Having been loyal to the fan club for over twenty five years, I have been reluctant for some time to cancel my membership. But for the last couple years it has started to feel like am spending 25 pounds on nothing, when I could be buying remastered albums and other Queen merchandise. The only other advantage is the supposed first in the queue for concert tickets etc. Considering i went through the club for recent tour tickets and got awful tickets,and I could have got the link free on Queen Online. I was thinking I might as well take my chances with the rest of the general public when it comes to gigs.
Queen releases various box set editions of their recordings at the BBC, entitled “On Air,” available via Hollywood Records. Queen's next BBC appearance gave the fans a sneak peak of the band's upcoming album. Recorded on December 3, 1973, and airing three days later on December 6, the session.
Year after year am finding I do not get the promised number of magazines. We are lucky to get two mags in one actual year, and have in one year only received one. It states on the Official Fan Club online page 'When you join The Official International Queen Fan Club, you will receive THREE full colour magazines a year. Each will have a handwritten letter from a member of the band and contain a host of photos, all the latest information on what Queen and the individual members are doing, quizzes, pen pals, collectors information and a lots of other features.Your membership also includes access to our members only online section, which features exclusive content, gallery, chatroom and forum. All our events, including our very popular annual UK convention, are also for members only” I personally feel the members only section does not provide fans with exclusive content. I get that exclusive information from Queen online which is very up to date, interesting and free.
If I bought a subscription for a magazine from a shop or online retailer and never received my goods then I would request a refund. We the fans are not receiving the magazines as advertised on the Official fan club page.
At best we have received two magazines and in some instances just one magazine in a renewal year. Queen are one the biggest bands of all time.
So why is this happening with it’s fan club? Am beginning to feel the fan club has become nothing more than a holiday booking agent for the annual convention. So I am looking for advice as to what else should persuade me to spend my hard earned cash on the OIQFC? But am only left with the thought as to what DO you get from the Fan Club in a year? Spread Your Wings Posts: 18 Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:54 pm Gender: Has thanked: 0 time Been thanked: 0 time.
I'd like to sit here and say 'Yeah. Support the fan club, it's a no-brainer!' Unfortunately, I haven't been in the fan club for the last ten years, and the vast majority of the things that WERE keeping me in vanished about that length of time ago. Exclusive band functions, invites to video shoots (which incidentally I never got even when I was in the fan club!), exclusive news, etc. Conventions, never been to one, and probably won't ever, so not really a drawing factor. Being honest, I find the idea scary! All the costumes and people trying to be Freddie.
Jacky's a lovely lady, and tries very hard with what she's given to run a business, but it IS hard to justify in this day and age. Sky wrote:Having been loyal to the fan club for over twenty five years, I have been reluctant for some time to cancel my membership. But for the last couple years it has started to feel like am spending 25 pounds on nothing, when I could be buying remastered albums and other Queen merchandise. The only other advantage is the supposed first in the queue for concert tickets etc. Considering i went through the club for recent tour tickets and got awful tickets,and I could have got the link free on Queen Online. I was thinking I might as well take my chances with the rest of the general public when it comes to gigs. Year after year am finding I do not get the promised number of magazines.
We are lucky to get two mags in one actual year, and have in one year only received one. It states on the Official Fan Club online page 'When you join The Official International Queen Fan Club, you will receive THREE full colour magazines a year. Each will have a handwritten letter from a member of the band and contain a host of photos, all the latest information on what Queen and the individual members are doing, quizzes, pen pals, collectors information and a lots of other features.Your membership also includes access to our members only online section, which features exclusive content, gallery, chatroom and forum. All our events, including our very popular annual UK convention, are also for members only” I personally feel the members only section does not provide fans with exclusive content.
I get that exclusive information from Queen online which is very up to date, interesting and free. If I bought a subscription for a magazine from a shop or online retailer and never received my goods then I would request a refund. We the fans are not receiving the magazines as advertised on the Official fan club page. At best we have received two magazines and in some instances just one magazine in a renewal year.
Queen are one the biggest bands of all time. So why is this happening with it’s fan club?
Am beginning to feel the fan club has become nothing more than a holiday booking agent for the annual convention. So I am looking for advice as to what else should persuade me to spend my hard earned cash on the OIQFC?
But am only left with the thought as to what DO you get from the Fan Club in a year? I'm sure I read this over at QZ days ago. It was worth it to me while I was a member, not so much now as other things are simply more important for me. I've not renewed since 2008 IIRC.
It's too expensive for me these days. Kes wrote:I'd like to sit here and say 'Yeah. Support the fan club, it's a no-brainer!' Unfortunately, I haven't been in the fan club for the last ten years, and the vast majority of the things that WERE keeping me in vanished about that length of time ago.
Exclusive band functions, invites to video shoots (which incidentally I never got even when I was in the fan club!), exclusive news, etc. Conventions, never been to one, and probably won't ever, so not really a drawing factor.
Being honest, I find the idea scary! All the costumes and people trying to be Freddie. Jacky's a lovely lady, and tries very hard with what she's given to run a business, but it IS hard to justify in this day and age. Totally agree - I was also in the fan club for about 20 years but came to the conclusion that it wasn't really worth the money anymore but thanks to the fan club I got to meet my heroes when I attended the Radio Ga Ga shoot. The Show Must Go On Posts: 1428 Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:24 pm Gender: Has thanked: times Been thanked: times.
I have been feeling the same. Fc member for over 25 years but recently just been renewing through loyalty.
Jacky is great and a lovely lady but ever since the FC has not been 'owned' by the band it has not been the same. Nor is there an office to visit and just chat to Jacky. The mag has nothing we dont already know - like kes the convention feels me with dread - I have never been.
Had some great times through the FC - great tickets, events etc but I think i will leave soon. My one major regret is that i never visited the offices in pembridge road when there was a fair chance of bumping into a band member as their offices were above! So i am a member but feel also i am paying for nothing at the moment. When the offices were in Pembridge Road, you usually entered via the basement. Once when I went there, Jacky hadn't arrived yet, so when she got there, she took me through the front door. I instantly recognised Harvey a goldsmith and Gerry Stickells sat in the reception office, as they were planning the tribute concert at the time, and obviously had a meeting there.
Shame I didn't actually realise that's why they were there at the time, as obviously they had their own offices elsewhere and they were probably there meeting someone else. Not a member anymore. In the mid 90s (when I joined), the magazines offered (usually) information you didn't get elsewhere,but even then, the internet started to take over as the main source for instant news. Had Queen been a very active force with regular tours, video shoots etc, the possibilities would have been far better, but now, most news activities regard re-issues / 'new' archive releases etc - all of which are online. You'd be crazy to NOT check queenonline but rather wait for a magzine 3 times a year.
Dunno if something special happened when QPR started in 04-05? (I rejoined for a while at the time of TCR, but had already bought tickets for the shows) the last thing I did was to pay for a 'Queen Talks' dvd, a compilation of all convention messages by the band - which I never recieved, nor did I get a reply when I asked about it. I'm not bitter about it - but I thought. 'being a member is alredy a charity on my part, and now this?' So that's my story. Perhaps fan clubs have run their course, unless they're able to offer their members exclusive releases etc. Which the band (I think i.e Roger), is not prepared to give them The Show Must Go On Posts: 1362 Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:18 pm Gender: Has thanked: times Been thanked: times.
I stopped being a member in about 2000/2001. Just felt the money wasn't worth it once I got the Internet at home. The letters from the band were about the only interesting part of the magazine but by then it was only Brian and Roger writing them as obviously John couldn't be bothered anymore and Freddie was busy being deceased.
I did go four conventions between 1990-1993 when they were in Southport and they were good laughs - the only time people were dressed up was for the mime competitions. Other than that it was mainly Queen fans getting drunk and generally having a good time. Spread Your Wings Posts: 143 Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2013 4:01 pm Gender: Has thanked: 0 time Been thanked: 0 time. Don’t think I will renew my membership in June, I am feeling £25 for one magazine this year is appalling. Last year we received two and the previous year just the one. So what is our £25 pounds being spent on? Torrent Sound Packs Minecraft.
I understand that the fan club is no longer owned by Queen and is a privately run business. I’ve come to the decision that I will be better saving my money and sticking to Queen online and the Official Facebook pages of Queen. They are free and full of great up to date information. Gone are the days of the great fan club we had when the fan club was run by Queen Productions. Am at a loss for words that it is acceptable that fan club is taking subscriptions and not providing the fans with value for money Surely to produce three good quality magazines each year can not be that difficult???? Spread Your Wings Posts: 18 Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:54 pm Gender: Has thanked: 0 time Been thanked: 0 time.
Things like getting front row tickets for £30 each for WWRY 10th anniversary is why I consider the £25 a good investment. There is usually something that comes up during a year that keeps me of that opinion. For both Q+PR tours, I was also very happy indeed with the seats that Jacky got me for about 15 gigs. The conventions are not for me though now that bootlegs aren't allowed in the marketplace. I went for the first time in 2004 and had a great time buying various things, but was left very disappointed when I went for a second time in 2009 and it was boring memorabilia on show. Also agree that the only thing in the magazine that interests me is the letter from Brian (and Roger every ten years!).
Spread Your Wings Posts: 231 Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 8:20 am Gender: Has thanked: time Been thanked: times. Gavinio wrote:I stopped being a member in about 2000/2001. Just felt the money wasn't worth it once I got the Internet at home. The letters from the band were about the only interesting part of the magazine but by then it was only Brian and Roger writing them as obviously John couldn't be bothered anymore and Freddie was busy being deceased. I did go four conventions between 1990-1993 when they were in Southport and they were good laughs - the only time people were dressed up was for the mime competitions. Other than that it was mainly Queen fans getting drunk and generally having a good time.
I wonder how many members of the fan club are left. If I recall, at its height in the late 80's/early 90's it was well over 20,000 making it easily the biggest fan club in the UK. I was a member from 1988 - 2001 when we were obviously spoilt as we received 4 magazines a year!
It's inevitable that its fortunes have declined but I think Jacky's done a sterling job. I mean, how long has she been there? The conventions were a riot. I went to a few from 1991 to '96 and it was like a 3 day drinking binge in a huge pub that only played Queen music, had Queen quizzes, auctions and showed rare videos and concerts on big screens. Have no idea what they're like now or even where they're held. Spread Your Wings Posts: 228 Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:09 pm Gender: Has thanked: times Been thanked: times. The convention in the early years was fantastic.
It has less than halved in size and they don’t have the amazing lighting rigs on the dance floor like they had back in Southport. It is now held in a caravan park in Great Yarmouth. I personally feel it’s a different story to the fun of the 80’s and 90’s when the fan club was under the banner of Queen productions. The Queen mastermind, and live interviews done by Jim Jenkins are something that makes it worth attending. Along with items Gary Talyor and Greg Brooks put together. It’s those things that make it enjoyable I feel.
It is them guys that make the convention happen, their commitment and dedication in ensuring things are done. Over recent years i’ve become extremely disappointed with the amount of bands and bands playing none Queen music.
After all it’s a Queen Convention people want to enjoy Queens music not Guns and Roses as in previous years. On the other hand been some amazing people play in particular Robby Valentine, Belladonic Haze and Dios (tribute band). But it tends to get overloaded with to many bands. I want hear Freddie’s voice at a convention not band after band.
One/two great bands would be more than enough for me as long as they sang Queen songs. Spread Your Wings Posts: 18 Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 5:54 pm Gender: Has thanked: 0 time Been thanked: 0 time.
Sky wrote:Don’t think I will renew my membership in June, I am feeling £25 for one magazine this year is appalling. Last year we received two and the previous year just the one.
So what is our £25 pounds being spent on? I understand that the fan club is no longer owned by Queen and is a privately run business. I’ve come to the decision that I will be better saving my money and sticking to Queen online and the Official Facebook pages of Queen.
They are free and full of great up to date information. Gone are the days of the great fan club we had when the fan club was run by Queen Productions. Am at a loss for words that it is acceptable that fan club is taking subscriptions and not providing the fans with value for money Surely to produce three good quality magazines each year can not be that difficult???? I thought paying for 3 issues were expensive, which is why I stopped being a member.but just to get one or 2?! I have much respect for Jacky.
She opened up the bigger/smaller world of being a Queen fan for which I'll always be thankful for.
Art by Jason C. Eckhardt by Terence Faherty EDITOR’S NOTE When notebooks of Dr.
Watson were discovered, containing first drafts of the earliest of his immortal short stories, one of the volumes was found to be water damaged. The material in this notebook was unreadable, and it was feared it would remain so. However, using imaging techniques developed to recover a treatise of Aristotle’s that had been overlaid by a medieval religious text, the pages have been deciphered. As a result, “The Noble Bachelor” can now be presented to the public. It shares with the earlier first drafts in this series a certain informality with respect to Sherlock Holmes’s speech and behavior, one source of a heated debate regarding the notebooks’ authenticity. There is also a reference to Holmes’s musical tastes that is certain to spark further controversy.
(As before, Watson’s notes and asides to himself are inserted in the text in parentheses.) The scandal surrounding Lord Strachan’s brief but eventful marriage has faded from the public’s equally brief memory, but not from my own, as it occurred only weeks before the black (bright) day of my own nuptials. I was still rooming with Sherlock Holmes in Baker Street, and it was to those hallowed rooms that he returned one afternoon following his usual round of the pubs (constitutional? Postprandial stroll?). I’d stayed indoors, for the threat of rain had stirred my old Afghan wounds, received when a jezail bullet had found me while I was taking private yoga instruction from a young native woman in my tent, the bullet passing through my leg and lodging in my shoulder due to the advanced position we (I) had achieved. (Strike this; Mary is sure to misconstrue.) “You’ve gotten a letter from a toff,” I remarked and handed him an envelope of the finest quality.
“A pleasant change from your usual correspondence.” “If the letter isn’t ‘postage due,’ it’s a pleasant change from my usual correspondence,” Holmes replied with a weary smile. “Even so, if this is a wedding invitation, it goes straight onto the fire. I’ve bought my last silver fish slice.” He broke the heavy wax seal, glanced over the enclosure, and whistled. “Not a wedding invitation?” I asked. “Not exactly.” “But from a prospective client?” “One with blood that’s bluer than Ellen Terry’s eyes.” “Congratulations!” “I promise you, Watson, that a client’s social weight is of far less importance to me than the heft of his pocketbook. Give me a well-heeled baker over an impecunious baron any day.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It is a capital mistake to judge a client’s wherewithal before you’ve made discreet inquiries at his bank. “And speaking of discreet inquiries, have you come across any mention in the press of my correspondent, Lord Strachan, and his recent wedding?” Art by Jason C. Eckhardt by Margaret Maron Victoria Hoyt Gardner was as delicate as her china: very thin, very old, very expensive. Seated in a massive carved armchair beneath the head of a snarling jaguar, she poured tea from an antique silver pot and said, “You shatter all my preconceptions, Dr. I expected an anthropologist as old and dried up as myself and here you are so young and pretty. El Hombre Que Yo Amo Miriam Hernandez Letra Y Acordes on this page. ” Her face had appeared in too many society pages and her family was too much a part of Carlisle College’s history for me not to have an accurate impression of her. “My doctorate’s in archaeology,” I said as I took the fragile cup she offered.
Biff Oliphant gave me a glare that was the visual equivalent of a sharp kick to the shins. “Archaeology, anthropology, all those -ologies confuse me too,” he chuckled. Biff is Vice President of Institutional Advancement. He is not Carlisle College’s gift to academia, but he is very good at what he does, which is getting blood from turnips. Or, as Biff himself describes it, his job is to seek out wealthy individuals and corporations and “present them with opportunities for giving.” Ever since Mrs.
Gardner returned to the area last autumn and opened up the old Hoyt mansion that abuts the campus, Biff has tried to interest her in renewing her family’s past financial ties to the college, a nondenominational school here in Raleigh. From where we sat, we could look out through French doors to the 1947 Hoyt Golf Course given by her father. Beyond are the 1898 Hoyt Chapel and a 1923 Hoyt Dormitory, both endowed by her grandfather. Biff had burst into my office yesterday afternoon almost giddy with excitement because he thought Mrs. Gardner might donate a Hoyt-Gardner wing to the library. Ordinarily, he considers me too socially unreliable to be taken along on a fund-raising mission, but Mrs.
Gardner had specifically asked for someone in anthropology, which is how I came to be sipping tea in this wood-paneled hall surrounded by the stuffed heads of many animals now on the world’s endangered-species list. “Carlisle College isn’t large enough to support separate departments, so anthropology and archaeology are lumped together in the history department and I get to teach both,” I explained. Webster is too modest,” Biff said heartily.
“She’s an authority on Aztecs and her courses always close out. Very popular.” Aztecs are Johnny-come-latelies compared to the Olmecs, my particular specialty, but Biff muddles all pre-Columbian cultures and I’ve quit being outraged by administrative ignorance. Small private colleges usually teeter too near the edge of financial insolvency to afford the luxury of intellectual administrators and Carlisle was no exception to this general rule. After all, someone has to raise money for salaries, Xerox machines, and red tape. While the pleasantries continued, I studied our hostess’s face.