HALMSTAD - Roxette fans wanting to save the Tits & Ass Studio here have reason to celebrate. At least for now, the building will remain standing.

  Several recent press reports have given attention to the online campaign to save T&A - with quotes from actual messages from fans - and this has led to a decision by individuals affiliated with the Tourist Board not to raze the building.

  Apparently, the campaign - which was endorsed by The Daily Roxette - has helped the Tourist Board come to realize that T&A should be spelled “Tits & Asset,” at least as far as they are concerned. Many fans wrote to say they have travelled a great distance just to see this building (and perhaps leave their mark on it, as T&A is covered with messages from fans around-the-world as can be seen in the photographs below).

  As readers of this e-newspaper already know, T&A is the little, remotely-located studio where Roxette developed and recorded many of their famous songs. Halmstad has received well over 70 e-mails from concerned fans.

  Mats “MP” Persson and Per Gessle still plan to move the recording equipment to a new studio under construction in the basement of Mats’ new house in Halmstad. Per told TDR while he was in the US that the current T&A building no longer meets their needs. One problem for those who would like to see the site saved from the wrecking ball permanently, is that the building itself is not in good condition. Long-term preservation efforts would be costly.

  The studio is still in use. Just last week, Mats - working as the producer - had a young, local group known as the “Student Drivers” there recording tracks for a new album.

Photos of T&A show graffiti-covered facade, including a message left on a window pane by Nicole Breuer of Cologne, Germany. Photos by Lars-Erik Olson/TDR.

Editor’s Note: “Roxer-the-Sunflower” contributed to this story.

• HP article (Swedish)
• Expressen article (Swedish)

EMI Canada has, along with most other EMI operating units, released the US version of Roxette’s greatest hits with the title, “Don’t Bore Us - Get to the Chorus (2000)” to distinguish it from the version released in 1995. The track listing is the same as in the US, although the packaging in certain countries – for example Singapore – is different.

According to Veckans Affärer, EMI and Bertelsman (BMG) are considering a merger. Once again, EMI will be the biggest record company in the world if the merger happens (or at least become part of the biggest company). The EU might not approve though, as they did not look kindly on the plan for EMI to merge with their previous suiter, Warner Music Group (WMG).

  BMG Entertainment is one of the world’s premier entertainment companies. It is home to more than 200 record labels in 54 countries, the world’s largest music club, a highly regarded distribution company, and a music publishing company. BMG is a leader in marketing and selling artists’ music over the Internet as well as one of the world’s largest compact disc manufacturing companies. Read more…

Yesterday, Marie appeared in a Norwegian TV show called “Åpent Hus” (Opened House). She gave a very short interview where she said that she knew she was going to be an artist already at the age of six.

  Afterwards, she did a fantastic live appearance, in which she and her band performed “Efter Stormen”. They also interviewed a female fan in the audience, who said that she had been looking forward to see her perform all week, and that she preferred Marie’s solo material to Roxette. Marie is doing quite well ot the Norwegian top 40 album chart these days, where she has stayed for 9 weeks now. This week she’s at number 18.

Previously, TDR reported that the release of an MTV Unplugged DVD would contain “It Must Have Been Love” by Roxette. Contrary to the pre-release information, the song is not included – neither on the VHS version nor the DVD version.

  Elisa Peimer of Sony Music, in an e-mail to TDR, said:

MTV pursued licensing the track for both formats and had every intention of using the track (which is why it was included in the pre-release plans), but did not receive the clearances necessary to include it on this release.

  This means that there still aren’t any DVDs that contain Roxette’s live music or music videos. Roxette hasn’t given any indication of plans to release their videos in DVD format.

BMI, an American performing rights organization, has again given awards to talented and popular songwriters. Among the artists honored is Per Gessle, with his Roxette hit “It Must Have Been Love”. The 1990 hit single has been played over 3 million times by American radio stations.

  To put all this in perspective, if you were to play “It Must Have Been Love” (which is 4:19 mins) continuosly, it would take over 24 years to play it 3 million times. So, at any given time, there are always 2.4 radio stations in the US playing the song.

  This is not the first time Per has recieved a BMI award. In 1998, “Listen To Your Heart” won their 2 million performance award category.

• BMI news article

EMI Sweden’s release schedule for November finally reveals something we fans have been eagerly waiting for. The promised live DVD from the Stockholm concert of Marie’s summer tour will be released on November 20th. To really make it a superb collectable, EMI is also including a live audio CD to make it a two-disc set.

  The DVD contains separate interview sessions with Marie where she comments on her songs along with all of the previously produced music videos.

  Ronald of the International Fanclub reports via RML that the DVD will be released without regional coding. This means that it will be playable on any DVD player in the world. However, the DVD will probably be in the PAL video standard. This could mean trouble for people in North America, where the NTSC standard is used. You can read more information on the standards here.

• EMI Svenska

Iltalehti, a Helsinki newpaper, reports today that the Finnish rock band The Rasmus is recording a new album for Playground Music Scandinavia. The producer of the album is Micke “Nord” Andersson – a name familiar to many Roxette fans as he has played guitar on various Roxette-related albums, most recently “Have A Nice Day”.

  This will be The Rasmus’ fourth album. The band became an instant success in Finland a few years ago, when the band members were still only teenagers. The lead single for the album will be released in Scandinavia in February, with the album release following a little later in the spring.

• Playground Music Scandinavia

Editor’s Note: In a promo tour full of “highlights,” this is – by far – the one event that shone the brightest. TDR will be bringing you a “re-packaged” report on the entire tour soon, including that exclusive interview with Per Gessle that we’ve been promising our readers. – LEO

SEATTLE – Having been blessed with a beautiful, sunny Autumn day in this city known for rain, the 200 or so people waiting in line outside the Frank Gehrey-designed Experimental Music Project (EMP) didn’t have much chance to be bored. There was plenty to look at – from the world-famous Space Needle just a short distance away, to the carnival-like roller coaster “joyrides” just across the sidewalk.

  Star 101.5 (KPLZ) had billed this event as a “Listener Appreciation Party,” and they were true to their word. Those on the guest list – almost all of whom had won their tickets on-the-air – were mostly unaware of the VIP treatment they’d experience once inside. Awaiting them was a gourmet buffet dinner, catered by the EMP’s own Liquid Lounge, and, of course, the intimate but fully-staged concert by Roxette.

  The concert itself was held inside a space that that EMP and Gehrey have named “Sky Church.” Per and Marie have never played a venue quite this unique and appropriate. Performing in a brand-new, undulating building that almost defies description – and perhaps inspired by the design of an architect that Per thinks is “fab” – Roxette played flawlessly, aided by a state-of-the-art sound system in a hall with suberb, professionally-engineered acoustics.

  The set list was “Wish I Could Fly,” “It Must Have Been Love,” “Joyride,” “Perfect Day,” “Church of Your Heart” (added to tour repetoire especially for this venue), “Listen to Your Heart,” and “The Look.” “Spending My Time” had been preselected for an encore, which – of course – was necessary.

  “All I can say is ’wow’” exclaimed Steven Espinosa, a board member of RoxNorthAmeriFANS who had driven almost 1,000 miles from Los Angeles to attend the show. “Roxette was perfect,” he said. Alex Faraldo, who also serves on the RNAF board and had flown in from Florida, added “I think Roxette played one of their very best intimate concerts. It was the next best thing to being in the studio audience for ’MTV Unplugged’.”

• Experimental Music Project

Read more…

Dutch fans are organizing a fanmeeting to be held at the beginning of next year. The meeting will be in The Hague, Netherlands on January 6, 2001.

  Those involved in organizing this meeting are doing so without the involvement of the Netherlands-based International Fanclub.

• Nederlandse Roxette fanmeeting (more info in Dutch)