Official Internation Queen Fan Club News - QFN-19
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OIQFC Magazine - Autumn 1995

As always for the few of you not in the Fan Club in London,
here are the main points from the above issue.

The front cover of this issue has a photograph from the
session which produced the rear of the first album cover,
but not one which was actually used on it. It has been used
recently though on the Hollywood promotional picture CD 'of
'Live At The BBC'. Freddie is seated eating grapes holding a
teddy bear! The photograph is very light compared to the
ones used for the first album. The rear cover (of the mag)
features photographs of fans and a list of the fan club's
achievements over the past 21 years which is the anniversary
celebrated by the fan club this year.

Inside is the usual letter from Jacky Smith, who is the
secretary and owner of the fan club. Jacky bought the fan
club outright a few years ago. She had worked at the fan
club for Queen for 10 years previously.

Jacky's letter mentions many things, among them is the
'Queen Tour of London'. This is a bus trip around London
taking in Queen-related places of interest - such as houses,
studios and colleges where the members of the band studied.
The trip costs 15 and includes a free exclusive T-shirt.
The tour runs on a Friday and you must book in advance by
telephone. See address and telephone number at the end of
this section.

Jacky also requests that fans don't mail or visit the band's
homes if they know where they live. Send any letters direct
to the fan club and they will be forwarded.

If you write to the fan club for any reason (joining for
instance) and want a reply, remember to include an SAE, or
IRC or you won't get a reply!

The Old Bakehouse
16(a) High Street
Barnes
London
SW13 9LW
Tel: 0181 392 2800

Brian has written, or rather typed, a personal letter to all
fans on his own headed paper. Interestingly the address is
the same as the old fan club address which is where Queen
Productions still remain. The letter is dated 3 July 1995.
The facing page shows a full-page photograph of Brian
presenting the Hard Rock cafe a (Guild) copy of his guitar. 

In his letter, Brian mentions having only a few weeks to
deliver the final mixes and artwork in preparation for the
release of the last album in time for the Chritsmas
onslaught. The album was worked on in London, at Brian's
studio in Surrey and at Roger's Mill.

Brian denies all the recent rumours about touring with
George Michael  reported in the "Scum press" as "rubbish",
or the making of an album called 'Freddie Unplugged'!

The final album will be a simultaneous release by EMI and
Hollywood Records with a single preceding it.

A 120-minute video covering the history of Queen is due for
release before Christmas by Picture Music International and
Hollywood Records simultaneously.   A book by Queen's road
manager, Gerry Stickells, is planned for a November 1995
release - no title yet, but there are contributions from
Brian, John and Roger.

The limited boxed set of all 20 studio Queen albums is
mentioned - exactly as the originals with no rare singles,
or  b-sides/extra tracks (see the Record Collector review in
the 'Magazine Round-Up' section found elsewhere in this
issue for more details).

There's a chance to win a copy of the fan club pressed
purple vinyl Bohemian Rhapsody's, which is already a
collector's item. Again see the 'Record Collector' item in
this issue for more details of this special release. This
offer is open to fan club members so there's no point
telling non-members how to get one of the 200 which weren't
bought at the Convention earlier this year.

Freddie
=======
No news yet about a site for Freddie's statue, but talks are
going ahead with Jim Beach and Ealing College where Freddie
studied.

Freddie was an avid stamp collector when he was a young boy
living in Zanzibar, and one of his albums was bought by the
National Postal Museum, along with Freddie's father's
collection. All proceeds went to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
There is a photograph of Fatima Whitbread (UK sports
personality) pictured along side Freddie's collection which
is housed at King Edward Street London. The collection was
displayed at this years Convention so some of you will have
seen it. Postcards are also available from the fan club at
2.50 for a set of 4 postcards though bought direct from the
British Philatelic Bureau they are only 1 per set. See the
address in the Classified section of this issue for more
details.

Brian
=====
Brian May has been very busy recently, but has found time to
work with other artists as listed below:

'Hot Potootie' for the Rocky Horror Show album due for
release Oct/Nov this year. Other guests include Spike Edney,
Shelly Preston and Madeline Bell.

'Black And White House' on an album called 'Guitar Zeus'
(Guitar God?) with Carmine Appice, Ted Nugent, Ronnie Wood
and Doug Pinnick.

'Someother Language' is an album which Brian has played on
for Stefan Zauner from the German band Farenheit. The album
will be released by Sony in Germany, Austria and
Switzerland. 

On the 14th of June this year, Brain and Anita attended a
charity event celebrating the launch of the book 'Men
Without Ties' by designer Gianni Versace. Tickets were 100
each with all profits donated to Elton John's AIDS charity.

John
====
Unusually John has been active recently. As well as
recording the new album with Roger and Brian, John played
with the SAS band at London's Shepherds Bush Empire. John
selected the vocalist on his spot too - Tony Hadley from
Spandau Ballet. The songs chosen by John were 'My Girl',
'6345789' and 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. The support
band for this concert were 'Baker' which include John's son
Michael (he's a drummer).

Roger
=====
Finally, Roger's first two solo albums are going to be
released on CD. They will be released by EMI before
Christmas - no date yet though. And more interestingly Roger
has been working on another solo album!

Roger joined Spike's All Star band (SAS) in Zurich at a
large open air concert on 17th June at the Club Openair,
Lengau. Roger performed 'Nazis 1994', 'Radio Ga Ga' and
guested on the Led Zeppelin song 'Rock & Roll'.

Roger has bought a 107-foot cruising schooner (a boat) named
'Tigerlily of Cornall' and he spends much time aboard it
apparently. The boat carries a crew of four and sleeps
eight.

There are lots more bits of news in the Summer issue of the
fan club magazine, including the following:

The 'Box Of Tricks' boxed set in no longer in production,
but a few are still available from the original supplier at
65. Call them on 01628 30890 for details.

Jamie Moses (the Guitarist from the Brian May Band) has his
own fan club and you can obtain details from:

Jamie Moses Fan Club
PO Box 237,
Exeter
EXA 4YE - UK

Queen - A Live Documentary is a new book in production by
Greg Brooks. It will contain details of all 704 shows which
Queen played between 1974 and 1986, including tracklist
information, support bands and fan's anecdotes. It should
have been published in August 1995 by Omnibus, priced at
14.95.

QFN gets a mention about the 'new look' issue of the
newsletter and computer versions (Acorn and PC - and now
Mac), but Jacky misses out tons of important details and I'm
inundated with requests for free copies of both versions
(paper/computer) by fans who don't even send me an SAE or
IRC. I do hope it will be possible to rectify this problem
in the Autumn issue. Maybe the fan club could inform anyone
who wrote to QFN without an SAE/IRC to send one in as soon
as possible, or they won't get a reply!

The winners of the sporting events from the Convention are
printed with brilliant pictures from the 'fancy dress'.

Two fans write in at Jacky's request to give their opinion
about the Guild copy guitar of Brian's which they own.

There are a few letters about the new album as you would
expect. Some fans are prepared to wait patiently whilst
others demand that they should get to hear the tracks
Freddie worked on before he died as soon as possible.

A copy of a letter from Esther Ranzen of 'ChildLine'
(Samaritans-type help line for children) is printed thanking
the fan club for donating 15,000 to their funds, which was
raised at the Convention.

And finally there are tour dates for the tribute bands
'Night At The Opera', "Magic', 'Ga Ga' and 'The Royal
Family'.

So all you not in the fan club; this is the sort of stuff
you're missing out on each issue. For more information on
how to join the official fan club call Jacky or Val on 0181
392 2800, or write with an SAE/IRC to the following:

The Official International Fan Club The Old Bakehouse 16A
High Street Barnes London SW13 9LW
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