¨ New Erasure Album News

News about new Erasure album from Gareth Jones' website:

"Extensive pre-production work on new Erasure LP going on throughout August - in UK, USA and Greece."

¨ Erasure Charity Auction Has Ended

The "Erasure Show Costume Charity Auction" has ended on Friday, 25th August.

The items were auctioned via eBay, and the proceeds will be donated to the charities "Scope" and "The Stroke Association".

Here are the top 3 (actually 4) items that were sold at the highest prices:

1. Vince Clarke bag (sold for £600)

2. Andy Bell blue "Elvis" suit (sold for £520)

3. Andy Bell red "Elvis" suit (sold for £430)

4. Andy Bell gold jacket (sold for £430)

The cheapest item was backing singer wigs (pair) - sold for only £17,5.

¨ EQCA Equality Awards

At Equality California's (EQCA) 7th annual Equality Awards (hold in Los Angeles 19th August), Andy Bell was presented with EQCA's Equality Entertainment Award. Here are the report of EIS member Mark Towns:

"The evening was a roaring success, and everyone in attendance was (obviously) enchanted with Andy and he singled out Paul and Vince by mentioning them during his acceptance speech at the banquet. Andy wore a handsome suit coat over a vintage Debbie Harry t-shirt. He was introduced by a great video montage detailing his journey as a gay man in entertainment and then he came on stage and spoke for a few minutes about gay rights and the state of politics in the USA and California. He then treated a giddy audience to five incredible live renditions of Erasure songs. "Breathe", "Victim Of Love", "Chains Of Love", "Oh L'Amour" and "A Little Resepect". It was a micro-Erasure concert that the entire room loved! By the end of "Chains..," every gay man was out of his seat and dancing. My best friend, Allie, and I were in the back of the ballroom dancing in the aisle for the entire performance.

After the gala the attendees were invited to a reception in an adjoining ballroom and terrace. I was taking in the arid Los Angeles evening on a balcony when I noticed Paul Hickey nearby. I told him how wonderful the evening was, and he let me in on a little secret that it was about to get even better - Andy was coming to the reception to DJ! A few minutes later, Andy took over the turntables and everyone squealed with delight when they realized who was behind the decks. He delighted the crowd with his blend of Yazoo, Erasure, his own work and other fantastic dance music. Between blends, he would graciously pose for pictures with his adoring fanbase. This was Allie's first "close encounter" with Andy, and I was so thrilled to get a picture with her and Mr. Andy Bell. We spent a while talking with Paul and Andy's manager Michael as well. We took time out, however, to shake our tails to "State Farm," "Don't Say You Love Me" and other incredible tracks. It was such a moving experience to see movers and shakers of the gay rights community all moving and shaking it together to the aural delights of Andy; both behind the microphone and the turntables.

I have several extra programs from the event. In the program is a page honoring Andy with text and a small picture, and there
is also a FULL PAGE b/w ad from Mute records congratulating Andy on "20 years of inspiring music."

It was a night I will never forget. Andy was an absolute angel to everyone and was just as sweet as can be to me. He made my evening by remembering me and having a little chat with Allie and I. I'm so glad I made it to Los Angeles for the event - it was extraordinary!"

Here is the link to Andy Bell intro / acceptance speech (once again thanks to Mark Towns):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3LLACEAq8k

¨ Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards (February 2006)

On 4th February 2006 Erasure performed live at the 12th Annual Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in Palm Springs, USA (see news from 06.02.06). Here the few additional photos from that event.

Debbie Reynolds, Shirley MacLaine and Angela Lansbury

Debbie Reynolds and Erasure

Vince Clarke

Erasure

Andy's villa advert

Unknown with Paul Hickey

Vince Clarke

Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards attendees

¨ EXTRA! EXTRA! New Erasure DVD!

Here are the breaking news from Steve Walsh's website concerning new Erasure DVD:

"Finally, the new Erasure DVD "The Road To Nashville" is almost complete. I'll tell you it looks and sounds fantastic!"

The exact release date for "The Road To Nashville" is still to be announced.

¨ Larry Tee's Forthcoming Album

Finally, another Andy Bell side project - the collaboration with famous DJ Larry Tee, seems to be released. Here is the quote from Larry's blog:

"My new album comes out next spring and has appearances by Andy Bell of Erasure, Princess Superstar, Northern Lite, lily of the Valley, and many other new producers and artists famous and soon to be."

You may listen the short snippet from "Matthew (MHC Extended Remix)" by Larry Tee Feat. Andy Bell on Manhattan Clique website here.

Greg EIS - "Erasure Show Costume Charity Auction":

Hello

¨ Erasure Show Costume Charity Auction

The 'Erasure Show Costume Charity Auction' will begin today (Tuesday 15th August.)

The items will be auctioned via eBay, and the proceeds will be donated to the charities 'Scope' and 'The Stroke Association'.

The list of items that will be auctioned are available within the EIS News section:

www: http://www.erasureinfo.com/news/index.html

(Note that the page may take a while to download as it contains many graphics)

You may notice from the list that the auction items have been divided into eight groups - this is to allow the auction start time of each group to be staggered. This prevents all the auctions ending at exactly the same time, which can make bidding on multiple items difficult.

The start times for each group are:

Group 1 : 20:00 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 2 : 20:15 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 3 : 20:30 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 4 : 20:45 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 5 : 21:00 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 6 : 21:15 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 7 : 21:30 15th Aug (UK Time)
Group 8 : 21:45 15th Aug (UK Time)

All auctions will last for 10 days - and will conclude on Fri 25th August.

The actual eBay pages for each item won't be available for viewing until the start times as listed above - however if you keep an eye on this page:

www: http://cgi6.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBay...

then this will list all the auction items once they go live.

The EIS eBay seller ID is: erasure_information_service

www: http://www.scope.org.uk
www: http://www.stroke.org.uk

¨ EQCA Equality Awards

At Equality California's (EQCA) 7th annual Equality Awards (held in Los Angeles), Andy Bell will be presented with EQCA's Equality Entertainment Award.

As a trailblazing gay public figure, Andy Bell has made a significant contribution to changing attitudes toward members of the LGBT community, and continues to serve as a role model for others both in and out of the spotlight.

The Equality Awards celebrate extraordinary and heroic contributions to the cause of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.

www: http://www.eqca.org
www: http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=172334

¨ Fan Mixes

Several more fan created mixes have been added to the 'Treasure' section - the newly added ones are in bold.

www: http://www.erasureinfo.com/treasure/mixes.html

¨ MySpace.com

Don't forget that Erasure / EIS has a presence on mySpace.com - several videos have been uploaded and a blog containing brief news items has been started.

www: http://www.myspace.com/erasureofficial

¨ Erasure Forum

There has been a large increase in the number of 'spam' accounts being registered on the Erasure Forum.

In order to curtail this phenomenon, one will no longer be able to register new forum accounts with e-mail addresses from common free e-mail services (such as hotmail) from next week.

Note: this does *not* affect existing forum registrations.

Certain free e-mail services have already been blocked and this has had a very positive result in reducing spam accounts.

If you use a free e-mail service and have considered joining the forum, I suggest you do so this week.

www: http://www.erasureforum.com/profile.php?mode=register

Regards

Greg
Erasure Information Service

¨ EXTRA! EXTRA! New Andy Bell Single!

Manhattan Clique is just confirmed that the next and final single from "Electric Blue" will be released in September / October 2006! It's looking like the single will feature "Electric Blue" remix, "Love Oneself" extended and "Jump" remix on white vinyl and cd. "Jump" is a b-side that was planned for release on "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" single but was saved for the future (thanks to Stefan Last for the info).

¨ Erasure's iTunes Celebrity Playlist

Andy and Vince compiled their own celebrity playlist on iTunes. This is the list of their favourite songs accompanied by their comments. Here it is:

1. Blondie - Atomic
2. Donna Summer - I Feel Love
3. Sparks - The Number One Song In Heaven
4. Busted - Crashed The Wedding
5. ABBA - Summer Night City
6. Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
7. Mercury Rev - Endlessly
8. Goldfrapp - Strict Machine
9. Outkast - Hey Ya!
10. Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)

Andy Bell's picks 1-6
Vince Clarke's picks 7-10

"Atomic" (track 1): "I did a speech on nuclear disarmament day in school when this came out. A good excuse to play the record to the whole school."

"I Feel Love" (track 2): "The first song I ever heard in a gay club. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven."

"The Number One Song In Heaven" (track 3): "Moroder is a god when not playing guitar. Sparks are the most underrated group to come out of the United States."

"Crashed The Wedding" (track 4): "I'm devastated."

"Summer Night City" (track 5): "When I was a teenager my boyfriend's dad said that he didn't like this song because Frida looked like a slut in the video, my how times have changed! I love it & it's their sleaziest disco track by half apart from "That's Me"."

"Nothing Compares 2 U" (track 6): "Beautiful lady, beautiful song."

"Endlessly" (track 7): "From one of my favourite albums, "Deserter's Songs". Perfect for a Tim Burton soundtrack. So fragile it could break."

"Strict Machine" (track 8): "Sleazy electro-glam for the 2000s!"

"Hey Ya!" (track 9): "A fantastic video and a chirpy little synth line."

"Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" (track 10): "We covered this on our "Other People's Songs" album and was one of the records that I loved from when I was a teenager. Absolute classic, say no more!"

¨ Ebay - Tour Costume Charity Auction (EIS News)

The costumes from the 2005 "The Erasure Show" tour will be auctioned via eBay next week. The proceeds of this auction will be donated to two charities.

Further details (such as the auction start date and web address) will be announced on Monday 14th August via the EIS Mailing List only.

You may see a selection of auction items at EIS news page.

¨ GLAAD Media Awards - Video

Video with Erasure performing "Boy" at the GLAAD Media Awards in New York 27th March is now available on Youtube.com. Click here to watch it. (thanks to Martin Rivers for the link).

¨ Added Ferry Aid "Let It Be" Single Page

The page about Ferry Aid single "Let It Be" has been added to Discography (Andy Bell side projects section) (thanks to Gena).

¨ Added New Pics

Added details of: "Oh L'Amour" 2003 uk promo vinyl, "An Evening With Erasure" mispressed cd (thanks to Martin Rivers), "Ship Of Fools" uk vinyl (thanks to Mike De Paz), "I Say I Say I Say" ecuadorian cassette, "Pop! - The First 20 Hits" german minidisc (thanks to Patrick Aldag).

¨ Labels / Mute Videonewsletter

The new Labels / Mute videonewsletter that was out recently features new interview with Andy Bell (recorded this spring in Germany). You can download it free via iTunes or from Mute Germany podcasts page (you need the one that titled "Folge 4").

¨ Andy Bell To Perform At Equality Awards

As we reported earlier, Andy Bell will get the EQCA’s Equality Entertainment Award, which will be presented to him in Los Angeles, 19th August (see news from 25.07.06). Now it is known that Andy will also be performing on stage at the Equality Awards.

¨ Official Gay Games VII DVD

The official Gay Games VII DVD will be released in October 2006. This DVD will feature:

1. Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
2. Choral, Band, Color Guard, Cheer highlights.
3. Great sports moment and medal ceremonies.
4. Interviews with participants, fans and celebrities.
5. Lots of extras, including photo album and a look behind the scenes.

It is currently unknown if Andy's performance will also be on this DVD. You can preorder it here though.

¨ Andy's Gay Games Photos

Here are another few photos of Andy, performing at Gay Games Opening in Chicago 15th July.