Memories of Disintegration

Update: Roger will be posting his memories, and the answers to your questions, very soon. You're in for quite a treat. : )

As he mentioned a couple of days ago, Roger is putting together his memories and photos from the Disintegration era, and will post them on his website by the end of the year, but he wants to know if there's anything you've always wondered about and would like to know? Just post your questions for him in the comments, or email them to me and I'll post them for you. (Thanks Roger)

Dom Joly uses Cure for goth recruitment

"Dom Joly goes door to door with 10 Imaginary Years to talk about Robert & recruit goths." (Thanks Adam)

A Forest on Starbucks compilation

A Forest is featured on the new Starbucks compilation CD, Up, Down, Turn Around. (Thanks Joshua)

Curespotting

"I just uploaded this old video clip. Came across it while watching an old tape of "120 Minutes" that someone converted to DVD for me. It's basically a TV commercial for "Wish" that ran on MTV a couple days before the record came out."
(Thanks Slicing Up Eyeballs and Erika)

"The Swedish band Katatonia mentions the Cure as one of their major influences in a clip, where they talk about their new album." (Thanks Tobias and eboa)

"Ror-Shak doing a version of a Forest for Fringe." (Thanks Dodge)

"Today I was watching a news show (called "Revu et corrigé") on French TV channel France 5 and they used A Chain of Flowers as background music for an interview about French actor Gerard Darmon who is releasing his first album." (Thanks Sylvain)

"This cap is advertised on a french site( similar to ebay)...and it says "Very rare, The Cure limited edition cap of 100, one of them specially made for the singer".. (Hmm, could be wrong but somehow i don't see RS with that one on!!). Also last friday(30th Oct) on a tv quizz show on BBC called Mastermind where contestants are asked questions on specialised subjects of their choice, one of the question was -"Who is the lead singer of the band The Cure?" and obviously the contestant got the answer right..." (Thanks JC)

"I was at the Get Up Kids show last night at Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and they played "Close to me" at the beginning of their encore." (Thanks Nexy)

"This is the review of a new book, a biography of the italian football player Daniele De Rossi. It name-drops The Cure (Push in particular), Sex Pistols and Joy Division, probably to add some "depth" to the story." (Thanks Pietro)

"One of my best friends is the guitarist for the band Daughtry. I know, I know... obviously not my favorite music either. Anyway, he did an interview with a student from the University of Kansas and mentioned the Cure as one of his influences. I got him into The Cure when we were roommates and in a band together about ten years ago. Anyway, I thought it was cool to see that there is some Cure influence even in the American Idol machine."
(Thanks Muir)

Roger update

Lots of exciting info from Roger. First is news of his new "goth" project, Unterbrucke, which will feature Roger on keyboards and vocals(!), Norelle French on bass and vocals, and a "very, very special guest" on drums. The album, Detach, will be out next Spring, and a world tour is planned.

Also, Roger is going to be posting his first 3 albums, Grey Clouds Red Sky, Big Buildings, and My Days Beyond, as free downloads on his website. One a week, up until Christmas.

And finally, and it is so nice to see someone finally doing something to commemorate the 20th anniversary, Roger is putting together his memories of the Disintegration sessions and "lots of exclusive never before seen photos from that period", and will be posting them on his website before the end of the year. Here's a teaser. For more info on all of these projects, check out Roger's website and his Facebook.

Cure socks in Sweden

"I bought them a couple of weeks ago, in a shop called JC (Jeans & Clothes), Kungsbacka, Sweden. Price 7 USD. They don't have them online."
(Thanks Jakob)

Cure tattoos

LisaLoveCat and Jason added some Cure ink.

Happy Birthday, Porl!

Hope you have a great day. Cheers to you!

Cure T-shirts

Update: And here's a new George shirt being sold at ASDA stores in the UK. (Thanks Steeve) As you might remember, ASDA carried a couple of other Cure shirts by George this past summer.

Some new, and old, Cure shirts at 8Ball. (Thanks Aaron)

Daryl/Compact Space update

Daryl has posted a new mix of Compact Space's My Other Life on Myspace, and says the album is nearing completion.

Curespotting

Channel 5 uses Lovecats to promote The Aristocats.
(Thanks Chris)

"Yesterday I saw a commercial on a dutch tv channel sbs6, for the show House. The episode had a lot of cats in it, and they used Lovecats in it." (Thanks Elly)

Lovesong is #2 on a list of Top 10 Songs of 1989. (Thanks Aaron)

"Comedian Jimmy Carr posted a picture of fellow comic Dara O'Briain dressed as RS for Halloween on Twitter."
(Thanks Stigmurder)

Cure comparisons in reviews of Tegan & Sara and Wesley Eisold. (Thanks Kate)

"Shakira mentioned The Cure in Rolling Stone Issue 1091: "I am such a huge fan of Bob Marley, the Cure, and AC/DC, and when I heard about this legendary studio where all of them recorded, I knew I had to be there, " says Shakira. "This place is the main reason I settled in the Bahamas". She's referring to Compass Point Studios, where some of KMKMKM was mixed in late 1986 with Dave Allen and Sean Burrows." (Thanks Strange_Daze)
Update: She also mentions them in Time magazine. (Thanks Jarbee)

Art Nouveau Robert Smith. (Thanks Louisa)

Halloween Treats

Nothing to do with The Cure, but this clip is fantastic! : )

Lullaby and Burn make a couple of Halloween party playlists. (Thanks Heron and Monghi)

MTV reminisces about The Crow soundtrack.
(Thanks Heron and Monghi)

A collection of Cure pumpkins, along with The Top and The Nightmare. (Thanks Heron)

MTV has put together a list of the Scariest Albums of All Time, and Pornography takes the top spot. (Thanks Heron)

Old Cure friends, and opening act, Cranes, will be playing at Garage in Oslo, Norway on Halloween night. (Thanks Lars)

And Heron has compiled a Cure Halloween playlist and article. (Thanks Heron)

Anyone else carving Cure-related pumpkins this year? Or dressing up as a Cure other than RS? : )

Dear Robert Smith (An Open Letter)

Amanda Palmer talks about being a lapsed Cure fan and what the band has meant to her. (Thanks Paivi)

Simon's bass at Disneyland Paris

"I just came back from Disneyland Resort & Walt Disney Studios in Paris and there is a roller coaster called "Rock'n'Roll Coaster". And while waiting in the queue, we walk through false recording studios where some concert posters of various artists are put on the wall, some gold record awards and few musical instruments including... a red thunderbird signed by Simon himself: "Thank you for the help. Love, Simon xx". I send you a few pictures of it. Sorry for the quality of the pics but there was a glass front..." (Thanks Rod X)

Robert doll vs. Billy Corgan doll

As mentioned in the Curespottings last week, Billy Corgan has way too much free time on his hands, and has decided to play with dolls. : ) In something called Gothageddon, the Billy doll fought the Robert doll, and all hell broke loose. Flavorwire, TwentyFourBit, CD Insight, and Pitchfork have stories about it. (Thanks Heron)

Roger update

Roger's latest project is Two/Three, which is Roger on piano, Paul vanDongen on cello, and Erin Lang on vocals. Check out the website for more info, including photos and a video clip from the recording sessions, the track list, insight into the songs, and some lyrics. They hope to release the album, Before, on Feb. 25th, 2010, to coincide with a special live performance in Toronto.

Erin's album, You Are Found, will be released on March 11th, 2010, on the 99X/10 label, which has been recently relaunched. And check out Erin live, every Tuesday from now through the end of December, at Le Dépanneur Café in Montreal.

The limited edition of the excellent Charlie Crow EP, Trains on Bridges, is available again in the store, along with The Synthesist t-shirts.

Daryl Bamonte update

Daryl has formed a new band with Christian Eigner (Depeche Mode) and Florian Kraemmer, called Compact Space. Their debut single, Push Push, is out now on iTunes and Amazon UK, and as a ringtone. Best of luck to you, DB! And a very Happy Birthday to you, too! Also, Bamonte Artist Management is now on Twitter.

New Cure calendar

Amazon UK has a new Cure 2010 calendar listed. (Thanks Aaron)

More on the Kats Karavan John Peel set

As previously reported, The Cure's Peel Session version of A Forest will be included on Kats Karavan - The History of John Peel on the Radio. Here's the e-mail being sent out by Universal UK. (Thanks JC)

Curespotting

"The other night on The Tonight Show with Conan O' Brien (at the 7:40 mark), he mentioned the recent Depeche Mode "In Chili" incident where he thanked the wrong country, and Conan joked that, "The fans responded with, 'Thank you, The Cure!'"
(Thanks Jeremy and Brat)
Note: Before Brat's head explodes...again : ), you should know that Dave did not make a mistake! He said "Thank you very much, goodnight!"

"The new Inbetweeners soundtrack has Inbetween Days on it." (Thanks Emsywink)

"Saw this unusual rugby reference to The Cure with a headline from Jumping Someone Else's Train." (Thanks Andrew)

Robert doll vs. Billy Corgan doll. I have no idea! (Thanks Rob)
Update: Some stories about this at Twentyfourbit, CD Insight, and Pitchfork. (Thanks Heron)

"In Between days is in the soundtrack of Italian movie "La doppia ora" (The double hour). Here is the link of the backstage with IBD at the beginning. The Cure song is the leitmotiv of the movie and the obsession of the female character. The director is Giuseppe Capotondi; this is his first movie. He is mainly a videoclip director ("Charlie Big Potato" and "Secretly" of Skunk Anansie; "Crystal Ball" and "Nothing in my way" of Keane)." (Thanks Michele)

"I saw Fran Healy and Andy Dunlop of Travis play an acoustic show at Largo In Hollywood on October 10th. The shows are dubbed as "A Chronological Acoustical Journey Through The Travis Back Catalogue". Between songs Fran discussed the inspiration for lyrics and talked quite a bit about how songs came to be. They recorded three songs for the 1999 album "The Man Who" at Mike Hedges' Chateau de la Rouge in France. Fran talked about working with Mike and mentioned that he had engineered "all those great early Cure albums", and "great songs like
A Forest"." (Thanks John)

"Today (Oct. 11th) on spanish channel Antena 3, Manuel Pinazo (a spanish journalist) talked about 30th anniversary of the Cure, describes them like "one of the most important bands in the 80s decade" (Thanks Rachel)

The new French film, Rose et noir, features Boys Don't Cry and Lullaby in its trailer. (Thanks David, Bill, and Alex)

David Gray talks with Nightline about covering A Forest.
(Thanks DJ Scribbles)

Drowned in Sound says there's a Cure influence on A Place To Bury Strangers, and University Chronicle finds a "Cure-like vibe" on the new Why? album. (Thanks Kate)

Tom DeLonge listens to Inbetween Days backstage.
(Thanks AndytheCurefan)

A Forest used in a Belgian commercial for Joe FM. ("The sentence shown in the commercial roughly translated says something like: "Luckily the music did stay good after all these years." It's to promote a new show where they go back in the archives and listen to a different top 40 from a certain week in a certain year.") (Thanks Jeroen)

"At the She Wants Revenge/Kill Hannah show here in Denver earlier this month, Kill Hannah's bass tech played a few bars of the bassline from "Fascination Street" during the soundcheck before their set." (Thanks V)

Red Moon Tribe does a gothic belly dance routine to Lullaby. (Thanks Joanne)