places-to-visit/english-riviera/torquay

the peaceful rear garden and comes -

zing and heating. There is a Queen theme running through the whole house as well

A choice of hot and cold breakfast is opti-onal at an additional cost of £5 per per-son. We also cater for vegetarians. We do not offer evening meals but there are many local restaurants catering for every taste.Accommodation costs £20 per person per

The first Queen Convention that I attended after several months’ consideration was the 25th anni-versary in 2010. The idea that I go there alone

seemed scary, I did not know anyone there. I had a few days in London before Convention weekend. I met Ger-man Queen fans before the We Will Rock You musical, they were also going to the Convention on next day. We went to a bar for a few pints after the show, and we dis-cussed everything from Queen to our cultural differen-ces. Fear of being alone and going to the Queen Conven-tion started to evaporate. They were my first Queen friends whom I have kept in touch with ever since.

The next morning I was waiting for the train in Liverpool Street Station, and I was very excited. At the station I met René and Lonnie from Minnesota, USA. I traveled part of the journey with them. We went to the Convention and hung together during the day, another friendship was born. While in the evening I met lots of people who beca-me my Queen friends and more than just Queen friends. People at the Convention have always been quite ama-zing, so is the whole atmosphere. I didn’t use English very much before the Convention, so I tried to listen and drink more than talk. Sometimes I purposely stood a little away from the crowd, but always someone pulled me to join with others and they forced me to chat! Every

Moran (in red, from Israel), Henry (very drunk, from Finland) and Erika (in blue, from Brazil).

year my English keeps getting better and better. Thank you for that, you lovely Queenies.Since 25th Convention I have made dozens of friends at the Conventions and a number of those have become a really close to me. My closest friend Erika lives in Brazil,

we met at 26th Queen Convention. I can share sadness, happiness, laughs, tears and dreams with her. Queen meetings have brought much joy to my life and friend-ships all over the world, at the Convention all seems to be a one big Queen family and that‘s what we are.The Queen Convention is a spectacular part of something incredibly nice and cool! It’s beyond belief how you can be a part of something like this, unbelievable. Thank you all. Cheers!Henry K. Rock, Finland ...ps waiting the next one...Many thanks to Henry for his account of attending his first convention – I know many fans feel the same. They would love to attend, but feel a little nervous about being alone. This never happens! Everyone will be your friend, and never let you be alone, and many will become friends for life. Next years convention will be at Presthaven Sands in North Wales (NOT the same venue we used to go to!). September 26 to 29th 2014. It is already over half way to being sold out, but there are still places available! To find out more about the event, accommodation and prices, go to www.arenatravel.com. Or you can call their dedicated booking team on 01473 660800.

The First Convention


Friends will be Friends...

Moran (in red, from Israel), Henry (very drunk, from

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB10 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB 11

R eferring to The Queen Studio Experience, a permanent exhibition in Montreux, some-one wrote on a Queen forum the other day,

„Sounds like a great thing - I‘d love to visit one day.“I would like to say this... and as you know, I rarely if ever rave over much. I‘ll make an exception for this.It is indeed a great thing. It‘s actually very significant, and perhaps more than some of you might realise - as I don‘t know if the press release is widely available or not.When you arrive at this enigmatic and hugely atmos-pheric place, and step inside the room where all four Queen band members once wrote, created, recorded together, you are immediately aware that you‘re in‚ the place to be‘ for any real and true Queen fan.You are in the actual room where Freddie Mercury recorded his very last vocal performances. The actual spot where he stood is marked on the floor. It‘s rather chilling on some levels. It may even move you.Then, if you wish, you can sit at the mightily impressi-ve control desk and mix the vocals, bass, gtr, piano, drums, etc, on some wonderful songs that Queen re-

corded there in that room, at that desk, with trusted co-producer David Richards by their side. You can play at being the sound engineer at one of those legen-dary sessions that gave us Mother Love and A Winter‘s Tale. Turn up the bass, turn down the voice. A little more gtr, a little less piano. You decide.It is a magical experience, and there is no other space in this world like it. It has a unique place in Queen history and, in my opinion, you do actually ‚feel‘ it... unless you‘re a cold and insensitive soul, of course. Like Freddie wrote, you have to open up your mind and step inside, to take the most away from it.I went out to the venue a few weeks back and set up 7 or 8 display cabinets. Nice big lovely expensive (and SECURE) glass cases, not tiny boxes. They‘re great! There are some fab things to see, some of them for the very first time. Brian‘s original handwritten lyrics for ‚Tie Your Mother Down‘ for example, which we only found at the house this year! There is, to my mind any-way, truly startling Queen history to look at in your own time, so take your time. I love such things; I could spend all day just looking at the handwritten

lyrics. Roger‘s Action This Day lyrics are there too, and exam-ples from John and Freddie!!There is much to see and take in, much to hear, and the control room alone makes the visit worthwhile.Stop and imagine for a moment; yourself standing on the very same spot that Freddie stood when he sang his very last songs. The room in which he downed that vodka and, as Brian recalled, just „went for it!“ And then... you can listen, on brilliant speakers, to the fi-nal result of those sessions. The clarity and starkness will shock you!!!! Be prepared for this. There are other surprises in that room too.My colleague Justin went out after me, to set up the sound system and mix faders, etc, and he has offered ‚something‘ there, for you guys to ponder, (which i‘ll not disclose now) which is extremely interesting, and a first. Justin was there too during Queen‘s final re-cording sessions together. It‘s quite a thought, isn‘t it!There are many subtle things to take in at this QSE. It‘s not merely exhibits and clinical text on walls. This exhibition is the first of its kind. It‘s largely about ‚fee-

ling‘ the place and taking in all that happened there back in 1978/79, during the early

and late 80s, and of course in 1991.It is very special and it‘s definitely worth the journey - or pilgrimage, might be a better word.Seriously (I can be sometimes!!!)... you‘ll love this exhibition. You‘ll love Montreux if you‘ve never been before. You can see the Freddie statue too, and other breathtaking scenes and blissful landscapes. And swans floating by. And if you see me there, you really ought to offer me a beer as a small thank you for this insight.I know I sound like a publicity man, but that wasn‘t the intent. I‘m just genuinely excited about this, it‘s a great experience, so I thought I‘d share a little.Go see it. Greg Brooks (Queen Archivist)Queen: ‘The Studio Experience Montreux‘ was ope-ned by Brian May and Roger Taylor December 2, 2013. Thereafter open daily from 10:30 to 22:00. Entrance free although donations to the Mercury Phoenix Trust are encouraged.

A Queen PilgRimAge By The lAke


Fan Story

12

How I Became A Queen Fan...

I first “discovered” Queen in 2011. Of course I knew about the group beforehand – who could escape Bohemian Rhapsody in England? – but I paid little

attention to the group for a couple of simple reasons. Firstly, I was born in 1994. To put that into perspecti-ve, the first Queen album that was released after I was born was Made in Heaven; a mere year later. I did not grow up with the Queen hype: I didn’t see them tour with Freddie and the only activity that they had in my infancy was with Queen+ Paul Rodgers and their The Cosmos Rocks album, which was very under-promo-ted to the point where I didn’t know such a collabora-tion existed.So how did I discover the group? Well, I’m a big fan of going to car boot sales, because you never know if you’re going to find any kind of hidden gem out in the wild and – being a retro video game enthusiast – I was always prepared to spend a couple of hours each week searching for a potential gem. It was at my local car boot sale one cold March morning in 2011 where something sparked my curiosity: Queen’s Made in Heaven album. I knew enough about the group to know that this was their last album, and the one they re-leased after Freddie’s death, so – out of morbid curi-osity – I bought it for £1 to see how the group tackled the task of making a posthumous album. However, I think I listened to it once and swiftly forgot about it due to problems I was having at school in the time. You see, I was bullied relentlessly at school because, well... I was different. This sounds clichéd, but I liked different things from most people – the music of Mi-chael Jackson, retro video games, non-mainstream films – and I therefore became a big target for people. It was a very painful time, and it completely consu-med me to the point where I became a paranoid mess, and all of my passions took a backseat to merely sur-viving that year of school.Thankfully I did survive, but I went out of the frying pan and into the fire. You see, school students nowa-days are surprisingly co-ordinated and organised: they will hit you where it hurts and at the time where it will hurt the most. While I escaped that level of co-ordination when I went to college, I came across a different opposition: the artsy dramatic Performance Studies types who believe that everything they create is a work of art, and are unwilling to accept any form of criticism. They were few and far between, but they became vicious if you dare criticise their work. This made working with them unbearable when it came to

collaborative work. During this time, I clung to a par-ticular song: The Show Must Go On. It became an anthem; a mantra to which I lived by during this time of insane stress:

No Matter What, The Show Must Go On.

Because of this song, I began to look at Queen again, and as fate would have it another car boot sale one year later on April 2012 yielded a gem to which I could learn more about the group: The Freddie Mercury Tribute Show on VHS. Why I pick the morbid, post-death stuff is beyond me, but I gladly paid £2 for it and watched it as soon as I got home. I became more acquainted with their catalogue through this, and when Brian sang Too Much Love Will Kill You – sup-posedly the first time the public was introduced to this song – a memory was triggered. “Wait, wasn’t

Fan Story

13

...and the CRAZY Journey that En-sued. By Sam “KaisaJesta” Geden

that song on Made in Heaven? Did Freddie sing it? I have to listen to that again...” And so I did.

And then it clicked. My God. Where has this been all my life? I was bitten by the Queen bug and listened religiously to anything I could find. For a couple of months I looked around trying to find as much information as I could on the group and getting as many cheap albums as I could (I’m just a poor boy from a poor family, after all!) and then the news was announced: Queen+ Adam Lambert would be playing the Hammersmith Apollo. Holy ****, this I had to see! It was only a mini-

tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For all I knew, Brian and Roger may have begun tired and disillusioned with touring by this point, so I got two tickets to see the final show on July 14th 2012, for me and a friend. We went there and what unfolded before us was nothing short of legendary. It was my first concert ever, and to this day it is still the best one I’ve been to.Now, I have been suffering with Depression for a good number of years, largely due to explosive issues with my family and the behaviour I was subjected to by my peers in school. It’s a crippling thing to live with and I’ve struggled with it quite a lot in the past couple of years. Of course, being a teenager with an inferiority complex, I made my woes known on Twitter; not ex-pecting sympathy but merely to just blow off steam. But on one October night something greatly unexpec-ted happened. Brian May tweeted me out of the blue. Not only that, but he followed me on there.

Wait, what? What!? HOLY $#!^ I of course knew that Brian suffered with Depression very severely in the 90s with the loss of his marriage, his father and dear Freddie, but this was something I never expected. Was it because beforehand I was tal-king about Made in Heaven and praising the song Mother Love for being one of the best songs of all time, in every conceivable area? I don’t know, but his support meant a lot in what was one of the darkest patches of my life.

This is pretty much where the story of how I became a Queen fan ends, but the crazy journey is just begin-ning. In February I was in London and – by sheer coincidence – Brian was doing a book-signing at Ast-roFest for his latest Astronomy book The Cosmic Tou-rist. How could I turn down the opportunity to see him? I attended the event and he was exactly like he was on YouTube and in all the stories I read from people: kind, courteous and very humble. He also si-gned my Made in Heaven album: my reason for being a Queen fan. Funnily enough, he didn’t recognize me from Twitter but I didn’t really expect him to. Howe-ver, I met him again while I was volunteering at Tiger Tracks in March. I was made aware of this by Brian via Twitter and I had always wanted to do some volun-teer work if only to force myself out of my introversion for a couple of hours and try to help the world in some small way. So I signed up for the first day of the event because that was the only day I could do it, and it turns out that Brian and Kerry Ellis were also there. My friend and I were positioned by the Recycled Tiger, so he came by fairly quickly. My friend – being a Ker-ry Ellis fan – wanted a picture of all of us and Kerry happily obliged, calling Brian over for a picture. After the first picture, he walked up right beside me and asked the cameraman to take another one. “Are you sure?” the guy asked. “Yeah, let’s have another one!” Did he recognize me that time? I don’t know, but it still showed that he was a kind and caring person to anyone that wanted to have some of his time.The third time I met Brian was on the Badger Cull March. Now, Brian had ignited my passion for ani-mal wildlife protection, and when I became aware of what the Badger Cull was, I was horrified of what the Government were doing and what little scientific basis they had for enacting the Cull. I wanted to do something; anything to try to stop this, so I plugged the hell out of the Government petition on my Twit-ter account and I attended the March. I knew that Brian would be there, but this wasn’t about meeting Brian: I wanted to do something to help the world, and this was all I could think of doing. The atmos-phere of the March was indescribable: I had never known such a mass of people to be united over one cause before (keep in mind, I was just 18 at the time and I never wanted to get into politics because I knew – even from a young age – that it would just cause stress to try to fight the system). While we were marching, I happened to get close to Brian and

that song on Made in Heaven? Did Freddie sing it? I have to listen to that again...” And so I did.

Where has this been all my life?

I was bitten by the Queen bug and I was bitten by the Queen bug and listened religiously to anything I could find. For a couple of months I looked around trying to find as much information as I could on the group and getting as many cheap albums as I could (I’m just a poor boy from a poor family, after all!) and then a poor family, after all!) and then the news was announced: Queen+

tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For tour, and I didn’t know if they would tour again! For



day last year, November 18. Both of these tattoos were done by a tattoo artist named Mario Sanchez of Prick Tattoos here in San Antonio, Texas. I just wanted to share these with you, I hope you like them! I don‘t think I will have anything but Queen rela-ted tattoos done, that is how much I love them! Take care!

Fan Story

14

when he looked at me, he had a warm smile on his face and I sheepishly asked “Hi Brian, do you re-member me?” and he went “Of course I do! You’re Sam!” For that moment, my mind exploded. For the rest of the March, we walked in close proximity of each other and exchanged smiles to each other whe-never we made eye contact.In the Summer, I also met Brian’s lovely wife Anita Dob-son while catching a show in London called Carnival of the Animals. My friend and I had gathered a small bag of gifts for her and when we presented them to her, she was completely taken aback by it and thanked us both before giving us big hugs! She also invited us to stay after-wards to hang out, which we obliged.In October, I was very fortunate to be chosen to go to a screening of The One Show with a bunch of other Queen Fan Club members because Roger was being interviewed. I jumped at the chance to go for the possibility of meeting Roger. To cut a long story short, Roger didn’t want to hang out after the show and took off as soon as the cameras stop-ped rolling. I wasn’t too beaten up about it though, because it was great to hang out with fellow Queen fans and I made a number of wonderful friends on that trip, so it was still completely worth-while. Later on in the month, I won a competition to attend a VIP Halloween party in celebration of the launch of Brian’s new book Diableries: Stereo-scopic Adventures in Hell, and of course I jumped at the opportunity. The party was fantastic and I met so many won-derful people, like the wonderful Ja-cky, Neil Murray, Greg Brooks and Anita again, who recognized me from last time. Anita and I actually had a heart-to-heart about life and Depression, in which she told me that my life had barely begun and that you just have to keep on trying no matter what life throws at you. I was so humbled to have that conver-sation with her, and afterwards she invited me to hang out with her for the rest of the night, which I happily obliged. Brian was also there, and as soon as he saw me he gained that familiar warm smile and shook my hand. Later on, I went up to him and thanked

him for releasing the book because a lot of the com-positions were giving me ideas for a film project I am currently conceptualising. Brian appeared humbled and said “Thank you so much! I love what you write on Twitter and the things you’re doing for the animals is wonderful, so put it there!” and he put out his hand. It was like I was in a dream in which everyone was so kind and friendly: something I’m still not fully accustomed to because of all the stuff that happened in school.

A couple of days later, I went to a Diab-leries lecture, wishing to know more about the cards and their history. It was a deeply fascinating lecture and I slightly caught the Stereo bug from it, because I can definitely see why people enjoy them so much. At the subsequent book-signing, Brian saw me and my friend and yet again donned that warm smile. “Oh! It’s you two – hello!” When we finished taking a photo and we were walking off, he called out to me: “Re-member that whenever you fall down, just keep on getting up!” I was so taken aback by his kindness that I actually forgot the book and his PA chased after me to return it! Did Anita talk to him about the talk we had a couple of days before? Was he aware that I was going through a rough patch? I don’t know, but his kindness and well-wishes still means the world to me.So that’s my story, thus far. I’ve only been a Queen fan for two years and yet so many amazing things have happe-ned! I’ve seen Queen+ perform; I’ve seen both members of the group live and I’ve met Brian on several occasi-ons to the point where he seems to en-

joy my company (though maybe that’s the optimism in me). The year ahead is looking great as well, with the Queen Fan Club convention in September being so-mething I’m really looking forward to. I’ve met so many amazing and warm people that it makes me feel so fortunate to even be a fan. Being a Queen fan has improved my quality of life so much, and it has made me feel like I actually have friends: something I’ve struggled with since I was a child. To that, I thank you all. Sam “KaisaJesta” Geden

15

A brand new YouTube channel -

created specially for Queen fans, by Queen

fans… is now live

I wanted to send in pictures of my tat-toos. My oldest one is the Queen crest, located on my lower back, and I‘ve had it since March 2004. The Hot Space tattoo on my left arm was done last year on

September 9, and the Lover of Life, Singer of Songs Freddie tattoo on my right arm was done on my birth-

The Tattoos of Brandy Huston

To that, I thank you all. Sam “KaisaJesta” Geden


On Tuesday July 23rd 2013, Queen’s archivist Greg Brooks and contributor/expert Gary Tay-lor launched their exciting new channel on

YouTube, and now invite fellow fans and collectors to join them in making ‘Rare Share: Queen Collectables’ the place to go to view and share Queen memorabilia from all around the world.The channel will focus exclusively upon Queen and Solo related nostalgia, everything ever released, pre-sented in concise video clips. This will be the band’s unique and fascinating history from the perspective of you the fans. There are thousands of wonderful items to get through, a vast array of treasures which they‘d like you to be a part of.Anything rare and interesting in the name of Queen has its place on Rare Share. Be it records, books, bo-xed sets, pos ters, acetates, t-shirts, cassettes, colou-red vinyl, CD‘s, toys, tickets, passes, tour programs, boot legs or badges. Whatever it is you have, fellow fans will want to see it.It’s not only about physical items of memorabilia. It could also be a concert, or an exhibition you‘d like to review, or a convention, or a book signing appearance you attended.

Gary and Greg have made a start with over 100 newly created Features of their own, and have many more to follow. They cover numerous items that many of you won‘t have seen before including many Exclusive clips just for the Rare Share channel.A comprehensive Guide (suggestions and tips for crea-ting your own clips) features within the channel, but for now, in essence, your video should (ideally) be 2–3 minutes long, NOT contain any Queen music or video, and cover any rare or interesting or significant items you have. You can present it however you like. Try to be original, informative and entertaining. You can be serious or funny: whatever you think appropriate.This channel is for you: the fans and collectors. You decide what’s worth covering, and what’s not. You guys know this stuff better than anyone else, so you’re best qualified to present these rare gems. And don’t forget to subscribe to the channel so that you don’t miss the latest uploads.The Rare Share: Queen Collectables channel has now had over 45,000 views since July and have nearly 1000 subscribers. Don‘t miss out, go to YouTube.com and search for “Rare Share Queen Collectables”. You can also find us on Facebook.

No Choice by Zoe & Rob Dean

Luke Dean is 4, and hasn‘t had a choice but to grow up with Queen. He loves „We Will Rock You“ and I am teaching him the hand clapping. He is slowly getting there bless him. He loves the conventions and seeing his queen fa-mily.

Little Queenies

16

Tyler „Little Melina“ Standridge by Donna Standridge

We definitely have a second-generation Queenie in the house - and he came into it all on his own. My son Tyler (almost 12 now) found the Muppets version of Bohemian Rhapsody when he was about 7 years old and he loved it so much, he had to show it to me. I asked him if he wanted to see the video for the real song that came from, so we watched Queen‘s video. It was INSTANT love, just like it was for me around his age when I first heard Killer Queen. He dug up video after video and became absolutely enamored with Freddie. He wanted to sing like Freddie, and studies his every move and note. We‘ve even nicknamed him Little Melina. He dresses like Freddie every year on FFAD (and sometimes just for the hell of it). The walls in his room are covered in Queen and he has more Queen tees than I do (little bugger). He‘s a flamboyant and shameless child (sound familiar?) who knows every word to every Queen song, and once incited his entire class of 200 fellow 8 year-olds into a rousing chorus of the infa-mous WWRY in an indoor stadium. School officials still talk about it. My little legend!

Queen Family by Helen Knight

My queenie kids! Emily (9) and Taylor-Mae (5). Emi-ly has now been to 5 conventions (one of those pictu-res is when she won the fancy dress!) and Taylor -Mae went to her first this year and they cant wait for 2014‘s! Emily‘s favourite track is Princes of the universe and Taylors We Will Rock You.

Early Moustache by Emma Pryde

Fin Pryde is a 6 year old mad Queen/Freddie fan, evenmore than me! He knows all of the songs and mimicks Freddie‘s moves! He has to have his favou-rite songs on EVERYDAY! I have a hat just like Freddie‘s and he throws it around like Freddie used to! He loves Bohemian Rhapsody, WWRY, WATC, RADIO GAGA and countless others! He goes to theatre school and did a snippet of WWRY the musi-cal, he LOVED it! I think he may be on stage doing some-thing similar when he is older! He said he also wants to grow a moustache just to be like Freddie!

Starting Young by Aisha O‘Brien

Morgan Loves Queen, When you ask him what his fa-vourite song is he sings „I want to ride my Bicycle“ From a baby I sang it to him while doing circular mo-vements with his legs...If you point to any member of the band he can tell you who they are!! But he cant really pronounce Freddie Mercury he instead says Freddie MUCKERY it is very funny!

17

Fin Pryde is a 6 year old mad Queen/Freddie fan, evenmore than me! He knows all of the songs and mimicks Freddie‘s

I did the C2C on the 18/07/2013 - 21/07/2013 it was a total of 140 miles across England from Whitehaven to Tynemouth. The day I started it was 30+ degrees not the ideal weather to cycle in!!I did it for Dog‘s trust UK which is a charity I have tried to support where I can, the ride became more poignant to me as before I did the ride I lost my best friend ever my little dog „Rusty“ who was the most wonderful dog in the world and I miss him so much.I set a target of £200.00 which I didn‘t think I would reach, however I put the fact I was doing the ride on the fan Club Face book page and also it was adver-tised in the last fan club magazine. Cut a long story short I went to Dog‘s trust in Shrewsbury on the 09/09/2013 and handed over a Cheque for £536.00, which even now I cannot believe.I just want to take this opportunity to thank the won-derful Queen Fans for sponsoring me I am forever grateful anyone interested in getting a rescue dog form dogs trust can check their website out at www.dogstrust.co.UKNext year me and my colleagues from work (Staf-fordshire Police) hope to ride from John O ‘Groats to Lands’ End again for the Dogs trust.

Across EnglandBy Steve Sherratt

The Queen guide to good parenting...

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB16 17 THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

No Choice by Zoe & Rob Dean

up with Queen. He loves „We Will Rock You“ and I am teaching him the hand clapping. He is slowly getting there bless him. He loves the conventions and seeing his queen family.

Queen & Mott Part 2


Queen & Mott Part 2


of AIDS and in April of 1992, the surviving members of Queen held The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium. They invited their friends and colleagues to perform with them that evening and it was here that several significant reunions occurred during the performance of a single song: “All The Young Dudes.” Ian Hunter and David Bowie, who worked on the original Mott The Hoople song; David Bowie and Mick Ronson, who had been bandmates since before the Ziggy Stardust days; Ronson and Hunter, who were bandmates in Mott The Hoople during Mott’s fi-nal days and collaborated in their solo projects; and of course, Hunter, Bowie and Queen, who had all worked together throughout their respective careers.1992 would end with an unexpected reunion of the band Smile, at The Marquee Club, where the Fan Club Christmas Party saw Roger Taylor’s band The Cross performing. Taylor was then joined onstage by Brian May and Tim Staffell and all involved acknowledged

the significance of the event as they performed “Earth” and a cover of the Tim Hardin song “If I Were A Car-penter.” Mick Ronson, sadly, would pass away from cancer the following year, 1993, but left behind a posthumous album, Heaven And Hull (released in 1994). Included on the album was The Freddie Mercury Tribute Con-cert recording of “All The Young Dudes.” Ian Hunter would pay tribute to his friend with the song “Michael Picasso,” performed at the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert and later recorded and released on his 1996 album The Artful Dodger.1996 would see Morgan Fisher put together the Mott The Hoople tribute album, Moth Poet Hotel, which included Brian May’s cover of “All The Way To Mem-phis,” featuring a guest appearance by Ian Hunter. This version would also appear on May’s solo album Another World in 1998.Tim Staffell returned to recording music in 2003 with his solo album, aMIGO. For the album, Staffell and Brian May would re-record their co-written Smile song “Doin’ Alright” (previously recorded by Smile in 1969 and by Queen in 1972). Staffell would also re-record his song “Earth,” which had been recorded by both Smile and Morgan. Fittingly, this recording would fea ture his Smile band-mate May and his Morgan bandmate Morgan Fisher.2009, 40 years after Mott The Hoople first took to the stage, the house lights at the Hammersmith Apollo dimmed and their classic intro music, Holst’s “Jupi-ter: Bringer Of Jollity,” poured triumphantly out of the speakers once again. Mott took to the stage as the original line-up of Ian Hunter, Dale Griffin, Pete Overend Watts, Mick Ralphs and Verden Allen, and their reunion concert was played to a capacity crowd. The lives and careers of the artists of Smile, Mott The Hoople, Queen, Morgan and David Bowie have woven though one another’s and each helped shape those they worked with, and in doing so, not only were the artists inspired, but the world received great music.Patrick Lemieux is a Canadian artist and writer, and co-author of the book The Queen Chronology. Follow him on Twitter: @MadTheDJ and check out his blog: madthedj.wordpress.com

A ll was not well with Brian May as Queen and Mott The Hoople began their tour of US in the spring of 1974. Earlier in the

year, before travelling to Australia, May had develo-ped gangrene in his arm from a dirty inoculation needle and though he had recovered, his arm was still bothering him throughout the UK tour before the band left for the United States. In New York City, at the Uris Theatre on Broadway, Mott The Hoople, with Queen as the support act, performed six concerts over five days in May. Mott recorded their May 8th show for a forthcoming live album. On the day after the last show, Brian May collapsed, having developed hepati-tis. Queen’s involvement on the US tour ended and the band returned to England. Brian recovered in the hospital and Mott The Hoople continued their tour in North America.After Mott returned from the tour, their Live album, featuring material from their Broadway show (as well as from an earlier concert at the Hammersmith Odeon), was released. Ariel Bender departed the band and Mick Ronson, formerly one of David Bowie’s Spiders From Mars, took his place for the tour at the end of the year. By December, though, the band was on its last legs. Personalities clashed and Ian Hunter found him self burnt out. After the tour, he and Mick Ronson left. The remaining members would continue, dropping ‘The Hoople’ from their name and carrying on simply as Mott. No more was Mott The Hoople as it once was.Brian May recovered from his bout of hepatitis and rejoined the band as they started recording new ma-terial. His ill-health had aggravated an existing ulcer and he was soon hospitalized once again. The other three continued working and waited for their guita-rist to return. May, meanwhile, wrote from his bed, penning the song “Now I’m Here” as way to sort out his feeling about the lost US tour. He gave a nod to Mott The Hoople with the lyric “Down in the city just Hoople and me.”May returned to good health and Queen would com-plete their third album, Sheer Heart Attack. Their next milestone of success came with their fourth al-bum, A Night At The Opera, and its massive single, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” in 1975. In January of 1976, Queen arrived in New York City for their upcoming tour and met up with Ian Hunter, who was recording his All American Alien Boy album. Freddie, Roger and Brian recorded backing vocals for the track “You Nearly Did Me In.”

World tours and five more studio albums followed for Queen (A Day At The Races, News Of The World, Jazz, The Game and the Flash Gordon soundtrack album). In 1981, they moved their recording sessions for their tenth album from Munich, Germany to Montreux, Switzer-land. David Bowie lived nearby and he and Queen began spending time in the studio. Bowie would listen to their progress and even record vocals for the track “Cool Cat” (vocals that were left off the final album). Even-tually, the five men decided to write and record a new track together and the result was “Under Pressure.” The tenth Queen album would be Hot Space and for the tour, the band decided to add a keyboardist to their live shows. They enlisted Morgan Fisher (for-merly of Mott The Hoople and the band Morgan, with Tim Staffell) for the UK dates and their concert at Mil-ton Keynes, recorded, broadcast and later released on DVD, shows Queen and Fisher having fun onstage. 1991 saw the tragic death of Freddie Mercury as a result

The Ballad of Queen & MottThe Ballad of Queen & MottPart 2 By Patrick Lemieux

Queen with Ian Hunter of Mott The Hoople and producer Roy Thomas Baker at the Montreal Fo-rum, the 26th January 1977

Freddie For A Day


S aturday 9th March 2013 - We Will Rock You, Dominion Theatre. Andy Sparks and Rich Blower’s West End Stage Debut - This was The

Day of Our Lives!!!My twin daughters Annie and Laura, my neighbours Rachel and Paulie and I set off from Bath just after 8 am. We arrived at the Dominion Theatre at 12:30 to pick up four tickets - which were the “best seats in the house”. As we headed out the door, we met Andy Sparks and his family, and we all went round to the Stage Door to meet the company manager, Chris Fisher.

Chris led me, Andy, Laura and Annie up to Wardrobe, to try on a costume. Everyone shook our hands and was so nice - we were very excited. We then went down to sort out head gear, again with wonderful people in the wig department. Finally, through a maze of corri-dors and staircases, we reached the stage. A mixture of astonishment, fear and surprise came upon us as we saw the 2300 seats in front of us.We were introduced to Georgia Barberi, the resident choreographer, and Annie and Laura sat on the ‘Gaga World’ steps, to film and take photographs. Andy and I had “stage buddies” in the form of Dance Captains and we were talked through the steps for the final song of Bohemian Rhapsody in the show. After lear-ning the moves, we were joined by Stuart Morley, the Musical Director, for some piano accompaniment.

Freddie For A Day


Days Of Our Lives!The cast soon came in - I apologized to them in ad-vance about any inevitable mistakes that may hap-pen during our performance! Everyone was so friendly; such lovely people. We then had a few run-throughs with the cast, and practised our final bow, which gave a sense of the reality of it all - very very frightening!While the cast warmed up their vocals, Stuart kindly let Annie have a go on the piano; being pleasantly sur-prised at her rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, to cries of “You may as well resign, Stuart!” from the cast!As we weren’t needed until the end of the show, Andy and I changed back into our normal clothes, and went to sit with our parties for the first half of the show. After an incredible first half, Chris Fisher came to collect Andy and I at the interval, and we were taken up to the “Freddie Mercury Suite”, a special green room deco-rated for the 10th Anniversary. We got changed into our costumes, took some photos and looked at all of the framed pictures and handwritten lyrics on the walls of the room - it was amazing; the adrenaline was really starting to kick in again!Chris Fisher then came to take us to “The Village” and, as it’s known for its crazy makeup, it was dreadlocks for Andy (which particularly suited him) and a bandana for me - due to my lack of hair! While we were there, the cast were coming in and out and all talking to us, wishing us luck. We had a great group photo - just amazing and we weren’t even on stage yet!Finally, we went backstage; Andy one side and me the other. I was watching the last couple of minutes when Katie Paine (Killer Queen of the day) came down and introduced herself and gave me a hug as we chatted. She just said “That’s me” and rushed onto the stage - how cool was that!!The curtain came down and it was time to group to-gether in the wings for Bohemian Rhapsody. I was com-

Richard Blower and Andy Sparks were lu-

cky enough to get a chance to perform on

stage at WWRY London. Richard made a

pletely fired up - it was just fantastic. Andy was over on the other side of the stage and was feeling “under pressure” as he had been nervous throughout some of the day. He just needed someone to love! That came in a Flash - Rachel John (Meat) and Oliver Tompsett (Galileo) were next to him and said “We’re gonna Rock and you’ll be fine” - well no one was going to stop him now!!There was the cue, and for some reason I said: “Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine!” to the cast, and we went onstage, laughing our heads off. I’m pretty sure that I was in time head banging and jumping, though

„moustache‘ shaped cake and Andy won

with votes for his FFAD group photo...

here is their story!

I couldn’t see the guitarist for a while through the fog, and off we came. Then for the bow - I could see my girls in the audience and hear them screaming - just a brilliant moment. All high-fives on the stage, and then sadly it was all over. We both then got so many hugs and “well done”s from the cast. We had definite-ly found “The Place of Champions”!!So it was back up to change and wipe off the makeup, while Chris went to collect our families and friends to bring them up to the Freddie Mercury Suite, which was awesome for everyone. On the way up, I did ma-

nage to check Wayne Robinson’s (“Brit”) muscles and they are real! We also got a photo with Rachael Wooding (“Scaramouche”), which was great.Our day had come to an end at the Dominion Theatre - one of the best days of our lives! The cast had cer-tainly “paid their dues” and had their “bows and cur-tain calls”. And to each every one of them, we “thank you all”, from the bottom of our hearts! I have never met such a kind, helpful and extremely talented group of people all in one place - as well as being incredibly fit and good looking! What an honour to be a part of their world for even a short amount of time.

Rich Blower and Andy Sparks

with votes for his FFAD group photo...

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB22 23

Collectors CornerMany thanks as always to expert Gary Taylor!

GREATEST HITS I, II & III

The Platinum Collection: A limited 3 disc steel book edition of ‘The Platinum Collection’ was released in Germany only in October 2013. It entered the German album chart at Number 8.

THE FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE CONCERT

Two special edition box sets were made in Japan for ‘The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert’ video on Blu-ray and DVD formats. They were released on 28 Au-gust 2013 and contain a specially made T Shirt in each box. Also shown here is the regular Blu-ray edi-tion of the concert that is strangely presented in a DVD size case.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

An audio-only Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc was released by Island (0060 2537327713) in November 2013 con-taing all 12 tracks from the ‘A Night At The Opera’ album. The disc plays on Blu-ray compatible players only and has High Fidelity Audiophile Sound with 5.1 Surround Sound, 2.0 DTS and PCM sound mixes. The disc features no video content but does include a voucher to down-load the album.

QUEEN’S RANKING IN JAPAN

A new book on Queen was released in Au-gust 2013 in Japan only. It features the usual high quality photos, in both black and white and co-lour, from Queen’s 40 year career.

QUEEN LIVE BOX SET

A special limited edition 6 DVD set including: LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM: 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (2 Disc) - ROCK MONTREAL - LIVE IN RIO - ON FIRE: LIVE AT THE BOWL (2 Disc), was released on 19th November 2013 by Eagle Vision Entertainment (EV306549) in the USA only. The MSRP is $49.98 and is issued on NTSC format.Exclusive to this package is ‘Live In Rio’ and is the first time it has been released on an official DVD. The concert in Brazil features the band performing at the ‘Rock In Rio’ festival in January 1985. Dazzling 250,000 fans, the setlist features 5 songs from ‘The Works’, which they were supporting at the time.

CD PROMOS

There have been a number of promotional CD’s re-leased over the last few months to tie in with various Queen and solo projects. They include: Queen: ‘Hun-garian Rhapsody - Live In Budapest’ DVD, Brian May and Weebl (featuring Brian Blessed): ‘Save The Bad-ger Badger Badger’, Brian May and Kerry Ellis: ‘Nothing Really Has Changed’ and 2 CD’s for Roger Taylor’s ‘Sunny Day’.

An audio-only Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc was released by Island (0060 2537327713) in November 2013 containg all 12 tracks from the ‘A Night At The Opera’ album. The disc plays on Blu-ray compatible players only and has High Fidelity Audiophile Sound with 5.1 Surround Sound, 2.0 DTS and PCM sound mixes. The 2.0 DTS and PCM sound mixes. The 2.0 DTS and PCM sound mixes. The disc features no video content but does include a voucher to down

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB

24

„...this is for all You lovely crazy people out there...“

Jacopo Tampieri from Italy in Montreux in occasion of the Guinness world

record scarf

Brian with Martin JosephsonTony Scott, fan club member for 34 years, with Brian

Argentinean fans with Brian

Tommos’ 40th birthday party - Benidorm, July 4th 2013

Carole James with Brian at the book signing

in Cheltenham


„...this is for all You lovely crazy people out there...“

THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB Winter 2013€¦ · ANDREW BARNETT - Essex (30 years)...

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Transcript of THE OFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL QUEEN FAN CLUB Winter 2013€¦ · ANDREW BARNETT - Essex (30 years)...