The latest article on our Features page brings you up-to-date on the issue of refunds still being owed to members of the former Official International Roxette Fanclub.

  The website of the International Roxette Fanclub, Roxette.nl, dormant since last spring (see related story on the Features page), was hacked yesterday by a Turkish group that call themselves Ayyildiz VIP Team. At presstime, the site has 31 instances of embedded code that redirects the user from the Netherlands site to a static image that displays the flag of Turkey along with a political message.

  Due to time zone differences, neither members of the fanclub team or a representative of the hacker group were available for immediate comment at presstime.



EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this story was published early this morning, the webmaster for the fanclub site seems to have regained control, as the URL is no longer being redirected to the Turkish site. But rather than redisplay the site that existed – containing promises that have not been kept – they instead seem to have chosen to make the site look as if it is still being hacked. — LEO

• Roxette.nl

NEW YORK - As The Daily Roxette reported back in March, the at-that-time “Official” International Roxette Fan Club (OIRFC), based in Holland for most of its 10-year existance, shut down it’s operation. Based on comments left on various Roxette discussion forums and here on the pages of this newspaper, this came as no surprise to many fans around the world as the organization had been plagued by complaints about poor service for at least the 12 months before it finally folded and increasingly, signs of life became few and far between.

  But even though a half-a-year has passed since their announcement, there are still many unresolved issues about money owed to people who where members of the fanclub – most of which revolve around credit for membership fees paid based on a contract for a certain number of issues of the group’s fanzine. The group claims that all orders for merchandise from their Fanshop have now been fulfilled.

  Several people have asked questions in these discussion forums over these past six months as to when people can expect refunds on their membership/subscription fees. At the beginning of June, Sarah Plunkett, a fanclub “team member” who has emerged as the only remaining spokesperson, said in an email message to several fans that refunds would have to wait until after the summer. It was assumed at that time that people still involved with the group were taking the summer off. With summer now over and October just around the corner, there has still been no word on either the Roxette.nl site (currently under the control of hackers) or via email or posting to the TDR SmallTalk or R2R forums.

“Unless the group [registered as a non-profit organization in the Netherlands] were to declare bankruptcy and/or formally disband in a civil court, then they are still legally obligated to fulfill the terms of these membership contracts,” said Dan Goldfarb, a lawyer in New York who has some familiarity with Dutch law, to TDR.

  An article on March 3rd on the OIRFC website said:

  “We are working out the finer details of closing up the shop and sorting out outstanding services (i.e. fanzines). Please do not spam us with requests as to what is happening with your credits. We are fully aware of them and finding the best way to meet everyone’s needs in an efficient and practical manner. Watch this space concerning Fanshop news!”

  Six months have now passed and still there is no sign of those finer details being sorted. Many fans have reported contacting Roxette’s management company, and writing to the fanclub repeatedly, but without any response. The fanclub’s demise, and all the trouble associated with it, prompted Roxette’s management to issue a statement saying that they would no longer endorse an “official” fanclub.

  “I think all that fans really want is an honest answer as to when and how refunds will be paid,” said Alison Lowther, a fan in the UK who has been active in the discussion threads about this topic. “Many may not want the few euros they are owed, but others might think differently.”

Holland, Switzerland, Poland and Spain have all decided to release the new Roxette material – the “Hits” CDs and the Rox Box. Some countries will release a physical single, some will stay with a digital-only release.

  The Daily Roxette has also learned that the limited edition CD/DVD will not be in the digipak format, but rather the super jewel box format. The super jewel box is the one normally found on SACDs (Super Audio CD) and it has thicker plastic with rounded corners.

  “A stronger, more durable replacement for the traditional ’jewel box’ CD case,” according to the makers.


Additional reporting by Marc de Kort and Thomas Evensson.

NEW YORK - Pick up just about any newspaper, and you’ll find more than just “hard news” stories. You’ll find a lot of other content once you start turning the pages.

  The Daily Roxette has had a Features section for some time now but, for the most part, it’s been utilized only to reprint interviews that have also appeared on the News page. Beginning with today’s edition, TDR plans to revitalize the Features page with interviews, stories about fans, various contests, opinions from columnists, and yes… even the occasional comic strip.

  Click on the Features tab today, and you’ll find an interesting story by TDR reporter Jorge Diaz about a remarkably talented tribute band that’s recently formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While you’re reading the story, be sure to click on the link to hear what they sound like. We think you’ll be impressed.

  Since TDR first started publishing almost 10 years ago, we’ve asked for you, our readers, to also serve as reporters. For those of you that like to write, but haven’t really had any “news” to share… well, here’s a chance for you to make a contribution as well! If you think you have something that might fit on this page, please let us know about it (just look for the “Submit Article” link at the top of the page). If enjoy writing, but don’t really have your own idea for a feature story, let us know that too, and we’ll try to assign a story to you. We really do need your help!

  A gentle reminder: Please click on the “Change Your Settings” link (top left) and make sure that your subscription information, including your real name and current email address, is accurate. You may elect to not share this info with other readers, but it must be accurate in order to have a valid subscription to TDR, and thus be able to enter our contests. Please take a moment to renew your subscription now.

STOCKHOLM - Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson have been involved in what’s been labeled by the Swedish government as tax evasion.

  After the “Crash! Boom! Live!” tour in Germany back in 1994-95, Per and Marie used their holding company Roxette Productions to account for this income. The Swedish income tax authority disagrees with this bookkeeping method and wants them to pay taxes personally on the income. The authority claims they were employed by tour company EMA Telstar and should therefore pay normal income tax on the 5.6 million kronor (€590,000) paid for the 19 concerts in Germany.

  Per and Marie have been fighting this for almost ten years via their financial advisor Mats Nilemar of Desert AB.

  Per owes 2.3 million kronor in back taxes and Marie owes 2.2 million, according to Swedish press reports.

  When the tax authority first issued it’s claim against them, both Per and Marie appealed the decision to Länsrätten, the first administrative court, which ruled in favor of the government in 2004. Roxette appealed again, to a higher court named Kammarrätten. In rulings issued during the past few days, this court upheld the lower court’s decision.

  Nilemar says that they will appeal once more, this time to Regeringsrätten, the highest administrative court in Sweden. Regeringsrätten will only decide to hear this case if they find it necessary to set a new precedent in this specific part of Swedish tax law. If this high court decides not to take the case, then the current ruling will be considered final.


Additional reporting by Thomas Evensson

BUENOS AIRES - Hot Joy, a Roxette tribute band formed here, performed for the first time at a musical festival in this city yesterday. The free, open-air concert took place at Plaza Longo in the Caseros section of Buenos Aires.

  The crowd that filled the plaza heard Hot Joy perform “Hotblooded,” “Dangerous,” “Fading Like a Flower,” “Cinnamon Street,” “Spending my Time,” “Dressed For Success,” “Sleeping in My Car” and “The Look.”

   The festival opened with The Betters, a Beatles tribute band, and Hot Joy was the third act to perform. According to Juan Infante Camaño (vocals and guitar) the band’s name comes from the songs “Joyride” and “Hotblooded.”

  Other members of the band include Marcela Hatsatourian (voice), Nicolás Fontimpe (bass, vocals and chorus), Federico Fontimpe (lead guitar), Ariel Prados (Keyboards) and Santiago Rey (drums).


  “It was a spectacular show and they had a fantastic sound, which has to reflect a lot of work from these six guys,” said Silvina Arnouil, one of about 20 Roxette fans in attendance amongst a crowd of over 200.

  It was a kind of reunion for the local Roxette fan community, as many had not seen each other in a very long time, and most gathered near the stage.

  “Many of the fans sang along,” Silvina tells The Daily Roxette, “and there was a group of about four that danced like crazy to ALL the songs. It was a lot of fun for the Rox fans, of course, but the bigger crowd seemed to really enjoy the show as well.”

  “I’m one of those fans who have followed Roxette since the beginning, a long time ago… like 1989,” says Juan. “Roxette are what encouraged me mostly to become a musician.”

  “The real Hot Joy project started in February of this year,” he continues. “I say ’real’ because this idea has existed for some time in Nicolás, Marcela and Federico’s minds. They are the band’s founders. They’re the ones who put it all together.”

  “I don’t like to call our band a ’tribute band’ because tributes are for dead bands and they [Roxette] aren’t. So this is more of an homage,” he says.


Zerot contibuted to this article.

• Listen to Hot Joy (four songs available)

Roxette fans in the United Kingdom and most European countries served by iTunes can now legally download “One Wish” from Apple’s online iTunes music store.
  The song is currently the third most downloaded track on iTunes Sweden. Earlier this year the Rox Medley spent more than a week on top of this chart.

BUENOS AIRES - According EMI Spain, the Spanish version of the Roxette Hits collection will include “No sé si es amor” (the Spanish version of “It Must Have Been Love”) instead of “A Thing About You” when the CD is released on October 16.

  It is not yet known for certain if EMI units in other Spanish-speaking countries will follow suit, but The Daily Roxette knows that EMI Argentina is aware that fans there would prefer that “Reveal” be retained, and the expectation is that they will do the same.


Jorge Diaz and Zerot contibuted to this article.

COLOGNE - While Roxette will indeed be performing as part of the “50 Years Of Bravo” television special, The Daily Roxette has learned from EMI Germany that this segment of the show will be pre-recorded and not live and that Roxette will not be physically present at the gala.

  “We don’t want to disappoint fans who buy tickets for the show because they think they will see Roxette live on stage,” said Christian Wißmann of EMI Music Germany to TDR late this afternoon.

  Per and Marie’s segment will be recorded a day earlier in Hamburg, and then spliced into the show. “The television viewer will not be informed that Roxette was not actually there at the actual event,” says Wißmann, “but we want to let the fans know this.” Logistical conflicts prevent Roxette from being there to perform live during the show.

  The show will be broadcast on October 21 on German TV channel Pro7.

STOCKHOLM - EMI is promoting the release of the Roxette Hits and RoxBox with a advertising campaign website built especially for this purpose.

  The site, which is expected to occupy the Roxette.com domain, contains music clips, screensavers, photos, and a video “trailer” (commercial) that ends with Per and Marie speaking to the camera during the bowling alley photo shoot. You can also hear a snippet of the second new song, “Reveal,” from the music player on the website.

  The site was designed by Flatmate, a creative agency that EMI Music Sweden is using to create all of their artist-related campaign sites. It is co-branded with Telia, the Swedish telephone company, as they have a service that offers digital downloads.

• EMI’s Roxette Hits website

STOCKHOLM - Jonas Åkerlund’s music video rendition of Roxette’s new single “One Wish” was premiered this morning on Swedish TV4’s “Nyhetsmorgon” morning news and talk show program.

  The video, which makes considerable use of a special effect where the RGB colors (red, green, blue) are shifted and out of alignment, includes clips of other Roxette music videos as an homage to their 20 years together.

  Readers of this newspaper report in the comments that follow that if you happen to have a pair of 3D glasses (red and blue lenses), it’s possible to get a 3D-effect in some parts of the video.

• “One Wish” video on TV4’s site
• Interview segment with Per
• Nostalgia trip with Roxette (from appearance in 2001)

STOCKHOLM - With editing and final production of the new Jonas Åkerlund music video for “One Wish” completed now, the video will be premiered – as have other Roxette videos – on TV4’s “Nyhetsmorgon” morning news and talk show tomorrow (Tuesday morning) at 06:54 CET. Per will be there at 07:44. Please note that these times are preliminary and are usually not 100% correct, besides the fact that they are in conflict with each other.

  In today’s editions of Aftonbladet, Roxette’s newly released single scores two out of five “plus signs” from reviewer Markus Larsson. “Easily digested radio pop” is his take on the song. Larsson normally reviews heavy metal and hard rock music for the paper. He had expected a powerful pop-bomb á la “Listen To Your Heart” or “Goodbye To You.” “All we got was a ’really…?”

  Other news in Aftonbladet is that Roxette will be guests on SVT’s gala “Världens barn,” as previously mentioned, and on October 20, Per and Marie travel to Germany for promotion. and we also get a date for the performance on “Bingolotto” - Nov. 4. Per will travel to London for promotion and Spain is being considered.

  Maybe the biggest piece of news is that the new material will be released in the US around December. It’s is so far unknown if Roxette will travel to the States to help with promotion.

• Aftonbladet’s article (In Swedish)

STOCKHOLM (UPDATED) - RIX-FM reports that (perhaps with a small about of exaggeration) that all of South America was listening via the Web this morning, when the station played “One Wish” for the first time. “You see, Roxette are really popular in South America,” they report on their site.

  “It’s always fun to meet with Per,” they continue. “We spoke a little about the election [Sweden just elected a new government] and Per had watched the election returns come in on TV and thought the result was expected. Per was dressed for the day in workout clothes, as he was headed for the gym when he was finished with us. That’s what it’s like to be a world star; a world premiere one minute, a workout the next.”

  “Morgon Zoo” is a very popular radio show that can be heard all over Sweden – and all over the world on the Internet – with hosts Roger, Titti and “Miss Sweden.”

  It turned out that the RIX-FM broadcast was not actually the world premiere of the song on the radio, as EMI Germany had sent promo copies of the single to radio stations in advance of EMI Sweden’s previously announced “official” airplay date, and several stations, apparently unaware of the “hold for release” date, went ahead and played the song immediately.

Additional reporting by Lars-Erik Olson

• Rix FM (In Swedish)

PHILADELPHIA - The American television broadcast network, ABC, is using Roxette’s chart-topping single “The Look” in commercial spots promoting their new series “Ugly Betty.”

  ”Ugly Betty,” based on the Colombian telenovella “Yo Soy Betty La Fea,” is pegged by critics to be one of the biggest hits of the new fall TV season here. American Roxette fans hope that the use of the song in such a prominent way could draw some additional attention to the possible US release of the new “Collection of Roxette Hits ’86-’06” release.

  ”Ugly Betty” debuts Thursday, September 28th at 8 pm on ABC.

BUDAPEST - One of the largest commercial radio station in Hungary is ready to play “One Wish.” They have an online poll on their website where one can listen to short snippets and rate whether new singles, played just once or twice on the station, should be added to their playlist.

EDITOR’S NOTE: While this newspaper is obviously not going to run a separate front page news story on each radio station, in every country, that begins to play Roxette’s new single now that airplay has begun, we think these first reports of radio airplay promotion are of sufficient interest to our readers to merit publication. — LEO

• Radio station’s online poll (“Nagyon tetszik” = “I love it!”)

FRANKFURT - The new Roxette single “One Wish” already got played in Germany’s radio stations today – unexpectedly early as the Swedish premiere was announced for next Monday.

  The song was played on SWR1 and SWR3, two of the most important stations in the south of Germany. Both stations do not list the song in their list of played songs however, perhaps because it is being played from CD and not from the electronic archive.

  The song was also played for the first time today on Bayern3, a station in Bavaria.

(UPDATED) - Finland’s EMI unit will release the “Hits” CD and the Rox Box; Austria’s, Germany’s and Italy’s as well. The tracklists are the same as previously announced.

  Argentina will also release the box, plus the “Hits” album - in a “Latin edition,” on October 24. According to Gabriela Toscano, a spokesperson at EMI Argentina, “Reveal” may be exchanged for “No Se Si Es Amor,” the Spanish version of “It Must Have Been Love.” A final decision has not yet been made, and it is possible that Brazil – another country likely to release the Hits – or some other Latin American EMI operating company, may make a different decision.

  In conjuction with these releases, The Daily Roxette has learned that ringtones have been developed and will be marketed for “One Wish.”

Additional reporting by Walter Lamas, Diego Scalabrini and Jorge Diaz.

STOCKHOLM - One of the tracks included in the “The Rox Box,” the demo “Anyone/I Love How You Love Me,” is actually half a cover of The Paris Sisters’ hit “I Love How You Love Me.” The song, written by Barry Mann and Larry Kolber, was produced by Phil Spector and was a big hit in 1961, when it reached #5 on the Billboard charts on October 30.


  The song has since then been covered by many artists such as Bryan Ferry, Ray Conniff and Chet Atkins.

Roxryder’s mom contributed to this article.

• The Paris Sisters

EMI finally published the enhanced tracklist for MTV Unplugged as featured on the RoxBox:

MTV UNPLUGGED!



01 THE LOOK

02 QUEEN OF RAIN

03 HOTBLOODED

04 Interview

05 I NEVER LOVED A MAN (THE WAY I LOVE YOU)

06 IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE

07 FINGERTIPS

08 Interview

09 HEART OF GOLD

10 CHURCH OF YOUR HEART

11 LISTEN TO YOUR HEART

12 Interview

13 HERE COMES THE WEEKEND

14 JOYRIDE

15 SO YOU WANNA BE A ROCK ’N’ ROLL STAR



BONUS TRACKS:

16 DANGEROUS

17 SPENDING MY TIME

18 THE HEART SHAPED SEA

19 CRY

20 WATERCOLOURS IN THE RAIN

21 SURRENDER

22 FADING LIKE A FLOWER (EVERY TIME YOU LEAVE)

23 PERFECT DAY

This is not the correct order of the tracklist (see below), for instance, “Dangerous” was played as the intro song, but all songs performed are on the DVD. The tracks “Things Will Never Be the Same,” “The Big L” and “So far away” were supposed to be played but were cut due to lack of time.



From the REACH MEDIA RELATIONS, INC. NEWS pressrelease



  Swedish chart-toppers Roxette may be known as a pop band, but they showed a lot of rock ’n’ roll heart during the rehearsals for MTV’s Unplugged, which was taped in Stockholm, Sweden, January 8th [1993].




  On a side-note, the tracklist for the German and Spanish “One Wish” single is identical to the Austrian release:

01 One Wish

02 The Rox Medley

03 It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)

04 Turn To Me

Read more…

PHILADELPHIA - Two Roxette songs have earned a place on iTunes new listing of hot songs, dubbed “iTunes Essentials.”

  The iTunes Essentials listing picks 75 songs from each calendar, dividing them into three different categories: The Basics, Next Step and Deep Cuts. The Basics are representative of the biggest hits of the year, the Next Step category are listings of songs that you might not have heard before and Deep Cuts are sort of lost gems – hit songs that you somehow missed.

  Roxette’s “Joyride” earned a place as the #1 Deep Cuts track from 1991, while “The Look” placed #5 in 1989’s Next Step field.

  Somehow, “It Must Have Been Love,” the #2 track of 1990 according to Billboard, missed out in the listing of songs from that year.

  Of course, Roxette fans almost certainly have these “essential” tracks in their libraries, but if you’d don’t, they can be downloaded from the iTunes service.

  The top download track there from Roxette is “Listen to Your Heart.”

ST. PETERSBURG - Gala Records, who hold all the rights to release EMI music in Russia, reports that Roxette releases will come out in this country on October 16th.

  They will release:

• A COLLECTION OF ROXETTE HITS! THEIR 20 GREATEST SONGS!
• THE ROXBOX - ROXETTE 86-06 (4CD + 1DVD) NTSC VERSION OF BONUS DVD)
• THE ROXBOX - ROXETTE 86-06 (4CD + 1DVD) PAL VERSION OF BONUS DVD)
• A COLLECTION OF ROXETTE HITS! THEIR 20 GREATEST SONGS! - (1CD + 1 NTSC DVD) - deluxe
• A COLLECTION OF ROXETTE HITS! THEIR 20 GREATEST SONGS! - (1CD + 1 PAL DVD) - deluxe

  No singles are mentioned yet.



EDITOR’S NOTE: Our thanks to TDR Reporter XRezs, who filed this report:



BUDAPEST – Finally, the cover of the RoxBox has been revealed. The design, as you see displayed here, features the same photo used for the Hits CD. The image first appeared publicly on EMI Music Finland’s website.

• Gala Records (Mostly in Russian, but song/album titles in English)

MOSSMAN, AUSTRALIA - There are a lot of fans of Per and Marie “down under,” and some of them named their netball team after their favorite music group. Thus, in a rather bizarre coincidence (given the recent hit cover song), there might actually be a “Roxette vs. (Dancing) DJs” matchup next Tuesday in the semi-final round of the Douglas Netball Association competition. The Gazette reports that the teams are putting in a huge effort for a great finish to the season.

  The DJs and Young Guns previously recorded a tie and will replay their game on Monday night. Then next Tuesday, the semi-final will be played with Roxette competing against the winner of the Monday night game.

  Should the DJs win, they’ll surely be dancing, but our bet is on Roxette.
  Dancing DJs, an electronic music group from the UK, had a big hit with their rendition of “Fading Like A Flower” last year.

VIENNA - Updated information about Roxette’s new “One Wish” single has appeared on EMI Austria’s website.

  With a release scheduled on the 29th of this month, the CD (with catalog number 3761192) has this tracklist:

1. One Wish


2. The Rox Medley


3. It Must Have Been Love (Christmas For The Broken Hearted)


4. Turn To Me

• EMI Austria

ADELAIDE - It looks like the good news just keeps on coming. EMI Australia has confirmed releases of the album(s) and The RoxBox. Australia won’t get the new single, “One Wish,” though.

  While the “deluxe” CD (including a DVD) and the box will be imported, the regular CD will be made in Australia. All releases are scheduled for mid-October, EMI Australia reports to TDR.

TORONTO - Canada will be getting the normal and deluxe versions of the Greatest Hits album on October 17th, according to the New Releases section of EMI Music Canada’s website.

• EMI Music Canada

LONDON - “One Wish,” the new Roxette single is set to be released in the United Kingdom on September 25th according to a report appearing on the BBC website.

• BBC’s “New Releases”

STOCKHOLM - Here is a message from Per regarding the RoxBox controversy.

Dear Daily Roxers, hope all is well in the real world!

I’ve noticed, reading on my own and thru various mails, that some of you are unhappy, furious, hurt, suicidal and even displaying a very unpleasant attitude regarding the upcoming Roxette releases.
Roxette has been around for 20 years, this particular year we have decided to release 1 compilation album with our biggest hits + 1 box set which should give a more complete picture of the band and our ambitions. All for a wide audience of old + new fans and people who perhaps didn’t even know they were fans…

We have recorded 2 new tracks which we feel are up to the same standard as our best material. As well as these new ones the box will include 14 tracks that most folks living on this planet aren’t that familiar with. And they’re pretty good too. Yea, that’s about it. No, I forgot the extended version of MTV Unplugged recordings which will also be included in this mighty box.

It has never been our intention to have a box-release leaning heavily towards demos, remixes, song sketches or live material. Like I mentioned before the idea with this particular item is to present the big picture of what Roxette is all about. We don’t want that flow of quality productions to be interrupted by 7-minute remixes or lukewarm demos. Quality over exclusivity has always been our choice.

By the way, talking about demos: Most artists (that I know of anyway) don’t release demos at all. Just so you know, the demo is made by the writer or the artist to try out the song, to find out for oneself what it’s all about. It’s not necessarily meant to be heard by the public. It’s work in progress. Some of you seem to think that these, often primitive, recordings or rough sketches are made for your ears. They are not. They are made for ours. You can’t take for granted that the demoversion of every Roxette-song you like has to be released. That won’t happen.

So…I really can’t understand the dissatisfaction among some of you. If you don’t like it, don’t listen to it and certainly don’t buy it! Marie and I have to be the prime judges of our own music, our own lyrics and our own productions. That won’t change. It’s a beautiful day out there. Enjoy it.

P.
Sept. 2, 2006