(#2008-4242) - Topics this issue: 1) Robin Gibb Interview, 2) Green (aka blue) plaque award, 3) Problems with Words Subscription, 4) Green (aka blue) plaque award, ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 21:35:37 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) From: "Kathy Hansen" Subject: Robin Gibb Interview =0D http://www.independent.co uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/jive-talkin-why-robin-gibb-wants-mor= e-re pect-for-the-bee-gees-826116.html=0D Jive talkin': Why Robin Gibb wants more respect for the Bee Gees=0D Tim Walker meets a famously prickly musician=0D Monday, 12 May 2008 =0D Interviewing a Bee Gee can be a tricky business. There was the notorious incident on Clive Anderson's talk show when all three brothers Gibb strod= e off after tiring of their host's wisecracks. And there was the time Robin Gibb, invited on to Radio 4's Front Row to discuss his last solo album wi= th the probing but hardly combative Mark Lawson, peeled off his mic in mid-conversation. =0D The Gibbs would have made good guests for Graham Norton, but the comedian scuppered that prospect by making a tasteless joke about the death of Rob= in s twin brother Maurice in 2003. At the time, Robin, perhaps understandabl= y, expressed a wish to rip the presenter's head off.=0D It's no surprise, then, when our first appointment, due to take place at = the star's converted monastery in Oxfordshire, is broken. A second meeting is cancelled, too. Third time lucky: we meet at a private members' club in Cavendish Square in London. =0D In March, Gibb, 58, was made President of the Heritage Foundation. The organisation, he explains, is devoted to "the recognition of achievement = by people across the spectrum of British cultural life", with activities including tribute events, concerts and the unveiling of blue plaques. =0D Now, Gibb is heading the foundation's Bomber Command campaign. "It's 63 years since the end of the Second World War," he says. "We want the 56,00= 0 guys who lost their lives protecting the freedoms of all of Europe to be honoured with a statue in the centre of London."=0D Gibb is bothered by Britons' lack of pride in their history. "We whinge about our past, but we're a greatly admired culture. We're the country th= at produced Shakespeare, for Christ's sake, the Bront=EBs, Winston Churchill= =2E" =0D His home in Oxfordshire is "a microcosm of British history. It's 1,000 ye= ars old =96 older than Westminster Abbey. It survived the dissolution, and du= ring the Civil War it was used by both Royalists and Parliamentarians. In the Second World War, the American army had a base there."=0D Gibb and his twin Maurice were born on the Isle of Man in December 1949; Barry, the other surviving sibling, was three years their senior. The tri= o were brought up in relative poverty in Manchester until 1958, when their youngest brother Andy was born, and the family relocated to Australia, wh= ere the Bee Gees first found fame. =0D "As a teenager growing up in Australia," Gibb says, "I realised that the Australians value British history more than the British do. Tony Blair sp= ent a few years growing up in Adelaide and I had the same conversation with h= im. =0D Blair, "a good friend", holidayed at Gibb's mansion in Florida last year, sending the tabloids into a tizz. In 1992, Gibb's wife Dwina had been inaugurated as patroness of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, a Brit= ish neo-druidic order. She and Gibb were also candid about the openness of th= eir marriage, a mistake he learnt from. "I don't understand why the press wen= t crazy over that," he says. "They made very unnecessary jibes at my wife. = It was a personal attack on her."=0D Unnecessary jibes are what have riled the band in past interviews: Anders= on making the obvious joke about their former moniker, "Les Tosseurs", and Lawson asking Gibb how he felt about the lack of respect afforded the ban= d. The Bee Gees are often treated without seriousness, mocked for the big ha= ir, dismissed as men of the Seventies. =0D "Nobody ever says, 'Mozart? That's so 1780s!' I think we should see peopl= e for what they've achieved. Mozart was a womaniser and a drunk, but we evaluate him on his works," Gibb says. "We've got one of the biggest catalogues in the world. There are songs we wrote in 1968 that people are still singing. Ronan Keating did 'Words', Destiny's Child did 'Emotion'. There's very few artists with that kind of history."=0D The Bee Gees' record sales top 220 million. The only people who have outs= old them are Elvis, The Beatles, Michael Jackson and Garth Brooks. Their compositions have shifted more units than The Rolling Stones, Abba, Elton John or U2. It's unlikely that the Bee Gees will ever be toppled from tha= t top five, even now that the name has =96 probably =96 been retired. =0D Since Maurice's death in January 2003, Barry and Robin have performed together only a handful of times at charity events. The old tales of animosity between the pair are quickly dismissed. "Retiring the name is a= n emotional decision. We'll decide what we want to do in the next couple of years. We are planning to work together, but what shape or form that will take, it's too early to tell."=0D The album Gibb is recording for release later this year will, inevitably,= be infused with the experience of losing his twin. "In many ways I don't acc= ept that he's gone," he says. "I miss his presence, but it's something I have= to live with."=0D Maurice wasn't the first family member to die unexpectedly. Andy, the youngest Gibb, was a Seventies star in his own right with a string of US solo No 1s. During the Eighties, the prospect of Andy joining the Bee Gee= s was much discussed, but in March 1988, he died from a heart condition. He was 30. His brothers didn't hide the fact that past abuse of drugs and alcohol had probably contributed. "Losing two brothers at a very early ag= e is one thing, but the fact that both their deaths were unnecessary only compounds it," says Gibb.=0D Thirty years after its release, Saturday Night Fever is still the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Until then, the Gibbs were best know= n for their late 1960s ballads, like "Massachusetts". But, says Gibb: "We w= ere dying to get into our soul influences. We wanted to do more than just ballads." =0D In 1976, they released Children of the World, complete with the No 1 blue-eyed soul single "You Should Be Dancing". They were working on new songs at a farmhouse in France when they got a call from Robert Stigwood.= =20 He called from LA," Gibb recalls, "and said, 'We're making a film with th= is new guy John Travolta, and we're rehearsing to 'You Should Be Dancing'. D= o you have any more songs?'" The rest is history. =0D "All those songs =96 'Night Fever', 'How Deep Is Your Love', 'More Than a Woman', 'If I Can't Have You' =96 were written in a three-week period at = five o'clock in the morning, with the only view from the window being of the c= ows that needed milking. They were the first to hear 'Stayin' Alive'."=0D Saturday Night Fever still overshadows the Bee Gees' long career. "Fever = was a very important project, but the Gibb brothers were responsible for a wi= de range of songs," Gibb says, "from 'Islands In the Stream' for Kenny Roger= s and Dolly Parton, to 'Chain Reaction' for Diana Ross, to 'Heartbreaker' f= or Dionne Warwick, to 'Woman In Love' for Barbra Streisand. There's only a handful of people with catalogues like ours =96 the Stones, Elton, Abba a= nd The Beatles.=0D "I get together with Paul [McCartney] a lot," he continues. "We talk abou= t how we used to record. When we and The Beatles were recording we had no= reference points. We just went into the studio and did what came into ou= r minds. Many artists today just go into the studio and try to copy what'= s in the charts. We saw what was in the charts and said, 'Let's try to do= something different.'" ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 11 May 2008 22:39:49 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time) From: "Kathy Hansen" Subject: Green (aka blue) plaque award http://www.hellomagazine.com/music/2008/05/10/bee-gees-plaque/=0D =0D It was a step back in time for Robin Gibb this weekend as he returned to = the Mayfair home where he and his two brothers, Barry and Maurice, wrote seve= ral of their songs. The Bee Gee was star guest at a ceremony to unveil London= 's latest green plaque, this time honouring the trio's contribution to music= =2E=0D =0D "It a tremendous honour to be acknowledged for doing something we love," said the 58-year-old musician, standing outside the house at 67 Brook Str= eet The building was once home to Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees' former mana= ger =0D =0D "This location means a great deal to us and is somewhere we wrote a lot o= f our songs."=0D =0D Robin, who enjoyed a 35-year career with his brothers, added that the pla= que would also serve as a memorial to his late twin Maurice, who passed away = in 2003. =0D =0D The tribute to the band, who have sold more than 200 million records worl= dwide, is the latest in a series of green plaques erected to celebrate bu= ildings associated with Westminster's former famous residents. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 07:31:51 +0100 From: "Maggie Bleksley" Subject: Re: Problems with Words Subscription I did email Chris to say you were having difficulties, Pat. Perhaps he's busy or away at the moment. Glad to see you're able to post on Words again. Maggie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Wong" To: "words List Member" Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2008 11:25 PM Subject: [words] Problems with Words Subscription > Hi all, > > My apologies for sending this note to the list, but I have been having > problems with my subscription under my brothersgibb.com addy. I have not > been able to post to the list with that address, plus I can't believe that > no one has posted to the list in over a week (has that really been the > case?!?). > > I un-subscribed and re-subscribed to the list with my brothersgibb addy, > which prompted an email from Chris enquiring as to why. I wrote him back > (using another email address), but I'm not sure he got the email. Chris, if > you're reading this, let me know how I can get in touch with you to give you > more details about the problem I've been experiencing. Thanks! > > We now return you to your regularly scheduled Gibb discussions. :) > > > -- > ~8^) Pat Wong > http://www.napathon.net/ - Music Around The World > For collecting tips, trade and want lists, album reviews and more. > > http://www.techtipscentral.net/CDTrusteeIntro.asp - Showcase your > music collection on your website. > > > > "Words & Music", Fans Of The Brothers Gibb ( Bee Gees ) > http://www.brothersgibb.com > > To change any of your list options, > please go to website listed above. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 12 May 2008 07:41:06 +0100 From: "Maggie Bleksley" Subject: Re: Green (aka blue) plaque award It definitely looked green from where I was standing, Kathy. There are many blue plaques on buildings in the UK, too. The colour must be something to do with the status, but I'm not sure how this is determined. BTW thanks for the interesting article you sent to the list in your previous post. Maggie ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kathy Hansen" To: "words List Member" Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 6:39 AM Subject: [words] Green (aka blue) plaque award http://www.hellomagazine.com/music/2008/05/10/bee-gees-plaque/ It was a step back in time for Robin Gibb this weekend as he returned to the Mayfair home where he and his two brothers, Barry and Maurice, wrote several of their songs. The Bee Gee was star guest at a ceremony to unveil London's latest green plaque, this time honouring the trio's contribution to music. "It a tremendous honour to be acknowledged for doing something we love," said the 58-year-old musician, standing outside the house at 67 Brook Street The building was once home to Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees' former manager "This location means a great deal to us and is somewhere we wrote a lot of our songs." Robin, who enjoyed a 35-year career with his brothers, added that the plaque would also serve as a memorial to his late twin Maurice, who passed away in 2003. The tribute to the band, who have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, is the latest in a series of green plaques erected to celebrate buildings associated with Westminster's former famous residents. ------------------------------ End words@brothersgibb.com Digest [05/12/2008 03:01] ----------------------------------------------------