Other Voices - Signed, sealed & delivered!

Those of you that have been watching the updates on Chain of Flowers know that the book was delivered to the band in Vegas. Here is the "official" story of the how and why and when, as well as the extenuating circumstances surrounding it.

When Friday, April 17th, 2009 dawned in Las Vegas, Nevada, those of us who were there for the concert were full of optimism that it would be a very special night, indeed. The Cure were in town for an intimate show at the Pearl Theater, and many CoF peeps had gathered from all corners of the globe. We spent the afternoon at the casino in front of the box office, socializing and pretending to gamble. I received two last-minute pages at the casino and took over the concierge desk at the Palms so that I could put them in the album and make sure that the book was in top form before giving it to the Cure.

Returning to the "line" near the box office, several people had asked to see the book, and so we pulled up some chairs and went through the book several times so that people could see their pages and the cover and other decorations. Many people commented on how much better the artwork pages looked in person, and I agree, it was hard to capture the real beauty of the pages of the book in photos, and I hope that can assure all of the contributors that the band will be very impressed at all of your dedication, all of the love you have for the Cure and their music was very evident in the pages that you sent in.

Many fans who were waiting at the box office got to meet Simon at one of the nearby bars, and if I had only known how the night was to end, I would have given the book to Simon, as I was one of the first fans to approach him that afternoon. Hindsight, as they say...

When the concert began, I had at least three separate avenues lined up to be able to connect with the band prior to or following the show, but as we all know, the concert did not end as expected. When the lights went up after "A Forest", I had a strong feeling that I should try to give it to them that night, in case something went wrong and they canceled their Coachella appearance. We weren't sure quite why the concert had ended early, and when the setlist with the encores on it was given out to those in the crowd, it confirmed to us that there was something going on. There was a lot of speculation that night about just what had happened, but in the heat of the moment, all that mattered to me was that it was my one chance that I was certain of to make sure that people that I trusted were able to take the book from me and deliver it to the band. So I handed it to Darren (Simon's guitar tech) as he was onstage breaking down the equipment, and he promised me at that time that he would give it to them. I confirmed through my contacts that the Cure were not receiving visitors backstage following the show at the Pearl.

When we were at Coachella on Sunday, I approached Darren after the show to confirm that they received it, and he assured me that he would give it to them at the soonest possible time. One of my contacts had also emailed a person connected to the band who confirmed on Monday morning that it had been given to Robert and the band. My original plan was to try to get a photo of the band with the book, but as we know now, Robert had injured himself at the Pearl, and it was not possible to do so.

So, will Robert or the band acknowledge the project somehow? Of course we would love him to do so, but most likely, he will not. Their own 30th anniversary celebrations must be getting underway, and of course with an injured hand he cannot type very well, so I think that we can be happy knowing that they have gotten it safely and that our messages have been signed, sealed and delivered. However, if I DO hear anything, I will be sure to let you all know!

Thank you again to all of the contributors and supporters for being a part of this amazing project. I am still doing the hard copy of the book and I will be announcing that here when they are ready to order, they will be available very soon.

P. S. - If you haven't yet heard the interviews with myself and Vicky, one of the contributors to the book on Studio Brussel, you can read about that here and also listen to the archived interviews. We were interviewed about the book and I was also asked about the Cure's set at Coachella.

Photo 1 courtesy of Caterpillargirl2
Photo 2 courtesy of Barb / Thistle
Photo 3 courtesy of Faithdesired

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.