May 28th

May 23rd

May 22nd

Fiction Records now confirm that The Cure are scheduled to play the Live 105 BFD Festival in Mountain View,Ca. at the Shoreline Amphitheatre (June 13th) and the KROQ Weenie Roast in Irvine,Ca. at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (June 14th).

In other news,I got this in the mail today:

May 17th

The official Cure page is reporting that the follow up to Ten Imaginary Years (entitled More Imaginary Years), will be out by this Christmas.

May 15th

The Cure are not playing the Prague Festival,despite the ads.And thanks to Jonathan Trappe for calling Fiction Records and confirming that there are NO festival dates planned.

Jonathan also passes along the new Fiction Records address:

Fiction Records

#4 Tottenham Mews

London

W1P 9PJ

England

And for those who went to the Edenfest show last year,here's an interesting story from Jam! Music:

Eden Musicfest organizer charged with fraud

By Karen Bliss

Mark Drost, the president of Buffalo-based ICONcerts and
organiser of last July's three-day EDEN Musicfest in Clarington,
Ont., has been charged with attempting to extort $2 million from
US Bancorp, an Oregon-based financial institution affiliated with 600
branches in six western states.

According to reports in two San Diego newspapers, Drost was
arrested April 30 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown by the San
Diego Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
after threatening to cripple the bank's computer system. The calls
were traced to various telephones in San Diego. He faces up to 20
years in state penitentiary and a $10,000 fine. He pleaded not guilty
at his arraignment in San Diego, May 1.

"It's hard for me to imagine an attack where it makes sense to call up
and tell someone you're going to attack them if you're going to do
something sophisticated," John Kelsey, a cryptographer with
Counterpane Systems in Jefferson City, Mo., which helps companies
secure their computer systems, told the San Diego Transcript. "For
something to work as blackmail, the person has to to be afraid of
what you're going to do to them."

An anonymous source who worked closely with Drost on EDEN
Musicfest, says he can't fathom why Drost would contemplate such
an elaborate stunt. "My experience with the guy -- he wasn't even
good with computers. I did all the computer programming in the
office and he had a bunch of computer hackers who were
programming our web site. It all sounds like a movie of the week."

The EDEN Musicfest, which included such big-name acts as The
Tragically Hip, Live, Bush, The Cure, Porno For Pyros, Spacehog,
Seven Mary Three and Spin Doctors, drew an estimated 55,000
people and appeared to run smoothly in front of the stage, but left
Drost in financial ruin. Hosting venue Mosport Park put up the $1.5
million to avoid cancelling the event.

Drost harbored a long-term plan of staging EDENfest for the next 10
years, but never had adequate financial backing to carry it out. In
many newspaper accounts, Drost said he was prepared to lose a $1
million and would break even at sales of 55,000 tickets. But even
with silent partner Patrick Cippola's contribution, Drost apparently
didn't even have that much working capital, plus other factors drove
up the costs.

Since last year, Drost has reportedly been looking for investors to
cover the loss and repair his damaged reputation. He also wished to
be involved in the second EDEN Musicfest (Mosport registered the
name to protect its investment). "He told everybody, `I got my hands
on money, I'm coming back with 2-million bucks.' Well, guess where
he got it," says the source, who set about investigating the link
between the Mark Joseph Drost accused of attempted bank
extortion in the San Diego Union Tribune and San Diego Daily
Transcript and the Drost of EDEN fame. Neither article made any
reference to the EDEN Musicfest fiasco.

"One of the guys who used to work for me said Mark Drost has
some legal problems. His family's phoning people for letters of
reference. Then, I made a couple more phone calls and I found out
he was arrested in San Diego. It's karma. He screwed me over pretty
good. I had a bad, long time where people I had worked with for
years wouldn't even take my calls, but now I'm working for a great
company and things have been going well. I have the right to harbor
hostility towards this guy."

May 8th

2 more reports on Five Swing Live:

N.M.E. (5/10/97)

ROBERT SMITH has taken a personal hand in redesigning The
Cure's official website-and the band are marking the new
look by offering fans a limited-edition live EP. 'Five
Swing Live' features five songs-'Want', 'Club America',
'Mint Car', 'Trap' and 'Treasure'-recorded on the British
leg of last year's UK tour.
The CD is only available from the Cure site
(http://www.the-cure.com) with a limited run of 5,000 numbered
copies and costs $15. All the tracks are re-mixed by Robert Smith,
who also designed the sleeve artwork,and 25 per cent of the proceeds
will go to The Red Cross. The site also features 'Curevision', a
viewcam which the band say they "will switch on from time to time"
to relay pictures of The Cure and entourage in candid offstage moments.

Q Magazine Website (5/8/97)

Cure Get Connected 
The Cure's next release will be Five Live,a limited-edition EP
available only through the band's redesigned web site.
Contact http://www.the-cure.com for details 

May 6th

The Cure have set up an e-mail list to inform fans of future "special things".

May 3rd

And here's yet another press report on Five Swing Live:

Chart Attack (5/2/97)

CURE RELEASE NEW LIVE TRACKS,EXCLUSIVELY ON SALE ON THE NET

Robert Smith and company have just made a limited run of 5,000
copies of their new discFive Swing Live album to fans. The
five-song disc is for sale exclusively at the Cure's home page
(http://www.the-cure.com) Recorded during their 1996 tour, the live
versions of "Want," "Club America," "Mint Car," "Treasure," and
"Trap" are all taken from the group's last album Wild Mood
Swings. And, as a footnote, the nice boys that they are have
decided to donate 25% of all the funds to the Red Cross. Cool.

May 1st

Two new press clippings on Five Swing Live (is this getting enough press or what?):

Billboard (4/28/97)

Not Available in any Store:The Cure Tries Net Sales
(Adweek/National-April 28,1997) 
By BERNHARD WARNER 

With a conspicuous lack of fanfare, British rock band The Cure is using its
Web site as the sole distribution point for its newest release,Five Swing
Live.The Web-driven marketing and sales of the CD--bypassing the band"s
current label,Elektra Records--is unique,according to music and Web
analysts. 

Five Swing Live was made available April 21,the birthday of Cure frontman
Robert Smith.Sales of the CD are intentionally limited to the first 5,000
customers.Out of the expected $75,000 in proceeds,25% will go to the
International Red Cross,said Bob Goodale,president of Natron,a New
York-based Internet content publisher that specializes in music and
entertainment sites.Natron developed the David Bowie site,which last year
offered the first single release exclusive to the Internet.

Goodale emphasized the Web release is a test venture by The Cure done more
to reward loyal fans than to determine whether the Web is a viable
distribution outlet.And the tiny sales target is likely meant to keep
Elektra from getting upset.Still,the Web orders should give the band
insights into its fans" demographics,Goodale noted.

While major record labels all use the Web to promote their releases,the
Internet is becoming an increasingly important marketing vehicle for
unsigned bands.Sites like J-Bird Music and SonicNet enable Web surfers to
sample the music of obscure acts. 

The low household penetration of the Internet hampers its current
distribution capabilities,said Mark Hardie,a senior entertainment and
technology analyst for Forrester Research.Even if on-line music orders take
off,it"s unlikely an artist or band would break from a major label to try a
record release on its own,Hardie added.Smaller record companies,however,
could flourish on the Web as they add Internet fulfillment operations.The
Cure CD order fulfillments are handled by Online Business,Stamford,Conn.

Billboard [5/1/97]