November 2003 - Police - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [stingus] From Billboard site
by foxie 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

raj right on time with this. seal is great... rich --- Raj Manoharan <raj_manoharan(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Actually, Seal's one of the most popular, > best-selling musical artists of > all time. Seal I and II were huge hits, with Kiss > from a Rose from the > latter still a radio staple to this day, in addition > to being the main > single and video for Batman Forever. That's his > Every Breath You Take. > > And I don't know how it's doing right now, but Seal > IV debuted at No. 3 on > the Billboard Top 200 (or at least it reached No. > 3). > > Plus, Seal IV is getting a lot of television > advertising time, at least in > America. I've already seen the commercial for it > several times. > > And I think it's fair to say that Seal gives Sting a > good run for his money. > Not to disparage Sting, who I've been a fan of from > his Police days, but I > remember reading a review in which the critic wrote > that Seal does Sting > better than Sting. > > I thought that was an interesting observation. I > wouldn't say one is better > than the other, but they're both very similar in > terms of vocal timbres, > styles and production. And a lot of Seal's music has > a Police sound and > quality to it, most notably Prayer for the Dying > from Seal II, which is the > song that got me into Seal. > > ®@J > > > > truth, not tradition ... freedom, not favoritism > > > > > > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: Sam Kington <sam(a)illuminated.co.uk> > To: Stingus <stingus(a)yahoogroups.com> > Subject: Re: [stingus] From Billboard site > Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2003 04:13:31 +0000 > > M.J. Vlasveld wrote: > > > Best Buy has upped the stakes on exclusive > offerings in time for the busy > > holiday season. Billboard has learned exclusively > that Best Buy will > offer an > > exclusive five-song holiday CD beginning the > weekend of Nov. 28. "Sweet > > Tracks" will feature previously unreleased > holiday songs performed by > Sting, > > Jewel, Seal, Coldplay and Chris Botti. > > It says a lot for Sting's power that he got Chris > Botti on this CD. Also, to > a lesser degree, for Seal. I don't think you've have > expected either of > these artists to be on the CD. > > Sam > -- > Home page: http://www.illuminated.co.uk/ > > _________________________________________________________________ > From Beethoven to the Rolling Stones, your favorite > music is always playing > on MSN Radio Plus. No ads, no talk. Trial month > FREE! > http://join.msn.com/?page=offers/premiumradio > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor > ---------------------~--> > Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, > Epson, Canon or Lexmark > Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or > more to the US & Canada. > http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 > http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/jGKolB/TM > ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> > > Unsubscribe: stingus-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree

1 0

Great Live Photos
by Josh Corwin 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Hi everyone. I returned all my family's Holiday gifts and cancelled my car payment and down payment on a house, but can proudly say I am going to the three beacon shows (As of now---may have to dump one show) Anyway, the assault on my wallet still hurts, but I chose to do it... Content is here: http://www.pollstar.com/news/viewphotoarchive.cgi?PhotoID=STING nice live photos...many haven't seen before. Enjoy, Josh

1 0

always the same ol' story
by foxie 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

debates like the one that has raged recently - the topic being ticket prices - always turn out into attacks of one person or another, one "camp" or another. it makes it so hard to be a member of this page - it really does. objectivity and criticism never seem have a home here. more times than not, i get the impression that you are supposed to be a good little flag waver, forget about the police and bow at the ankles whenever sting turns a corner. i cannot do it, i will never do it. i have too much vested in this man - too much time spent listening to his music, too much money spent buying his records and seeing him in concert - to just go happily along when i am unhappy with his product or performance. when great, i will say so; when not so great, i'll point that out too. agreed, ticket prices are out of hand in the usa. they have been for some time. artists, concert promoters, brokers, ticketmaster - they are all to blame for this. all are selfish, all take their respective selfishness out on you and me in their constant attempt to get every drop of blood from the stone. that point made, some artists fight the good fight against this trend, offering low ticket prices at every venue, be it on in new york or idaho. pearl jam and radiohead come to mind. i saw radiohead in madison sqaure garden last month, had tickets just off the floor section. the price? $49.50. granted, the obvious argument is madison square garden is MUCH bigger than the beacon theater, so radiohead can afford this lower price (more tickets to be sold). but i counter with this: radiohead is the biggest band in the world right now, i would argue that they are a more important act than sting. yet they keep prices low. i also saw them in the summer of 2001 play an outdoor locale for the whopping price of $20. they were the biggest band in the world in 2001 also. if they chose to, they could charge just as much as the stones and mccartney. and they'd get it. are we to believe that sting doesn't know that ticket prices are out of hand, that he has no idea what brokers do, the "charges" that ticketmaster ring up? does he not care, thinking that 'well, everyone else is does it, so i am too'? a blinds-eye appears to be turned. it is a damn shame. you spend a lifetime supporting an artist and you never get a break, esp. from the ones that can afford to give you one - and sting is one of those artists. but back to the never-ending theme: what each one of us needs to ask ourselves is this: is this page a place for open debate/discussion on sting and the police OR is it a place for sting fans to gather and reap unyielding, unconditional praise on him? i hope it is the former but, more and more, it seems that it may be the latter... rich __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree

1 0

Great, now I have to be a member of Best Buys Club???
by Stingfan222＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

THIS DAY IN MUSSting, Jewel, Coldplay Offer 'Sweet Tracks' Best Buy has upped the stakes on exclusive offerings in time for the busy holiday season. Billboard has learned exclusively that Best Buy will offer an exclusive five-song holiday CD beginning the weekend of Nov. 28. "Sweet Tracks" will feature previously unreleased holiday songs performed by Sting, Jewel, Seal, Coldplay and Chris Botti. Unlike other Best Buy exclusives, "Sweet Tracks" will not be sold to customers. The limited-edition CD -- packaged in a round container resembling a peppermint candy -- will be given away to anyone who is a member of Best Buy's Reward Zone frequent-buyer program. Best Buy will not distribute the CD online; instead, customers will get the CD by showing proof of Reward Zone membership at one of Best Buy's approximately 700 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Best Buy senior VP of entertainment Gary Arnold says, "We wanted to do something special for customers: something that was supportive of music, fun to do and tied in to the holidays." "Sweet Tracks" features Sting's "Bethlehem Down," Jewel's cover of "Blue Christmas," Seal's rendition of the Jimmy Durante song "Make Someone Happy," Coldplay's version of the Pretenders hit "2000 Miles" and Botti's "O Come All Ye Faithful." "We have enjoyed a great partnership with Best Buy," says Sting's manager, Kathy Schenker. "Several years ago, Gary Arnold asked Sting to play Central Park, and it was one of the highlights of Sting's career. When Best Buy asked us to participate in this Christmas record, we were happy to do it." -- Carla Hay, N.Y.

1 0

Death of kamen noted
by Paula Mickevich 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Michael Kamen (composer, conductor, and arranger) 55 died yesterday morning after years of suffering from MS.

1 0

Re: The complaints...
by Angeline Adams 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Hi guys, I remember hearing about very high prices in places like America and Australia when the BND tour was going on, and it's only now, when I have some idea of the exchange rates, that I release just how much more you have to pay than we do in the UK. My tickets cost £30 each, which seemed pretty reasonable for a two-hour show (and in response to something mentioned earlier, we got real fire during Desert Rose! :-D). I hope the prices don't go up for this tour. I daresay I would find the money somehow, but I would resent a sudden price hike. As for the "whiners" debate... I don't blame people for complaining as long as they don't do it in a way that insults others. Some of us think that for what we're getting, the prices are a good deal. Some of us think that it's a rip-off. That's opinion for you. The fan club's ticket arrangements do bother me; apart from anything else it doesn't look like it's going to be easy to ensure that people who can't be in the standing areas for health reasons get an actual seat if they use the club's offer of money off for ordering tickets through them (see the official site messageboard). This annoys me a lot, as does other stuff that's been mentioned here, because a big reason it seemed worthwhile paying for membership of the new-fangled version of the club was the fact that we would have special ticket arrangements. It's not like the old version of the club where you had tangible evidence of what you'd be getting; the six magazines per year, the diary etc. People have joined the club with a certain impression of what the special offers would be like, and, be it by accident or by design, availability of tickets hasn't always matched the initial expectation. It seems a bit much also to be charged to use a messageboard. I used to be an admin on such a board, so I have a fair idea of what's involved in terms of time (moderation, posting of announcements) and money commitments. For all I know, some other artists might charge for access to their boards. But we're talking about a case in which we seem to be spending an awful lot of money on uncertainties (yeah, I know nothing's all that certain with touring, but people have been led to believe things which then worked out differently), even though the sponsorship would be expected to keep prices down. Unless of course... things are worse than we thought, and it's only the various sponsors who are preventing club membership costing something like $80 for Premium, and tickets which now cost $150 costing $200? The situation with the bonus tracks is frustrating. I understand that the reason for this is to prevent one country's stock of CDs being sold in another, but why not have a system in place which allows this to happen, while still giving people the chance to get the tracks they want in another way? Instead of paying £3.99 for a single, I'd happily pay £1.00 (which seems standard from what I've seen on the site of Virgin Megastore, which sells individual songs this way) per track (and no I-Pod exclusivity; make it available to those of us with PCs too) downloaded. As I learned by scrutinising the information which came up when I played a recent single in Windows Media Player, it's possible for a downloaded track to come with something called a license, which then prevents the track being played anywhere other than on the computer to which it was downloaded (whether as an MP3 or when burned to a CD). So it wouldn't have to lead to piracy. Kipper: I draw the line at personal attacks, but I don't see why people shouldn't critique the work/influence of him or other members of the band. I love the album, but some people hate it. When people make reasoned explanations for loving or hating it, instead of just throwing out "this sucks/this rules", I don't have a problem. Someone asked why some people still come to the list when they're so annoyed about so much stuff related to Sting: the ticket prices, the album, the band. My guess is that they still come because they still enjoy Sting's earlier work enough to care what he does now. I figure that they came when the album arrived because they hoped it'd match the quality of their favourites from his back catalogue. No-one wants to be disappointed in an album by a favourite artist, and no-one wants to feel let down or taken advantage of by the fan club or concert venues, or Sting himself as a performer. But some of us feel that way about one or more of these things, and we're still interested enough in Sting for it to matter enough to be worth voicing our opinions on. I've seen this same situation play out on a messageboard dedicated to a series of movies which recently got a sequel by a different writing/directing team. A lot of the people who were positive about the sequel and the spin-offs (in comics, books and games for instance) felt that the ones who weren't happy were fault-finding for the sake of fault-finding. But nobody wanted to come out of the movie thinking that they'd wasted their time and money, or that the series had been tarnished by this new addition. They loved the preceding movies so much that they weren't prepared to let problems with the new installment go unremarked. Well, if any of you are still reading this long email, thanks for listening. And one more thing - I can't find any information on when the Inside DVD is coming out in Europe. Is it just that they're delaying it to coincide with Sting beginning to tour there, so that people who enjoy the concerts will go out and buy the DVD? Or are we not going to get it here at all? :-( Angeline _________________________________________________________________ It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

1 0

"A list full of whiners"???
by bjacob＠pop-server.nyc.rr.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

"Jeremy (cheeky)" <cheekyjeremy(a)earthlink.net> writes: What a joke, Andy and Stewart for all we love them are not a large box office draw and could not charge prices that big name acts can charge. Stings tickets for this upcoming tour are actually a lot less than they were for BND and they are pretty reasonable when compared to similar size acts. Once again, it seems that this list is full of whiners that will complain no matter what happens. ----------- Jeremy, As far as NY is concerned, the tickets for the new tour are NOT a lot less expensive than BND. They're MORE expensive. If you wish to argue this point further, then I have the ticket stubs to prove it. I am beyond offended at your arrogrant dismissal of valid criticism about price-gouging as a "list full of whiners". If anything, I can turn it around and call you a sad, blind, hyper-obsessive fanatic that's too immersed in the ritual of worshipping a fading pop star whose new album sold so poorly that he had to desperately resort to an abundance of corporate sponsorship and gouging the loyal fans he had left. Open your eyes and face facts. Sting isn't chart-worthy and isn't winning any new fans anymore. His management team has no choice but to bleed the loyal fans that have stuck with him since day one. Don't get me started on the "fan club" and the calculated profit scheme that surrounded the Hammerstein "fan club" show and the rigged Ticketmaster auction. I used to like the guy a lot more, but the marketing machine has lowered my enthusiasm. You cannot deny that the ticket prices are ridiculously inflated to the point of being comical. If I'm a whiner, then you're an apologist. And not a very good one at that. There is ZERO justification for Sting's management's price-gouging. Pardon me for thinking for myself. I still love the music, but I have better things to do with my hard-earned cash. I'm with Heather--I'll wait for the inevitable DVD. Brian -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ .

5 5

Apples and Oranges, or Oranges and Apples?
by Raj Manoharan 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

<What a joke, Andy and Stewart for all we love them are not a large box office draw and could not charge prices that big name acts can charge. Stings tickets for this upcoming tour are actually a lot less than they were for BND and they are pretty reasonable when compared to similar size acts.> True, perhaps, but consider this: Compare the respective ticket prices of the aforementioned artists in relation to the quality of their musical brilliance, and therein may you perceive the difference in value. <Once again, it seems that this list is full of whiners that will complain no matter what happens.> I'm going to go against the grain and boast that I got the best deal on Sting tickets of anybody. ®@J truth ... not tradition freedom ... not favoritism _________________________________________________________________ Share holiday photos without swamping your Inbox. Get MSN Extra Storage now! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es

1 0

Re: [Police] Re: A list full of whiners??
by HNH911＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

I would hate to have somebody on this list dismiss other members voicing thier opinion as "whiners". I am really jealous of the fact that you can attend 50 Sting shows for one tour, however I for one can not do that. In my opinion that does not make me less of a fan of Sting or his music. That makes me a fan with less money than you. I have a family, a mortgage, a car payment, and the holidays coming up. So do I mean to whine? NO, however I would imagine that the majority of the fans, either on or not on this list are in the same boat as me. So when it comes to fishing out $13 bucks for a CD, no big deal, but when that act asks his devoted fans, and with the small venues and exclusive small fan club offering it is his devoted fans attending those shows, to put out $100 dollars to see him I think it comes as a shock. A few years ago when Streisand was touring people were pissed her tickets were $200 bucks, but when you think the woman had not toured in 15 years it was worth it. Sting tours every 2-3 years. And I love the music, it moves me, it moves my soul. I think the fact that I voiced my opinion on how expensive I thought the tickets were does not make me a whiner. If you would like to be introduced to a whiner you can gladly call my house and I will put you on the phone with my 12 year old son. Heather

1 0

Re: [Police] Re: A list full of whiners??
by Stingfan222＠aol.com 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Does it matter how they got there and how they paid for it? If they choose to make the time for that/spend the money on that, more power to them. Everyone chooses their priorities in life. Deb and Jer were kind enough to purchase CD's for those on the list that wanted them. They certainly didn't have to tell us they were going. I'm fortunate enough to be able to balance my sting life and family life, but I do understand everyone's feelings on the tickets. Would I like to travel around to lots of shows? Yes,. Can I? No. Kids, time and $$$ get in the way. Of course when I had the time, I didn't have the money. Maybe it'll all click for me before he stops touring! I'm sure I'll be accused of playing "Mom" again, but play nice you guys! Michelle in TX In a message dated 11/18/03 6:47:46 PM, mtigges(a)shaw.ca writes: << As for the income issue. A trip to Japan to buy Sacred Love 2 weeks early speaks volumes, unless it really is coincidence that a one/two day business trip corresponded to the release date. >>

1 0