Other Voices - Print Version

Greetings Cure peeps! You will be happy to know that the printed version of the Other Voices book is now available to order from Blurb books!

The book is available in a large format, similar to the actual book dimensions, and also in a smaller and less expensive version in order to make it available and affordable to everyone.

I want to assure you again that I am not making any sort of profit from this book at all. The prices shown on the book pages are the base prices that Blurb charges for the actual production of the book, and have not been "marked up" in any way. The final book is missing 10 of the original pages due to the wishes of the individual authors. I have added a couple of pages at the end that contain some of the detail of the book and there is also a page with photos of the band playing onstage at the Pearl theater on the night they were given the original.

Again, I do not do any of the printing, shipping or order fulfillment for these books, they are from the Blurb print-on-demand service and Blurb will handle all of the transactions and customer service for the print books, so if you have any problems at all, please contact Blurb directly. We also plan to buy a few copies of the large format version to send to the band so that all of the members have a version of the book for themselves.

So, without further ado, please click one of the books below to be taken to the different size versions. Remember to click through to the Preview so you can get a sense of how it will look in person!

Large Format 11" x 13"












Medium Format 8" x 10"

My page for the 30th Anniversary Book

Here's the story behind this design:

I wanted to do a painting of the night sky as it was over Crawley on the date that the first album was released (Three Imaginary Boys) on May 8th, 1979. This date is the one listed on the Cure's website as the release date for their album, so in essence it is the official "start" of the band, as the first album released from a major label. I was trying to come up with something that would represent The Cure in all of their incarnations, as there were so many people involved with the band over the years that contributed to their sound and success.

So I went back to the beginning, not just the beginning as the date but the beginning as in the geographic location. I imagined the Cure coming out of some pub or house in Crawley after the celebration of their first album release and looking up at the night sky, what would they have seen? Could they even have imagined at that moment in time what their future would hold, and that their career would span over three decades and take them all around the world, gathering millions of fans in the process? I wonder if they even had a glimpse of what was to come, all those years ago.

The subject of the painting also ties in with Robert's deep interest in astronomy and science, as well as my own interest in astronomy and in the implications of a specific time, date and location.

The first time I did this painting, it was just a depiction of the night sky over a much more generic looking rolling hills countryside. I decided it wasn't distinctive enough to be immediately recognizable, and so I went and did some research.

First I had to find a good photo of Crawley's High Street and a building that was recognizably from that street. Once I decided which building I wanted in the painting, (which turned out to be the Gainsborough House) I then had to figure out which direction you were looking at in the photo. Google Earth was a huge help in this process.

Finally, I had to see what constellations would have been showing if you stood in that location and looked up at the sky at that precise date and time. I chose 11 pm because it would have been reasonably dark at that time, being that the sunset would have been near 8 pm.

The border contains the names of the constellations (although Cameleopardalis is spelled wrong), and the moons along the sides show two phases of the moon, crescent and gibbous in both waxing and waning phases. The constellation lines and the stars on the border are both rendered in gold foil, everything else is either watercolor or ink. Very geeky, yes, but how could it be otherwise? :D

I started by measuring out and sketching in the main elements of the picture.





Then I painted the buildings and the main wash over the sky and started on the detail elements. Finally, I did the gold leafing on the constellations and the border stars. The painting was finished with a clear coat over the gold constellations and then placed in the book after a little while under some heavy books to flatten it out.

Countdown to Coachella!

Greetings Cure fans and Cure friends! I just wanted to give you a gentle reminder that today, March 25th is exactly three weeks before the pages are due on Weds. April 15th for the 30th Anniversary Book!

So, you officially have 21 days from today to finish your pages and quit procrastinating sending them in to me! Get off the sofa, find an envelope and a bit of stiff cardboard and send that puppy onward! Yes, it is best if you actually mail them to me ahead of time so that the final pages don't end up in a last minute hack job down in Vegas or Indio. *You* want your pages to look good for Robert and the guys, and *I* want your pages to look good for Robert and the guys, so please get them in well before the deadline so that they will be put in with all the loving care that they deserve. Not that they won't be put in with loving care anyway, but it is much harder to do things at the last moment, and should your page present a unique mounting problem, it would be best to be able to resolve it at leisure.

I also wanted to give everyone an update on the status of the book as of right now. I have received 31 beautiful, amazing pages filled with heartfelt emotion and love! Thanks again to all of the contributors to the book for sending a little piece of you to go in the book.

Given that the actual album only holds 50 pages total, it is well over halfway full, with several more pages promised as of this writing, I've been asked several times "What happens if you get more than 50 pages?" and that's a good question! The answer is that if we get closer to the date and it looks like the album will be full up, I will buy a secondary album to mount the pages in, and decorate it in a similar way to the first one. All the pages sent in will be treated with the loving care and respect that they deserve. Obviously I won't be able to spend as much time on it as I did the first one, but all the pages will go in a book. And honestly, I think that would be a great "problem" to have!

The book now has a case! My sweet husband is very skilled at the art of the sewing machine (he used to make those big funky hats in the 1990's) and his contribution to the book project was to help out with making the case. The case is made with a very nice high quality black velvet fabric and has two black velvet ribbons that are the ties. I hope to be able to decorate the case with some gold metallic embroidered ornamentation soon.

I created a set on my flickr for the "detail" photos of the book and it's creation. In this set you can see how pages are actually mounted in the book and also more details about the cover and case. I made a second set in order to avoid cluttering the "virtual book" with detail photos.

As always, see the original announcement about the project here if you still need my mailing address, page specifications or dimensions or any other information.

Finally, here's the slideshow from the "details" flickr set:

30th Anniversary Book - ANNOUNCEMENT!

I sincerely hope that this announcement won't upset anyone, and I very much apologize in advance to anyone who spent extra $ or stress to get their page here before the original deadline. After a bit of thought about it (and after receiving *numerous* emails about the upcoming deadline for pages over the past few days) it has occurred to me that it would make vastly more sense to give the Cure their book at the Coachella event at the end of April. This would accomplish several good things at one time, so please bear with me as I enumerate the most important of them.

1. The Coachella date of April 19th, 2009 is actually much, much closer to the actual 30th Anniversary date of May 8, 1979 (which is the date when Three Imaginary Boys was released) and I believe is what the band are using as their actual official anniversary date. In fact, the Coachella show is just under 3 weeks before this date. Not to mention that it is also extremely close to Robert's 50th birthday.

2. Moving the "delivery" date to the middle of April will not only relieve the pressure of those who wanted to participate but just did not have the time, it will allow for those who haven't yet heard of the book to participate as well.

3. Anyone who felt that their page was "rushed" out has a chance to re-do it if need be, and anyone who was freaking out trying to figure out how to get me their page by the end of next week can relax! :D

At the time that the book project was conceived, the London dates were the only ones that were announced, so that's why the plan to give them the book at the O2 shows started there. However, now that we have a show date which is much closer to the actual anniversary, I think that it makes the most sense to give it to them there. I hope that you will understand my reasoning and most importantly, help me to spread the word about the rescheduling. I appreciate all of your interest and passion about this project, and I think you'll agree that we will end up with a much richer and more comprehensive book by putting it off, even by a mere 60 days.

So that being said, the official new due date for pages is (are you ready for this?) April 15th! Yes, just like the tax due date. 60 days from now is April 15th, so do your taxes, and THEN do your page! And mail it to me so it will get there before the 15th! Anyone who was planning on delivering their page to me in London may still do so! Everyone else, take a deep breath and relax. :D

See the original project post about the 30th Anniversary Book HERE for all of the details about how to participate.

Happy 30th Anniversary Book

Other Voices - A Cure Fan Tribute

This project began in January of 2009 as a way to thank the Cure for 30 years' worth of music, magic and memories. Fans were asked to contribute artwork, thoughts or congratulations to the band, and to make a page to be put in the book. People from all around the globe responded to the call, and began to create beautiful, heartfelt and amazing works of art. The original book was given to the Cure at the Las Vegas, NV show on April 17th, 2009 at the Pearl Theater in the Palms Casino. (Update 12/11 - All currently active Cure members and Lol now have copies of the book!)

This digital copy of the book is meant as a way for the participants in the project to have a digital memory of their hard work and dedication, and for other fans to be able to celebrate this milestone as well. Many thanks go to all of the contributors for your endless support and kind generosity during the creation of Other Voices.

Congratulations to the Cure for their amazing accomplishment of 30 years of transcendent music!

I received 53 pages for the book! You can see almost all of them in the slideshow below . Some of the page authors have opted not to share their pages in the online copy. To those that have given me their thoughts, wishes, awesome artwork and genuine heartfelt communication, THANK YOU for participating in this project and making it a worthwhile endeavor! It's been so amazing to see what everyone has come up with for the book and it is such an honor to be able to give them to The Cure.



Here is a list of posts relating to the Other Voices - 30th Anniversary Book.
Original announcement and instructions (originally here, now archived in a separate post)
Change of date announcement
Countdown to Coachella
My page in the book
Other Voices - A Cure Fan Tribute (the project gets a name!)
Interviews on Studio Brussel (a celebration of Robert's 50th Birthday)
Other Voices - Signed, Sealed & Delivered!
Other Voices, now in print! 
Other Voices - Cure Members' Copies - Delivered!