News Clippings - short blurbs Q Magazine, September 1991 'The last few thousand of the quarter million toiling out of the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin,20 minutes after the end of 'The Wall' were transfixed to hear the whole extravaganza starting up again behind them. Because of substantial technical hitches which afflicted the early part of the performance - including an expanse of dead silence at one point - and the requirements of a live album due for genuine "rush" release within weeks, Roger Waters and the producers had decided they should go straight back out and fill in the blanks. A few days later, with a candour unusual, veering towards the unique, in the history of the live album, Waters headed sceptics off at the pass by revealing the exact extent of the "retouching" involved. The unnofficial after-midnight performance provided The Thin Ice (with Ute Lemper). Another Brick In The part 1 and The Band's parts on Mother (Sinead O'Connors vocal, interrupted on the night,was taken from the dress rehearsal). Bryan Adams went into the studio to debug his version of Young Lust, Cyndi Lauper did likewise for Another Brick part 2, and they both added some extracurricular work on The Tide Is Turning, the entire cast encore. All the proceeds from the record are, of course, going to Leonard Cheshire's International Fund For Disaster Relief.' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Extracts from Hipgnosis book RE: "A Nice Pair" 'At first we couldn't think of anything for this cover. Slowly we amassed a collection of otes and pencil roughs. But they were mostly silly jokes and didn't feel sufficiently strong to work on their own. In the end we got so attached to them that we decided to use them all. Nice Pair is, essentially, eighteen individual sleeve designs and it took, therefore, a very long time to do. The inner spread comprises numerous Floyd photos from the archives and shows how the rigid layout began to ore the pants off the designer - his concentration flagged and he simply made a mess of it at the end. The Floyd have a good sense of humour so many of the ideas were jokes, pictures, puns or aphorisms like 'laughing all the way to the bank' (Bob Lawrie), 'nip in the air' (Colin Elgie), 'fork in the road', and a 'frog in the throat'. Other pictures are just ones we like, for instance, the cinema foyer (one of our favourite locations, see 10cc 'Sheet Music'). Some are a bit wry like the paranoid peephole in the door of a family called Fear, and the spectacles out of focus. The latter belong to the photographer taking the picture. When he took them off to shoot them, he couldn't see to well, and so was unable to focus correctly. The completely stoned freak with his kaftan and psychedelic goggles is a reference to the Floyd's psychedelic past. The one of Po and I in our studio is about discussing this Floyd sleve ('Dark Side' has gone, or is disappearing). We are in the process or rejecting an all pink cover as a solution. We're no fools. The Floyd's own football, PFFC, is an oddity. In fact it's a replacement for a photo of Floyd Patterson, the boxer, painted pink all over. But he wanted five grand for the privilege so it was quickly forgotten. You'd think he'd pay to be on a Floyd sleve' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A blurb from the magazine "Kitchen and Bath Business," (don't know the issue, it's prob. around March '92, but my photocopy doesn't include the date): People who plan kitchens for families with children know that a lot of kid's cooking abilities stop at microwave burritos. "The Rock and Roll Kitchen," a TV show currently being offered to syndicators, may help alleviate this condition. The show is designed to give kids the message that it's "cool to cook," said its host, *Scott Page* [emphasis mine], a musician currently working with Pink Floyd. Guests include the likes of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. The show features live performances and cooking demos., and the most striking visual element of the decidedly rock-ish set is a cooktop shaped like an enormous electric guitar. Also planned is a cookbook of rock stars' recipes. Given the creativity that goes into the names of acts--like Humble Pie, Meat Loaf, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Meat Puppets, Throbbing Gristle and of course, Vanilla Ice--the rock star recipes should be at the very least somewhat amusing, if not actually appetizing. And here's hoping the recipes won't simply be a thousand variations on grilled cheese or whatever tastes good with corn flakes. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Reprint without permission from the 8/28/92 edition of the Boston Globe, page 58. (And, no the author is not Steve Morse the guitarist.) Waters sounds a blast against war --------------------------------- by Steve Morse When last seen in 1990, former Pink Floyd braintrust Roger Waters was performing "The Wall" at the foot of the crumbling Berlin Wall. It was a timely concert for freedom that included such guests as Van Morrison and the Scorpions. It also signaled the end of an era for Waters, who then went away to reflect on yet another epic concept album. Waters returns next Tuesday with "Amused to Death," a devastatingly acerbic, but ultimately inspiring album about the idiocy of war and the way it's covered on television. He clearly spent hours watching the Gulf War unfold - and it left him filled with revulsion. A centerpiece song is "The Bravery of Being Out of Range," with this commentary vocal: "Just love those laser- guided bombs/ They're really great for righting wrongs/ You hit the target and win the game." To which he adds: "With the bravery of being out of range/ We zap and maim." Waters, his stentorian, recitative voice intact (much of the music will evoke "The Wall" LP), also comments on everything from Vietnam to Tiananmen Square, amid thunderous backbeats and the searing guitar of none other than Jeff Beck on many blues-atmosphere tracks. The album plays like a soundtrack from a couch potato Twilight Zone, though Waters strikes the target time and again. As he finally concludes about mankind: "This species has amused itself to death." Look for a Waters tour late this year or the beginning of next. [ There is a publicity-style picture of Waters playing his bass, looks like it was taken during the same time as the KAOS tour program photos. The caption reads: "Roger Waters: Taking aim at the Gulf War."] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Exceprt from August 30, 1992, The Sunday Times [London, presumably, as Poster was from Leeds, UK] [review of Madonna stuff deleted] * Conspicuous by his absence from all of Madonna's latest moves is her former songwriter-in-chief and musical MD, Pat Leonard. In a remarkable musical U-turn, Leonard has transferred his allegiance to Roger Waters, the man who authored some of the weightiest concept albums of the 1970s when he played bass, wrote and sang with Pink Floyd. The 1980s weren't a good time for Waters: the protracted lawsuit over who owned the Floyd's name was bad enough, and his two solo albums, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking and Radio KAOS were, in the opinion of many, worse. His new one, Amused to Death (Columbia, all formats, out September 7), which Leonard co-produced, is a marked improvement. It comes heavily stamped with Water's usual apocalyptic preoccupations and his puzzling distrust of mass entertainment. This time he is fgretting mostly about the ways in which television leaches war of its horror and significance. Fortunately for the rest of us, Amused to Death recaptures the way the old Pink Floyd used to sound - interleaving taped voices, evocative sound effects, floaty textures and dramatic shifts in musical direction - rather more effectively than it pulls off its grand conceptual design. "Cinema for the ears" is pushing it. Not a bad reminder this, though, of that far off time when rock felt it had a dutyto try to make people think. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Article/interview from TOP magazine, September. [Top is a freebie mag produced by Tower Records UK; generally pieces are purely promotional so don't expect too much! JK.] ROGER WATERS The heavy hitter of rock targets war on his latest work by Sam Johnson Sitting in the swish hotel suite in Chelsea Harbour, Roger Waters looks alarmingly relaxed. As he smilingly offers liquid refreshments, one is given to wondering whether this can be the same man whose troubles psyche has launched a dozen major musical traumas on the world; whose spilt from Pink Floyd was famously acrimonious; whose relationship with the press has frequently been less than cordial? The answer appears to be yes. The reason for Waters' bonhomie lies in the release of a new album, his first since _Radio K.A.O.S._ in 1987. The title of the new work is _Amused To Death_, a gleaming artefact co-produced by Pat Leonard (of Madonna fame) and featuring contributions from the likes of Jeff Beck, Don Henley, P.P. Arnold and Rita Coolidge. Unsurprisingly, 'Amused To Death' is a concept album. That concept is war, specifically the way in which, as Waters sees it, war is glamourised as entertainment in the media. Musically, the record harks back to the halcyon days of Pink Floyd with its grand soundscapes and unceasing search for that epic effect. From the opening track, 'What God Wants (Pt.1)', we know we are in the presence of a statement. So, does Roger Waters feel that the Pink Floyd comparison is fair comment? "I don't mind the comparison at all. I think I may have blundered slightly on 'Radio K.A.O.S.' by allowing myself to be persuaded to use more modern production methods -- rather against my better judgement. There was a lot of Fairlight programming. I went into this project absolutely determined to make this record in the way I knew how." The choice of Pat Leonard, he of the slick pop song, as co-producer is an interesting one. How did that come about? "I talked to a few producers about the album and when I got to Pat, notwithstanding the fact that he'd never made a record that I'd liked at all, I did like him very much. We had a good conversation over the phone which had jokes in it. When we met, he told me he had watched a live performance of 'Dark Side Of The Moon' as a 14-year-old and had been a fan ever since." Moving on to weightier topics, it seems from the lyrics on the new album that you have a horrible fascination with war. Would you agree? "Well, this is a concept album. It's about the relationship between us and the television set. The theatre of the album is characterised as a monkey watching a television set. War -- and Desert Storm seems a perfect example of this -- has become a manifestation of the need that we have in the civilised West to amuse ourselves in the exercise of entertaining and dramatic foreign policy. It's jolly good TV. "I'm concerned that this type of gunboat diplomacy has got tied up with economic factors that we don't notice because it's done so subtly. I identify very much with the guy at ground zero, the one that might get blown to bits or see his children slaughtered. And I think, 'What the fuck for?'. This has been one of my preoccupations for the last 20 years." What do you hope the effect of the record will be on its audience? "There is stuff there for people to take for their own if they're prepared to, in the same way I took stuff from Lennon's early work, or indeed Dylan's. I hope people can understand it and that some of them may realise that they're not alone. Maybe we can gather together in small groups and make the world a better place. "It's like certain organisations that I approve of -- Amnesty International and Greenpeace, for example -- have gained serious footholds in the early nineties to the extent that most of us take them seriously. All these environmental issues are finally starting to colour the way policies are formed." So if it's a quick hop, skip and a jump you're after, _Amused To Death_ is not the record for you. If, on the other hand, you're up for grappling with something big, weighty and difficult, then Roger is your man. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- This comes from Knight-Ridder newspaper, written by Gary Graff, and showed up in the Columbus dispatch. [on what disks got left out of _Shine On_] "Gilmour said the hardest part of the process was deciding what would be deleted from Shine On. Some choices were obvious: Gilmour wasn't aboard for 1967's Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and 1983's The Final Cut was a Waters-controlled project that Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason, and keyboardist Rick Wright dislike." [!] "As for the rest, Gilmour said, 'something had to go in order to keep it at a somewhat reasonable price. One way or another, someone's favorite is going to be left out. Roger wanted The Final Cut to be in there and not AMLOR but the rest of us wanted it the other way around, so he was outvoted.'" [and I'm sure he did it calmly with grace - I can imagine what meetings with the 4 guys must have been like!] [on the next album] "With Shine On completed, Gilmour has set his sights on the next Floyd album. Waters - who sought an injunction in 1987 to stop Gilmour from using the Pink Floyd name - was mollified with an out-of-court financial settlement, although he spears his former band mates in an interview in the latest Musician magazine. Gilmour, meanwhile, said a jam session about a year ago with Mason, Wright, and other musicians from the most recent Floyd tour made him feel optimistic about the upcoming project." "'Rick and Nick and myself seem to be fairly well in agreement on the way we like to do things, which makes things much smoother' Gilmour said. 'We've been listening to some ideas we still have lying around, trying to think of what to do.'" -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The January 8, 1993 issue of Goldmine features Pink Floyd as its cover story. --- ...Gilmour is asked whether the group's failure to place so many of its early singles on later compilation albums indicates a dissatisfaction with them. "Certainly, there is an element within the people involved that aren't that keen on every single one of them," he replies diplomatically, "and there was actually some opposition amongst us all to whether we should even do this at all [i.e., release them on Shine On]. "There are lots of tracks on those early albums, on Saucerful of Secrets and these early singles, which are for real enthusiasts only, if you know what I mean," Gilmour adds, laughing, "to put it delicately. Certainly, there are tracks that I hate on some of these things. "But it's historical. I don't want to get too precious about it, we'll just put the stuff out. There are people who want it, a lot of people who want it, abd I think it's an interesting little historical hole to fill." --- Another tidbit regarding Atom Heart Mother: --- Gilmour does not remember the album favorably and decided to leave it off of Shine On, though he promises it will be remastered for an improved CD version in the near future. --- And regarding "When the Tigers Broke Free" --- Asked if he had considered including it on the rarities disc of Shine On, Gilmour replies, "To be honest with you, it never occurred to me. The whole period of the post-The Wall period and The Final Cut period are all such a nightmare in my mind that I tended to blank all of that out of my thought processes. It would be a good idea. It's a very nice track, actually. Maybe Roger should put it out on his greatest hits." --- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A bit about Welcome to the Machine, touring in general, etc., from the "Backstage" book by Bob Hassall ...We left in a group of six and spent the twenty minute ride listening to the crew's chit-chat. I heard why 'Welcome To The Machine' hadn't made it onto the video that had just been released. Floyd are allowed to play it but Rog still has a say in the matter concerning whether or not it goes on film. The same reason it wasn't to be played in Venice which was to be filmed and sent out "live" to 27 countries. ...During a back-stage interview at Wembley (6th of August '88). and in reply to this whole affair, David Gilmour Said: "Well, it's my job. What can I say? It's what I do for a living. Pink Floyd is the particular career that I've chosen and have been involved with for twenty years and without a good reason, I don't see why I should pack it in. I'm 42. I've got no intention of retiring. I've got no intention of jacking this in or anything else that I do. I have no idea what I'll feel like in the future. You might see us when I'm 60, I don't know. I mean, if it's fun and people wanna come see it, it's a privilege... I mean, I might have to work otherwise!" Nick Mason said: "People had the tendancy to sort of feel more and more that Roger held the regins and was the controlling influence but I think when he did go, there was still realisation that we 'could' carry on. Rog is very fond of saying, "No-one's indespensable", and er... he was right". ...I went across to Bob Mardon. He's the P.T.S driver and was responsible for those four clusters of lights (pods) that horizontally and vertically moved across the stage. He told me that the guy in the 'Lapse' film is actually the same guy who looks after David Gilmour's boat house/studio. The location used for the films was Grantchester Meadows, a place that's always been close to the hearts of the band. An inspirational place, responsible for many good track back in the early days. About the 'eagle' (used during Learning To Fly) ...Apparently because it wasn't all that good, the crew had burnt it in Manchester ('88) on the carpark: they'd been carrying it around but not using it for too long. Back-stage in Werchter (B), I'd seen a life size bulbman standing between two white pillars (a plastic fern plant on each). There were electric cables running up one leg,... Bob told me that it was used only to brighten up the dressing-room areas! ...Marc Brickman had worked with Roger Waters back in '84 when 'Pros And Cons' hit the road. He also had his hand in the making of 'The Gunner's Dream' film from 'The Final Cut' album (1983). Here he was again with the Floyd, this time as the lighting designer. ...Again Scott Page (sax) was busy with his video camera. More than once I'd seen him filming the sound-checks. For his scrapbook, I imagine. ...About ten minutes before the gig started I saw Gary Wallis wandering around, mingling with the fans. Nobody expected one of the band to come out to the public so he managed to stay unrecognised. In only a few minutes everyone would be freaking to Gary's fantastic drum play but now they seemed to be annoyed at yet another guy pushing his way through. ...In Moscow, during 'Money', overenthusiastic fans began to throw coins at the stage. The whole band had to wear safety helmets before they could carry on. ...As a point of interest, Floyd were carrying a second pig, the main difference being that on the one, the horns protrude and on the second they are drawn on. They were being used at random. First one out of the flight-case, type of thing. ...Knebworth: Before the band entered the stage, there was about 20 minutes of film shown on enormous video screens. Apart from getting a mini history of the Floyd (made up from clips and old b/w footage), we were also given some new scenes from the 'Lapse' film. The oarsman would sit on the floor, in the middle of an empty room and make rowing motions, with a glazed look in his eyes, as if reminiscing on things gone by ('Signs Of Life' was shown). He'd take a feather and stare through it, trying to hold on to some vague memory (we got 'Learning To Fly'). -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A couple 'obits" from TAP (#56) Leonard Cheshire ---------------- Lord Cheshire, founder of the Memorial Found for Disaster Relif, died of motor neurone disease on July 31. He was 74. After his wartime career as a bomber pilot, for which he won the Victoria Cross, Cheshire established homes for the disabled in 45 countries. He is survived by his wife and two children. In 1990, Roger Waters said of Cheshire: " He demonstrates a complete lack of selfishness, extraordinary energy and loads of compassion." also in TAP (which all of you probably knows): Jeff Porcaro ------------ Jeff Porcaro drummer with Toto, died recently of a suspected heart attack. He was 38. Porcaro played on Mother, About Face and Amused To Death. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Something else for San Francisco Bay Area folks, quoted without permission from the 23Aug92 Datebook section of the SF Chronicle: "Started on a shoestring 25 years ago in the bucolic glade of Los Gatos, Guitar Player magazine caught the first wave of exploding interest in rock's chief instrument, persevered and finally prospered, becoming one of those rare publications that actually communicates with the audience it indended -- in this case, musicians. Which probably explains why Guitar Player can hold a silver aniversary concert and get a virtual Who's Who of the field to perform." "Although the program probably will shift around before show time, those who already have agreed to appear at the Spetember 19 benefit at the Warfield Theater include David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, all-around great Ry Cooder, blues immortal John Lee Hooker, session heavy Larry Carlton, unique fusion jazz specialist Stanley Jordan, and such noted iconoclasts of the instrument as former David Bowie sideman Adrian Belew, Dixie Dregs frets man Steve Morse, and former Joe Satriani bassist Stu Hamm, who will appear with rockers-turned-jazzbeaux drummer Steve Smith of Journey and keyboardist Tom Coster of Santana." "Guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan is serving as special consultant, and Dick Bright, former musical director of the Bammies {San Francisco's music awards}, will preside over the house band for the event -- not an evening to be missed for guitar fans." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Source: Information Week, 11/30/92, pg 46, Joseph Panettieri Scott Page, president of Walt Tucker Productions, was at Comdex/Fall 92 - not just pitching his wares on the trade show floor - but blowing saxophone at the Thomas & Mack Center for 15,000 people 'the professional sax player has recorded and toured with everyone from Diana Ross to Pink Floyd. Now he's moving on - sort of' o "I'm getting to a point where I have to make a decision about what I what to dedicate my time to. I've done my music stint. Building an interactive multimedia company is my next challenge. I'm more concerned now about the multimedia business than...stage" o the 4-year-old venture specializes in CD/ROM technology for the home - the name is an amalgam of two of Scotts heroes . Walt Disney, Preston Tucker o yet even as he was launching it, Page toured with Pink Floyd in 1988 'Pink Floyd...is close to committing to another world tour. If they get back on stage, he couldn't possibly sit that one out' Norm deCarteret Advantis - Tampa FL -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Subject: Extracts from Hipgnosis book RE: _A Nice Pair_ 'At first we couldn't think of anything for this cover. Slowly we amassed a collection of notes and pencil roughs. But they were mostly silly jokes and didn't feel sufficiently strong to work on their own. In the end we got so attached to them that we decided to use them all. Nice Pair is, essentially, eighteen individual sleeve designs and it took, therefore, a very long time to do. The inner spread comprises numerous Floyd photos from the archives and shows how the rigid layout began to ore the pants off the designer - his concentration flagged and he simply made a mess of it at the end. The Floyd have a good sense of humour so many of the ideas were jokes, pictures, puns or aphorisms like 'laughing all the way to the bank' (Bob Lawrie), 'nip in the air' (Colin Elgie), 'fork in the road', and a 'frog in the throat'. Other pictures are just ones we like, for instance, the cinema foyer (one of our favourite locations, see 10cc 'Sheet Music'). Some are a bit wry like the paranoid peephole in the door of a family called Fear, and the spectacles out of focus. The latter belong to the photographer taking the picture. When he took them off to shoot them, he couldn't see to well, and so was unable to focus correctly. The completely stoned freak with his kaftan and psychedelic goggles is a reference to the Floyd's psychedelic past. The one of Po and I in our studio is about discussing this Floyd sleve ('Dark Side' has gone, or is disappearing). We are in the process or rejecting an all pink cover as a solution. We're no fools. The Floyd's own football, PFFC, is an oddity. In fact it's a replacement for a photo of Floyd Patterson, the boxer, painted pink all over. But he wanted five grand for the privilege so it was quickly forgotten. You'd think he'd pay to be on a Floyd sleve' -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Q Magazine, September 1992 The last few thousand of the quarter million toiling out of the Potsdamer Platz, Berlin,20 minutes after the end of 'The Wall' were transfixed to hear the whole extravaganza starting up again behind them. Because of substantial technical hitches which afflicted the early part of the performance - including an expanse of dead silence at one point - and the requirements of a live album due for genuine "rush" release within weeks, Roger Waters and the producers had decided they should go straight back out and fill in the blanks. A few days later, with a candour unusual, veering towards the unique, in the history of the live album, Waters headed sceptics off at the pass by revealing the exact extent of the "retouching" involved. The unnofficial after-midnight performance provided The Thin Ice (with Ute Lemper). Another Brick In The part 1 and The Band's parts on Mother (Sinead O'Connors vocal, interrupted on the night,was taken from the dress rehearsal). Bryan Adams went into the studio to debug his version of Young Lust, Cyndi Lauper did likewise for Another Brick part 2, and they both added some extracurricular work on The Tide Is Turning, the entire cast encore. All the proceeds from the record are, of course, going to Leonard Cheshire's International Fund For Disaster Relief. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Gilmour's Garage (From Today newspaper, Jan 21) Pink Floyd star Dave Gilmour has paid 90,000 pounds for a 10ft by 16ft garage. The millionaire guitarist, who co-wrote the hit Money, paid three times the market value for the north London lock-up. He was so fed up with his car being broken in to that he slapped in an offer that could not be gazumped. "The buyer paid well over the odds," said estate agent Nigel De Keyser, who handled the sale. "Even if the market picked up, the garage would undoubtedly sell at a loss." Gilmour uses a 25,000 pound BMW to ferry his family around, but is also mad keen on Ferraris. Asked about his new acquisition yesterday, Gilmour, 47, smiled: "I don't want to talk about it." But a friend said: "Few of the houses in the area have garages. Dave had to park in the road. People have gone to great lengths to break in and steal the radio. It was damaged several times." Dave shares his love of cars with Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who has one of the worlds most valuable collections. They have made a fortune from albums like Dark Side of the Moon. The garage belonged to a couple who sold the house and disposed of the lock-up separately when the new buyers did not need one. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Andrew Lloyd Webber & Echoes (From Q Magazine Feb 93) The Who The Hell column interview with Roger Waters in the November issue of Q raised a question about the similarity between certain musical phrases in Phantom Of The Opera and Pink Floyd's instrumental Echoes. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber has now pointed out that the music of Phantom was, in fact, taken from incidental music he himself composed for the film Gumshoe in 1971. We regret any suggestions of plagitarism and apologise to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber for any embarrassment caused by our article. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Floyd Sighting in National News Magazine In the Feb 8 Newsweek magazine here in the states, there was an article on p. 60 called "Turning Over a New, Old Leaf" It was about the supposed resurgence of marijuana decorations on jewelry and clothing. It's basic point was that silver pot-leaf shaped earrings, for example, are trendy again. Here's the part that cracked me up: "These days, pot is as much a symbol of simplicity and health consciousness as it is a companion to one's Pink Floyd CDs." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A bit from The Age newspaper, 20 Mar 93 (Australia): [Roger] also accepts, albeit grudgingly, that Pink Floyd has survived his departure, just as it survived the loss of Syd Barrett. "It might be that, if you had a reasonably adept producer, Pink Floyd could go on for another 200 years after the original members were dead ... It is a very powerful name." The source of the article is given as "The Independent". -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- MTV (Europe) News At Night 4th May 93: FLOYD DEATH THREATS "27 year old Canadian musician Gerald Jackman has been charged with extortion, after he sent a letter to Pink Floyd manager Steven O'Rourke threathning to kill the band, if he did not recive 2.2 million dollars". PRIVATE NUMBER CALLED "A spokesman for London Metropolian Police Force said the groupe initialy took no notice to the death threat, but became more concerned when a telephone call was made to one of their private unlisted numbers". TRACKED DOWN BY INTERPOOL "Jackman was tracked down by Interpool following his second demand to deliver the money to an address in Toronto". -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- An article in The Virginia Pilot Ledger Star, newspaper the other day showed an Associated Press photo of the Pink Floyd Airship. The caption said "The pink Floyd Airship took flight Monday at the airship facility in Weeksville, North Carolina (USA) The airship, owned by the rock band, is 194 feet long, 63 feet high and contains 235,000 cubic feet of helium." The black and white photo shows the airship fully painted with a large mask (possibly to be seen on the new album ??) takeing up 2/3 of the side, with the words Pink Floyd in large letters on the lower portion of the tail section. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-