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Bee Gees Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 3/4

From: garc@compuserve.com (David Garcia)
Newsgroups: alt.music.bee-gees,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: Bee Gees Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Part 3/4
Supersedes: <music/beegees-faq/part3_867656487@rtfm.mit.edu>
Followup-To: alt.music.bee-gees
Date: 30 Jul 1997 08:45:38 GMT
Organization: none
Expires: 12 Sep 1997 08:43:23 GMT
Message-ID: <music/beegees-faq/part3_870252203@rtfm.mit.edu>
References: <music/beegees-faq/part1_870252203@rtfm.mit.edu>
Reply-To: garc@compuserve.com (David Garcia)
Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked
   Questions (and their answers) about the Bee Gees.  It
   should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the
   alt.music.bee-gees newsgroup.
X-Last-Updated: 1997/07/26

Archive-name: music/beegees-faq/part3
Posting-Frequency: monthly (25th of month)
Last-modified: 1997/07/25
Maintainer: David Garcia <garc@compuserve.com>

Bee Gees
Frequently Asked Questions
Part Three of Four
July 25, 1997

3-01.     What Bee Gees on-line resources are available?

Well, the information age is providing a plethora of on-line
goodies to Bee Gees fans these days.  Most of these are available
on the internet, a few others through subscriber-based on-line
services such as America On-Line and CompuServe.  Here is a basic
overview of what you can expect to find...


NEWS:

If you want to read about the lastest goings on in the lives of
the brothers Gibb and their fans, here are some resources are
worth considering...

alt.music.bee-gees is a USENET newsgroup.  Ask your internet
service provider how to access newsgroups if you're not familiar
with it.  Like most USENET newsgroups, alt.music.bee-gees is not
moderated.  This means that anyone can post whatever message they
wish, regardless of whether it's kind, truthful, or even remotely
related to the topic of the Bee Gees and their music.  The
alt.music.bee-gees newsgroup has become a magnet for all sorts of
MAKE MONEY FA$T pyramid schemes and such these days, and could do
with more fan participation.

The "Words" mailing list, on the other hand, is a free e-mail
subscriber service that has over 300 dedicated fans, and a daily
output of between 30-50k of subscribers posts from around the
globe.  It is only available through e-mail subscription.  To
subscribe, send an e-mail message to listserver@bg.wsii.com with a
blank subject line and the message:

subscribe words YOUR NAME HERE

in the message body.  Yes, that's right, where it says YOUR NAME
HERE substitute your real name.

A second mailing list, the "Spirits Having Flown" list, has
recently been started as well.  This is also a free e-mail
subscriber service, presently available only in digest form.  To
subscribe, send e-mail to bee-gees-on@mail-list.com with the
message:

subscribe YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS HERE/YOUR NAME HERE

And, you got it, replace YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS HERE with your e-mail
address, and replace YOUR NAME HERE with your real name.

Of course, the obvious question for newbies is... why two lists?
There are many (and in some cases, rather emotionally intense)
answers, depending on who you ask.  At the risk of
oversimplifying, it's safe to say that there is more than one way
to administer a mailing list, and one finds various approches to
determining standards of acceptable behaviour.  In having two
lists, everyone fits in somewhere, and those of us who are lucky
enough to subscribe to both are never lacking for something to
read...


THE WEB:

On March 9th, the day before the UK release of "Still Waters", the
Bee Gees made their official debut on the World Wide Web.  The
long awaited Official Bee Gees Web Experience, at

http://www.beegees.net

is also mentioned in the liner notes of the new CD.  It is still
relatively new to the net, but already is coming to life with
biographical info, TV appearance schedules, and the official Bee
Gees e-mail address...

beegees@beegees.net

This web site is growing rapidly, with appearance info, links to
other sites, and a few official answers to questions raised in
this FAQ as well!

Mind you, no one web site can subsitute for the efforts of all
fans.  As Joe Brennan recently observed, each fan does bring his
own particular perspective on the Bee Gees to his own site, and in
this sense each site, official or otherwise, is well worth
viewing.  So it is that, in addition to the offical site mentioned
above, it is well worth paying a visit to the following...

http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees.html

This is Joe Brennan's web site, which goes into exhaustive detail
on pretty much every song the Bee Gees have ever recorded.
Encyclopaedic in scope, his web page makes you start to realize
just how little you knew about songs that never made it to the
record racks.  Now it even includes a comprehensive list of songs
in alphabetical order!  Great going, Joe!

http://www.andygibb.org/

A remarkable tribute to Andy Gibb, the only soloist to have his
first three singles hit number one -- this was no mere teen idol.
The Official Andy Gibb Home Page features a well-written bio,
album gifs, and information on the Andy Gibb Memorial Foundation.

http://mv.ru/~eddy/bee.html

What IS that line in "Stayin' Alive", oh, YOU know, that thing
that goes "we can try to understand, the New York .......... on
man?"  Look it up here, at Eddy's lyrics page.  You'll be
surprised to discover how many songs you've been mishearing all
these years.  Note, the URL has changed recently, update your
bookmarks!

http://users.deltanet.com/~twograys/beegees.htm

Kathy Gray has a lovely pictorial site here, with nice reprints of
magazine articles, pics of the Bee Gees, and now fans' photos as
well.  And, of course, I should point out that it is one of the
few sites where you can see the Bee Gees FAQ in its entirety.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/main_course/media.htm

Every time I listen to the new Bee Gees single "Alone", I remember
how Sue Thompson blessed us all by providing .wav files of audio
excerpts months before the song's release in the USA.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to log in here lately.
Hopefully, it shall be back on line soon...

http://www.scranton.com:2222/archive/b/bee_gees/

Greg Luther first brought this site to my attention, "a web site
that has a few selected Bee Gees songs for guitar."  And he's
right, it is.  In the new_york_mining_disaster.crd file Andrew
Rogers explains how to play guitar chords like Barry does.  I must
say, those minor chords look a tad challenging.  And a barre on
the 10th fret for C major?  Oy!

Other artists are here too, just click on "Parent Directory" once
or twice to view the list.  As a failed guitar player, this is
just the sort of thing I've been looking for.  Thanks, Greg!

http://chevytrucks.org/mrphilco/beegees.html

Okay, you've got the cover to "Horizontal", and there's five guys
there.  Now, which one is Vince Melouney, and which one is Colin
Peterson?  Well, you may find GIFs of album covers elsewhere, but
THIS site tells you who is who, provides catalog numbers and tells
you about CD availability.  Very good GIFs, too!  In fact, I was
so impressed with this site that I decided to help Ron "Mr.
Philco" Ramirez scrounge up some more album covers -- so now the
site is bigger than ever.  It's nice to FINALLY have a place to
send people looking for Bee Gees album GIFs.  Keep up the good
work, Mr. Philco!

http://www.polydor.com/polydor/artists/beegees/splash.html

Well, we've been waiting for it, and now here it is: the Bee Gees
page on the web site of Polydor, their record label.  Among the
features are a nice biography, although it curiously ends in 1977,
tour dates (none available at the present time), and excerpts from
the Bee Gees Electronic Press Kit (6.9 Megs of Quick Time Video.
You may wish to go mow the lawn while downloading...).  Also
features a 30 second clip from the "Alone" video, and realaudio
and .wav files of song excerpts from the "Still Waters" album.
All in all, enough to keep the file download portion of your
internet software busy for awhile.  Make space on your hard
drive...

http://www.imperium.net/~alandail/BeeGees.html

Alan Dail's site is a fairly recent one.  It has a lot of text,
and a sort of down-to-business look to it that I find appealing.
There are links: links to the UK album chart, links to radio
station request lines, and links to the Internet Singles Chart
voting site (you HAVE voted, haven't you?). Check often for new
radio info!

http://www2.netcom.com/~dweiden/woc.html

Diane Weidenkopf's Wind of Change site has a recent Miami Herald
article on the Bee Gees.  Other goodies too!  Plus lyrics to the
new album are here, and of course the "Ten Signs" recently added
to the FAQ.  Great site!

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/7434/index.html

Joan Furilla brings us Joan's Wonderful Bee Gees Page, the home of
Name that Bee Gees Song, one of those things on the internet that
can easily make me forget that I have responsiblities and
shouldn't spend hours being so totally distracted...

http://www.toptown.com/CENTRALPARK/carncom/beegees/central.htm

Jan Carnell's Bee Gees Back Chat is back, after a brief absence.
And due to its overwhelming popularity, it has moved to a new
location.  Please note the above URL in your bookmarks!  One of my
favorite parts about it is the .wav to the song "Just in Case",
not yet released anywhere in any form, except for this composition
in progress on the Keppel Road video.  Nice pictures, too!

http://members.aol.com/bgfan/gc/index.html

Amy on America On-line has put together this web site, which
provides a nice combination of Bee Gees buy/sell ads and Macintosh
evangelism ("Don't give in to the dark side", she warns.  Well, of
COURSE not!  I use OS/2...).  Past offerings listed have included
Bee Gees "Sgt. Pepper" bubble gum cards!  Yes, right, very good
web site, one that is worth checking, especially if you're still
looking for that Maurice Gibb lunchbox to complete your
collection!

http://muellner.simplenet.com/groove/lexicon/beegees/albums.htm

Mr. Udo Muellner has a Bee Gees discography on his web site.
Actually, it looks a lot like my FAQ discography too, except that
his is easier to read, includes a comprehensive singles
discography as well and predates mine by half a year.  And look at
this, he subscribes to CompuServe too!  Well, it's true then,
great minds think alike!

Other sites...

Suffice it to say, you don't have to speak English to appreciate
the Bee Gees.  Since my capabilities in foreign languages remain
somewhat limited, I will not attempt to review these, but if you
speak the language, by all means stop by and have a look!

Bee Gees Fan Club - Argentina [In  Spanish]:
http://free.websight.com/BGFC_ARG/

Bee Gees Fan Club - Japan [In Japanese]:
http://village.infoweb.or.jp/~fwhw3700/bgsfcjp_index.htm

Polydor - Japan [In Japanese]:
http://www.polydor.co.jp/music/intl/beegees/

Note: if you want to show the Japanese sites to someone who can
read Japanese, be sure to download a Japanese-enabled web browser
such as Tabibito (for Windows 95), available at
http://www.japancan.com

Don't forget, there are many more Bee Gees sites out there.  Be
sure to pass the word on so that we can include them in the next
FAQ.  Happy net-surfing!


CHAT:

I always feel somewhat awkward when I am explaining something I
don't in the least bit understand.  With Internet Chat, even more
so.  I've heard that this was on IRC, then on some X-World thing,
then moderated, then not, and other chats by invite only.  Also,
schedules previously announced may or may not still be in effect.
Seems to me that, perhaps, the best way to find out about chat
might be to either look up the relevant info on the "Official Bee
Gees Web Experience" at  http://www.beegees.net/ [although I'm
told the chat info there is now out of date, but hey, maybe it's
about to be updated...] or inquire on the aforementioned e-mail
subscription mailing lists.  Once everything is clear, I'll try to
update my info here as well.

COMMERCIAL ON-LINE SERVICES:

In other words, AOL and Compu$erve.  Please remember, you have to
JOIN THESE SERVICES to take advantage of their propriatery
resources.   Unlike other internet thingies, you can't just point
to your web browser here and expect it to suddenly cough up
CompuServe fan club forums -- although it is rumored that
CompuServe may eventually make forums available to non-subscribers
on the internet as a pay-per-use feature...

America On-Line:

Well, alright, you've endured twenty-five consecutive busy
signals, modem initialization errors and cyber-bales of junk e-
mail and now you want to get up to speed on the Bee Gees.  Just
pay a visit to the People Connection.  In the "Arts and
Entertainment" area a Bee Gees channel is available for your chat-
room pleasure on Wednesday nights at 9:30 PM, Eastern Standard
Time (New York time).

Kathy Gray also urges me to "include information on the Bee Gees
bulletin boards available on AOL.  To get there, use Keyword: MMC
(to get to the Music Message Center), then click on 'Artists A -
F,' then click on 'Bee Gees.'"  Thanks, Kathy!

CompuServe:

Just use the CompuServe GO command to GO BEEGEES (WINCIM users,
click the stoplight icon and type BEEGEES in the dialog box).
This will place you in the Fan Club B forum, which has a section
dedicated to the Bee Gees, including a messages area and file
library. Among the items in the library are JPEGS and GIFS of
album covers and promotional photos.  You can also find several
text files in the library, including a recent CompuServe
conference with John Merchant of Middle Ear studio.

In addition to the Fan Club forum, you can access other CompuServe
goodies to keep you informed on Bee Gee bulletins and album info.

* GO POLYGRAM takes you to the Polygram CompuServe site, which
gives album release info.   There was a nice site for the Bee Gees
under April releases, despite the fact that nothing was released
in April...

* GO ALLMUSIC takes you to the All-Music Guide, where you can look
up such things as the catalog numbers for albums of those Latin
pop duos that Barry keeps singing with (see FAQ part 2) and all
available covers of Gibb composition "Gilbert Green" (one, so
far).

* CompuServe's Executive News Service enables you to get press
releases and other wire service articles selected for your
perusal.  Follow the instructions in the Executive News Service,
and use as news search keywords BEE GEES, BARRY GIBB, ROBIN GIBB,
MAURICE GIBB and ANDY GIBB.  If you like, you can also create a
second news folder with the keywords ROBERT STIGWOOD, POLYDOR,
ARIF MARDIN, KARL RICHARDSON, ALBHY GALUTEN or whatever.  The
Executive News Service carries with it per-minute charges IN
ADDITION TO CompuServe's usual exorbitant hourly rates.  So read
the help file on charges and usage carefully, and for crying out
loud, DON'T GET UP FOR A CUP OF COFFEE while logged on to the
Executive News Service!  You've been warned...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Responses to FAQ: Send responses and comments to David Garcia at
garc@compuserve.com or post to the mailing lists if you are a
subscriber.

Special thanks to the following for their kind assistance in
producing this FAQ:

Renee Schreiber, Joe Brennan, Chris Mathis, Bette Hanson, Lynn
Lyda, Antonette Daniar, Jill Thompson, "Imran C.", Joey Spain, Ed
Vlasov, Melody Ishiwata, "Kevin M.", Doug "Doug in MO" Shannon,
Jimmy Wade, Goran Gustafsson, Juan Perea, Grant Walters, "Tony",
"Mike", Lucas Broer, Joel K. Ashby, "Di", Marty Hogan, Rhonda J.
Platania, Anne Simpson, Al Collum III, Elliott A. Jacobowitz, Sue
Thompson, Kathy Gray and her friend in France, Ruth Burcaw, "BG
Pixie" CBolitiski, Ann M. Richardson, Marcel Troost, Daniel
Navarro, Doug "Doug in TX" Wilson, Phongsak Suppattarachai,
"Marion from (today's climate here) Germany", Colin Harris, Greg
Luther, Helio Takahashi, Douwe Dijkstra, Diane Weidenkopf, Robert
Phan, Karen Liew, Ron Ramirez, Jay Siekierski, Alan Dail, Joan
Furilla, Jan Carnell, "Amy on AOL", Udo Muellner, Park Duk-Hyeon,
Joseph Yellin, Tom Fini and many others (to whom I apologize for
their accidental omission)