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Archive-name: music/beegees-faq/part3
Posting-Frequency: monthly (25th of month) Last-modified: 1998/08/25 Maintainer: David Garcia <garc@compuserve.com> See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge
Bee Gees
Frequently Asked Questions
Part Three of Four
August 25, 1998
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. Unfortunately, exposing your e-mail
address to a newsgroup such as alt.music.bee-gees can cause you
to end up with tons of bulk e-mail in your mailbox, simply
because the cyber-nitwits who send out such mailings harvest
e-mail addresses from USENET newsgroups. This is one of the
factors that has led to the much-decried "Decline and fall of
USENET" in general. All things considered, however,
alt.music.bee-gees is still a pretty good newsgroup.
Mailing lists are a fine alternative to spam-ridden
newsgroups, and there are two dedicated to the brothers Gibb,
their music, and careers (and occasionally drifting off into
topics of collectible Bee Gees lunchboxes, which Bee Gee has the
cutest... uhhh... "eyes," etc.)
The "Words" mailing list is a free e-mail subscriber service
that has over 600 dedicated fans, and a daily output of between
30-50k of subscribers posts from around the globe. To subscribe,
send an e-mail message to listserver@bg.wsii.com with a blank
subject line and the message:
subscribe words your@address.here
in the message body. Yes, that's right, where it says
your@address.here substitute your e-mail address.
A second mailing list, the "Spirits Having Flown" list, 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@address.here/YOUR NAME HERE
And, you got it, replace your@address.here with your e-mail
address, and replace YOUR NAME HERE with your real name.
THE WEB:
On March 9th, 1997, 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 once 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/
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.
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, fans'
photos, contests, a collectors' corner (we will now pause to take
a breath), real audio files, up-to-date TV info, a VERY active
message board... essentially, we are talking about a Bee Gees
theme park in cyberspace. Visit it now, before Six Flags takes
it over!
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~iomvc/dpage.htm
Speaking of theme parks, how about a Bee Gees museum? Of
course, if it were up to me, we would just take over the
Guggenheim, dispense with all those needless oil paintings, and
start installing karaoke bars in the rotunda. I've been told
that this is impractical, for reasons that elude me presently, so
perhaps a museum on the Isle of Man -- the indisputable
birthplace of the Bee Gees -- would be suitable. Think so? Stop
by and share your thoughts with a few Manx fellows actively
pursuing the idea...
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.
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 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://www.bgwoc.org/
Diane Weidenkopf's Wind of Change site has nice newspaper
and magazine articles on the Bee Gees. Other goodies too! If
you're curious about Bee Gees bootlegs, for example, you can read
about them here. Not BUY them, mind you, but READ about them (of
course!). 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:
For those who find internet chat to be even better when the
topic is the Bee Gees, consider the IRC channel #bee-gees where
Gibb fans meet on the XWorld server. Open for your chatting
pleasure on Sundays 7pm Eastern, Tuesdays and Thursdays 8pm
Eastern. (Note to those abroad: Eastern is the same as "New York
time," check your handy world clock. You DO have a handy world
clock, or course?)
Special thanks to chat operator Martha Irwin for this
helpful info, and for also suggesting that newbies in need of
killer chat apps consider mIRC shareware chat software, easily
obtained on-line by visiting www.mirc.co.uk.
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, Martha Irvin and many
others (to whom I apologize for their accidental omission)
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