Gary Numan Digest Sun, 13 Apr 97 Volume 1 : Issue 321 Today's Topics: Another 'Cars' Cover Channel 5 - Right or Wrong? David Letterman Gary Numan Digest V1 #320 Guitar Tabs Numan on Radio 5 Numan videos Point of View RADIOHEART CD = 40 UKP Randon - the missing four VHS or PAL/NTSC Video Formats (3 msgs) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 14:06:23 PST From: "Ryan Arlin Potter" Subject: Another 'Cars' Cover To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hello Numan fans! Well I found a pretty obscure cover of Cars. It is by a band called Rollerball and the track is on a compilation called "Tigerstripes Forever." Here is all the information that I got off the sleeve of the record for all the completists out there. Tigerstripes Forever # UNCV01 Undercover Records P.O. Box 14561 Portland, OR. 97293 USA Fax #: (503).239.6558 E-Mail: mnkyshine@aol.com Some of the other stuff that I know about the release is that it is a 10" vinyl only release that was limited to 1000 copies (so I heard) to kick of Undercover's first release. All of the bands on the compilation are Northwest bands from the US -- Washington and Oregon (I think). The record is pressed on yellow and black swirled vinyl to look kind of like tiger stripes. Some of the other songs on the album are covers of XTC, Blondie, The Gogos, Thomas Dolby and the almighty DEVO. This is all the information I could get without writing to the company. So happy hunting. If anyone wants some more info (if I can find it) e-mail me and I'll see what I can do. -Ryan Potter rpotter@st1.wosc.osshe.edu P.S. I hope Matthew at Nu-Zone finds this and puts it on the Numan support list. Anything to make the list bigger to show even more support for Numan. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 12:09:25 -0500 From: austinbaggett@ex-or.co.uk (Austin) Subject: Channel 5 - Right or Wrong? To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Digesters, In last digest: >From: "nick" >Subject: opinion unlimited >To: > >Anyway my point is that GN has gone down the Gary glitter path. :) >Where he is always likely to get a little media coverage as long as he does >Cars. The difference between GN and GG is clear to any Numan fan but to > others the line that devides them is not so clear. >Gary likes to be taken serious but any more shows like the White room, >Noels house party or the C5 appearence will damage his image. His image to whom? Exisiting fans? Or 99.99% of the UK population? GN's image to the 99.99% of the UK has long been damaged and riddled with confusion. Should he or shouldn't he have gone on the Channel 5 show last week? GN's argument is that appearing on these TV shows, even if only to mime to Cars, is at least better than appearing on no TV at all and may well generate interest in his new material. I think The White Room appearance was perfectly acceptable - OK not ideal, but given the simple choice of whether or not to appear, YES was the only answer. However, the Channel 5 appearance was absolutely dire. It surpassed the Noels House Party episode by miles. Thankfully, only 20,000 were probably watching, and so perhaps didn't cause too much damage. This question is really just symptomatic of a much larger problem that has been plaguing his career since it all began. That is WHAT SORT OF AUDIENCE IS GN APPEALING TO? In a recent "Digest Asks Gary", I seem to recall that he was asked what sort of market he was aiming at. GN's response was something along the lines of that if it has two legs, and two ears then that was his audience. This is just not true. GN's music is NOT universal in its appeal. Nor is alot of other music. This does not preclude it from being successful. Nor does it stop it selling by the millions. Generally speaking, his music will always be on the fringe compared to the mainstream appeal of say Oasis, Cast et al. In the same way that GN's favorite bands such as Gravity Kills, Sisters of Mercy, and NIN et al will always be on the fringe as well. This leads to the conclusion that if he isn't a popularist entertainer, then appearing on Channel 5 and Noels House Party is going to do him no favours at all. Firstly, because you lose all credability amongst your REAL audience, and secondly you don't GAIN any new audience because the TV audience of these programmes are "old grannies" who are just not going to like, hear, let alone buy any of his new releases. GN has always had a problem of identifying his market. GN's early appeal was that he was a bit different, a bit weird. Dance and I Assassin started to lean towards a more "grown-up" sound, where he could, if pursued, really perhaps break into the "serious music" market. But what happened the next year? GN dressed up as Mad Max and swaggered around with a baseball bat. The small amount of credability that had been building was then blown. How many new fans did he gain in 1983 I wonder? Not many I reckon. By the mid-80s, the gothic movement was in full swing. There had always been a certain degree of interest in GN from some of the "gothic" audience. But instead of leaning towards this market, GN put on a bow tie and started collaborations with probably the two naffest individuals on the whole planet: Leo Sayer and Bill Sharpe. Was GN deliberately on a kamikaze mission to off-load as many of his fans as possible? What new audience was he trying to tap into? Leo Sayer fans? Shakatak fans? I doubt that it worked! What type of audience is GN trying to appeal to now? I've got no idea. Is he hoping to appeal say to the fans of Gravity Kills? I wonder what impression they formed of GN after seeing him on Channel 5? Or is he trying to appeal to Barry Neeve, the car salesmen from Basildon who had a great time in front of the telly last Saturday intermittantly singing along to Cars whilst grinning at the size of Kathy Lloyd's doublewhammers? I doubt whether Barry will be down HMV snapping up a copy of Exile on its first day of release. GN's career has undoubtedly been poorly managed. Its left him stranded. Random is the largest paddle he's been given in years. But first, he needs to have a very clear idea of who his potential record buying market is. Once he recognises this, we may start to see his current meandering media persona take a firm clear direction. Regards to all, Austin London ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 19:39:49 -0800 From: alexander way Subject: David Letterman To: numan@cs.uwp.edu I was wondering about something a friend of mine told me. He said that David Letterman and Paul were discussing the song "Cars" the other night. As it happend Paul and band played the song and David asked him something like, "Whatever happened to that guy?" Paul, "Nothing." Funnily enough, Paul knew about Tubeway Army. "And the name of his band was Tubeway Army." Did anyone see this? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 15:20:34 -0700 From: theartdept@worldnet.att.net (rod) Subject: Gary Numan Digest V1 #320 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Hello. I recently made a post regarding the upcoming Random album. I incorrectly accredited it to the Beggars Banquet page but it is in fact from Joey Lindstrom's WorldWide Web page: http://www.netway.ab.ca/worldwidewebb/ Many apologies. Rod Los Angeles theartdept@worldnet.att.net ------------------------------ Date: 10 Apr 1997 09:59:07 +0200 From: "ODonnell, Hugh KFLA" Subject: Guitar Tabs To: "numan@cs.uwp.edu" (Return requested) (Receipt notification requested) guys/gals could anyone point me in the direction of/ send me *any* guitar tabs for numan's earlier tubeway stuff I love all the *punky* stuff before the Pleasure Album... much appreciated...and kind regards, Hugh ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 05:45:03 EDT From: "Colin Edwards" Subject: Numan on Radio 5 To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Wednesday 9th April, 17.45pm. Numan on Radio Shock!!!!! Whilst driving home from work today, Radio 5 - the main News and Sport National Radio station in the UK had a long feature on Gary as part of it's regular entertainment news section. The feature initially focused on Gary's forthcoming acting debut in Kinsman. He was asked about it, repeated that he found the idea very daunting, but felt that if they wanted someone to play a dark and menacing role he was up to it, and had been having acting lessons in preparation. The 'old' news about Gary being miffed about fans visiting his house was mentioned, the stories regarding fans camping in his garden and cutting the heads off his flowers were discussed, Gary even mentioned the campers using a camping gaz(sic!) stove!!!!!! Gemma was asked about their forthcoming marriage and the fact she is achieving many fans dreams of marrying their hero. She stated that when at school during career guidance she stated that she didn't need a job as she was going to marry Gary Numan. Interspersed with the chat, short extracts of Cars, AFE and We Are So Fragile were played. In summary it was a very positive, if somewhat twee, interview, and just goes to show that Gary is still a known celeb, who is newsworthy and can merit a 2-3 minute piece in a 5 minute feature broadcast during 'drive time'. Colin Edwards, changing Email Id to c.edwards@virgin.net after 25th April. Colin Edwards x248424 NOSS: 8EDWARC@CROVM4 CSS Team AG3 Billing INTERNET: colin_edwards@uk.ibm.com DS2U2 MP109 IBM Hursley EXT PHONE: 01962 818 424 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 12:05:29 -0700 From: theartdept@worldnet.att.net (rod) Subject: Numan videos To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hello. I am assuming you live in USA (or Canada), in which case the one you want is the NTSC version. The PAL version will not play on American tv. I ordered two videos (Shadow Man and Dream Corrosion) from NuWorld and they arrived several weeks later. Both of them work fine. I was thrilled because I have never seen any of them. I also ordered the Babylon 1-7 which is very cool, despite not having much for art work or liner notes. Good luck Rod Los Angeles theartdept@worldnet.att.net PS I tried sending this to your email address but it got returned. So I am posting it to the digest. **************************************************************************** ************* Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 09:46:54 -0400 From: kjz@chrysler.com Subject: Video Formats!?!?! To: Help! I'm looking at ordering videos thru NuWorld and was wondering if someone could enlighten me on PAL/NTSC formats? Are one of these formats compatible with VHS? If not, am I just completely out of luck? - Kenn Zazula ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 02:24:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Shropie@aol.com Subject: Point of View To: numan@cs.uwp.edu To Nick Fox, I understand we all have different points of view and I would also like to share mine. Doesn`t anyone get it?....If `Exile` deserves a bigger record company than Numa to promote it, therefore holding back a release date, then so be it! After all, I`m sure `The Man` didn`t write `Exile` purely for us, or any one person come to think of it. My guess is that he probably also wrote for himself and, for the rest of the world to hear. If `Exile` does make Gary a Rich F****** B******! ( and not a Greedy F****** B******!) then good for him! I don`t feel that Gary owes us anything, just the same as, we don`t owe him anything. Basically, he writes brilliant music and we buy it................................ And if `The Man` wants to act a `certain way`?? on T.V then I believe that`s upto him. Yeah, of course I would like to go out tomorrow and buy `Exile` but in the meantime, it`s not as though we don`t have any other Numan songs to listen to. `Good things come to those who wait` shropie@aol.com (Tania). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 21:02:45 +0200 From: Patxi Ltd Subject: RADIOHEART CD = 40 UKP To: numan@cs.uwp.edu   Im looking for ..... (I Want Originals Only) Radio Heart CD = 40 UKP Skin Mechanic VIDEO VHS PAL = 40 UKP Radio Heart "All Across The Nation" MAXI-CD = 20 UKP Gary Numan "New Anger" MAXI-CD = 20 UKP Other things... Sharpe & Numan CD-MAXIS (20 UKP each) Visage "The Anvil" CD (50 UKP) -- The First GARY NUMAN Web From Spain ===================================== N U M A N M A N I A ===================================== http://www.kender.es/numan patxiltd@kender.es ===================================== CthulhuMansion/NumanMania 1982-97 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 12:23:08 -0500 From: austinbaggett@ex-or.co.uk (Austin) Subject: Randon - the missing four To: numan@cs.uwp.edu (Gary Numan) Digesters, In the last digest the lastest list from Beggars Banquet was posted on acts for Random. But what of Tori Amos, Beck, Pet Shop Boys and NIN? These four have been linked with the project but never so far confirmed. They are also the four LARGEST acts. Without them, Random will be abit weak I feel. With them, it should generate twice as much interest. Anyone know if they're in or out? Regards to all Austin London ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 04:36:24 From: "Joey Lindstrom" Subject: VHS or PAL/NTSC To: "numan@cs.uwp.edu" , VHS is a format that specifies the size of the video cassette, the width of the tape, the size of the heads, etc., and has nothing whatsoever to do with PAL or NTSC. NTSC is the format of TELEVISION SIGNAL that we use here in North America. Every TV set in the land (well, nearly every) is NTSC, which TV insiders refer to as "Never Twice the Same Color" because in reality it's a poor format. It describes horizontal and vertical scan resolution, broadcast frequencies, and the like. To watch a videocassette on an NTSC television, that cassette needs to be formatted for NTSC (and likewise also needs to be a VHS tape to work in your VHS player - but you could also have a Beta or Super-8 player that works with the NTSC format, see what I mean?) Similarly, viewers in Britain and large parts of Europe use the PAL system, which is actually technically superior to NTSC in that it utilizes more vertical and horizontal scan lines and thus results in a higher-quality picture for the viewer. Again, though, you need a PAL VCR to play PAL tapes on your PAL TV. Recently, consumer electronics stores have begun carrying "NTSC/PAL" VCR's in North America. They play your standard NTSC in the usual way but you can also slide a PAL tape in there and it will be able to deal with it. It can understand the different informational layouts (it uses a different tape speed too) and will then TRANSLATE the picture into NTSC output so that you can watch it on your existing television set. I'm not sure if you can record in PAL mode though - I would guess that you couldn't, but ya never know. Hope that clears things up. /--------------------------------------------------------- / Joey Lindstrom numanoid@netway.ab.ca lindstrj@cadvision.com / http://www.netway.ab.ca/worldwidewebb/ / "There's a reason 'Wheel Of Fortune' is on right after 'Jeopardy'. Once / you've been forced to choke down the foul-tasting tequila shot of your / own abject ignorance, it's nice to be able to bite into the refreshing / lime wedge of other people's incredible fucking stupidity." / - Dennis Miller ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 21:33:46 +0000 From: Michael & BethAnn Damrath Subject: Video Formats To: Gary Numan Just a quick reply to Kenn Zazula who asked in Digest #320: >Help! >I'm looking at ordering videos thru NuWorld and was wondering if >someone could enlighten me on PAL/NTSC formats? Are one of these >formats compatible with VHS? If not, am I just completely out of >luck? >- Kenn Zazula Kenn, If you live in North America DO NOT purchase British video tapes. The North American standard video transmission protocol is NTSC which is inherently incompatible with the European PAL format. Don't confuse VHS with PAL or NTSC. VHS is a video TAPE CARTRIDGE format, PAL and VHS are TRANSMISSION PROTOCOL formats. North American video receiving devices are built only to decode NTSC. If you want to buy import VHS tapes, you have to import from another country that uses the NTSC format - like Japan. I have purchased a number of Japanese imported Numan videotapes, "New Man Numan", "Micromusic" and "Berserker" to name a few. Sorry for the technobabble, I get carried away sometimes. Good luck Kenn, Mike Damrath damrat@earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~damrat ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 23:04:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Shropie@aol.com Subject: Video Formats To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Hello Ken I hope I can help you. The PAL format is on British Vcr`s and Tv`s, and so these machines will play British tapes. (I believe Europe uses this format also.) The NTSC format is on American Vcr`s and Tv`s. You can buy a multisystem Vcr and Tv, which will play both formats. But you can`t use the Vcr without the Tv and vica versa. I came from England to live in the U.S. and I am lucky enough to own a multisystem Tv and Vcr, but I must tell you, that they don`t come cheap! I got a really good deal! Your best bet would be to have your GN video`s converted to the NTSC format. I believe that you could probably get this done for about $20.00 a tape. Maybe you could look under `video` in The Yellow Pages. Good Luck! Tania. P.s You could always come over my house and watch your video`s! Then again, if you live in the deepest south, maybe not. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 23:24:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Shropie@aol.com Subject: Video Formats To: numan@cs.uwp.edu Dear Ken, I`m sorry I didn`t answer your question. Both PAL and NTSC formats are compatible with VHS cassette tapes. But you won`t be able to play a PAL cassette tape (a tape sent to you from Nuworld) on your NTSC video recorder, unless you have the tape converted to NTSC. I hope I havn`t confused things. Tania. ------------------------------ End of Gary Numan Digest ******************************