ABBA THIRD MOST SUCCESSFUL IN IRELAND

Just an interesting site I found recently. It shows the Irish Chart history and ABBA are the third most successful group after U2 and The Beatles with 12 number ones.
http://www.irishcharts.ie/facts/most_no1s.htm

ABBA also appear in the list of Christmas Number ones with 'One of US' in 1981-2

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Jack McCarthy, Dublin, Ireland

HEP STARS MEMBER DIES

Hep Stars member Christer Petterson has died at the age of 63.

www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=669634
www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0,2789,879732,00.html

Benny did comment on his death.

"It's a tragedy. He was a bright light," he [Benny] said about his friend.

The rest of the article talks a little about how Christer and Lennart Hegland formed the Hep Stars in 1963. Christer had been in hospital for a while and died of a liver-related illness.


Thanks to ABBAMAILer Paul Carter, London, UK and ABBAMAIL's Grant Whittingham, Sydney, Australia

KRISTINA WEDS!

http://aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0,2789,878755,00.html

Newly wed!

Helen finally got her man.

Songbird Helen Sjöholm got her man at last.

On Sunday she said yes to sound technician David Granditsky, 40, in a ceremony on Djurgården in Stockholm.

Together with BAO Helen has sung about loving the one in "Du är min man". On Sunday she finally got her own man. 200 invited guests were witness to Helen and David Granditsky exchanging rings in restaurant Hasselbacken on Djurgården in Stockholm.

"Exemplary short"
- There were both family and friends and some conference people, said Tommy Körberg who was one of the wedding guests.

How was the ceremony?
- Very simple and exemplary short.

The stars sang
Helen and Tommy sing together in BAO. Because the other members of BAO, with Benny Andersson himself leading the way, were there they took the opportunity to perform a celebratory song.

The party was at the Telegraf restaurant and was charactarised by several spontaneous performances. Among others Tommy Körberg and Anders Ekborg, who played Karl Oskar in "Kristina från Duvemåla" got up and sang.

Martin Eklund / Translation by Liesbeth Lobato

Thanks to ABBAMAILers Paul Carter, London, UK and Liesbeth Lobato, San Diego, USA

QUOTES FROM NEW BOOK

A Couple of quotes I'd thought i'd share with you from the new ABBA book Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You...


The first is Benny on the Australian tour.

Benny: That tour was madness. Here was this country on the
other side of the planet with a Go West, Frontier spirit,
wonderful - and what's great is that it is mixed with some
good old English humour. And it was so full of ABBA
merchandising ABBA pillows, ABBA dolls, ABBA everything.
So much in the papers and on TV, that when we finally arrived
there it was overkill. I think that for a couple of years
afterwards we went stone cold there. We had been over-exposed.
But luckily the fan base came back. The tour itself was an
extraordinary, wonderful experience. I wish that everyone could
experience something like that once in there life.

The Second is Bjorn on Under Attack.

Bjorn: The sound on the vocals of 'Under Attack' is very much
of 1980's, that Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star' style. But
the melody of the chorus is much more 1960's even 1950's. And
the counter-melody is very effective. I think it's a really good
recording and had it been released a year earlier it would have
been a number one,I'm sure. But now, the 1980's had started
and ABBA was uncool,you know. ABBA was really uncool in
the 1980's. But the title of song isn't about that. I wasn't feeling
under attack personally. The title was just a good hook and
dictated the rest of the lyric. I think it was very much the craftsman
at work. Just doing my job.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Mark Hannam, Harbord, Australia

BBC RADIO 2 MUSIC CLUB TOP 100 ALBUMS

ABBA has four entries in the BBC's new Radio 2 Music Club Top 100 Albums of All-Time poll. As well as the obvious entry, Arrival, The Album, Voulez-Vous and Super Trouper all made the cut. The positions (in ascending order).

97. The Album (joint 97th with Come On Over by Shania Twain)
93. Voulez-Vous
73. Super Trouper (joint 73rd with Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones)
51. Arrival

The top ten were the usual suspects (yawn):
10. The Beatles (The White Album) - Beatles
9. A Night At The Opera - Queen
8. Abbey Road - Beatles
7. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel
6. Revolver - Beatles
5. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
4. Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
3. The Joshua Tree - U2
2. Thriller - Michael Jackson
1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Beatles

The full chart can be obtained from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/musicclub/album_chart_top_100.shtml

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Ken Griffin, Dublin, Ireland

FRIDA CLIP ON GERMAN SITE

As you may know Frida has appeared on German tv in a special about the Swedish royal family. Here is the link to an online clip we have loaded onto our website abbanews.de
Maybe you want to use it for your homepage ...

http://www.abbanews.de/news-archiv/frida-royal.wmv

Regards from Manu
ABBA Remember

FRIDA ON GERMAN TV

Originally we reported...

Frida was at King Carl Gustaf's birthday reception on Apri 29. A German TV station was there to make a report about Queen Silvia (who is German), and as a part of the report they also did an interview with Frida, which will be on German TV on August 22, 8:15pm CET, on ZDF.

Keep in mind, it's a 45 minutes show about Silvia, and Frida is only one of numerous
persons that were interviewed. But it will be interesting to see anyway.

===============

Erik Menkens reports...

It was on TV this week. Three very short segments from a new interview with Frida.
She remembers how Benny came home with the song Dancing Queen, and she was crying because it was such a beautiful song. She thought it was perfect for the King's wedding, and it was a big surprise for the King and Silvia.

They did not mention that Frida and Silvia are friends or that Frida's husband was a friend of the King.

They used Voulez-Vous though during the scenes from the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich (Germany) where Carl Gustaf and Silvia met.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Erik Menkens, Wangerland, Germany

MAMMA MIA! TO FINISH IN OSAKA

The Japanese language production of Mamma Mia! ends it's run in Osaka, Japan on 12th February 2007. There is no news about whether it will open anywhere else in Japan.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer George Bourdaniotis, Kobe, Japan

SNEAK PEEK AT NEW ABBA BOOK

I just this morning got my hands on the brand new ABBA book.

To me, "Mamma Mia! How can I resist you?" is without doubt one of the best books about ABBA.

It's broken up into two sections. ABBA is about 2/3 of the book and Mamma Mia! the remaining third. Their are some new pictures I haven't seen before and are just stunning.

As far as I know it comes out in the UK mid September and in Australia on the 12th of October. The price in Australia is $59.95 and the ISBN is 9780297844211. For those in Australia the publisher is Allen & Unwin. And their web site is www.allenandunwin.com

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Mark Hannam, Sydney, Australia

ABBA ON THE EMMYS

Noticed while watching the Emmy Awards earlier this week...

During a tribute to Dick Clark, they showed him holding up the ABBA/ABBA album cover and introducing them.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Fiona Metcalfe, kiama Downs, Australia

GEORGE LIKES ABBA

On iTunes (Australia) that George Michael has a 'Celebrity Playlist'.

At No 6 is ABBA 'The Day Before You Came' and George says "Why don't people know this song".

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Richard Simcock, Sydney, Australia

DANCING QUEEN 'ON THE CHARTS' AGAIN

To be exact, it's in the UK downloads chart - at number 184.....!

Looking at the top 200 UK downloads chart every week is an interesting experience. Very curious as to why this particular track, out of all ABBA's material, is there at the moment, apart from the fact that is one of their best and well-known songs. And I wonder exactly how many downloads are needed to get to number 184 ??

And it was at number 185 last week - so good to see ABBA going up the charts
again LOL !!

The web-site is found at http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/c/download_charts.html. You may get an error message saying 'page not found', but the link is there, under 'charts'.....

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Gary Collins, Chelmsford, UK

ANDERS EKBORG CD

Ice's site reports that Anders Ekborg's album is out on 11 October 2006 and will be called "Äkta vara". The Björn and Benny track is called "Han som vunnit allt" (He who has won everything).

The CD will be accompanied by a DVD with a video for every song.

To see the full tracklist, check:
http://www.icethesite.com/benny.htm

Thanks to ABBAMAIL's Grant Whittingham, Sydney, Australia

MAMMA MIA! STORIES

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101661.html

Carmello to Return to Mamma Mia! in September; Mastro and McDonald Join Cast in October

By Andrew Gans

Carolee Carmello, who received a Tony nomination last season for her performance in Lestat, will return to the New York company of Mamma Mia! in September, just a few weeks before the hit ABBA musical celebrates its fifth anniversary on Broadway.

Playbill.com has learned that Carmello will begin her second stint as Donna Sheridan on Sept. 27 when she joins Olga Merediz as Rosie and Judy McLane as Tanya.

The international hit musical, which turns five on Oct. 18, will also welcome two new co-stars Oct. 25 when Pearce Bunting and Michael Mastro assume the roles of, respectively, Bill Austin and Harry Bright. (David McDonald recently joined the cast as the third man in Donna¹s life, Sam Carmichael).

Mamma Mia! also features Carey Anderson (Sophie Sheridan), Andy Kelso (Sky), Ben Gettinger (Pepper), Samantha Eggers (Lisa), Veronica J. Kuehn (Ali) and Raymond J. Lee (Eddie).

Carolee Carmello received a Tony nomination for her work in Lestat and a Drama Desk Award and a Tony nomination for her performance in Lincoln Center¹s Parade. She has also starred on Broadway in Mamma Mia!; Urinetown; Kiss Me, Kate; The Scarlet Pimpernel; 1776; City of Angels; and Falsettos. Carmello received an Obie Award for her work in the Off-Broadway musical Hello Again, and her other Off Broadway credits include Elegies, A Class Act, john and jen, Das Barbecü, I Can Get It for You Wholesale and The Vagina Monologues.

Pearce Bunting played Bill Austin in the national tour of Mamma Mia! for two years. His other theatrical credits include regional productions of Road, Endgame, Killer Joe, Macbeth, All in the Timing and Psycho Drama.

Michael Mastro has been seen on Broadway in Twelve Angry Men, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Judgment at Nuremberg, Side Man, Barrymore and Love! Valour! Compassion.

David McDonald, who just completed his seventh year on ³All My Children² as Barney the Bartender, was recently seen in Zhivago The Musical at the La Jolla Playhouse. His Broadway credits include Les Misérables and Side Show.

Mamma Mia! employs the hit songs of famed pop group ABBA to tell the story of Sophie Sheridan, a young girl who hopes to discover the identity of her father. On the eve of her wedding, she brings three men from her mother Donna's past back to the Greek island they visited over two decades ago.

Mamma Mia! features music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, a book by Catherine Johnson, direction by Phyllida Lloyd and choreography by Anthony Van Laast. The musical plays the Winter Garden Theatre, which is located in New York City at 1634 Broadway.

==========


http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/stage/bal-ae.spotlight27aug27,0,43
02708.story?track=rss

Lately, Broadway's sweet to this Swede
Success of 'Mamma Mia!' prods former ABBA musician/songwriter to try for another stage hit
By J. Wynn Rousuck
Sun Theater Critic

"When we split up in 1982, I thought this was it. I thought you would hear an ABBA song played every here and there and now and then, but not any more than that."

How wrong Bjorn Ulvaeus was. Now 61 and speaking from his home outside Stockholm, the former guitarist for the Swedish pop group could never have guessed that nearly a quarter-century after the group disbanded, ABBA's music would continue to be heard live around the world nightly.

And Ulvaeus doesn't even have to pick up a guitar. That's because the music is the score of Mamma Mia!, the international hit musical that pairs a romantic plot - about a bride-to-be's attempt to identify her father - with 22 of ABBA's greatest hits, from "Super Trouper" to "Dancing Queen."

Since opening in London in 1999, Mamma Mia! has been seen by more than 27 million people worldwide and taken in more than $1.6 billion at the box office. To borrow the title of another ABBA song, "Money, Money, Money," indeed. There are currently 11 productions on stages from Osaka, Japan, to Las Vegas. Beginning Tuesday, these will include Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre, where the show will play a two-week return engagement.

On Oct. 18, Mamma Mia! will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Broadway. Ulvaeus hopes to be there.

Ulvaeus was in New York this year for another project, as well. In March, he and his ABBA songwriting partner, Benny Andersson, participated in a developmental workshop of their musical, Kristina. Based on the Swedish epic novel The Emigrants, by Wilhelm Moberg, the musical is an account of 19th-century Swedish emigrants to America. It ran for three years in Sweden but hasn't been produced anywhere else.

Ulvaeus is eager to see Kristina staged in this country and, particularly, on Broadway. "It's an American saga really, so America is the obvious choice to start the English version," he says.

That's not his only American project. Early next year, Ulvaeus expects pre-production to begin on the movie version of Mamma Mia!, which will be produced by Tom Hanks' company, Playtone (best known for My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Phyllida Lloyd, director of the stage show, will also direct the film.

Gauging reactions

The seeds for Mamma Mia! were planted in the 1980s when British producer Judy Craymer - who had worked with Ulvaeus and Andersson on their first musical, Chess - suggested creating something new from the ABBA catalogue. Ulvaeus was skeptical, Andersson even more so.

Then Ulvaeus took his two younger daughters to a revival of Grease in London. "Grease has a lot of hit songs, it's very uplifting and romantic, and it's a thing for the whole family," he realized. "I thought maybe this is what it could be."

But when Mamma Mia! premiered in London, he worried about audience reaction. Specifically, he was afraid theatergoers would expect the show to be a docu-musical about ABBA. He did numerous interviews to counteract this preconception, but sitting in the theater on opening night, he remembers, "I sort of knew half the audience anyway would think it was the story of ABBA.

They were confused the first 10 minutes, very confused. ... Then suddenly I could see smiles, [people] saying, 'Oh, this is what it was all about.'"

The show was scheduled to open in New York on Oct. 18, 2001, and was in rehearsals on Sept. 11. After the terror attacks, Ulvaeus discussed canceling or at least postponing the opening with producer Craymer. "She talked to the people in New York," he recalls, "and they said, 'No, please don't do that. The best you can do for New York at that time is to continue.'"

The advice proved valid. Referring to the show's subsequent success, he theorizes, "My guess is that the timing was right. The big musical hits before that had been more the somber, Lloyd Webber kind and Les Miserables and all of that, and I think America, and England, too, was ready for something funny and uplifting. Plus the catalogue obviously is something that everybody knows."

No ABBA reunion

If anything, the show has probably caused a resurgence of interest in ABBA. Yet even before the Broadway opening, an American and European consortium offered the disbanded band $1 billion to regroup and tour. The group considered the offer but ultimately turned it down.

"You don't just say no to something like that because you can do so much good for that kind of money," Ulvaeus explains. "But in the end, we all said no. I don't know why the others said no, but for me it was going to be 100 concerts around the world and television and sponsoring and so much that I thought, it's going to kill me or, if it doesn't kill me, that year is going to take 10 years out of my life. Is it worth it? I came to the conclusion, no, it's not."

He had another concern as well. Audiences, he feared, would expect to see them as they were, not as they had become. What ABBA was, in its 1970s heyday, was a band made up of two married couples. The group's name was formed from the initials of the members' first names - Anni-Frid Lyngstad and her husband, Benny Andersson, and Bjorn Ulvaeus and his wife, Agnetha Faltskog.

Both couples subsequently divorced, but they are still in touch. Ulvaeus and Andersson continue to work together. Anni-Frid - who is known as Frida - "comes to visit every now and then," Ulvaeus says. And he and his ex-wife have a granddaughter, and "we get together on her birthdays."

Although the band won't be reuniting, there is one revival Ulvaeus hopes will happen. Chess - the musical he and Andersson co-wrote with lyricist Tim Rice - received withering reviews in New York in 1988 and closed after only two months.

However, it has done well elsewhere. "It's playing in various versions as we speak," Ulvaeus says of the musical, about a Cold War-era tournament that pits an American against a Soviet.

And he adds, "Several people want to revive it [on Broadway]. ...
Ultimately, to have that revenge in New York - that would be nice."

Thanks to ABBAMAIL site regular John Turner, Illinois, USA

NOW WE'RE STOPPING ALL ABBA RELEASES...NO, SERIOUSLY!!!

Universal Music has sent a bulk-email to fans who have written to them protesting against their threats against ABBAMAIL. In the email they basically say if they didn't take action against us there would be no more ABBA releases!!!!

What will they be accusing ABBAMAIL of next? Bringing about the end of civilisation as we know it? We know that ABBAMAIL has caused more money to filter into the pockets of Universal Music than any other fan site or publication.

This is what the bulk email reply said:

"Dear Andrew,

Thank you for your email. Universal Music takes any breach of copyright of any of our artists material very seriously. We have no wish to close down ABBAMAIL, we have just requested them to remove the copyright infringing material that's being sold in the shop.

Thanks for your devotion to ABBA, and please don't be put off by us carrying out our duty to defend the copyright and the rights of the artists themselves, in this case ABBA. Without this defence it would not be possible for any future new releases of ABBA material.

Best regards,

Universal Music"

====================

Apart from the fact that the alleged copyright infringing material was removed from ABBAMAIL.com weeks ago, the rest of this email is also rubbish.

Read the following post from Universal's own ABBA - The Site forum about the true effect ABBAMAIL has had on ABBA and related sales...

====================

"Re: ABBAMAIL?

From owenv
Date and time: 2006-08-11 00:07:52
I`m not an ABBAMailer, and I`ve never bought any of the disputed CDs or DVDs from the ABBAMail shop, but I frequently check their News and New Release sections for information on upcoming releases. The ins and outs of the legal issues are beyond me, but what I do find strange is that ABBAMail have been selling these items for nine
years, and only now is action being taken against them. This doesn`t make sense: surely if this a breach of copyright now, it was a breach of copyright nine years ago. So, something about the timing of this is not right, and it does seem as if there are a lot of personal issues at play here, on both sides.

To me, attempting to bankrupt ABBAMail and close it down is a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Universal, whether it has a right to protect its own copyright or not, may be doing itself more harm than good, by alienating ABBA fans who, like me, use the site as a valuable source of information.

Rather than using ABBAMail to buy illegal items, I primarily use it to find out about the latest official releases and where to buy them legally. Some of the Universal releases I`ve purchased in the last two years or so as a direct result of finding out about them at ABBAMail are:-

Agnetha- De Forsta Aren 6CD boxset
Frida- 4CDs/1DVD boxset
ABBA- The Complete Studio Recordings boxset
Agnetha & Frida- the 2005 remastered CDs
ABBA- Chronicles 3CD boxset
ABBA- Rock On Breakout Years CD
Benny & Bjorn- Lycka CD
ABBA- Greatest Hits re-issue CD
ABBA- Exitos Eternos CD
ABBA- La Nostra Storia CD
Todo ABBA- Sus Grandes Exitos CD/DVD
ABBA- The Movie DVD
ABBA- Take A Chance On Me CD
ABBA- 18 Hits CDs

That`s a fair contribution to the 2 million or so records that ABBA and its former members are still reputed to sell each year, and Universal indirectly has ABBAMail to thank for that. If I`m representative of even a small percentage of ABBA fans that purchase Universal releases legitimately, then I can only think that closing down ABBAMail would actually be detrimental to the record company`s interests, rather than the reverse.

However, this is just my opinion, and I concede that I don`t have a clear understanding of the legal issues. It just seems to me that this controversy is not simply about protecting copyright: if it was, something would have been done about it long before now.

Cheers, Owen."

===================

Universal's action against ABBAMAIL has NOT STOPPED - it still continues. They are making more demands from us and then are reserving their rights to take even more legal action against us further down the track.

If you get an email like this from Universal, our suggestion is that you write back to them and ask them why they are continuing to terrorise ABBAMAIL long after the material they requested to be removed from the website was actually removed?

The truth is out there.....but Universal Music obviously isn't the place to find it.

Graeme Read / Grant Whittingham
ABBAMAIL Administration

http://universalgreed.com

ABBA THE CLOTHES?

I recevied a British ABBA The Movie Theatre campaign booklet featuring a summary about the movie and listing all the promotional stuff theaters could order for display. One of the items listed is "high fashion leisure wear" with two tops that have a little ABBA logo on them.

Has anyone ever seen these fahionable pieces? You would think they would have shown up on eBay by now lol!

Here is the scan from the booklet:
http://abbathesingles.com/ABBAclothes.jpg

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Pepe Melton, California, USA

OUR MURIEL SINGS!

I know there are quite a few Toni Collette fans amongst ABBA fans and she does have an ABBA connection through Muriel. She is certainly one of my favourite actors.

Toni is putting her acting on hold to pursue her dream of being a singer. She has written and recorded an album due for release soon. Graeme and I saw the clip for the first single "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" on the weekend and it is really beautiful. It certainly stands out from the rest of the stuff being released at the moment.

Either Toni herself or her record company have posted the clip on Youtube. It's the first "official" clip I've seen on Youtube. You can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjx9BfneXF8

I love the song and I love Toni's voice so I recommend checking it out. The single is released here in Australia on 2 September but I'm not sure about the album yet, apart from it also being called "Beautiful Awkward Pictures".

Here are a couple of articles about Toni's album.

http://www.imcmusic.net/artists/toni.asp
http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/movies-to-music/2006/07/30/1154198003633.html
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20183125-5006011,00.html

Toni also has a couple of movies that are imminent. "Little Miss Sunshine" (which is getting great reviews) and "The Night Listener" (based on the wonderful but confronting novel by Armistead Maupin).

Thanks to ABBAMAIL's Grant Whittingham, Sydney, Australia

FRIDA BORN TO LIVE NEWS

Bonnie reviewed this rather bizarre play based on Frida's life last month. Very loosely based, in fact. If you can believe a bald Frida being frozen in 1976 and reawakening in 2006. It sounds too twisted for me.

It is in Dutch and has finished its main run. But there is to be a one-off performance on 2 September, next Saturday. At the Festival de Beschaving in Utrecht. Check the website at www.debeschaving.nl for more details.

I was sent some English information about the show which is reproduced at the bottom of this email. The English isn't very good but I don't have time to fix it all up.


-------------------

Annette Hildebrand plays Born to live,
a show inspired by the life of Frida Lyngstad

Amsterdam, May 2006

"Only the strongest and the best survive. I'm not sure that I'm amongst those who will survive." Frida Lyngstad in an interview about her career

On Friday 7 July the premier of Born to Live of Enterart/Annette Hildebrand will take place in the Vasim in Nijmegen, Holland. This music theatre performance has been inspired by the life of Frida Lyngstad, the 'dark singer' of ABBA. Its striking biography (child from a lebensbornproject - a reproduction programme of the Nazi's -
then a world-famous singer and meanwhile a princess) offers sufficient handles for a particular show. Annette Hildebrand and writer Bas Beerendonk places the history of Frida in the future and speculates about a re-entry of Frida as famous singer, after she has been frozen for thirty years. From her dressing room Frida reports her feelings, her wishes and her reality. Robert van der Toll wrote the music for this show, which is carried out by himself.

Born to live you can see from 6 till 16 July at the Over het IJ Festival in Amsterdam. The festivalpremier will take place on Friday 7 July at 22.00.

Frida climbed the ladder herselves of scum to one of the most admired and rich women of the world. But success does not last eternal and eventually she disappears from the projectors. But she returns, as a princess.

Frida represent as no other our era - the era of transition. The technical developments go this fast, we can't keep up with them. Nobody knows what kind of impact they have on our life. What's today state of art, will be retrived tomorrow. The future is uncertain, binding ideologies are not there, prosperity only does not make us happy. With our spirit still in the twentieth century (perhaps still in the nineteenth), we don't know what the 21th will bring.

The show Born to Live

On the age of thirtyfive (our) Frida had a conversation with her producer about the piteous sale figures of her plates. The producer, who has a prophetical feeling of style, tells her that she doesn't fit in the time era, that she's ahead her time, and he cannot sell her music to the street toes at that moment.

In thirty years, he predicts, she will beat in as a bomb. He doens't see her age of sixty-five as a problem. He recommends talking to the transhumanistic doctor Heinrich, whicht results in the congelation of Frida for thirty years.

During the show we see the slow decay of Frida after her de-icing. She has started this cryonic project with enthusiasm and the fixed belief in technical progress. Like always the survivor, she believes that she can overcome death. Her life has started in a project, why wouldn't she further forming this life as a project?

Music is brought as a rattan - an escape from the real situation - or spectacularly as a dreamed popconcert, or as a call of desperation, intimately and only for Frida herself. Robert van der Tol use a piano and electronic equipment for sound effects and samples. He not only serves as Sprechhund for Frida. Sometimes her imagination and illusions go this far that he takes the place of the character who populate her life and dreams. He is co-vendor in her decay, which leads to the notion that every human being is replaceable, sometimes, however, by its own clone.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Grant Whittingham, Sydney, Australia

SPECIAL EDITION MAMMA MIA!

From Playbill.com:

===============
Mamma Mia! to Release Special Edition CD/DVD to Mark Fifth Anniversary By Robert Simonson

The celebration Mamma Mia!'s fifth anniversary on Broadway, Decca Broadway will release a a special edition CD complete with bonus DVD on Oct. 17.

The CD/DVD package will include music from the original cast album as well as three finale bonus audio tracks released in the U.S. for the first time. These include "Mamma Mia," "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo." Also featured is a deluxe booklet featuring cast photos and a gallery of “Donna Sheridans” from around the world.

The special edition DVD will feature: a behind the scenes documentary telling the story of Mamma Mia!, hosted by original Broadway cast members Joe Machota and Tina Maddigan, who originated the roles of Sky and Sophie; Broadway and West End opening night footage; interviews with producer Judy Craymer, director Phyllida Lloyd, librettist Catherine Johnson and original ABBA band members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus; ABBA concert clips and performance footage of different productions from around the world (in English, German, Dutch, Korean, Spanish and Flemish); and video clips of the West End cast performing “Money, Money, Money” and “Dancing Queen.”

The fifth anniversary will also be marked by a special performance and celebration at the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre on Oct. 18 at 7PM.

===============

See http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101637.html
Similar story at http://www.theatermania.com/content/news.cfm/story/8893
And at http://broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=11752

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Robert Verbeek, Duiven, The Netherlands

MURIEL ON RADIO

Toni Collette was a guest on the radio station I work for this week. There's some mention of Muriel on the interview, but she talks mostly about her music. You can download the interview in mp3

http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200608/r102621_314295.mp3

The entire interview is 44 mins long with Toni's part starting at about 33:20. Her mention of "Muriel" & ABBA runs for almost a minute & starts around 39:55.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer James O'Brien, Sydney, Australia and Fred King, Washington, USA

CHARTS

Still the same two, still in the top 20. Week of 18-25 August 2006.

SWEDEN: Benny Andersson's Orkester - Pa Turne - up 1 to #19
AUSTRALIA: ABBA - The Definitive Collection - down 1 to #9

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Dean Scapolo, Wellington, New Zealand

ARRIVAL 30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION PICS

Here are shots of the 30th Anniversary Edition of ARRIVAL to be released on October 9.

Click on the image above to see a bigger version.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Trent Nickson, Dublin, Ireland

JOAN CRAWFORD VS ABBA

Check Youtube for this hilarious send up of "Mommie Dearest" versus "Mamma Mia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MmoJ5Vuf0E

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Jeroen Schol,Schagen The Netherlands

YAHOO MUSIC CARRIES UNIVERSAL THREAT AGAINST ABBAMAIL STORY

The story about Universal Music Sweden's legal threats against ABBAMAIL has also hit the Australian Yahoo Music site (posted August 18th) with the link below:

http://au.launch.yahoo.com/060817/10/uhqb.html

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Paul Campbell, Edinburgh UK

FLORENCE TO RELEASE NEW SINGLE

There is to be a single release of radio of the track "Give Me The Part" from Florence's album. It is billed as a "radio remix".

Florence, as you may know, is one of Benny's most recent production "projects". Their website is at: www.florencelove.com

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Paul Carter, London, UK

FRIDA AT CHARITY EVENT - MORE DETAILS

There's a website for the charity event with Deep Purple/Led Zeppelin that Frida is attending. It has all the details : www.thesunflowerjam.com

By the way, if anyone was thinking of splashing out £250 for a ticket, then you'll need to have nine other people to go as they are currently only selling tables of ten people at £2500. Apparently they might sell them in lesser numbers closer to the time...

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Paul Carter, London, UK

FRIDA AT CHARITY EVENT

Deep Led Purple Zeppelin

Robert Plant will perform together with Ian Pace and Jon Lord! The singer of Led Zeppelin works together with the Deep Purple drummer and the Deep purple keyboard player for a charity.

They wil play in Porchester Hall, London, on 14 september in a one-off benefit-concert for cancer-patients. The evening promises to be 'An Evening of Rock 'n Roll'; Paul Weller will perform as well and ABBA's Frida will be in the audience!
=============

This is the translation of the article in Dutch at
http://www.rebecca.nl/index.php?page=rockreportview&id=1456

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Robert Verbeek, Duiven, The Netherlands

SWEDISH MEDIA OPINION PIECE ON UNIVERSAL ACTION

http://www.dagensmedia.se/mallar/dagensmedia_mall.asp?version=79063

Swedish media website dagensmedia has published an editorial piece about Universal's legal threats against ABBAMAIL. The piece is written by Kjell Häglund and was published on August 13.

==============

ATTACK TURNS ABBA FANS AGAINST UNIVERSAL

They who say that the record companies are hunting people who download out of pure greed don't know what they are talking about. The records companies are like the dehydrated rats screaming for fluid at Hötorget at night; like the bums who no longer have the strength to ask nicely for charity from people but stumble around high in the subway wagons, scaring the normal people.

The record companies have stopped thinking, they are zombies acting on survival instinct.

That's why Swedish Universal has, during holiday season, attacked the legendary Australian ABBA-fan site ABBAMAIL.com like a crazy swarm of bees. Although the site is run by the world's greatest ABBA-idealists, Graeme Read and Grant Wittinham, who, exactly 30 years ago, started the first official Australian ABBA-fan club and whose life deeds has earned more money for ABBA than any of the victims of hunger who are located at Universal's office in Stockholm today.

Despite the fast that this site has given ABBA's official record sale more publicity than any other media in the world, and despite the fast that ABBA's record company has on a number of occasions used Graeme and Grant's resources for free.

ABBAMAIL's crime is that they have shared home duplicated recordings that fans for many years have tried to get Universal to release - for example bad qualities of VHS-recordings of old TV-appearances. When the company for a long time has lacked interest the recordings have become bootlegs. Which has made the new fresh MD Mårten Aglander, who so far has made a name for himself selling tasteless ABBA-mobile ring tones, to act like an anti-pirate's General Custer hungry for revenge.

The plan seems to be to force ABBAMAIL - these unrefined savages - to turn in their records and then sue them (or, feared by some nervous middle aged ABBA-fanatics who has bought some video from ABBAMAIL, start suing private persons).

Universal are probably planning on releasing the material themselves, most likely the recordings from BBC. But then, of course, in edited form and with a professional picture and sound quality that would make every single ABBA-bootleg buyer to cough up whatever Universal would charge. Material they would have benefited from releasing in co-operation and goodwill.

Instead, General Aglander starts a primitive war against ABBA's most passionate fans; thousands of people who have spent their lives worshipping the Swedish pop group, buying everything available from Universal/Polar when it comes to releases and merchandise, including latter years more and more cynical compilations and mobile ring tones. People who get goose bumps when they see the old Polar logotype that Aglander has made his shield and weapon.

The ironic thing being that every time a record company goes to frontal attack against their biggest customers it is this action itself that inflicts most harm. Big parts of the ABBAMAIL Community have, for the first time, turned against Universal (who "drags ABBA's name through the mud") and said that they will never again buy a product of theirs.

But try arguing with the rats at Hötorget. Try to get the stumbling subway-beggar to buy fruit instead of drinking himself to death for the money you give him.

A couple of years ago I knew a dozen record company employees. Today I know only one (who works with mobile ring tones). The rest have been fired or escaped to other trades. I've seen some being turned into paranoid nervous wrecks, suddenly blind for the positive sides of spin-off effects, demanding every downloader's head on a plate.

Today's record companies are afraid of dying. They believe they are surrounded by some sorts of wild indians. That's why ABBAMAIL.com must die.

Article by Kjell Höglund,

Translated by ABBAMAILer Gustav Sandberg, Stockholm, Sweden
Thanks to ABBAMAILer Robert Verbeek, Duiven, The Netherlands

SOFIE MEDIA KIT

I've just received a media kit for the forthcoming release in Australia of Anne Sofie von Otter's CD, "I Let The Music Speak".

The booklet contains the CD as well as a DVD which includes..
* electronic press-kit 4.57 (duration)
* music clips 5.39 (duration)
* statements 7.20 (duration)

Plus, some nice pics and stuff.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer James O'Brien, Sydney, Australia

ABBA SONGS GO INDIAN

An Indian newspaper, in reporting about the various Mamma Mia! incarnations, noted that some ABBA songs have shown up in Indian films under different titles.

Excerpt:
ABBA’s hit closer home too. The song ‘Milgaya Hum Ko Sathi’ from the film ‘Hum Kisi Se Kam Nahin’ was from ABBA’s ‘Mama Mia’ and ‘Kaisa Tera Pyar’ from the film ‘Love Story’ was ABBA’s ‘I Have A Dream’. ‘Mil Jaye Khazana’ by Shaan and Kay Kay from the movie ‘Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar’ is a shameless replica of the ABBA hit ‘Nina Pretty Ballerina’.

Link:
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1046519

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Ron Miskoff, Edison NJ, USA

HELEN GETS MARRIED

Helen Sjöholm (Kristina) is getting married.
http://aftonbladet.se/vss/telegram/0,1082,67764928_640__,00.html

Helen Sjöholm's big church wedding

Helen Sjöholm's and Benny Anderssons single "Du är min man" has been in the Svensktoppen for 109 weeks.

Now Sjöholm, 36, has finally really found her man. On August 26 she will marry sound technician David Granditsky, 40, in the Enskede church.

- It will be a real wedding, a source tells Aftonbladet. Sjöholm has acknowledged the wedding, but she won't talk about it.

- It is very private, she says.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Liesbeth Lobato, San Diego, USA

MAMMA MIA! FOR SWEDISH CEO?

http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0601/presswatch.html


ABBA invitation could lead to chiefs' Waterloo -
The Financial Times says that the CEO of TeliaSonera , the Swedish telecoms company, is to be charged with bribery after inviting clients to see the musical Mamma Mia!, which features the music of ABBA, the 1970s Swedish pop group.

Anders Igel will be charged alongside Marie Ehrling, the head of the company's operations in Sweden, after prosecutors decided that listening to ABBA songs would have constituted 'an unwarrantable reward for the recipients in the official discharge of their duties'.

The clients had been invited to a product demonstration in conjunction with a performance of the musical. However, the event was cancelled after it emerged prosecutors had initiated an investigation.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Jack McCarthy, Dublin, Ireland

FRIDA ON TV

Well, we know she was on King Carl Gustaf's birthday reception on Apri 29. A German TV station was there to make a report about Queen Silvia (who is German), and as a part of the report they also did an interview with Frida, which will be on German TV on August 22, 8:15pm CET, on ZDF.

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/einzelsendung/25/0,1970,2753273,00.html

Keep in mind, it's a 45 minutes show about Silvia, and Frida is only one of numerous persons that were interviewed. But it will be interesting to see anyway.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Erik Menkens, Wangerland, Germany

ABBA IN RECORD COLLECTOR MAGAZINE

ABBA mentions in this month's UK Record Collector magazine.

Firstly, in the News section, there's a nice picture of the group and yet another reference to the Arrival Deluxe Edition.

On to reviews, Lycka got four stars in a positively glowing review. The review compared it to the output of Bee Gees during the same time period and said that noone should be put off by the fact it was in Swedish because the songs were so well crafted.

Finally, ABBA turned up again in eBay watch, which commented on the sale of an ABBA collection for GBP4000 on eBay recently. There were some nice pictures of someABBAa releases I haven't seen before illustrating the piece.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Ken Griffin, Dublin, Ireland

10 YEARS AGO

Ten years ago - in August, September and October 1996 we had releases from all four ABBA members in some form.

Frida - Djupa Andetag was released

Björn & Benny - Kristina on CD

Agnetha - As I Am book and the My Love, My Life compilation.

Hard to believe all of this was ten years ago.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Sara Russell, Sandhurst, United Kingdom

REPORT: JACOB'S STEGE REBROADCAST

I just recently saw the rebroadcast of the Jacob's Stege show from 1987 that prominently featured, among others, Benny and Orsa Spelmän and Lena Philipsson.

It was great to see all the guys in the current BAO that were also in Orsa Spelmän, though of course all much younger. And they perform quite a few songs on the show, maybe 4-5 all together.

Lena was also fun to see, thought the two songs she sang ("Tiger, Tiger" and "I'm a Fool") seem kind of silly by today's standards. I'm sure she herself cringes when she sees these old videos. LOL

Karin Glenmark and Tommy Körberg also appear, singing a duet accompanied by Benny on the piano.

But to me the highlight was that the show included the video of the making of "Klinga mina Klocker", that clip where all the ladies introduce themselves as they walk into the studio to record the song. I've seen it before, but never in perfect video quality!

It's a veritable "who's who" of Swedish female stars at the time that made up the choir Benny used.

Frida herself was a part of it, along with Lena Philipsson, Monica and Ingela Forsman, Nanne and Angelica from One More Time, and so many others I can never remember. Just a classic video that is now finally available in crystal clear quality!

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Steve Layton, Tampa, USA

REPORT: ABBA IN CONCERT ON PUBLIC TELEVISION

I thought some of you might like a report about "ABBA In Concert" which aired on PBS yesterday. I taped it and watched the pledge drive part to see what they had to say. The host said she never knew that ABBA came from the first names of the 4 members. Then she said what their names were.

These are the gifts you get for different pledge amounts.

$75 ABBA Gold CD
$90 ABBA In Concert DVD
$150 ABBA In Concert DVD and ABBA Gold CD
$325 Pair of tickets to Mamma Mia! in September, ABBA In Concert DVD, ABBA Gold CD, Original Mamma Mia! Cast CD

The host interviewed Leah who plays Donna, and Olga who plays Rosie. The host said that Mamma Mia! is in 11 Countries and in 7 languages. Then Rosie said it has universal appeal. Tourists from all over the world see it. Many see it more than once.

Then she said ABBA sold more albums then the Beatles. (which isn't true) Then the host said Really? Then Leah said she has been playing Donna for 2 months. She said it was difficult because she has a 4 year old and she has to sing a song that she can't get through without weeping. Then they talked a bit about the costumes. Then back to the concert.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Bill Paganucci, New Jersey, USA

GERMAN MAMMA MIA! SOUNDTRACK AWARD

Mamma Mia! will receive the award Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany in the category "highest sales of German language album" for the cast album. I find it hard to believe that no other German artist sold more, but it seems they counted over two years; the album was released in 2004. The album has been sold 300,000 times and received a platinum award. It the most successful musical cast album ever in Germany.

The award show will be on TV on September 24, and members of the cast will perform a medley. No mention of any of the Bs attending yet.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Erik Menkens, Germany

ELAINE PAIGE TO TOUR

Elaine Paige will tour through Germany, Denmark and UK and will sing the greatest hits from various musicals, of course including Chess. She will play in Hamburg in the Operettenhaus on Monday Oct 2. It's the home of Mamma Mia!, but there are no performances on Mondays.
http://www.stage-entertainment.de/34873.htm

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Erik Menkens, Germany

QUESTIONS ANSWERED: UNIVERSAL ACTION AGAINST ABBAMAIL

There have been a few statements made by various people on the official ABBA site regarding the Universal Music Sweden legal action against ABBAMAIL that need to be cleared up.

1. Do the members of ABBA know/are they involved?

Yes, they do know. ABBA is Görel Hanser and Görel Hanser is ABBA. ABBAMAIL wrote to Görel by fax and email on May 29 - a five page letter explaining the situation and urging her to take some action to stop the legal threats from Universal Music going any further.

The following week, Mia Segolsson, Polar Music's label manager had face-to-face meeting at Mono Music.

Görel did not reply to ABBAMAIL's letter.

A further letter was faxed to Görel on August 3 after Universal/MIPI's demands changed to insist on the details of any fan who had bought from the ABBAMAIL webshop.

This new situation was explained and again there was no reply.

Björn & Benny were directly emailed by an ABBAMAILer who has their personal email addresses a couple of days after ABBAMAIL began to publicise the situation.

We can only assume that the members of ABBA and Görel Hanser are allowing Universal Sweden to continue with this action despite the negative reaction of fans, the work that ABBAMAIL has done for the last decade and the fact that their fans may have their privacy violated by UM Sweden & MIPI.

2. Do Björn & Benny have a say in what "Greatest Hits" compilations etc. are released? Do the members of ABBA have any say in any action Universal Music takes against ABBAMAIL or other fans?

Yes they do. Universal Music are 50% investors with Björn, Benny & Frida in Mamma Mia! and ABBA's ongoing catalogue value has meant that UM Sweden discuss every release with Görel, Björn & Benny. Nothing is done or released in the ABBA name without their ok. UM do not want- and cannot afford - to get Björn & Benny offside in any manner whatsoever.

If Björn & Benny wanted Universal Music to stop the threats and legal action against ABBAMAIL, Universal Music would comply instantly.

3. Are Universal Music Sweden aware of the input and information that members of ABBAMAIL have had in ABBA releases over a number of years?

Yes, very much so. Carl Magnus Palm has been quite open about ABBAMAIL's contribution and made them aware of how important ABBAMAIL has been. Carl Magnus Palm is a paid employee of Universal Music, as their ABBA consultant. He works closely with Polar Music Label Manager, Mia Segolsson.

Mia is very much aware that Ian Cole, the Australian ABBA fan who had a long association with ABBAMAIL was introduced to Carl Magnus Palm via ABBAMAIL. Mia is very aware that Ian has proof-read liner notes, worked on many Universal Music ABBA releases, helping Carl Magnus Palm. Ian has used the resources of ABBAMAIL's internet mailing list when compiling and supplying information for these releases.

4. Universal Music Sweden Managing Director Marten Aglander replied to a number fans with a generic email that said Universal Music does not want to shut ABBAMAIL down, they just wanted certain titles removed from the webshop. Now that this has happened, has the action against ABBAMAIL in fact now stopped?

No it has not. The legal action and threats are still happening. Marten Aglander said this week that after this current action against ABBAMAIL, there could be further action in the future. Martin also stated that other copyright holders could be interested and that they (UM) had not requested all of the offending products to be removed.

It is possible that they will wait until the fan reaction and publicity about the issue dies down and then begin a fresh round of legal threats and action. They would do this by having ABBAMAIL leave some products on the webshop, then Universal Music would contact other record companies, TV companies etc. and encourage them to take legal action against ABBAMAIL. If Universal did this behind the scenes, they could get their desired effect of ABBAMAIL being closed down without seeming to be behind it.

5. Graeme Read has claimed to have been banned from the official abbasite but others claim he isn't.

First the link to ABBAMAIL was removed from the website after repeated attacks by the senior moderator on ABBAMAIL to Polar Music's ABBA label manager. The moderators have their own private discussion forum for administration - this is also read by UM Sweden staff. Several of the site moderators have continually attacked ABBAMAIL on that forum and tried to encourage Universal Music to take action against us.

In 2004, after ABBAMAIL exposed the blatantly homophobic, right wing agenda and heavy-handed censorship being practiced by the moderators of the abbasite forum, Graeme Read's membership of the site was terminated.

It is possible that, since the matter has now been raised on ABBAMAIL.com, that the moderators have reinstated the membership to cover their tracks.

6. ABBAMAIL are making matters worse by publicising the situation.
ABBAMAIL did not publicise the situation from May 19 when it began until August 3. August 3 was the date that the letter from MIPI arrived that changed the demands to resolve the issue - they now wanted names of ABBA fans who had purchased products from ABBAMAIL.

Prior to August 3, ABBAMAIL had attempted to handle the matter quietly via their their lawyers. It took Universal Music/MIPI almost two months to even specify what they wanted removed from the webshop. Once they specified this ABBAMAIL removed the products. MIPI were notified of this on a Friday afternoon and by Tuesday morning, they had sent a new letter making more demands including that ABBAMAIL break the privacy of ABBA fans - Universal's best customers - by supplying customer details to them.

Then, and only then, did ABBAMAIL realise that this issue was destined to go on and on until ABBAMAIL were bankrupt and no longer able to defend themselves. ABBAMAIL acted in good faith by removing the requested products but that good faith was not returned.

7. ABBAMAIL claims that this matter is a personal vendetta rather than a dispute about products and copyright and such. Why?

ABBAMAIL was advised very early on in this situation that the MD of Universal Sweden did not like ABBAMAIL. We can only assume that this is because have been very loud and opinionated and independent over the years and advocating for fans. We have pointed out homophobia and political agendas being pushed by the moderators on the official site forum. We have fans advised when there were sound quality faults with the quality of UM ABBA releases.

Last week we were advised that Universal Music considered ABBAMAIL nothing more than a nuisance and an annoyance. They have no interest in the work we have done for ABBA fans, for ABBA and the invaluable help ABBAMAIL has provided for UM catalogue releases over the last decade. They just prefer that we no longer existed. This of course contradicts the official statements released by Universal about ABBAMAIL.

Each week millions of dollars are generated for Universal Music and the members of ABBA through Mamma Mia! performances and CD sales and sales of ABBA catalogue CDs & DVDs around the world. Benny Andersson has a stable of companies including a hotel, breeding race horses and more. Björn Ulvaeus now has his own private jet.

Universal Music and the members of ABBA are well aware that sales of ABBAMAIL's products are pathetically insignificant compared to the money the ABBA and Mamma Mia! brand are generating for them week after week, year after year.

To pursue a fan website in such an aggressive manner does not make commercial sense - the only commercial sense can be if ABBAMAIL's webshop sales were damaging Universal Music's bottom line - they did not.

Universal Music knows this and the members of ABBA know this. ABBA and Universal Music have made far more money from ABBAMAIL's activities over the last decade - the information and assistance provided to them when devising new commercial ABBA DVD and CD releases and the publicity of their products by ABBAMAIL - than they could ever have "lost" from our webshop. None of the products in ABBAMAIL's webshop were competing with commercially released Universal Music ABBA products - ever.

8. ABBAMAIL is "overdramatising" the situation.

ABBAMAIL believes that to not stand up and be counted in this vendetta would be doing a disservice to all ABBA fans, ABBA websites and, ultimately, a disservice to ABBA themselves.

ABBAMAIL does not believe that Universal Music *own* ABBA fandom. ABBAMAIL believes that ABBA fans have rights too - as fans and as customers and consumers. And as people! ABBAMAIL believes that ABBA fans should have access to independent fan websites and publications.

ABBAMAIL also does not believe that even Björn, Benny, Frida and Agnetha should have the right to control what fans can say, what fans think etc. on the internet or through fan publications.

ABBAMAIL believes that being a "fan" of any artist or group does not mean that you slavishly adhere to and agree with everything that artist, group, record company says. ABBAMAIL believes that fans have the right to think for themselves and to express themselves.

It is for all of these reasons that ABBAMAIL has taken a stand on this matter - not only to ensure ABBAMAIL survives but to protect the independence of ABBA fans and ABBA fandom in general.

UNIVERSAL'S ACTION AGAINST ABBAMAIL: MORE COVERAGE

Here are links to two more sites that have picked up the story about Universal Music trying to shut down ABBAMAIL:

Contact Music
http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/universal%20threatens%20abba%20fansite%20with%20legal%20action_1005045

P2PNET
http://p2pnet.net/story/9560

UNIVERSAL SWEDEN THREATS AGAINST ABBAMAIL REACH SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

The Sydney Morning Herald has put an extensive article about the Universal Music Sweden/MIPI action against ABBAMAIL on their website.

The link is:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/abba-fans-cry-sos/2006/08/11/1154803074288.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

or

http://tinyurl.com/py6jg

SOFIE ALBUM IN UK RELEASE

http://www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=516210

It's Ann Sofie Von Otter's ABA covers CD, apparently due for release on 11 September.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Penny Jackson, Derby, UK

BITS N PIECES

16th December 2006... Alexandra House in England is having an ABBA Christmas
party http://www.hayley-conf.co.uk/xmasparties/pages/xmasparties_ah.html

####

There is an ABBA youth hostel in Barcelona Spain.

####

There is a digital artist who is stopping people in San Jose California and asking them what music they listen to to get a soundtrack of the city.
http://www.topix.net/content/kri/2616379419338327640420575361303545167030
The article warns that if listening to ABBA is your guilty pleasure, watch out for this guy on the streets. They do manage to find a grad student who listens to ABBA and Rage against the machine.

#####

New York's Mamma Mia! stars Olga Merediz and Leah Hocking will be featured during pledge break segments during PBS's WLIW channel 21 fundraising drive airing of ABBA in Concert friday ausgust 11th from 2.30pm - 3.30pm and 7.30pm and 8.30pm
http://www.broadwayworld.com/viewcolumn.cfm?colid=11461

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Fiona Metcalfe, Kiama, Australia

MYSTERY SURROUNDS AUSSIE TV SPECIAL

One of the most interesting things that's going on in Australia is the forthcoming 'ABBAMANIA' TV special on Channel 9. I guess the standard of so called ABBA TV
specials that have appeared on Australian TV over the past decade has made us all a bit wary (to say the least)!

Everything seems to have fallen very quiet about it but then it may be a deliberate strategy to build excitement amongst fans now that they know word is out.

As reported, all we know is that the theme is the "30th anniversary" of ABBA's 1976 visit and the TV special that really set off ABBAmania in Australia. Channel 9 was ABBA's "Australian home" back then...that's how channel 9 promoted them.

If they make an effort and dig out some stuff from the archives, it could be quite
spectacular. Past examples suggest it won't be unfortunately :(

Speaking of the channel 9 archives...I recently heard that they DIDN'T wipe all the tapes that we've heard for all these years were wiped. The problem, so I've been told, is that nothing was properly catalogued up until the late 80s, the result of which is thousands of hours of uncatalogued tapes rotting away in the channel 9 vaults. If this is true, the Celebrity Squares appearances should still exist...along with other much lamented stuff such as the missing performance of Mamma Mia! on the Bandstand set.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Trudy Wilkie, Queensland, Australia with additional comments by ABBAMAILer Luke Rogers, Melbourne, Australia

BITCHY HISTORICAL LP REVIEW

This year is the 50th anniversary of British HiFi magazine 'HiFi News & Record Review'. To celebrate they issued a special edition containing reviews and articles from the last 50 years. One part of the mag was entitled 'Classic Reviews' and featured some of the best and worst record reviews from years gone by.

One album featured was 'Voulez Vous'. It was originally published in August 1987. Here it is.......read it and weep!!

xxxxxxx

ABBA
Voulez Vous
EPC86086

Fred Dellar

I guess if Drury represents the pie and chips brigade then Abba get the nod from the smorgasbord set. On Voulez Vous they once more offer their array of hors d'oeuvres and again, ultimately provide nothing that reaches any part at all, let alone those that Heineken heads for with such alacrity.

And if you, like me, imagined that the single, 'Does Your Mother Know', with its Stones' riff and chameleon-like switches, suggested that Abba might at last be atoning for past deficiencies, then I can only state the you've been conned by the Swedish equivalent of 'find the lady'. For the truth is that 'Does Your Mother Know' is the only track of consequence on the whole album.

All right, I'll admit that such items as 'As Good As New' and the title track could convince deejays and influence record buyers. But then so did the awful 'Chiquitita', which lies in wait on side two, ready once more to display the horrors of Brotherhood Of Man cloning. I could provide further gory details - about Frida's 'I Have A Dream' solo, perhaps, but then, why should I depress you in this age of ever-increasing prices and ever-decreasing supplies?

xxxxx

Isn't it an awful review? I don't think Fred Dellar is an ABBA fan!!!

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Andre Hyde, London, UK

CHART NEWS

What is going on in the ABBA world? They are up in the charts.

SWEDEN: Benny Andersson's Orkester: Pa Turne - up 1 to #21.
AUSTRALIA: ABBA - The Definitive Collection DVD - up 8 to #6 (week 100)

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Dean Scapolo, Wellington, New Zealand

ABBA IN CONCERT ON US TV

Abba in Concert
Friday, August 11, 2:30pm
CHANNEL 21 (WLIW) New York City area or satellite dish networks...

"The popular Swedish band is featured in a 1979 performance at London's Wembley Arena. Songs include Dancing Queen; Does Your Mother Know; Hole in Your Soul; Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight); I Have a Dream; Summer Night City."


The main reason this is of interest to all is that this possibly will be the original PBS version with The Way Old Friends Do integrated into the special at the end. As many know, the international version of this special did not have this song at all, nor did the subsequent LaserDisc releases. It is now on DVD as an extra with the recent release of this special, but it is not integrated.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Jason Swan, London, UK

MAMMA MIA! 5 YEARS

Here's an article about Mamma Mia! from Playbill:

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/101351.html

The lead of the article is: "On Oct. 18 the New York production of Mamma Mia! will celebrate its fifth anniversary on Broadway at the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre. The 7 PM performance of the international hit musical will benefit the Actors' Fund of America's Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative."

Check the full article for prices for this performance.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Robert Verbeek, Duiven, The Netherlands

MAMMA MIA! BOOK UPDATE

"Mamma Mia - How Can I Resist You?" is the book supposedly written by Benny, Björn and Judy Cramer (more likely a ghost writer). Originally I thought it was meant to be the official story behind ABBA and Mamma Mia! but that has been modified slightly so it now says "the inside story of Mamma Mia! and the songs of ABBA".

I think it will be an essential book in some ways but I am guessing it will focus more on Mamma Mia! and gloss over the ABBA stuff. We may get Benny and Björn's perspective on ABBA songs which could be interesting or could be frustrating.

The synopsis says:
The story of a double phenomenon: the group who reinvented the world's perception of pop music in the 1970s, and the show based around their hits which became an entertainment industry legend in its own right, opening in 85 cities and seen by over 20 million people. Through the stories, recollections and reflections of ABBA, intertwined with the commentary and observations of the MAMMA MIA! team, this book cuts through the thicket of myths and misconceptions that have grown up around ABBA to reveal what actually happened.

The book is published on 20 September in the UK and in October in Australia. The recommended retail price is £20.00 in the UK and $59.95 in Australia. Amazon UK is selling it for £17.50.

There appear to be two versions of the cover but I suspect that one is an earlier version of the other.

UK publisher page:
http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-34139/Mamma-Mia!-How-Can-I-Resist-You?.htm

Australian publisher page:
http://www.allenandunwin.com/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ISBN=9780297844211

Just checked the US Amazon site and it is down for a 17 October release - recommended retail $29.95 with Amazon selling it for $18.87. Even with postage, it could be cheaper to get it through Amazon in the US.

Thanks to ABBAMAIL's Grant Whittingham, Sydney, Australia

MADONNA /AGNETHA

http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=648650

A quick translation of the relevant bit.

-----

MADONNA WANTS TO LOOK LIKE AGNETHA

LONDON: Madonna loves ABBA.
And now she wants to look like a young Agnetha Fältskog. From behind at least.

After Madonna's first London concert at Wembley Arena, many women were asking themselves: can a soon-to-be 48 year old mother of two really have such a behind?

Dressed in an ABBA-like tricot costume and with a 70s hair style, there were many who thought of Agnetha Fältskog when Madonna gave her celebrated concert in London.

-----

There is no other mention of Agnetha or ABBA in the article. The rest of the article talks about how Madonna trained to get her behind in shape including using a machine called a Power Plate.

Thanks to ABBAMAILer Robert Verbeek, The Netherlands and ABBAMAIL's Grant Whittingham
Sydney, Australia

ABBASITE FORUM COMMENTS

We've had a number of concerned people write to us to advise us of the increasingly negative slant on the comments about the Universal Music legal action against ABBAMAIL on the official abbasite's forum.

Yes, we have noticed that the moderators seem to be deleting posts supporting ABBAMAIL. Initially, the first two pages of the thread seemed fairly balanced despite a few posts having been removed by the moderators.

Possibly, given the fact that many posts were supporting ABBAMAIL, Universal Music and the moderators have decided to slant the discussion towards negative posts. A few of the people posting on page 3 of the thread are well known to ABBAMAIL as people who have caused trouble for us previously. You might even say some of them could be referred to as "the usual 'I hate ABBAMAIL' suspects". ;-)

At this stage there really is nothing we can do to rectify the situation. Universal Music Sweden own the site and the forum and if they wish to use it as propaganda to push their action against ABBAMAIL it is completely up to them.

If any ABBAMAIL supporters want to have a say, we suggest you post to the thread on the site's forum but keep your comments focussed and rational and make sure you don't include any personal or other attacks - because this just makes it even easier for the moderators to say they were justified in deleting or editing your post.

There are some quite positive points on page 1 and 2 of the thread - including some points that we hadn't even thought of here at ABBAMAIL.

Graeme Read and ABBAMAIL cannot post on the forum because the forum membership was cancelled by the head moderator years ago. The site has