Fans in Argentina are collaborating together to host an event in one of the city's newest hotspots on December 13. Run to Roxette (R2R) together with ¡Roxette Latino! – with the cooperation of EMI Argentina – are preparing a big Roxette party to celebrate the first 20 years.

The party will take place the evening of December 13th at The Roxy, an "in" restaurant and bar often used to host CD launch parties because of the outstanding sound system and large video screens. During the party there will be music, videos, contests and more surprises! The Buenos Aires-based Roxette tribute band Hot Joy (featured in a previous TDR article), will be guests of the party and perform several songs.

Courtesy of The Roxy, the two sponsoring websites are conducting a contest to award five free pre-party dinners-for-two (each for 2 persons) for that night. The winners will be revealed on Tuesday (December 12) through the websites and communicated by e-mail. The Roxy is located on Gorriti 5568, Palermo Hollywood, Buenos Aires.

Get in the contest!

NEW YORK - As The Daily Roxette reported back in March, the at-that-time “Official” International Roxette Fan Club (OIRFC), based in Holland for most of its 10-year existance, shut down it’s operation. Based on comments left on various Roxette discussion forums and here on the pages of this newspaper, this came as no surprise to many fans around the world as the organization had been plagued by complaints about poor service for at least the 12 months before it finally folded and increasingly, signs of life became few and far between.

  But even though a half-a-year has passed since their announcement, there are still many unresolved issues about money owed to people who where members of the fanclub – most of which revolve around credit for membership fees paid based on a contract for a certain number of issues of the group’s fanzine. The group claims that all orders for merchandise from their Fanshop have now been fulfilled.

  Several people have asked questions in these discussion forums over these past six months as to when people can expect refunds on their membership/subscription fees. At the beginning of June, Sarah Plunkett, a fanclub “team member” who has emerged as the only remaining spokesperson, said in an email message to several fans that refunds would have to wait until after the summer. It was assumed at that time that people still involved with the group were taking the summer off. With summer now over and October just around the corner, there has still been no word on either the Roxette.nl site (currently under the control of hackers) or via email or posting to the TDR SmallTalk or R2R forums.

“Unless the group [registered as a non-profit organization in the Netherlands] were to declare bankruptcy and/or formally disband in a civil court, then they are still legally obligated to fulfill the terms of these membership contracts,” said Dan Goldfarb, a lawyer in New York who has some familiarity with Dutch law, to TDR.

  An article on March 3rd on the OIRFC website said:

  “We are working out the finer details of closing up the shop and sorting out outstanding services (i.e. fanzines). Please do not spam us with requests as to what is happening with your credits. We are fully aware of them and finding the best way to meet everyone’s needs in an efficient and practical manner. Watch this space concerning Fanshop news!”

  Six months have now passed and still there is no sign of those finer details being sorted. Many fans have reported contacting Roxette’s management company, and writing to the fanclub repeatedly, but without any response. The fanclub’s demise, and all the trouble associated with it, prompted Roxette’s management to issue a statement saying that they would no longer endorse an “official” fanclub.

  “I think all that fans really want is an honest answer as to when and how refunds will be paid,” said Alison Lowther, a fan in the UK who has been active in the discussion threads about this topic. “Many may not want the few euros they are owed, but others might think differently.”

BUENOS AIRES - Hot Joy, a Roxette tribute band formed here, performed for the first time at a musical festival in this city yesterday. The free, open-air concert took place at Plaza Longo in the Caseros section of Buenos Aires.

  The crowd that filled the plaza heard Hot Joy perform “Hotblooded,” “Dangerous,” “Fading Like a Flower,” “Cinnamon Street,” “Spending my Time,” “Dressed For Success,” “Sleeping in My Car” and “The Look.”

   The festival opened with The Betters, a Beatles tribute band, and Hot Joy was the third act to perform. According to Juan Infante Camaño (vocals and guitar) the band’s name comes from the songs “Joyride” and “Hotblooded.”

  Other members of the band include Marcela Hatsatourian (voice), Nicolás Fontimpe (bass, vocals and chorus), Federico Fontimpe (lead guitar), Ariel Prados (Keyboards) and Santiago Rey (drums).


  “It was a spectacular show and they had a fantastic sound, which has to reflect a lot of work from these six guys,” said Silvina Arnouil, one of about 20 Roxette fans in attendance amongst a crowd of over 200.

  It was a kind of reunion for the local Roxette fan community, as many had not seen each other in a very long time, and most gathered near the stage.

  “Many of the fans sang along,” Silvina tells The Daily Roxette, “and there was a group of about four that danced like crazy to ALL the songs. It was a lot of fun for the Rox fans, of course, but the bigger crowd seemed to really enjoy the show as well.”

  “I’m one of those fans who have followed Roxette since the beginning, a long time ago… like 1989,” says Juan. “Roxette are what encouraged me mostly to become a musician.”

  “The real Hot Joy project started in February of this year,” he continues. “I say ’real’ because this idea has existed for some time in Nicolás, Marcela and Federico’s minds. They are the band’s founders. They’re the ones who put it all together.”

  “I don’t like to call our band a ’tribute band’ because tributes are for dead bands and they [Roxette] aren’t. So this is more of an homage,” he says.


Zerot contibuted to this article.

• Listen to Hot Joy (four songs available)

MOSSMAN, AUSTRALIA - There are a lot of fans of Per and Marie “down under,” and some of them named their netball team after their favorite music group. Thus, in a rather bizarre coincidence (given the recent hit cover song), there might actually be a “Roxette vs. (Dancing) DJs” matchup next Tuesday in the semi-final round of the Douglas Netball Association competition. The Gazette reports that the teams are putting in a huge effort for a great finish to the season.

  The DJs and Young Guns previously recorded a tie and will replay their game on Monday night. Then next Tuesday, the semi-final will be played with Roxette competing against the winner of the Monday night game.

  Should the DJs win, they’ll surely be dancing, but our bet is on Roxette.
  Dancing DJs, an electronic music group from the UK, had a big hit with their rendition of “Fading Like A Flower” last year.

STOCKHOLM - Marie Dimberg, manager of Roxette, has put out the following message:

After many discussions we have decided not to have an official fanclub. We hope that the existing websites will be sufficient communities for the fans and through these we will do our utmost to supply information and activities to keep everybody happy.



Kind regards,

Marie

  Sites she refers to include Sonofaplumber.com, Roxette.se, Gessle.com and Gyllenetideronline.com. Additionally, Per said in the Swiss chat the other week that they also support The Daily Roxette (which remains an independent news site).

MELBOURNE - The Swedish postal service honored Roxette by issuing a postage stamp with their image back in 1991. But how many Roxette fans have been similarly honored?

  Of course, the King and Queen of Sweden have appeared on a multitude of Swedish postage stamps, and all the members of the royal family are known to enjoy the music of both Roxette and Gyllene Tider, especially Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria. But there’s another fan, from a country well known for their love of Swedish pop, whose image has appeared on a postage stamp.

  The Daily Roxette has uncovered that Olympic gold medalist Michael Diamond, 33, a target shooter from Australia, listens to Roxette. In fact, he recently mentioned the group to Melbourne’s Daily Telegraph as one of his secret loves (along with gardening) when the paper asked several Australian athletes to share their “secrets.”

  Diamond succeeded in winning the Olympic gold medal for trap shooting both in Atlanta (1996) and Sydney (2000).

NEW YORK (UPDATED) - Roxette's "official" fanclub (ORFC), located in the Netherlands, seems to have come to a full stop. While there have been numerous other times over the years when the fanclub became dormant, only to spring back to life so it seemed to some when there was something new to sell or a series of concerts to attend… this time it appears that – as one of their members put it – "the lights are out and the door has been locked."
Even with the fanclub's history of sporadic activity in mind, many fans are once again expressing concern because there has been no outward communication from the ORFC "team" for quite some time and no news updates on their website since November.
One only needs to listen to the chorus of complaints and comments appearing in The Daily Roxette's SmallTalk section and on the Run to Roxette forum (a site operated in cooperation with TDR) to quickly understand that this lack of communication has been interpreted by many as the fanclub having gone out-of-business.
"We can't say anything about it yet," said Iris van der Staaij, one of ORFC's officers, when contacted by telephone yesterday by TDR. "We're negotiating with others who might want to take on a larger role."
The fanclub announced curtly in November that their "fanshop" was closed. No explanations were given, and apparently, no merchandise has been shipped since. Frustrated, angry and nervous fans have reached out to EMI, d&d Management and this newspaper to investigate what has happened, since they have already paid for their merchandise. For months now, no one has been able to get a response from anyone in charge, even though TDR has learned that some members of the fanclub staff have continued to regularly visit these online forums.
d&d Management sent out a message in response to some fans the other day, saying that they are looking into the matter but that the fanclub staff does not reply to mails, and that they therefore need more time to investigate.
"Unfortunately we are aware of the situation and are desperately trying to reach the people responsible for the fanclub to find out what's going on," the management firm wrote in an email to Sandra Muller of the Netherlands. Sandra is still waiting for Marie Fredriksson's "Kärlekens Guld" box set which she paid for back on September 6th. She says she feels "as if she's been cheated."
Tobias J of Sweden tells TDR "they owe me €20 that I probably never will see again, and I know for a fact that they owe many other fans a lot more. What makes me really upset is that they don't seem to care at all." Tobias ordered a video from the fanclub in May last year and paid for it in advance. He then received a mail saying that the video was no longer available but he would get "store credit" for the amount paid – something he says he really didn't want, but had no say in. Tobias ordered a few singles in September, and after that he has heard not a word from them. "I've mailed them lots of times, and looked for them in every forum I know they use, but nothing. Oh, I got one reply once, saying that they had had mail server problems. But if a mail server is down, the mail bounces," Tobias concludes.
Tobias' and Sandra's cases are just the tip of the iceberg. Many other fans report unfulfilled orders totalling 30, 60 – even 100 Euro.
Iris claims otherwise, saying that she thinks "the people complaining are quite a small group." She does, however, admit that the outstanding orders "have been delayed quite a long time."
"You can assure people that everyone will get what they deserve," she told TDR. A meeting is scheduled next month at the home of Eugène Commandeur, the group's current president, to discuss their future. "The only thing that's clear," Iris states, "is that the outstanding orders must be sent, of course."
Should the ORFC choose to disband, it wouldn't be the first time an "official" Roxette fanclub has done so. Running a fanclub can be a very time consuming process, and many such "clubs" are actually operated as for-profit businesses. Such an "official Roxette fanclub" in the United States folded over a decade ago when Roxette's star faded a bit in the U.S. and the club was no longer a profit center for the company running it. Some fans suspect that for a long time now, the perceived rewards no longer seem to merit much of an effort from the ORFC.
Eugène, according to Iris and Ronald den Ouden (with whom TDR also spoke), is currently on vacation, and was therefore unavailable for comment.
Update Jan 30: After this article was published, Official Roxette Fanclub released a message about the subject on their website.
Update Feb 13: The two weeks that the fanclub staff requested and promised to have news out have passed. However, there's still no news.
Update Feb 19: Three days after our latest update the fanclub posted a new message on their website. While the message doesn't give any new information about the fanclub's situation and future, customers with pending orders are promised all their items will be shipped "next week." This means, in some cases, more than six months of waiting for items ordered and paid for. "I won't believe it until I have my CDs in my hands," says a customer from Germany who prefers to stay anonymous, "I have received the same messages from the fanclub before and in the end they never shipped what I ordered. I hope this time it's for real, though."
Update Mar. 3: Not a single order has been reported as having been delivered yet (either directly to TDR or on our affiliate forum, R2R).
Update Mar. 13: According to a message from Sarah, a fanclub spokesperson on the R2R forum, they discovered today that two large bags of merchandise being sent out to fulfill pending orders have sat dormant at the post office for a week and a half due to "a strange miscommunication between the FC and TPG-post (dutch postcompany) about financial issues." Apparently, there was a lack of funds in their account to pay the postage. Sarah reports this issue is being addressed "as soon as possible."
Additional reporting by TDR News Editors Thomas Evensson and Judith Seuma.

LONDON (UPDATED) - After a long period without such a get-together, a small group of UK Roxette fans are organizing a fan meeting here and they’re hoping to attract a crowd. With low weekend airfares available to London, perhaps this might be the excuse you’ve been looking for to schedule a visit. The working title for the two-day event, scheduled for April 1-2, is “Meet, Greet & Get Drunk!”

  “We’ve set a meeting place and time,” says Alison Marie, one of the event organizers. “This is something that many fans have wanted for a long time and finally we’re trying to have one big party for us all. This will be a great opportunity to meet people and what better time that the 20th Anniversary year of Roxette,” she concludes.

  Plans are still being formulated, but further information is available on Ailsa Plain’s website and Roxette.net, where webmaster Steven Howlett has set up a page, or you can email the event organizers: Alison (ally77) or Paul (pwbbounce). Both of them say they’ll be happy to help!


  Update March 12: An auction will take place during the Fan Meeting “to raise money for Cancer Research UK in respect of Marie Fredriksson and her battle with cancer,” explains organizer Alison. “I was aware that Per once donated some items to a similar auction the German fans had a long time ago and I thought I could repeat the idea!”.


  Marie Dimberg, Roxette’s manager, sent a parcel full of Roxette, Per Gessle and Gyllene Tider items signed by Per Gessle and Roxette, which will be auctioned off during the two-day fan meeting. Among these items are four copies of “Finn 5 fel!” promo CD, two copies of “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” 7” single and various Roxette singles and postcards.


  A reserve price has been put on the items to ensure a good amount for each item “in order to raise the money for charity,” tells Alison. The items not sold during the event will be listed on eBay afterwards “to give Roxette fans all over the world the chance to own something signed and also to raise money for the important charity Cancer Research UK,” explains Alison to The Daily Roxette.


  If you wish to donate any Roxette or related item for the auction please contact Alison.

• UK Fanmeeting 2006
• Roxette.net UK Fanmeeting 2006 (Event pages with further information)

GOUDA - After more than ten years of serving fans, the Roxette fanclub located in Gouda, Holland is shutting down. “Due to many issues, we have decided in an unanimous vote to stop,” they write on their website today. According to the message from the staff, all pending orders have been sent out and more news will be posted on how to sort other financial issues out.

  Apparently, there are plans to form a new “Fanclub” with the endorsement of the current leadership team. They indicate, however, that “if this new fanclub should start, they will NOT be taking over our fanbase,” in their goodbye message.

• Fanclub’s message on Roxette.nl

HALMSTAD - New Gyllene Tider material and Christmas atmosphere - these things attracted a group of Czech fans to travel to a charming Swedish tree-hearted town - Halmstad.

  A lot of people have seen Summer-Halmstad, but also during winter this gorgeous town is turning to a small wonder. We want to approximate you the fascinating time of Christmas. You may enjoy it in the photos.

  And their feelings? One night at Hotel Tylösand, a party at the club Leif’s Lounge, shopping for the new Gyllene Tider DVDs and CDs and fantastic memories are the reasons why they will always travel to Halmstad!

  The fans wish to thank Ralph at Skivhugget, and give a message to a “Swedish guy”: Enjoy Becherovka (it tastes best with tonic.)

• More pictures