(Thanks Salvatore)

(Thanks Lana)

(Thanks Chris)

"Regarding the message posted previously about the Stranglers Live cd from 1980 with Robert on guitar. This has been available now for some time so I think this must be a reissue. It's a very nice cd to have particularly if you are a fan of both bands, which I am. Another interesting thing about it, is that Matthieu Hartley plays keyboards on one or two tracks too.

I have seen this cd in record shops in the UK and Ireland and it's available from amazon."

(Thanks Keith)

"I was a bit confused when I read that Stranglers 'news'. I have that album since a few years (was released I think 95? - have it at home, I'm at work right now), probably due to copyright things, it was rereleased in a second version without the 2 songs w/ Robert (and another was deleted from the rerelease as well). So if it's really a new release, it would be another rerelease which finally has the songs w/ Robert on it again.

Here's the link with info on that album, catalog number and all - http://www.stranglers.net/live.html (about at the middle of that page)."

(Thanks Stefan)

"Some days ago, there was a chat session with New Order on Communic8. Someone asked: " what's your honest opinion on the Cure" Peter Hook wrote: " I like some of them, I like the poppiest stuff...the bass player is like looking in a mirror...bit unnerving, they rip off too many of my bass lines...even my mother noticed"."

(Thanks Wout)

"I've heard something very strange on spin (mtv germany), where kafka told something about his recent interview with robert. during that session he had shown a video by new order and wondered why robert didn't want to talk about them. then he obviously asked new order about that, who told that some of the cure's songs would sound exactly like new order. he also told two quotes they made about robert: "he basically ripped us off, didn't he" and "he's a pretentious asshole"."

(Thanks Dominik)

France - dropped out of the French Top 40 Best Of chart.

Belgium - was # 48 in its 9th week on the Ultratop 50, and is # 50 in its 10th week, and went Gold.

Greece - up to #13 in the Greek international charts. It has been in the top 50 for ten weeks in a row and has never fallen below #30, while peaking at #8.

Also, David did some research through the RIAA and discovered the current U.S. status of some past releases:

ALBUMS

Certified Gold-Platinum-Double Platinum (more than 2,000,000 copies) : Staring at the sea - The singles

Certified Gold-Platinum (more than 1,000,000 copies) : Disintegration, KMKMKM, Mixed up, Wish

Certified Gold (more than 500,000 copies) : The head on the door, Galore, WMS

VIDEOS

Certified Gold-Platinum (more than 100,000 copies) : Staring at the sea - The images, The Cure in Orange

Certified Gold (more than 50,000 copies) : Picture show

(Thanks David and Kostas)

"Got a text from a mate this morning, she told me to turn the radio on (but i was on the train) apparently missy elliotts new song is a mix of love cats...aarrrgh, Can anyone shed any light on this this?????"

(Thanks Ange)

"http://www.ariausa.com/titles/nxt/nxt.html apparently, Perry designed another Aria guitar ~ i think it is the same body design as the 6 string bass ~ i still prefere the American made 1960's Fender Bass VI to the japanese made aria."

(Thanks HoldingMercury)

"We heard Robert Smith talking about very interesting things in a rather small interview . Here are the highlights :

1. Robert doesn't think anymore that in order to make something on his own he needed to stop the band , he can do both since he is recording his solo album and in the same time they are making plans for this summer with the Cure.

2.He hasbeen recording his solo album the past two moths and he will go in studio again next month. He is hoping to finish before his birthday.

3.The new music does sound sound different to the Cure ,but he does not know how to explain it , he thinks it's pretty best for the people to hear it when it's out. The Cure fans will enjoy what he's done and what he's doing on his own. But it's very distinctive in a lot of ways different to the sound of the Cure. Just the songs themselves are quite different somehow because he wasn't writing with the idea of the Cure in his head .

4.He has bought 40 cds and still he hasn't found anything good , but his hoping the remaining 20 have something good . Again he mentioned Mogwai and their last cds . But he said that when he is recording he does not listen so much music because he is warried of being influenced.

5.There are very good chances of coming in Greece this summer . They've had a few offers to play in festivals around Europe . So they decided that if they are going to play they definately going to come in Athens .

6.He was surprised that they won the award for best group 2001 since he thought we had forgotten them because they haven't been in Greece for a lot of time. The award changed his opinion and now he is thinking seriously of coming in Greece since as he said they've always had a good time and the response was great when the Cure were in Greece."

(Thanks Kostas)

"I read an interview with Robert in a small German índependet music magazine. Robert said that he paid all costs for the Unplugged-CD himself because the record company refused to sell the 2-cd-package at normal price. "

(Thanks Simon)

"the transcript of robert's interview with markus kavka for mtvspin germany is now online on markus' personal website (it's in german, sorry, i don't have time to translate it): http://www.markus-kavka.de/main.php?seite=robert.htm&Ueberschrift=Robert%20Smith%20bei%20Spin"

(Thanks Nika)

"According to Planet Sound (the "Reload" section on Page 456 - Channel4 Teletext in the UK) a live album by The Stranglers titled "And Friends Live In Concert" which features Robert Smith on guitar is being released.

This was the London Rainbow gig in 1980, as mentioned on page 34 of Ten Imaginary Years, which was played in support of Stranglers vocalist Hugh Cornwell who had been imprisoned. Robert states in Ten Imaginary Years that he plays only on the first two songs. Other artists who appear on the album are Ian Dury, Wilko Johnson and ahem..Toyah. It's being released on the Castle label, which specialises in reissues of cack such as Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler box sets. Date of release and availability outside of the UK was not mentioned. "

(Thanks Dave)

"Now we know when and who will be playing

1.02. ?ód? - klub DEKOMPRESJA ul. Krzemieniecka 2, zagraj?: God's Bow, Eva, Thule i t.h.o.r.n., 19:00

2.02. Cz?stochowa - klub BECZKA ul.Zau?ek Wielu?ski 2, zagraj?: God's Bow, Eva, Thule i t.h.o.r.n., 19:00

3.02. Kraków - klub MIASTO KRAKOFF, ul. ?obzowska 3, zagraj?: God's Bow, Eva, Thule i t.h.o.r.n.,19:00

4.02. Katowice - klub ZA SZYB?, ul. Studencka 16, zagraj?: God's Bow, Eva, Le Fleur i Thule, 19:00

5.02. Wroc?aw - klub STREFA RADIA KOLOR, plac Nowy Targ - podziemie, zagraj?: God's Bow, Eva, Le Fleur i Thule, 19:00

6.02. Pozna? - klub ESKULAP, ul. Przybyszewskiego 39, zagraj?: God's Bow, Thule, t.h.o.r.n. i Usta Bilizowane, 19:00

7.02. Gdansk - klub PARLAMENT, ul. ?wi?tego Ducha 2, zagraj?: God's Bow, Thule, eM i Usta Bilizowane, 21:00

8.02. Warszawa - KLUB MEDYKÓW, ul. Oczki 5, zagraj?: God's Bow, Thule, t.h.o.r.n. i Usta Bilizowane, 18:00

(Thanks Darek)

Germany - #89 in German top 100 album charts (8th week).

France - down to #35 in the Best Of chart.

US - 2 weeks ago: 4,119 copies sold / Last week: 3,786 copies sold.

And 'CUT HERE' is now # 5 in RADIO MAXIMUM 103.7FM chart in Russia after 13 weeks.

(Thanks Simon, David and Jeff)

"Hey, I was just checking out some of my favorite local bands, and after hunting forever for through their archives, I found out that on their upcoming album, the band Twilight's Moon is covering The Cure's song "Close to Me." I just thought I would pass on the information to you so you could post it. Here is what I DO know:

Band: Twilight's Moon

Song covered: Close to Me

For the album The Moon: Greatest Hits

I think its going to be released July, 2002. "

(Thanks Jeremy)

"More about the guitar Perry played during the DreamTour, and interesting info about his involvement in its design. http://www.ariausa.com/titles/bb/bb.html"

(Thanks Jeff)

"In todays issue of "Morning Paper" there was a positive article about The Cure after 12 years in Croatia.Two months back GH was reviewed but indifferently. In 2000, Bloodflowers was "not so attractive collection of grey songs" . In 1996 for WMS "misery in it is false remiss to nostalgic times" and we (fans) are "helpless observers of Cure's game". In 1992, Wish was "all in all -zero, except for one song", (guess wich one). They gave them 1/2 page being positive about all Cure eras and talking about late 80's when today's distinguished Cro musicians and media people were dancing to Cure songs. It quotes Robert:"See you in Zagreb";it's an old quote but i was surprised that political and very influential daily is looking forward to see The Cure in Croatia. Although it will never happen."

(Thanks Sanjin)

"a bit of curespotting found in a review of new order's syndey gig...

http://www.nme.com/reviews/10158.htm "

(Thanks Christopher)

"I was watching the Australia vs South Africa cricket test match and they were showing some classic catches during the lunch break with 'A Letter to Elise' playing in the background. I never expected that one!"

(Thanks Greg)

"Just a small tune sighting....on the background music at Outback Steak House, Union, New Jersey at 6:30pm Saturday January 27th. The restaurant's background music was a mostly eighties music offering with bands like the Psychedelic Furs and R.E.M. and of course my ears (my Cure fan 11 year old daughter's ears too) perked right up when the tonally descending intro to Just Like Heaven popped in. Best three minutes of steak inhaling in recent memory! :-) "

(Thanks Mark)

"Below a translated version, from Danish to English, of the interview article with Robert Smith in the Danish Music magazine Gaffa (January), where they are giving out 10 Greatest Hit's DVD's to people who can answer the question of what the working title for Robert Smiths solo project has been.

Win The Cure DVD

As can be read in the January issue of GAFFA, The Cure have released their greatest hits compilation, where one can re-listen to just about all their singlehits from the beginning all the way up to Bloodflowers, released in 2000.

Along with the CD, which in it's first pressing was supplemented with an extra cd where the current Cure line-up play accoustic versions of all the singles, a DVD has also been released with all single videos. We have been given 10 copies which 10 cure fans can win.

The tracklist:

Boys Don't Cry, A Forest, Let's Go to Bed, The Walk, The Lovecats, Inbetween Days, Close To Me, Why Can't I Be You, Just Like Heaven, Lullaby, Lovesong, Never Enough, High, Friday I'm In Love, Mint Car, Wrong Number, Cut Here, Just Say Yes

Read below what Robert Smith has to say about the Greatest Hits album:

The Cures Greatest Hits is pretty much af gathering of the bands biggest single hits through the years. At at the same time it's also a gathering of songs that don't quite project the atmosphere which fans look for in the Cures music. All this was in Robert Smith's thoughts as he prepared to choose songs for the album:

- "These are not my favorite Cure singles. I attempted to take a step back from everything and be honest. I wanted to start with the most commercial singles, but also wanted that they should represent those which have been important singles for the band in certion periods. And I was actually amazed at how good the songs have stayed. But there is a problem. My heart was simply not really in the project. I mean, I'm proud how it has turned out with the new songs and how the songs turned out in the new accoustic CD. The album has been made with as much care and thought as possible. But for the most bands, their biggest hits actually sumarize their whole career; that's not the case for The Cure. The Hits are almost a sidething. If our whole backcatalogue was erased, and someone came across our greatest hits album and thought that that was what the Cure was about, they woudl be mistaken. So that's why I want to do something to get it balanced."

Robert Smith's plans revolve around releasing a B-sides album with a DVD of the History of the Cure ("there probably isn't anyone else that would pen the Cure's history, so we might as well do it ourselves" Robert Smith says jokingly) which fans have been asking for for a long time, but also to release an alternative version of the greatest hits:

- "I have suggested that we should make a Greatest-Misses-CD; my choice of Cure songs that reflect the other side of the Cure. Then I would attempt to explain the songs to the fans better than I have ever done before."

What songs should the Greatest Misses include?

- "Basically the title songs from the albums, I think. Faith, Pornography or Figure Head, The Top, The Kiss....."

Apart from The Cure, Robert Smith has long been talking about doing a solo project, which he wants to get started with as soon as possible."

(Thanks Christoffer)

"There is a 4 page article about The Cure in the december/january issue of French magazine Elegy. It is mainly the history of the band, pictures from the Bloodflowers era, and a couple of quotes from the Paris press conference on October 25th 2001, including :

- "No one ever knew why we had so much success with albums the record companies did not believe in."

- "I don't know if it will be on my own or with the band, but I will probably be in studio in January."

- "I will never do a solo tour, I love to be in a band."

Elegy has also an interview with Trent Reznor from NIN, in which he was asked if he would collaborate with Robert. His answer was : "There is no famous people collaboration list yet. I am trying to keep that for myself, I don't want to talk about it for the moment."

(Thanks Sylvain)

"Yesterday on jan. 17th Mtv-Nordic had a "cure-night". This is what they sent: A fresh interview with Robert Smith on Mtv:new, the Cure unplugged, the Cure rockumentary and a bunch of Cure videos on Alternative Nation. What a night!!!"

(Thanks Tor-Arnfinn)

"The cure have a station on the AOL radio thing...its in the celebrity DJ section...they play all the cures fav songs...aol radio is only available on AOL 7.0."

(Thanks Lisa)

Germany - In its seventh week on the German top 100 album charts, "Hits" jumps ten spots to # 77.

France - up to # 27 in the French best of chart.

World - #201 in the Towerrecords.com chart.

(Thanks Simon and David)

(Thanks Christiane)

"There's an mp3-download at the tori amos site www.hereinmyhead.com of tori doing lovesong on her strange little girls tour this autumn. go to diagnosed sounds - strange little girls [01]."

(Thanks Tormod)

"A band out of Baltimore by the name of Lake Trout has been doing a cover of "A Forest" at a few of their shows I have been too. Its really incredibile. Just thought I would pass that information along for anyone who might want to go check them out."

(Thanks Cory)

"I was at a little music festival in Amsterdam last night(the 20th) and there played a band called "Alcoholics Anonymous" and they played three cure songs!!! M, Apart and a very long and drunken version of A Forest! It sounded pretty good though!"

(Thanks Mike)

"Here's a cure cover worth hearing: http://homepage.mac.com/the_garden/FileSharing.html "

(Thanks The Garden)

"I was watching a DVD called "Series 7:The Contenders last night. The director's commentary tract was describing a scene were two of the characters were acting out a video to the Joy Division song "Love Will Tear Us Apart". He said the woman in charge of wardrobe studied pictures of Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith to get the right look of the high school Goth couple."

(Thanks Joe)

"I just wanted to let you know that Budapest Radio this cloudy and rainy morning broadcast some Cure songs. In a show where you can phone in and share your comments (basically about political and every-day-life things), they started to play cd1 of "Show" and broadcast it almost uninterrupted. In the meantime, about half of the time, the people talked, so during the talks the music was hardly hearable. The songs one could listen to were: "Intro/Open/High/Pictures of you/Lullaby" and then "A night like this" and "Trust". Following this section, also "Out of this world" and "Mint car" were played. What a morning! A mistake was nevertheless taken by the man in charge who said at the beginning that it was the Cure's Paris live cd. "

(Thanks Janos)

"last friday the tv happened to be on a programe about gardeing, in which they fly over gardens with a helicopter to see them from the air. During one of the flights they played 'Apart' to my greath surprise!"

(Thanks ZUKI)

"There is a TV spot in a mexican channel called "TV AZTECA", its about the winter games.... its so weird to hear INBETWEEN DAYS as a back track."

(Thanks Frank)

(Thanks Jerry)

"Today I heard news on 3FM, the biggest Dutch radio station! The Cure will give a concert this year in Holland. It will be their final gig. I don't know when. Maybe someone knows?

PS On MTV in Holland this evening you could see The Cure perform at Roskilde last year including a small interview with Robert."

(Thanks Mark)

"There is a Robert interview in the January issue of French magazine "Compact" (#19). It was done when the band came in Paris for the Greatest hits press conference. Here are the highlights :

- The tracks on the GH are only songs that had commercial success. They don't represent what the Cure really are.

- Making the Hanging Garden video was a complete mistake.

- The record company wanted to do a record for the 80's cure fans, whereas Robert has the actual cure fans in mind and this is why they recorded the acoustic versions.

- If you listen carefully to the acoustic version of Wrong Number , you can hear someone laughing because the band felt like this version was so weird!

- Robert's way of singing is different on the acoustic versions because his voice has become more mature and because his feelings are different from the ones he had when he recorded the original versions.

- He tries different vocal styles on stage because it's a way of having fun and also of exploring the different possibilities of each song. On records, concentration is more important than excentricity because it will stay forever. Two exceptions are "Club America", on which he tried to sing like David Bowie, and "Happy the man" because he had eaten two mushrooms that night.

- He works a lot with sampling and effects on his solo album, but this would not be appropriate for The Cure. The acoustic hits show that the emotion is still there even when the songs are "naked".

- The acoustic versions are purely acoustic. No Amps, no samples. He was obssessed by making a purely acoustic record.

- He cannot give a categorical answer concerning the way the Cure will release their music in the future. On one hand, there is no spontaneity anymore in the relations between the band and their record company and they feel like their freedom is threatened. But on the other hand, only a major can release records on a big scale. Moreover, Cure fans don't all have a computer with downloading tools. The difficulty is to find a compromise between those two options.

- Robert said the Cure will go in studio in January for a new album.

- At the moment, Robert's favorite TV Channel is Panjabi RTV ( India ) and he spends a lot of time listening to a compilation called "Club Meditation" that demonstrates the links between music from all over the world. He often thinks of including those kind of sounds in the Cure music but doesn't do it too much because he can't competely change the identity of the band. However, it worked well with The 13th, Numb and songs from Kiss me Kiss me Kiss me. "

(Thanks Sylvain)

"You mentionned the TV Special on belgian channel La Deux TV a few days ago. More clarification about this program. It will in fact be the retransmission of the show The Cure did in Brussels during the Bloodflowers Promo Tour, which was an excellent show. It is told on the web page talking about the program that it will be the retransmission of the entierety of the concert, but I am pretty sure they won't air Disintegration, as this show was already aired on TV a year ago ( It was called Belgian Flowers ), and that they didn't air that song. But it is still excellent news to have that show beeing aired again. Here's what they say about the program. They're not quite aware that The Cure has decided to continue playing gigs, as the first thing they're telling is that the concert shown is one of the last Cure will ever make...

THE CURE

Bon pour le son:

“Belgianflowers Liveî: l'intégrale du concert enregistré à l'Ancienne Belgique en février 2000. L'un des derniers concerts du groupe puisqu'après Torhout/Werchter Robert Smith décidait d'arrêter ses tournées avec The Cure. L'album “Bloodflowers" clôture une sorte de trilogie commencée en 1982 avec “Pornography", suivi par “Disintegration'' en 1989. Avec ses neuf titres sans techno ni pop commerciale, The Cure signe un album de la maturité. aître de la Cold Wave, Robert Smith, le leader du groupe, s'inspire de l'ambiance des années 80 et d'un spleen existentiel appuyé par une coupe de cheveux en pétard et un rouge à lèvres proche du sens interdit... “Bloodflowers'' n'a rien d'un album sanglant et privilégie surtout des mélodies aux accents mélancoliques. Réalisation: Serge Bergli Programme proposé par Benoît Jacques de Dixmude RTBF Bruxelles (Pour info: 04.12.2000 sur La Deux)"

(Thanks Olivier)

(Thanks Simon)

(Thanks Dave)

"Last night i attended a show here in pittsburgh by the band Okgo from chicago, they did a cover of Lovecats."

(Thanks Russ)

"There'll be The Cure Night on MTV-Europe (January 17th). Here is quotation from MTV-Europe's website:

The Cure Night Thursday, January 17th

You have the winter blues? We have The Cure. Guaranteed to make you even more depressed. Tune in on Thursday for a special Top 10 at 10 and later on for a whole evening of programmes, including an mtv:new special (20:00 CET), MTV Unplugged (22:00 CET), Rockumentary (22:30 CET) and an Alternative Nation Special (23:00 CET). "

(Thanks Camilla, Kari, Antii Andrew and Steven)

"Flag Promotions in Association with Peter Gilbert Travel are pleased to announce A special Hotel Deal for Ticket holders of Curefest 2002 has been negotiated. If you'd like to stay in the same hotel as other Cure fans from all over the world attending Curefest in March then book up now. They have negotiated a special rate of £64.95 for a double room ( upto 2 people) per night. It is a very nice Ibis Hotel 5 minutes walk from Camden Palace. There will be a Cure fan pub crawl organised for the Saturday night before Curefest. Please do not approach the Hotel directly as you will not recieve any discount. To book Curefest Tickets and accomodation telephone 0208 450 4506 or 07930655209. "

(Thanks Gary)

"Last saturday on French TV channel Canal+, Inbetween days and Just like heaven were used as background music for a report on "TNT" (=Terrestrial Digital Television ). "

(Thanks Sylvain)

(Thanks Shivam and Fuji)

"The only DVD player I currently own is in my computer. I'm not sure how it works on other computer DVD players, but I couldn't reach the hidden features using the methods that had previously been mentioned. I did find out how to access them though.

To watch "The Caterpillar", move your mouse arrow to the area at the base of the thumb of Robert's silhouette on Song Select screen A, then click. To watch the "Close To Me (remix)" video, click on the lower left hand corner of the B on Song Select screen B. To watch "Pictures Of You", click on the bottom of Robert's thumb on Song Select screen C."

(Thanks Shawn)

"I think the problem with those saying they can't get to the hidden DVD tracks with the 13 method is that they're pressing 1 then 3, instead of the 10+ button, then 3."

(Thanks Jason)

"A new french tribute will be released in France in January 8. It is called "A Tribute To The Cure Imaginary Songs" and will be distributed in France by Universal/Polydor. It contains 14 Cure songs, interpreted by some well-known french bands and artists, as "M", LT.NO, The Little Rabbits, Dominic Sonic and Dionysos. It will be released as a CD only (ref. 589 481-2). There will be some "Cure-friends concerts" all around France to promote this tribute :

15th january in Paris (Nouveau Casino)

january 19th in Vaureal (Le Forum)

january 31st in Clermont-Ferrand (Cooperative de Mai)

february 6th in Brest (Le Vauban)

february 8th in Lyon (Le Minkasi)

february 9th in Arles (Le Cargo)

and also in Rennes, Grenoble and Marseille (in february).

Some of the bands playing in the tribute will act during these concerts. Please have a look on this promo folder distributed by Universal France.

And also :

"Magic!", a french rock magazine will release a special Cure issue in january.

(Thanks Jerome)

"Monday 14 jan 2002

What a surprise to hear journalists speaking about the Cure this morning here in France, on the radio "France Info", which one of the major all day long information radio ! They introduced the new tribute about to be released here called "imaginary songs" and for which a special concert is organized tomorrow night in Paris, with the different groups playing on it. Well they just told that the cure blah blah 80's blah blah shadows blah blah and final pop return blah blah !!"

(Thanks Bill)

"note you announced that it was for roberts solo, in the promo it says to meet the group. here is the article in the radioactivo webpage

Próximamente Radioactivo 98.5 le dará la oportunidad a un fan de The Cure de conocer el estudio del grupo, acompañados por Robert Smith, quien después de darles un tour por el estudio se los llevará de fiesta por Londres.

the translation of it says:

coming soon on RADIOACTIVO 98.5 will give you the chance to a fan of the cure to know the studio of the group, in company of robert smith, who will after the tour of the studio will take you party in london...

so it does not mention anything about the solo stuff... i hope this clears a little bit what is going on"

(Thanks Eduardo)

"FYI about Launch's Video History of the Cure - they do indeed have more of the band videos, including those before Hanging Garden - just not on the Cure feature page. Rather than using the "feature" on the band, just use the site's regular video search. I saw Primary and Other Voices for starters. (also, the exclusive interview with Robert is from Dream Tour publicity, it's not current) You have to register with Yahoo to access all this though, since Yahoo took over Launch."

(Thanks Justin)

(Thanks Vagelis)

"the inevitable cure spotting occured late last night when, due to my own vice for the love of cheese, i was watching "the top eighty of the eighties" on muchmoremusic.

i hadn't been keeping up, but they did run down the previous spots before continuing the countdown, and here's some notables:

#46 - The Cure, Just Like Heaven (should have been higher)

#45 - George Micheal (or was it Micheal George??? beat out by one, and by a song that rips off close to me!! *insert vomiting here*)

#22 - The Clash, Rock the Casbah

#19 - White Snake (you know, the video with that cheesy model in it?)

#18 - Thomas Dolby (glasses and all)

there was then a poll taken by viewers asking them who had the biggest hair, was it:

a) Poison b) Whitesnake 3) Motley Crue 4) The Cure 5) Tina Turner

no competition... poison got the highest number of votes, while the cure got the least, at 5%!!! But they never had big BLONDE hair now did they??? and tina turner had wigs.

(Thanks Caro)

"In the weirdest of all places, i found a Cure reference on an anorexia website (www.anorexicweb.com). "("Boys Don't Cry" is a great song and a great movie, but not a great concept at all, because boys/men NEED to cry and discouraging such a normal emotion is absurd). "

(Thanks Icing Sugar)

"There's going to be a Cure contest next Jan 31st on Radio Activo 98.5 in Mexico City. The winner will have the chance to join Robert in London for the recording of his solo album as well as a night of party around London."

(Thanks Fernando)

"The Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo published an article last week about the bands that will come to Brazil in 2002, and again The Cure was mentioned, for the second time in less than a month. So it seems to be more than just a rumour. "

(Thanks Antonio)

"Launch.com is currently featuring a Cure video retrospective. Here's the description from their homepage:

"Robert Smith and the Cure are sealed in musical history as the goths that made killer pop tunes. See the whole shaggy-haired video history here!"

It's nice to see them getting some attention, though I could have done without the passive/aggressive "yeah, they're great, even though--wink--we all know they suck" description. Sheesh. There's also a link to some useless and/or outdated "news" about the band and an exclusive video interview with Robert that I haven't watched yet.

To add insult to injury, this is a retrospective sampling, not a "whole video history" as they claim. Several of the best vids are missing, including, well, EVERYTHING before "Hanging Garden," and there are even more recent omissions, including "Lovecats," "A Night Like This," and "Catch," which defy explanation. "

(Thanks Angel, Ash and Antonia)

To unlock The Caterpillar video: From the main menu, choose Song Select, scroll until The Walk, press the Down key until the star disappears and then click quickly and several times with the right key. The video will play.

To unlock the Pictures of you video : From the main menu, choose Song Select, scroll until The Friday I'm in love, press the Down key until the star disappears and then click quickly and several times with the down key. The video will play.

To unlock the Close To Me (remix) video: Put the cursor on Close to me in the Song Select screen, then press Up and the star will disappear. Press up several times and quickly, this will play the Close to me remix video.

You can also try entering the number 13 on each of the song selection pages and that works on some players as well.

(Thanks Bruno)

"There was a review of the Greatest Hits DVD in the January edition of Mojo magazine (George Harrison on the cover). I can't exactly remember the review word to word but overall it spoke fairly positively about the release and The Cure itself, although the writer thought that the band have now become a bit of parody of themselves and that their sell by date is now overdue. It emphasized the importance of the groundbraking techniques that Tim Pope used for the videos for 'Boys Don't Cry' and 'In Between Days' to pop music (such as hanging a camera in a basket (IBD) and using boys as band members (BDC)..."

(Thanks Steven)

(Thanks David)

"I was reading the espn.com Page 2 website where they occasionally do celebrity look alikes. Today they compared Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with Robert Smith and showed a picture of the two. Here is the link and blurb if you want to see it.

http://espn.go.com/page2/

"The minute Mavs owner Mark Cuban, left, changed his hairstyle, we started getting requests to match Cuban with Robert Smith, lead singer of 'The Cure.' We've had a half-dozen requests since Tuesday."

(Thanks Nate and Richard)

"The other day, I was watching "Beat the Geeks" on Comedy Central. The host held up a picture asking the contestant who it was. It was Robert playing guitar in what looked to be a Dreamtour photo. The contestant answered correct beating the "music geek" who couldn't figure out that the person in his picture was Siouxsie Sioux!"

(Thanks Dave)

"THE CURE is the BEST ROCK GROUP of 2001 according to the listeners of ROCK FM 96.8 in Athens,Greece(the one and only Radio station in Athens that plays exclusively Rock Music ). Many people voted from all over Greece and THE CURE won the title of THE ROCK STAR of 2001. Now THE CURE will be invited from ROCK FM 96.8 to perform live in Athens and they will be given the AWARD in a special event!Dates to be announced soon!

It is also said (since November) that THE CURE will definitely perform in the ATHENS ROCKWAVE FESTIVAL (early July)! This has not been confirmed officially yet, but i don't think that it is just a rumour this time!

Here are the Final Results:

ROCK STAR 2001(Rock Fm 96.8):

1. THE CURE 19.3%

2. TOOL 13.9%

3. RADIOHEAD 9.2%

4. PEARL JAM 7.7%

5. STROKES 7.2%

6. JAMES 6.0%

7. STARSAILOR 5.2%

8. DANDY WARHOLS 5.0%

9. NEW ORDER 4.2%

10 P.J. HARVEY 3.2%

11. BELLE & SEBASTIAN 2.3%

12. PLACEBO 2.3%

13. BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB 1.9%

14. MADRUGADA 1.9%

15. DEPECHE MODE 1.5%

16. MUSE 1.2%

17. PULP 1.1%

18. MANIC STREET PREACHERS 0.8%

19. REM 0.8%

20. TRAVIS 0.4% "

(Thanks Costas-Sofianna and Christopher)

"On the first week of 2002 CUT HERE remains at the first position in charts of RADIO MAXIMUM 103.7FM (http://www.maximum.ru/charts.asp) (broadcasting to Moscow and Saint Petersburg and online at http://www.maximum.ru) . You can support it by voting here: http://www.maximum.ru/charts_voting.asp

Another great New Year present for Russian Cure fans is the January issue of "Rovesnik" (Age Mate) magazine with The Cure photo on the cover of it, an article about the band and the Greatest Hits album release and a poster. Also Robert Smith mentioned twice in articles about Mogwai and role of show-business in modern pop-music.

And forgot to mention last time that the 5th issue of Russian The Cure Fanzine "Hot Hot Hot!!!" was released on December by our Fan Club "CloseToCure": http://www.closetocure.ru. Last news, interviews translations, review of Roskilde show, new songs translations, photos and more info about the band."

(Thanks Alexey)

"Just a short news for all the belgian Cure fans : the belgian channel RTBF 2 will broadcast a show called : "Bon pour le son" special The Cure on monday 21st january 2002 on 8.15 P.M."

(Thanks Alexandre)

"I´m from Argentina and I heard a group called 4°Espacio playing great versions of Faith,Halo and To wish imposible things in a concert in a pub called "La Matriz" last night. They have a cd coming soon."

(Thanks Nico)

France - out of the french fnac stores chart / up to # 28 in the french best of chart.

(Thanks David)

" 'Cut Here' appears in Northwest Airlines' January in-flight audio entertainment."

(Thanks Jay)

"The Cure apparently came in at #4 in the MTV2 Unplugged poll.. Not bad.. Almost makes me want to forgive the announcer for introducing the show with something along the lines of "these next guys are older than dirt"

(Thanks Josh, RV and Lindsey)

France - up to #25 in the French fnac stores chart / down to #32 on the French best of chart.

US - 10,688 copies sold last week

Germany - After only five weeks in charts, 'Hits' falls out of the German top 100. Best position was #22.

(Thanks David, Jeff and Simon)

"Just to let you know that we have updated our Website with 2 new Cure covers.

"SIAMESE TWINS" and "FAITH"

We have more covers posted in the "sounds" section on the Homepage if you want to have a listen click there : www.multimania.com/thespinningtops "

(Thanks Fred)

"Today (Jan. 8th) during the Rush Limbaugh show "Maybe Someday" was played as they were coming back from break."

(Thanks Wirebaughs)

"i caught this one watching mtv cribs....maybe someone wrote you about this before...but, in the no doubt's drummer's house ( i don;t remember his name..i think adrian? ) he has a room where he has album covers on the ceiling. well, if you look closely, you can see the cover for "the head on the door". so, i thought that was really strange...but i guess that goes to further prove they're cure fans."

(Thanks Erik)

"The Cure were chosen again by another artist on "Artists Choose" on MTV2 (UK). This time it was the turn of The Hives to let the public know just who's songs they rip-off. Again bearing in mind the "unique" sound of The Hives (see my Cure Spotting from January 1st about another very similar band) they picked.....wait for it.....Boys Don't Cry !!! Oh, what a surprise. "

(Thanks Dave)

"Just to let you know "close to me" was played during the bbc1 documentary "Walking with giant killers" on friday 4 january 10.35pm. The song was played during footage of bournemouths famous FA cup win at manchester united, and it included most of the song."

(Thanks Matt)

"In French TV weekly paper 'Tele 7 jours', on the issue dealing with 27th november 2001, there is a brief itw/portrait of Ray cokes looking like he has fun working on french TV programs 'Union Libre' and 'Music Planet 2Nite'; He says about the latter: "On Arte I can share my passion for music. (...) I know all the guests, like The cure that are among my best friends. They made a jam at my wedding."

(Thanks Fabien G)

"Over the weekend, CBS in Maryland reran a showcase of Minnesota Vikings' running back Robert Smith. Background music included "Fascination Street", "Lullaby" and "A Forest"."

(Thanks Curt)

"MTV Canada is scheduled to play the Cure Unplugged session on Jan. 7, 2002 at 1:30 PM EST. And I just found the following listing for the cure uplugged programme to also air in the states on MTV2:

(Thanks Robert)

"Hey, check out p. 62 of the February issue of Alternative Press, for their Hall of Fame. Not bad, and look at the list of who the Cure beat...I dunno about that Haiku, though...

They're 2001 inductees into the A.P. Hall of Fame. It's a 3/4 page long article but I don't have the actual text. I remember that nominees they beat included Joy Division, who I would have thought would be inducted first. They sort of claim Robert sent a thank-you message Haiku but when you read it, it looks suspiciously like a standard quick note of thanks that the editor maybe arranged into a "poem"."

(Thanks Justin)

"today i saw a short clip of Robert on mtv [holland]. he promoted the cure night on mtv 22 january"

(Thanks Leo)

"I just wanted to let you know that on the dutch TMF television channel they are advertising a special Cure Night on the 22th of January. I don't know the details, because I haven't seen it yet but I heard about it from serveral people."

(Thanks Floos)

"I live in the Washington, D.C. area. For about a month or two now, local radio station DC101 has been using the Cure song "Burn" for their station identifications, contest and concert advertisments. It's nice to hear."

(Thanks rust)

"While waiting for the 3rd day of the 3rd Cricket test between South Africa and Australia to start, just before an ad break they played the start of Lullaby up to just before Robert starts singing the first verse. Nice to hear on commercial TV."

(Thanks Adam)

"Just to let you know that The Northridge Fashion Center mall is Southern California played the video to CUT HERE (No Audio) in a Gigantic Screen in it's food court."

(Thanks Catterpillar Boy)

(Thanks Aaron)

"More info on Trigger Happy TV including downloads and track listings can be found at http://www.channel4.co.uk/entertainment/comedy/showcards/T/trigger_happy_tv. html. In one section Dom Joly does talk about meeting and filming with Robert Smith and mentions that he is a big Cure fan (He did the voiceover for the Greatest Hits TV adverts in the UK). The soundtrack to the third series has just been released and features A Forest. This can be bought from most retailers. Amazon.co.uk have it listed at £11.99."

(Thanks Ian)

"Triple J in Australia is having its annual hottest 100 vote at the moment. Cut here is eligible for voting. This radio station always supports the cure singles, and The Cure have been in the hottest 100 several times. Here is the link to vote:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hottest100/default.htm

After the voting is completed, a double CD with about 40 of the songs from the list is compiled and sold for about $20 US."

(Thanks David)

"That article from "Fallingcity" is funny, although it is a hoax, Sharon can't tell the difference between country and folk, the original article (as appeared in Israel) mentioned that palestinian stations played funeral songs and war songs praising suicide bombers. However, these songs are in arabic, although I do agree that some of the songs in Pornography could have fit the same purpose :)

That unlicensed radio station mentioned never existed, and was not bombed either. If there was a station playing gothic rock, I would have been tuned to it already :) "

(Thanks Uri)

"Right Lane will be playing at Rusty's at 19th and Lake Shore in Waco Texas at 9 p.m. Friday January 4th We will be playing The Cure plus our originals."

"I am a long time Cure fan and have everything they've ever released and beyond... I noticed your mention of the Glo-worm cover of Friday I'm In Love. I have the tribute album that it is on. It is the best of the Cure tribute albums out there. I rarely hear it ever mentioned anywhere.

(In case no one has heard of it) It is called Give Me The Cure - 18 DC Bands Interpret The Cure. It's on Radiopaque/Corduroy. The songs are as follows:

(Thanks Thom)

"just a little update on the glo-worm, you can listen to a clip of their cover of "friday im in love" at cd now.

(Thanks Justin)

"Cut Here" is featured in USAirways' January In-flight audio entertainment. There is also a " Wish " era photo of Robert in the entertainment section of the USAirways Attache magazine."

(Thanks Jay)

"While celebrating in down town San Antonio on New Years Eve, there was a band playing in the middle of the street playing mostly 80's music. Half an hour before the new year hit, they played "Just Like Heaven"! To my surprise just about everyone sang along!:

(Thanks Jim)

"UK: On Channel Four on Friday night there was a spoof documentary about Dom Joly (of 'Trigger Happy TV fame) entitled 'Being Dom Joly', and in a flashback sequence to Joly's supposed wedding, the only guest is a certain Robert Smith gleefully throwing confetti over them. Robert was credited with a 'Thanks to' in the closing credits.

It was a lovely surprise to see him. Especially looking so happy. "

(Thanks James and Amy)

"MTV is letting you vote an unlimited amount of times on your favorite episode of Unplugged. The winner(s) will be shown on MTV2 on January 5 and 6."

(Thanks Amy and Greg)

"5 songs of the cure are in the "delicious 715". It's a ( an all time) list compilated by listeners of the biggest dutch radio station 3FM.

506- Lullaby

440- Inbetween days

355- Close to me

319- Boys don't cry

28- A forest

You can check out the whole list at http://3fm.omroep.nl"

(Thanks Mike)

"Just to let you know, Cut Here was included in the Best of 2001 list by local Perth (Australia) radio show Theme and Deviation last week. Someone has good taste! The list in full is here: http://themeanddeviation.tripod.com/archive/201201.html "

(Thanks Graeme)

Towerrecords.com Top 1000: down to #195.

French Fnac stores chart : down to #26.

French best of chart : up to #21.

Belgium Ultratop chart : down to #24.

German Top 100 album charts: down to #86 (5th week).

US sales: 15,737 copies last week.

(Thanks David, Simon and Jeff)

"My name is Mitch and I am currently in a band called Right Lane. We just finished a demo cd that you can know listen to on Mp3.com. We are from Texas and we also play cure covers in our sets along with our own. If your time permits could you pass along the information to anyone around tx that would want to come and hear us live. We currently play Waco, Dallas but would love to expand our horizon."

(Thanks Mitch)

"A band called Glo Worm covers "Friday I'm in Love" http://www.southern.com/southern/band/GLOWO/ You can hear it sometimes on the Spacelab radio staion at http://www.spacelab.org"

(Thanks C.G.)

Tribute to the cure tour in Poland.

It will be 6 bands (4 in each town) :

t.h.o.r.n., Eva, God's Bow, Thule, Usta Bilizowane i Le Fleur

1. Lodz - club "Dekomresja" 1 feb 2002

2. Czestochowa - club "Beczka" 2 feb

3. Krakow - club "Miasto Krtakoff" 3 feb

4. Katowice - club "Za szyba" 4 feb

5. Wroc?aw - club "Strefa kolor" 5 feb

6. Poznan - club "Eskulap" 6 feb

7. Bydgoszcz club "Kuznia" 7 feb

8. Warszawa club "Medyk" 8 feb

(Thanks Darek)

"Just a bit of a follow up to the Cure spotting you posted on Dec. 26th. The Strokes appeared on "Artists Choose" on MTV2 in the UK on Thursday night. One of the tracks the singer chose was Boys Don't Cry (not a surprise considering the "unique" sound of The Strokes), but he showed himself up by saying "I like this and the rest of the singles from The Head On The Door". Not a life changing error, but Boys Don't Cry wasn't on The Head On The Door the last time I listened to it. "

(Thanks Dave)

"I was channel surfing last night at about 10:45pm when I came across "Ghost Busters part 2" which was just about to end on the HBO Zone channel. I got up to get a cold one as the credits were rolling when all of the sudden I hear "Cut Hear" coming from my TV. This is my first time seeing this video - and I find it extremely hilarious that I had to tune to an HBO channel to see it as opposed to seeing on MTV or VH-1! (shame shame shame...)"

(Thanks Andy)

SHARON: ARAFAT USING GOTH ROCK TO ENCOURAGE SUICIDE ATTACKS

"just something weird I found at www.neworderonline.com "

(Thanks Juan)