Marie and Per paid a visit today to the German radio/TV station VIVA. They answered several questions from Roxette fans and said that the “Room Service” album might be released in America this autumn after some preparations have been made. “Formerly,” Per said, “we had problems with the record company in the U.S., now the problem is that we can’t promote everywhere (at the same time).”

  Roxette indicated they have plans to release at least four of the “Room Service” songs as singles. They also said that they will visit Vienna, Austria for promotion.

  When asked about their favorite Roxette song, Marie answered “’Perfect Day’… great song. By the way, it is very difficult to name one song as the best, but ’Perfect Day’ I like a lot.” “’The Look,’” said Per. “Great to have such a song… and ’Stars,’ many people said it is not good, too much techno etc., but I like it.”

  After the VIVA music channel visit, Roxette continued on to the “Top of the Pops” RTL television studio where they guest hosted the show. On Saturday, Ricky Martin, Christina Aguilera and some other very famous stars will visit TOTP - so Roxette is in good company. TOTP is one of the most watched TV music programs after VIVA.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Per also mentioned on the show that the new site at roxette.se will include a chat room, a forum, and a section where fans can “Ask Roxette.”
TDR reporter Steffen Foellmer also contributed to this article. - LEO

UPDATED - According to the online music store CDON, a five-track Maxi CD will be released - at least in Sweden - with all tracks being remixes of “Centre of the Heart”. While the site does not list the names of the remixes, or identify who was hired to do them, EMI Sweden has since provided additional details. Once again, Roxette has turned to StoneBridge to produce remixed versions.

  The info from EMI indicates six tracks: 1) The Centre Of The Heart (album version); 2) StoneBridge Club Mix Edit; 3) StoneBridge Club Mix; 4) Yoga Remix; 5) StoneBridge Peak Hour Dub; 6) StoneBridge More Vox Dub.

  The release date has yet to be announced. The site also lists the two-track CD single.

• CDON
• TCOTH remix single @ CDON

EMI Australia has announced Monday, April 23rd, as the date that “Centre of the Heart” will be released in Oz. To help promote that, they’ve added the video to their website.

  April 30th has been set as the release date for the “Room Service” album.

• EMI Australia’s “Hive” (Roxette page)

Per and Marie are special guests at the German TV station Viva on Wednesday, March 14th from 3pm to 5pm (CET, UTC+1). Their new video for “The Centre Of The Heart” will have its German premiere during their visit. Viva is the most popular music TV station in Germany.

• Viva

EMI Germany has offered 150 tickets to the OIRFC for the 45-minute showcase concert to be held in Cologne on March 26th. The fanclub intends to distribute these by conducting a ticket raffle, using a system that gives its members an automatic double-entry.

  To enter the contest, send an e-mail with
your name, membership number if you have one, number of tickets requested (1 or 2) and complete postal address to [email protected]..

  The deadline for entries is midnight, March 14th. Winners will be notified on March 15th.

On March 27th, Roxette will give a mini-concert in Barcelona where they will perform some new songs from Room Service along with older hits. It will be an exclusive showcase with only a limited audience. Clickx.be and EMI Belgium have launched an online contest where nine people (presumably from Belgium) have the chance to win a trip-for-two to Barcelona to enjoy the concert (including airfare from Virgin Express, concert tickets, transfers, diner, overnight stay at a hotel, etc.). Clickx is a very popular weekly internet magazine with over 40,000 readers.

• Clickx.be Contest Info (In Dutch)

Argentinian television program “Musica Total” will air the new Roxette video tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:30 pm on Channel 13 in Buenos Aires – which is believed to be the first such broadcast in Latin America. The song continues to climb the charts on Argentinian radio stations.

  Meanwhile down under in Australia, the program “Video Hits” intends to start showing the video this weekend.

Roxette will be visiting a radio show called “Ketchup Fanclub” on Swedish radio station P3 tomorrow (Saturday) and chatting with Henrik Olsson, the host. The program runs from 11 am to 12 noon (Stockholm time) and is also available as a webcast. (Martin Kinnunen)

• Swedish Radio P3 (Click on “Lysnna Live”)

UPDATED - MTV considers Roxette’s new video, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, too vulgar for their viewers. MTV’s chief Mats Jankell, speaking to the Swedish newspaper Expressen, says that the scene where a man putts a golf ball between a woman’s naked legs humiliates women. If the video is left uncensored, it will be only shown between 9pm and 6am.

  “Jonas Åkerlund is known for doing daring things. This time he really has stretched the limits and tried to see how far he can go,” Jankell says.

  “The Centre Of The Heart” is Åkerlund’s 14th video for Roxette, including Per and Marie’s solo videos. This is not the first time his work has been censored. “Wish I Could Fly” (nudity), “Anyone” (suicide) and Gessle’s “Kix” (person pushed under a train) have all been censored by MTV.

  Update: Aftonbladet has also put up an article. Nothing new there. Åkerlund says that he doesn’t feel worried after so many of his videos have been re-edited for MTV. “They edit almost every video, not only mine,” he says in Aftonbladet.

  (Thanks to Mikael.)

• Expressen’s Swedish article
• TCOTH video (better quality, Real Player required)

On March 24th, Roxette will perform at the Radio Donna birthday party in Belgium. Radio Donna celebrates its 9th anniversary with a big party at Expo Hallen in Kortrijk (about 90 kilometres from Brussels). Many artists from Belgium will perform as well as some international top acts, such as Roxette and Emilia.

  Performances are spread over three stages and the show will start at 21:00, followed by a dance party called “Donna’s Dansfolie” starting around 23:00.

  Tickets cost 400 BEF (10 EUR) and can be ordered by calling +32 900 288 18. People have to be quick as there are only a limited number of tickets available (around 8,000). Last year, all the tickets were sold a month before the event.

  Radio Donna is the biggest radio station in Belgium and is very Roxette-friendly: two years ago Marie and Per were invited to the birthday party and performed “Wish I Could Fly” and “The Look”.

  The Belgian fanclub is planning a get-together
after the party. Further information is available by writing to [email protected]

• Radio Donna
• Birthday party TV commercial (Real Player required)