July 4, 1997 Gilmour may hold press conference July 4 There is an unconfirmed report that David Gilmour may hold a press conference on July 4. It is not known what the subject of the conference will be, nor where it will be held. The possible press conference was recently announced on radio station KOMP 92.3 FM in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the original source of the news has not been determined, KOMP insists that the report is authentic. The report originated with a legitimate news wire service, however KOMP was unable to determine which source was used. (This is not usual as deejays do not document every report they quote, and the station is a rock station and not a news station.) At this point, it is doubtful that confirmation of this report will arrive before July 4. It seems the best thing to do is simply to wait, and see what happens. As soon as more information is available, it will be published here. Thanks to Deanna Hinson and to KOMP.v June 29, 1997 Richard Wright denies Floydian rumours Allstar Music recently published information from Richard Wright which set straight several recent rumours about Pink Floyd: Was Dark Side of the Moon intended to match the film The Wizard of Oz? "I was talking to someone about a month ago about this," said Wright. "I thought he was taking the piss out of me, as we English say. But he obviously wasn't. But to disappoint maybe lots of people, there is no connection between the record and The Wizard of Oz. I haven't tried it, and I suspect it's one of those weird things that do happen. I do want to check it out." Are Pink Floyd recording a new album now? "There are no plans to go into the studio, but I'm sure we will," he says. Will Roger Waters be appearing with Pink Floyd again? What about the rumors that the band had planned some shows with Roger Waters? "Again, I hate to disappoint people, but there are no plans to do shows with Roger. But I must say, it could happen. I wouldn't be adverse to it." Thanks to Jason Lane and Allstar Music June 22, 1997 VA Symphony to perform music of Pink Floyd The Virgina Symphony will perform the music of Pink Floyd on Sunday, June 22, 1997. The concert will be held at the Virgina Beach Ampitheater at 8:00 that evening. This is a rain or shine event. No cameras are allowed. Ticket prices range from $9.00 to $30.00. You can purchase tickets through TicketMaster, or you may charge by telephone by calling (757)671-8100. Tickets are also available online by visiting http://www.ticketmaster.com Taken from the Pink Floyd Timeline, ©1997 Dave Ward June 14, 1997 The Australian Pink Floyd Show to play London The Pink Floyd cover band known as The Australian Pink Floyd Show will be performing in London, U.K. on Saturday, June 14, 1997. The performance will take place at Shepherd's Bush Empire, a popular venue for other major artists such as Fish and Alan Parsons. For further information, visit Pollstar at http://www.pollstar.com May 19, 1997 Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular continues tour Paramount's "Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular" will present a highly-praised laser show in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Saturday, 31 May 1997. The show will be held at 8:00PM at The War Memorial Auditorium, located at 800 NE 8th Street in Ft. Lauderdale. Tickets may be purchased through TicketMaster, or you may charge by telephone by calling (954)523-3309. Tickets are also available online by visiting http://www.ticketmaster.com The concert will be sponsored by 94.9 ZETA radio. April 12, 1997 No Waters album scheduled this year Michael Simone, president of the international Roger Waters fanclub, has revealed that Roger Waters does not have any new albums scheduled for release in 1997. "Roger's manager, Mark Fenwick, has just recently told our fanclub that the making of all the demos for Roger's next album, his opera Ça Ira, will be done by mid-summer," wrote Simone in an email to fan Ryan Kearns. "The album should be out by the beginning of 1998. No other project was mentioned nor is he at present working on one, except for the stage play for The Wall." Ça Ira will be an opera in celebration of the French Revolution. Waters has been working on it since the late 1980s. Waters' stage adaptation for The Wall has also been in the works for years. Further information will be published here as soon as it becomes available. Thanks to Ryan Kearns Taken from the Pink Floyd Timeline, ©1997 April 10, 1997 Roger "Syd" Barrett reported terminally ill Although Mojo magazine, in the September 1996 edition, reported that Syd Barrett has severe diabetes and is almost completely blind, Pink Floyd fans in the Cambridge area have reported that Barrett has been seen bicycling often and is in excellent health. James Blatch of Cambridge's BBC Radio further negates the Mojo report. "My receptionist (a previous girl friend of Roger [Syd] Barrett's at age 11!) sees him regularly. She can last remember seeing him in September '96, walking down Cherry Hinton Road in Cambridge. He looks wild as every but apparently not in ill health." (From private e-mail, Dec 1, 1996) It has also been noted that the author of the September Mojo article was Cliff Jones. Jones' recent book Echoes: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song has been criticised by fans for its unusual number of innaccuracies. Cliff Jones is presently being sued by David Gilmour for malicious libel. April 10, 1997 New book about Barrett available A new book about Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett has been published recently. A Fish Out of Water by Luca Ferrari includes two fascinating interviews with Syd's sister, Rosemary Breen. The interviews alone (conducted in Feb. 1994 and Aug. 1995) make this book worth tracking down. Asked if Barrett has ever shown resentful feelings towards anybody, Breen said, "Yes, sure. Against Roger Waters! More than once I saw him get angry and shout his name thinking about the past experiences." Annie Marie Roulin, a psychologist brought in by the author, gave us the following insight: "He has never understood how the band created by him and by him taken to success had discharged him with no compliments. Pink Floyd had been his house, in a sense, and they represented the place where he ahd put all his emotional energy and his creative imagination. In my opinion after his expulsion the Pink Floyd became for Roger the main source of a grotesque complex of castration which seems to inhibit and torment him still nowadays." The book's weakness is that it was translated into English from Italian, including the quotes from Breen. Most fans would prefer Breen's original quotes in English over the quotes in the book, which were translated from English to Italian, and then back to English, thus losing precision. Regardless, the book receives high praise from many Barrett fans. April 10, 1997 New book about Pink Floyd coming to Japan A new book about Pink Floyd will be published in the Japanese language. PINK FLOYD: The Labyrinth Through The Fancyscope by Sohnosuke Imai & Nobukazu Takahashi, published by Hachiman Publishing, promises to be a fascinating read. The first part of the book is called "Pink Floyd Echoing in Nested Boxes" and is by Sohnosuke Imai. Sohnosuke's writings focus primarily on the song "Echoes" and detail his own experiences with Echoes. Sohnosuke also writes in great depth about A Saucerful of Secrets, Ummagumma, Atom Heart Mother, "One of These Days," Dark Side of the Moon, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond, " The Wall and more. The second section of the book, authored by Nobukazu Takahaski, is titled "Idola specus of Pink Floyd - or Magus Roger Waters." As the title implies, Nobukazu is concerned primarily with studying Roger Waters. Nobukazu's writings deal with "Careful With That Axe, Eugene," "Several Species of Small Furry Animals," "Echoes," The Wall, The Final Cut, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking, Radio KAOS, and Amused to Death. PINK FLOYD: The Labyrinth Through The Fancyscope has run against a series of delays. It is presently scheduled for release in spring of 1997. It will be available in Japan, in the Japanese language. No English translation has yet been arranged, but Sohnosuke is hopeful that an arrangement will be made for an English translation. Sohnosuke has been told by publishers that the book would sell well in America, Europe and the U.K. If a publisher in Europe, the U.K. or North America would consider publishing the book, please contact co-author Sohnosuke Imai at QYK01434@niftyserve.or.jp Art ©1978 by Aquirax Uno Used with permission of the artist April 8, 1997 New Floyd book on sale in the U.S. The new Pink Floyd book by Cliff Jones in now on sale in the United States. Another Brick In The Wall: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song was published last fall in the U.K. and Europe under the title Echoes. The U.K. edition is the focal point of a lawsuit by David Gilmour against author Cliff Jones. Gilmour claims malicious libel, and hoped to stop further publication. Clearly the U.K. lawsuit failed to prevent publication in the United States. "The book has a very large number of errors "over 120" some careless, some very serious," Gilmour's solicitors, told the Daily Express in December 1996. "We have also identified four serious libels of David Gilmour. The band take a very serious view of this and are furious." David Gilmour's High Court writ in the U.K. seeks to prevent further publication of the book containing these alleged libels, but in order to stop further publication in the U.S., Gilmour would have to take legal actions within the United States' justice system. This has not happened so far. Broadway Books does not foresee any legal threat to publication in the United States. Another Brick In The Wall: The Stories Behind Every Pink Floyd Song retails for $22.50 US funds. Its ISBN code is 0-553-067338. April 6, 1997 Broken China now on sale in U.S. Richard Wright's latest solo album Broken China went on sale in the United States on Tuesday, March 25, after a series of unxplained delay. The album was first scheduled for release on November 26, 1996. Mounting delays prompted many U.S. fans of Rick Wright to buy imported versions of the album. The album is being carried widely, but most stores are only carrying one or two copies, simply because Wright is not well-known, and so stores consider it largely unprofitable to give his album shelf space or promotion. If you want a copy of Broken China, you may have to go to a very large store, or ask that a copy be ordered for you. Unfortunately for U.S. fans, Wright compounded the past delays with further bad news. "There are no plans for doing an album signing tour in the United States," Wright said. According to Wright, no tour for Broken China is planned at this time. In a December 1996 interview Wright told fans, "I started working with Floyd in January 1993 on recording The Division Bell and then the tour, and then went straight into this album. I did not have any time really to consider touring with the album, but on the other hand having finished the album, I would very much in the future like to perform the album live." It is very unlikely that sales will be high enough to justify a tour for Broken China. "I think if the opportunity arose I would certainly like to tour Broken China," Wright said. "And again, [I] think some of the music from Broken China could be possibly played on a Pink Floyd tour but that is something, Dave, Nick and myself would have to discuss." A video for the song "Night of a Thousand Furry Toys" has aired in the U.K. Filmed from the blurry-eyed viewpoint of a newborn baby, the video was censored because of a scene depicting the newborn child being brough to the mother's breast for feeding. Asked whether Gilmour or Mason has heard the album, Wright replied, "I know Dave has heard Broken China and I'm sure Nick has. Dave's comment was, 'It's very good.' He liked it very much." Broken China was released in the U.K. on October 7, and in Canada on November 19. EMI Records has set up a web site at http://www.emirecords.co.uk/rickwright/ to promote this dark and intense album, including a three-part interview, graphics, and audio samples from the album. April 6, 1997 Members of Pink Floyd among U.K.'s wealthiest In early April, London's Sunday Times reported that David Gilmour is the 334th richest person in Great Britian, with £55 million. David Gilmour Music and David Gilmour Music Overseas show that Gilmour's salary fell from £3.6 million to £2.8 million. However, The Division Bell album and tour of 1994 grossed £200 million and these numbers now figure into the revenues. Furthermore, Pink Floyd probably has the second biggest-selling back catalogue in the U.K. after the Beatles. Nick Mason and Roger Waters are tied (along with a few others) at 461st position, with about £40 million apiece. Mason is estimated to hold £38 million including his portion of the £150 million generated by the Division Bell tour. Waters' earnings were £3 million in 1995, and his holdings are estimated at £35 million. Richard Wright was ranked 766th on the U.K. "rich list" with holdings estimated at £20 million. Sadly, Roger Waters' old nemesis Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber has them all beat. Webber ranked as the 24th richest, with £550 million. Forbes magazine put Pink Floyd's income at £85 million from 1987 to 1995. Thanks to Keith Collyer.