The Gathering

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Geezers need excitement.

Pffffffffffff this would be an endless topic!!! hahaha

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I've never asked them for their autographs. With Anneke gone. I regret it a bit. I just have the autographed photo from the A Sound Relief DVD.

I have pics, though.

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The Gathering pics

autographs are th emost stupid things to get especially if you actually didnt meet the band IMO...
I prefer a good conservsation with someone than a few second for a signature...

The latest meeting for me was with Derrick Greene of Sepultura who is an incredibly funny guy!! I think I spend about an hour drinking and laughing with him.. I know it's not given to everyone to be in such situation but definitely, those are worth one billion signatures!

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Maybe i'm paranoid, yeah that's my problem
You almost have to be when you look like me

Well colors and opinions... there aren't enough of them =) i do like my stuff to be signed but i dont care if its not (hope that makes sense), i own the albums many times since im a collector, so it would be dumb for me having EVERYTHING signed -let alone impossible-. There is just one signature that is really loved by me:



I got these right after the band's last gig w/Anneke @ Ankkarock Finland, the deluxe edition had just been released that week and i bought it in Helsinki, far far far far away from home =) its meaningful for many reasons, and it reminds me of a great trip that i had the pleasure to spend with some of my best friends in the whole world, can hardly top that =) brings me such good memories.

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I need to invent myself a cool signature like those.

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The Gathering pics

Which one of those is Anneke? I got her new ADA - Pure Air CD with a signature but it's not like any of those.

Actually it's a little like the one on the right side now that I noticed more.

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Geezers need excitement.

yeah thats pretty cool faridee.

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Frank is the only one I can tell. At the bottom.
I was looking at the Paradiso signatures I have.
I found a promo poster for Home. Didn't even know I had one.

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The Gathering pics

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9821/img0211z.jpg

Here is my copy of Anneke's new record from her shop.

Burn: We're not all so lucky to talk to our favourite artists.

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Geezers need excitement.

No luck involved, just dedication. Stand in line for 7 or 8 hours before the shows (Like some of us do). It would help if you bring some pizza pies.

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The Gathering pics

It doesnt happen to me all the time... But if you come to an artist empty handed, he doesnt have the temptation to grab you CD, sign it and go to someone else
TG is small enough to be able to spot some familiar faces in the crowd so that helps.. but I met Paul Raven (RIP) in 2001 after a Godflesh gig...I had never heard of the band before and it was a blast... he was in the room after the end of the show alone.. (everyone wanted to meet Devin Townsend) and I just went to have a chat of about 15 min which was very nice (and that I didnt want to spoil by doing the fanboy asking for a signature )

This said, in the beginning, I did ask signatures to bands

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Maybe i'm paranoid, yeah that's my problem
You almost have to be when you look like me

Yeah, not going to happen.

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Geezers need excitement.

I'm old enough that I too can say that "In the beginning" I did things differently. But I've never been about trying to find the best way to force a conversation on somebody that I wanted to talk to. If it happens, great. If not, life goes on. A signature is quick enough that most people don't mind and it makes a record or concert that much more personal when it's more than just the result of a factory assembly line, literally or metaphorically speaking.

That said, most of the times I've met bands in the past I've had great times speaking with the members because when I do it it's not out of simple fandom, but out of curiosity to discover the personalities that drive the music.

Usually what ends up happening is that I have conversations about life more than the band itself.

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Geezers need excitement.

Oh I always want the signature, it's a way to keep the memory of meeting the band alive.

I have a few TG signed items, I'll take the pics this weekend and then post them.

But just to tease you:

I got Mandylion and A Sound Relief signed by Jelmer Wiersma himself .

Besides that, Home CD and Souvenirs LP too.

Ah what a night, really .

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My translation company: http://paralleltranslations.ca/translation/

My photos! (some gigs, including TG)

Anneke's signature is the one in the middle (from the Nighttime Bird's pic i posted before), here's my copy of "Air":

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Yeh, I'm sure your conversations with band members are much more interesting than the rest of ours. When I speak with band members, I mostly talk about orange juice and sourdough bread. Do they prefer east coast, or WEST coast.

Seriously, the best conversations I've had, have been with Andrea of LC, and Sharon of WT. Both are genuine people.

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The Gathering pics

Come to think of it, I've never asked a musician for an autograph. It can make an album or concert more memorable but I'm not going to push it on someone. I always treat famous people, whether they're a famous athlete, actor, political activist.. like they're normal people and I value real conversation and getting to know them better as people over some writing on a piece of paper.

I don't think that getting autographs in booklets means that you treat musicians as gods or something different than regular human beings, I believe art in general has a different feel when what gets delivered to you has somehow the vibe of the creator, which is something you can hardly get from a mass production like a CD. That was the whole magic with demo tapes, you knew that they had recorded it themselves, they had taken the time to copy every single cassette on their own (or at least numbered on their own).

I own some drawings, not paintings yet (cant afford them), and i find irresistible having them signed by their authors, when i write lyrics i try to sign the piece of paper i wrote them in, etc... has something to do with sealing what you just did. I value my signed cd's mostly because they remind me of the moment when they were signed, all of them having a chat with the band or with my friends waiting in the line of a signing session, maybe nice chit-chats about Turkey with Frank or about Becks with Hans, Anneke showing us pictures in her cell phone to prove Finn "has grown so much" etc... human contact... Which doesn't mean i know a rats ass about them, it's just a nice experience, such as meeting an interesting person in a bar on a friday night.

I just wish ppl in music forums would stop satanizing the fans who in the other hand get to think that they can die now whenever they get a picture taken with someone they admire -and i know many who said it right after meeting the band- or in this particular case, getting a signature in their booklets, its not a matter of being mature/immature is a matter of being young at heart and letting whatever emotions they feel flow without caring for what "oh im too old for that, im so over it" people have to say or think about them.

With that being said... of course i want my West Pole booklet signed too =)

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I never implied or said that...

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Geezers need excitement.