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:
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Countdown to Coachella!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Five New Designs
Apparently, I'm a sucker for Cure teeshirt designs. Who knew? :D
The LoveCats - Ornate version Available NOW!
The LoveCats - Simple version Available NOW!
Cure Peeps - LOLdon World Tour '09 Sold out, sorry!
Robert Smith is my Homeboy - Yes, now available in V-Neck!
*On-demand*
Robert is my Homeboy - Yes, now available in V-Neck!
*On-demand*
Cure Peeps - LOLdon World Tour '09
Please note! The Cure Peeps LOLdon Tour '09 teeshirt is available and I have about 10 of these so please contact me for your size before ordering! Thanks!
As normal, choose your shipping speed, all shipments are sent USPS Priority or Express mail, and yes I do gladly ship international orders.
Regular Crew Neck Unisex - $18
Ladies V-Neck Tee - $20
Long sleeved Crew Neck Unisex Tee - $22
Monday, December 22, 2008
12:13 Dream - An Evening with The Cure
Part 1-2 | Part 3
So there we were, finally allowed in to the Troubadour at the Myspace Secret Show, and with a mad dash we took our places on the rail and just behind, to settle in for the long wait before the show. I confess that I was very dazed with how surreal it was, that I was actually in a tiny, legendary club in Hollywood, California, and that I was about to be just a few feet away from The Cure as they played a show. For a lifelong, diehard fan, this was a complete dream come true, and for me it was something that only ever happened to other people, and never to me! So I apologize to my friends who were there if I seemed extremely ditzy or hyper, as I was!
The bar grew ever more crowded, the excitement level went up and up and up, and by the time that the Cure took the stage, I was in a complete tizzy. We were directly in front of Robert, and many of my CoF peeps were on the rail either to the left or right of us, and in my area there was Yvonne the fan VIP and her daughter Zyla, Kel, sugar*girl, Midnight and Steph. We all held space for each other so we didn't get too crushed by the crowd, and Midnight and Kel took turns with us so that we all got a spot on the rail for a little bit of the show. Thank you so much ladies and Kel I am so sorry about your arm!! =)
Having attended the 4Tour shows where they played Underneath the Stars, the show prelude of the waves crashing was a huge part of my experience of the song, much like other intros such as "Adagio for Strings" or "Intro", so it was a little jarring to have the Cure come out and launch into Underneath the Stars without hearing the crashing waves first. However, I was very charmed when Robert came out and told us "It's taking me back before we even start", presumably referring to the intimacy of the venue reminding him of the early days of The Cure. When they launched into the first strains of the music, though, we were swept up in the magical atmosphere of this song, and swayed along with the crowd as the waves of sound washed over us. The band sounded very relaxed and yet so together. It seems to me that sometimes it takes them a song or two to really get into their groove, but this night there was an immediate connection with each other and the audience that felt so warm and welcoming, and having this song be the opener was the perfect way to capture the ambience of the night.
Once the warm strains of Underneath the Stars had faded away, the chimes of Pictures of You brought a rousing response from the crowd, and I was taken right back to Dodger Stadium in 1989, the very first time that I heard it played live. I was struck by the disparity between hearing the song in this club vs. a stadium with 50,000 others, and also realized how nearly twenty years had passed between these two shows, and how timeless the song really is.
An animated version of Lullaby was a real crowd-pleaser as usual. Robert seems to very much enjoy enticing whoops and screams from the crowd with his performances during Lullaby, and of course we all loved seeing him dance and have fun as well.
A short pause and then "Another new one" introduced a lovely version of the new single "The Perfect Boy". Robert sounded great, very smooth and the band was very tight and together on this song. Following this song, Robert spoke to his sound people about the levels briefly before they launched into alt.end, the most notable thing about this song was when Robert told us at the end of it something about not thinking that he would be "singing it 4 years later, and yet, here I am".
After TEOTW, the familiar strains of Lovesong came along, and for once, I was completely enthralled with this song. Not so much so with the song itself, as it is not my extreme favorite in Cure love songs, but I was completely taken with the change in Robert's body language when he sang it. Understanding a little of the history behind this song, it was extremely interesting to me that his posture and face changed so much while he was singing Lovesong. For most of the other songs, he was very interactive with the crowd while singing, glancing around, dancing or tapping his toe on stage, smiling and generally enjoying the audience. However, when Lovesong started, it was as if we all suddenly vanished for him. He closed his eyes almost for the entire song, and seemed very lost in his own private world. It almost seemed like he was in a sort of a trance, from which he awakened as the song was ending, and after looking around for a moment, couldn't quite work out why we were all there.
From the blissful trance of Lovesong to the gutter of The Real Snow White was quite the transition, but I can tell you that from the album, this song does not have the justice done to it that a live version can do. It's a much more powerful song in person, and has a great rollicking feel that moves the story along without dwelling too much on the narration. The buildup of tension in the song is very skillfully done, and as on the album, they went straight into the alternate universe of "The Hungry Ghost" which had a really strange tempo and subdued presentation as compared to the album. Interestingly, they did a very similar version of the song when they played it at the Jimmy Kimmel taping, so perhaps it's a slightly reworked version from the album. One thing that I noticed is that Robert sounded much more intense and angry on this song live as compared to the studio version.
When The Hungry Ghost was over there was a bit of a lengthy pause, but when the first bars of "From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea" came out, I just about died and went to heaven. I'm sure you understand. This is one of my all time favorite live songs, and one of my top 5 all time fave Cure songs, so it was really wonderful to hear it played at this intimate show. The crowd was very into the song, throwing their hands in the air at all the right places and generally having a blast.
A very sensual version of The Only One (and I LOVE, I LOVE, I LOVE, I LOVE the live ending to this song!) was followed by a rousing Wrong Number which must be one of Robert and Porl's favorite songs to play live. The following series of songs was a very bouncy set which encompassed old and new songs alike, proving that the pop sensibility of The Cure's music is firmly entrenched. Starting off with the new/old song, Sleep When I'm Dead, slamming into Push, jumpstarting the slackers with Friday I'm in Love, picking up the pace with Inbetween Days, roping in anyone left over with Just like Heaven and finally topping out with the legendary pop classic Primary, anyone in the Troubador who was not dancing after that series must have been either near death or terminally boring.
After this very dance-y interlude, the mood in the house shifted dramatically with the introduction of The Scream, one of the most intense songs from 4:13 Dream. This became the first song of a 1-2-3 punch that included 100 years and It's Over, with the Cure striding offstage afterward, leaving the main set hanging on a strident, angry , headbanging note that diluted the sugary pop aftertaste of the prior series like a rough whisky shooter after a pina colada.
The first encore brought The Cure back onstage with Robert saying "The last Myspace thing we did was a soundcheck in Sydney, and it was like, 5 songs, that's it. That's what were just out there reminiscing. (something) Right, we'll do some pop. It's Saturday night, Simon wants pop music" and then launching into their 4-Tour "Pop Encore" starting with Freakshow, and then continuing up the dance beat with Let's Go To Bed followed by Close to Me and finishing it up with Why Can't I be You. The guitar effects that Porl has created for YCIBU are really wonderful and I always look forward to hearing them.
A second encore brought out the best in Simon as he attacked his bass during the end of A Forest, with Robert making a quip about running the last two encores together so they didn't have to go up and down the stairs! Finally, I nearly rubbed poor Kel's arm raw as I bounced along to the third and final "Old Skool" encore. The classic sounds of Boys Don't Cry started us off and then we jumped on the train! I was SO ready for the 1-2-3-4 transition into Grinding Halt! It was so punk, angry, and raw! The spare desolation of 10:15 never fails to bring the crowd along as it drips , drips drips, and then finally, Killing An Arab (Another) brought the night to an end. It's still unbelievable to me that a song written so long ago can still completely and totally rock out without a bit of over-the-hill datedness. And yet, it does. Robert finished the night saying "Thank you very much, that's it. Thank you, this f-ing rocked!"
With the show over, there was little left to do but stumble in a haze and a daze out to the streets of LA. Some of our CoF peeps were upstairs in the VIP lounge, some were around back watching the van driver polish his windows incessantly, and some were wandering hither and yon, looking for warm clothes and a drink. After a bit of time out front, we joined the crowd waiting for the band out in back of the club. The Cure were in no mood for socializing after two hours spent being mobbed in the VIP room at the club, so they went straight from the club to the van without stopping. One fan shoved a poster in the van and the boys signed it and gave it back, but that was the only contact with the fans out back. Speaking of the schwag, there were some gift bags given out just after the show along with the great lithograph posters, but I was in such a daze immediately afterward that I completely missed the posters. However, my Cure angel that was with me all weekend was sitting on my shoulder once again as I stood on the street after the Cure had departed, talking with with Midnight and Steph a good two hours after the concert ended. Just as the words left my mouth "I didn't get a poster, I completely missed getting one." a man happened by just at that precise second, overheard me, turned around and said "You didn't get a poster? Here." and handed me one. A-MAZ-ING. Just like the rest of the weekend. Thank you, whoever you are, for my treasured memento of the evening. Thank you to The Cure for an unforgettable night. Thank you to Myspace for the Secret Show. Thank you to all my Cure friends who were there with me and helped make it something we'll talk about for the rest of our lives.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
A Curemas Miracle (Part 3)
Part 1-2 | Part 4
Very early in the morning on Saturday, Dec. 13th, we had finally checked into our hotel and were unwinding from the excitement of the previous day. I had descended to the lobby of the hotel to retrieve something from my car, and I was checking the Chain of Flowers front page on my phone in the elevator. At the same time, in our hotel room, Sean was checking his Myspace account. Various other people were getting the news as well, and my phone rang practically nonstop for about 15 minutes until it was apparent that all who were in our group had been informed. It was something that I never thought would ever happen to me. The Cure had announced that they were going to be playing a Myspace Secret show at the Troubadour club in Hollywood! As excited as we were, we were also in desperate need of a few hours of good sleep, so instead of heading out to sleep on the streets of LA, as some others did, we got about 5 hours of shuteye before awakening at 7 am to head out to the line at the club.
Upon arriving at the line "near" the Troubadour, I was so excited that I literally flew out of the car without turning it off and went to get my "unofficial" line number of 23. This brilliant idea, courtesy of Midnight, allowed people to be able to move in and out of line without fear that they would have to fight for their place in line and also made sure that when the time came, there was absolutely no question as to who was there first.
After I settled down a bit and re-parked my car (remembering to turn it off this time) 
Once the hubbub over the accident had subsided a bit, Sean and I went to the cafe around the corner from the Troubadour to get some breakfast. About halfway through our meal, I pulled out my phone and checked in at the CoF blog, where I found the report about needing a printout of your Myspace account in order to get into the show. We were pretty concerned about this and hurried through the rest of our meal, all the while strategizing about where I could go to print out a page from my laptop. As it turned out, on our way out of the cafe, we ran into Keith Uddin and Ricky who were getting coffee there also! The crew had just arrived to do setup for the show and of course the cafe was the nearest place to go. We stopped and chatted with Keith for a moment and asked him about what we had just read, but he reassured us that it was not true and that no printout was needed. He also told us that someone would come out around noon and distribute wristbands, and that these would be the ticket to get into the club. We were very relieved and went back to the line to distribute the information to the others who were waiting, and discovered that some had already left to try to print out their pages.
The anticipation grew as the morning wore on, and there were a lot of people milling around and waiting and asking questions. Finally, about 10 minutes after noon, some people came out of the club with a few handfuls of wristbands, and the security guard shouted for everyone to line up according to their number! This was a great vindication of Midnight's idea and it was awesome because there was no pushing, no fights, 
We were then instructed in no uncertain terms to scatter and not show ourselves again prior to 7 pm, lest we risk the loss of our wristband or be pushed to the back of the line to get in. 
It was getting close to the magic hour of 7 pm, so heading back 
Before we even knew it, an hour had passed and the line began to move! Read all about Part 4 - 12:13 Dream, An Evening with The Cure on the next post.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
A Dream Come True
Just about everyone has their own unique musical taste. Some people have a wildly-eclectic music collection encompassing everything from 1940's polka to avant-garde industrial, and some have more defined boundaries to their listening habits. Some people MUST wake to heavy-metal, work to light jazz or make love to a backing soundtrack of the BeeGees. You know who you are (and so does your ex-girlfriend). There do exist people who seem to get by just fine without much music at all in their lives, and then there are those who are permanently attached to their music player through the little white cords in their ears. As with everything in life, there is a wide spectrum of dedication in the populace of the planet to specific music and bands, and for some reason Cure fans worldwide seem to veer a little bit more toward the more passionate side than most.
All Cure fans have other favorite bands and music, but then there are those days when you just want to listen to the Cure. ONLY the Cure. Maybe you're having a bad day, and just need to go to your happy place for a little nostalgic comfort, but your iPod is broken and the only radio station in town plays adult contemporary rock. What is a Cure fan to do? Well one enterprising fellow named Rob set up an online Cure radio station called Dreamland and it is a Cure fan's dream come true.
There are some critical differences that give Dreamland a great advantage over automated services streaming Cure music such as last.fm or others, and those lie in the dedication and personal touch that only a fellow Cure fan can provide. Streaming 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all Cure, all the time, this station offers anyone with an internet connection a direct pipeline into the enormously broad world of Cure music and information, from rarities, demos and live recordings to remixes and radio interviews. Pulled from a vastly extensive collection, the Dreamland stream is Cure bliss. Rob is happy to accommodate requests when he is near his computer to fill them, and seems to truly enjoy interacting with other fans through the Shoutbox on his site. I thought it would be interesting to find out a little more about the history and behind the scenes activity that surrounds Dreamland, and so I asked Rob if I could interview him for my blog, and he graciously agreed to let me pick his brain a little bit.
So without further ado, may I present to you the official Dreamland Interview:
Please tell us a little about yourself
Hmm, a bio, well ... I am not the best at articulating my thoughts into words.... My name is Rob Gaver and I was born in Los Angeles, California in 1973, so that makes me 35. I now live just north of Tampa, Florida with my beautiful wife Tracey and our dog Kailey. I am a musician (keyboards) and engineer and have spent the last 15 years or so producing and recording various local acts, no one major , a lot of hiphop music! Now that I am older and settled down, I mainly just create music for myself, its my way of "getting away" from it all. I am currently a manager for an Office Supply store, mundane for sure, but it pays the bills. A few other notes about me. I am a magician (started close up magic at 14) , a science junkie (physics / The Universe), a computer technician, and a smart ass to the fullest, and I would love to do stand up comedy one day~ and yes you can post Kailey's website.
How long have you been a Cure fan?
Since around 1986 or so, Just before Kiss Me.
What or who introduced you to their music?
... I met this "little black haired girl" and was mesmerized. Naturally she listened to The Cure and introduced me to them. Head on the Door was my first taste, what a great record! Then I discovered Seventeen Seconds and that settled that.
What do you enjoy the most about the Cure?
Wow where to begin? Of course at first it was the obvious stuff like the music, the lyrics, the look. as time went by I always kept The Cure with me. Life has its ups and downs and the whole time, I had The Cure with me. So now when I listen to The Cure I feel like I am home, I feel comfort. It becomes a part of you, you know? It Sounds corny I guess but I'm sure you get what I mean. (I know exactly what you mean! -ed.)
What's your favorite Cure-related memory or experience?
This actually happened recently. My wife Tracey didn't really know much about The Cure when we met. She instantly loved them, so taking her to a show for the first time, Ultra Music Festival 2007. The look on her face when Robert walked on the stage. I'll never forget it.
What inspired you to start Dreamland and when did you start it?
I started a members only music hub called The Bassment in 2003. I ripped all my vinyl and cds , collected mp3s and built a collection of Cure music that I am still adding to. Then I started toying around with the idea of a Cure only radio station, I tried peercast for a bit, but it didn’t really take off because it required that a client program be installed on the listeners computer. Too much hassle. So started using Winamp Shoutcast in 2005 and built Dreamland... So far 3 years and still going.
How many listeners do you have on an average day?
Currently 90 listeners with an average of 15-20 listener peak a day. This covers several time zones.
How big is your collection?
I currently have 125,000 mp3s in my main library, about 1,500 cure tracks, (a lot of bootlegs). I usually have around 600 songs that I rotate in and out on Dreamland.
Have you met a lot of people through your station?
Actually no...
What are the biggest challenges you face in running Dreamland?
Bandwidth is my biggest challenge, because this is all in my home. So I have to stream at 56 kb/s ....would love to be at 128 kb/s at least. Looking for options currently.
Can you tell us a little about the equipment or software you use?
Equipment is a computer dedicated as the server with several external drives. As far as software I use Shoutcast by Winamp in conjunction with Evil Lyrics. I also have a home recording studio so I run the stream through a Ramsa mixing board and a compressor/ limiter. I use Protools for any announcements like the Intro to Dreamland.
Do you take requests or set up special playlists often or do you mostly just push the "shuffle" button and let it go?
I love taking requests. I really enjoy seeing what other Cure fans enjoy. I will always play a request unless of course I am not around to fulfill it, lol.
Actually I mix it live a lot of the time, but I do have several playlists that I have created, you know the Happy Cure, the heavy Cure, the dim the lights and listen with your favorite poison Cure. I also do at times shuffle and let it ride.
You mentioned bandwidth issues. Would you ever consider something like a subscription or donation program to help you with the costs of running the station? If not, what other kinds of options would you look at?
I have given this some thought and have decided against subscriptions. There is a legal issue here and I want to be careful not to cross the line. I would not want to offend The Cure by what I am doing. Part of me likes to think that Robert wouldn't care , but I want to be careful. Donations would be helpful and I may go that route at some point. For now I am looking at a 20 mb/s upload service and that would do the trick but the problem is getting a static ip address which will cost me about $100 additional a month. So yeah, for now its status quo, lol.
Would you share a small playlist with us of your current favorites?
This is a hard one. This is what I've been playing lately... of course that will change with state of mind. (ed. note, I tried to find these on playlist.com so that you could hear them, however most of them are not available, so you'll just have to listen to Dreamland to hear them)
Please Come Home
Ching Chang Chong
Sirensong
All around us the mermaids sing
Your so Happy
A Night Like This (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
Give me it (Concert LP)
Don't Believe a Word
Lost Flower 4
This Morning
Truth Goodness and Beauty
Strum
Closedown
Dressing Up (Paris)
Sluvy
All of This
Is there anything else that I have not asked that you think people need to know about you and your station?
Feel free to stop by the site http://www.bassmentradio.com/cure/dream.htm and give it a go, download the toolbar to get the most out of it and remember no adware or spyware and its free. also it is important to me to express the hope that any listener of Dreamland supports The Cure by purchasing their music and seeing their shows.
Many thanks to Rob for his dedication to the Cure and the many fans who enjoy his station on a daily basis!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Cure Chat!
I will be hosting a Cure chat tonight at 7pm pacific, 8pm mountain, 9pm central, 10pm eastern. Topic is Favorite 4Tour Moment. Password is craigp.
