Cure in Japan 1984

Rolling Stone's Flashback for today, takes us back to The Cure's tour of Japan in 1984, and a bizarre interview with Robert and Lol. (Thanks Kate)

65DOS interview

The List has an interview with 65DaysofStatic, and the band talks a little about touring with The Cure, and getting to use their Pro Tools rig. (Thanks Mark)

Robert cassette tape portrait

This portrait of Robert was made out of old cassette tape. Very cool! See the full gallery here. (Thanks Toberr)

Vote for The Cure in Modern Rock Madness

"The Cure take on Kings of Leon tonight at 10 p.m. in YrockonXPN's Modern Rock Madness. Vote here (at 10pm eastern). They've already beaten Mike Doughty/Soul Coughing, U2, and the Pixies." (Thanks Stephanie)
Update: The Cure win! 57-43. Next match is on Friday at 8pm eastern, against White Stripes.
Update 2: The Cure lost to the White Stripes.

The Cure are currently battling U2 in the finals of the 80s bracket in FM94/9's March Music Madness. Register and vote now. In previous rounds, they have beaten The Cult, R.E.M., and The Smiths. Update: U2 beat The Cure.

Levinhurst update

"A track from our new album "Blue Star" which will be out in May is up on our website today. Its called "MAU MAU" it is the first release as a four piece featuring Lol Tolhurst, Cindy Levinson, Michael Dempsey and Eric Bradley.
We also have a link to our Levinhurst store where you can pre order "Blue Star". The first 100 buyers get a free advance copy of a 3 song e.p. of Blue Star tracks not available anywhere else!"
(Thanks Lol)

Greatest Hits re-entered UK charts

A couple of weeks ago, The Cure's "Greatest Hits" cd re-entered the UK Top 100 Albums chart for two weeks. It entered at #91, then jumped to #75, before falling out again. Must have been all of the publicity from the NME Awards and the Big Gig.
(Thanks David)

More DM studio sessions

New Depeche Mode studio sessions: Wrong and Corrupt.
Update: And there's an interview and album retrospective (from 2001), too. There's a Cure mention in there, so it IS relevant. : P

Cure tattoo

Marie adds more ink.

Curespotting

"I was in a record store in London's Brick Lane waiting for an in store gig on monday(The Rakes), and was flicking through books when i came upon a book called "Be the record"..and found this picture..The book is made of famous record covers where people would "morph" in to the covers... Anyway. a bit of fun..."
(Thanks JC)

"there was a cover of "just like heaven" on private practice tonight by The Watson Twins. It was pretty fantastic."
(Thanks jools and thistle/Barb)

"Olivier Adam, one of the most interesting authors is mentioning The Cure in his new book 'Vents Contraire'. Page 50 the main character is remembering Cure posters he put on his bedroom walls. Lots of French authors like Virginie Despentes and Gaël Morel say they've been listening to the band and their characters are often Cure fans." (Thanks David)

"Ok, admittedly slightly tenuous. But just watching carpool on llewtube which is an online show from robert llewellyn who plays Kryten in red dwarf. Anyway, the current video interview is with David Baddiel and he mentions that he auditioned for the part of Lister in Red Dwarf and at the time he had a Robert Smith haircut - 7:40 mins in." (Thanks Ed)

NME Awards MP3s

Mad Bob has posted the full Cure set from the NME Awards. (Thanks Mad Bob)

Cure/DM/U2 party in Poland

(Thanks David)

Cure/DM party in Germany

"Germany | Halle/Saale | Tanzbar Palette | April 09, 2009
Location Website / Flyer Front (DM) / Flyer Back (Cure)"
(Thanks BOA)

Cure photos in new Schecter catalog

"I wanted to send along these photos I scanned out of the latest 2009 Schecter Guitar promotional book. It is very nicely designed, I thought everyone might enjoy looking at them and seeing the specs on the guitars." (Thanks Michelle)

Big Gig wav files

The full NME Big Gig show is available as wav files.
CD 1: the main set (alt. link) / CD 2: the encore (alt. link).
(Thanks Marcus)

Update: Get the full show in MP3 at Mad Bob's blog.
(Thanks Mad Bob)

Guess the Pearl setlist

"Curefans.com is holding a contest to see who can guess the Las Vegas setlist, or at least make the closest guess. First place wins a 4:13 Dream lithograph signed by Robert. So please stop on by and make a guess. (Thanks Brian/crowbi-wan)

4Play in Charlotte re-broadcast

HDnet will be re-broadcasting The Cure - 4Play in Charlotte on April 5th at 10pm & 2:30am eastern.

Robert in Munters

Robert made an appearance in the Munters comic strip.
(Thanks Dominic)

Reminder: The 30th Anniversary tribute book

"Greetings Cure fans and Cure friends! I just wanted to give you a gentle reminder that today, March 25th is exactly three weeks before the pages are due on Weds. April 15th for the 30th Anniversary Book!

So, you officially have 21 days from today to finish your pages and quit procrastinating sending them in to me! Get off the sofa, find an envelope and a bit of stiff cardboard and send that puppy onward! Yes, it is best if you actually mail them to me ahead of time so that the final pages don't end up in a last minute hack job down in Vegas or Indio." (Thanks Heron)

Robert on Siouxsie remastered cds

"Just thought I’d let you know about the forthcoming Siouxsie and the Banshees releases that feature Robert Smith. Firstly there's the remasters of Nocturne and Hyaena released April 6th. These have been digitally remastered and Hyaena features extra unreleased tracks.
Then there's the Siouxsie and the Banshees At the BBC boxset released on May 25th. This is a collection of every BBC session the band recorded, 2 full length concerts and also features a DVD which captures every BBC TV appearance the band ever made including all of the Top of the Pops performances. Robert features extensively throughout this boxset." (Thanks Simon)

New retro t-shirts at Everything English

There are 3 new retro Cure shirts at Everything English, but the real reason I'm posting this is because of what they say in their newsletter: "The Cure have just released 3 new retro designs in anticipation of their summer tour. Also a couple of the older designs have been put on sale while supplies last. Buy them here or pay heavy at the concerts!" (Thanks AndytheCurefan)

What do they know that we don't? : ) I really wouldn't get too excited about this. It's probably just an error on their part, or they're referring to the rumored European festival dates.

Update: Here's what EE had to say when they were questioned about this "summer tour": "Well at first there was going to be dates and then not. Then there were going to be Europe only dates and then not. The feeling is that dates will be added as warm up gigs around the Coachella and Pearl shows and there will be at least one "secret show" or two so keep your ears open..."

I think it goes without saying that this is merely speculation on their part, and is not confirmed at all.