Jan. 31st

New Swing Boots

Some Swing Tour bootleg cds are finally surfacing.First,there's Swinging Crowds,which was recorded at the Milano,Italy show(10/23/96).Next is Strange,which was recorded at the Paris show(10/15/96).Then there's Message From Jupiter on the Moonraker label.It was recorded at the Vancouver show(8/1/96). Also,KTS will be releasing Queen Elisabeth Parade,but I haven't heard an exact date.The show is most likely the CBC radio broadcast of the Vancouver show(8/1/96).

Thanks to Roger Singh for the Vancouver tip and Dave Martinez for the Message From Jupiter info.

Jan. 24th

Swing Tour Stats

The final totals from the U.S. Swing Tour are in:

Total Gross:$7.3 million

Average # of tickets sold:6,347

Average Gross:$158,695

# of Cities/Shows Played:46/48

Ranking:41st place

Jan. 16th

XFM Finally Wins License!

from the International Music News wire (1/16/97):

`the cure star robert smith's radio station xfm has been awarded the new London broadcasting licence at its third attempt. the indie-rock station has previously broadcast exclusive sessions from the likes of oasis,blur and pulp whilst operating temporary licences,but will now launch a permanent service on the 104.9 fm frequency after beating off the challenge of 24 other consortiums. xfm managing director chris parry says, "we are very honoured to be the guardians of a new radio format for London reflecting a city world famous for its cutting edge music and fashion. "we're going to be putting together the kind of programming that will make young people proud to live here." xfm will hit the airwaves on september 1 (97),although there are no firm ideas of presenters and special events as yet. xfm spokesperson claire craven says, "once everybody's got over the celebrations, we'll be sitting down and putting our heads together - there's a lot to be done, but we can't wait."'

Jan. 15th

Roger Singh reports the following:

MuchMusic (canadian music station) claimed that the Bowie Birthday
concert will be airing on Much Music this May. Also,there isn't a date
for a pay-per-view showing of it in canada this march.

Jan. 10th

Robert joined David Bowie onstage for versions of Quicksand and Last Thing You Said at Bowie's Birthday Concert last night at Madison Square Garden.The show was taped and will be aired on March 1st as a Pay-Per-View special.

Here's some more info from International Music News wire (1/10/97):

'The Cure singer Robert Smith gave pop legend David Bowie a petrified
chameleon for his 50th birthday.
And Smith got a gift of his own when he joined Bowie on stage for his
birthday gig at Madison Square Gardens in New York last night.
Smith says,"It's one of the very few ambitions that I ever had when I was
young. It's really like a pipe dream to be on stage with Bowie. "I didn't
really hesitate for a second. I suspect no one else would ask me to do
this kind of thing anyway. The first album I ever bought was Ziggy
Stardust."

The Saturday Night Live episode featuring the Cure will be shown in Australia on Foxtel and Galaxy on Saturday Jan. 11th on the arena channel.Thanks to Melanie Avery for the info.

Jan. 1st

CNBC will be repeating the Cure's appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien at 10 pm eastern/9 pm central tonight.

I recieved the following message from Barbara in Spain a couple of days ago,which should put an end to the Cadena 40 rumor: