1- Name - Surname - Nickname - age - city - country
?
My name is Tom Rose and my nick is "Stagefright". That has its roots back
in my history as a frequent user of quake2 gaming rooms on heat.net. Although:
no one ever called me that way away from a computer. I´m 33 (Seems I´m the
granddaddy here) and I currently live with my girlfriend in a small town called
Schwalmtal which is sort of between Mönchengladbach and Cologne. I have no
kids (yet).
2- What did you do for living?
I´m co-owner of a Webconsulting and -design Company in Mönchengladbach. My
companion and me have 5 employees and we have lots of fun together. You can
see our works at www.wfp2.com. We do a lot of Business-2-Business Websites
& Portals which don´t have to look great but to work perfectly in the first
place. I always feel a little sorry when I watch you guys (fbien and Martin)
being so intensively creative - and doing such great jobs!
3- Sting or Police?
My first encounter with Sting was "message in a bottle" when I was 11 or 12.
I loved it right away and my dad allowed me to stay up all night when a live
Gig of the Police was broadcasted on german Television (I was damn proud that
I could do that but - I fell asleep). The Soul Cages really influenced me
as a human being and as a listener to music. So it´s definitely Sting.
4- When did you start to collect Sting items and why?
I started collecting back in 1991 when I bought my 1st CD-Single - that was
"All this time". I remember driving in my car when I first heard that song
- and I was fascinated right away. Bought the single, bought the album and
had a great time with it then. I connect a lot of very happy personal memories
with that album - which i began to love over the years. The Soul Cages is
the Soundtrack of a very great part of my life - that´s why I am a collector.
Due to constant lack of money I wasn´t able to collect seriously until 1997-1998
I guess. And when I discovered ebay, my collection doubled, tripled, multiplied,
exploded.
5- What did you collect (everything, just CD, vinyl.)?
I don´t collect Police or Vinyl just CDs. Although i´m into collecting officials,
promos and stuff in the first place i´m collecting everything around the soul
cages. i´m a lucky owner of about 30-40 sting shows which could definitely
be more. but when i have to decide between an official and a bootleg - i always
take the official. I´m also proud owner of a quite large sheryl crow collection
and a not so large peter gabriel collection (only cds).
6- What is the item your are the proudest to have?
the item i´m proudest to have is honestly the soul cages limited edition
german digipak because it took me so long and such an intensive search to
get it. my all time second is the soul cages uk jukebpox promo.
7- What is the item your definitely want top have?
there are many items i definitely want to have. top of the list is the fragile
bedroom rocker´s remix cd-r. nevertheless my desire to acquire new sting
items has been significantly lowered because of the musical disaster of the
last two studio albums. i just don´t like the music anymore. and it´s
hard to spend hundreds of dollars on stuff you don´t even like, isn´t
it?
8- What is your best remember about Sting and/or collecting?
I don´t know...I guess it´s that you meet so many nice people like you fbien
:-D. I mean only through collecting, the Internet, share your love for that
music with others who are even crazier than yourself (again like you fb :-)).
When I discovered the Soul Cages album in a store that´s a thing I won´t forget,
too. But there are a lot of these great moments. My 1st visit to a record
fair for example. Which is still my preferred way of buying sting.
9- How many time did you see sting/Police live?
Whoa, that´s difficult (remember - I´m 33) once on the dream of the blue turtles
tour (The concert in Essen/Germany w/o Branford Marsalis - his wife was having
a baby that night), 3 times soul cages, 3 times ten summoner´s travels, 3
times mercury falling tour and once on the bnd tour.
10- Your 5 favourites songs /your order of preference
of the album?
That´s not easy either
1.: why should i cry for you?
2.: the pirate´s bride
3.: the wild wild sea
4.: end of the game
5.: this cowboy song extended remix
11- list the 7 Sting studio album (or police ones if you prefer police) in
order of preference
1.: the soul cages
2.: mercury falling
3.: ten summoner´s tales
4.: the dream of the blue turtles
5.: nothing like the sun
6.: brand new day
7.: sacred love
12- what other sting recording is a MUST for you (unplugged,
acoustic concert, non album songs...) ?
I love the acoustic-concerts of the soul cages era, the best in my view are
the 2cd montreux recordings. my favourite of the non official albums is the
40th birthday anniversary concert in new york because of the wonderful version
of why should i cry for you. among my other favorites are the 96 paradiso-nights
because of the extended and exiting setlist and the 94 miyazaki-show with
the stunning "take me to the sunshine".
13- what is your favourite tour and why?
my favourite tours are soul cages and ten summoner´s tales because a
4 piece band is enough for this great music. the lineup produced lots of straightforward
beats and was the most vivid of all sting bands - i think david sancious is
second to no keyboarder in the world and colaiuta´s driving beats give
more credit to the songs than manu katché - who´s the finer drummer
but maybe a little too sensitive for these tours. his style fits peter gabriel´s
music much better.
14- what is your favourite album or single cover ?
it´s the soul cages burlap & twine promo because there´s no
match to this sensitive adaption of the music into a fine design.
15- if it was not Sting, who would it be?
if i wouldn´t collect sting i´d probably put more effort in my
sheryl crow collection. or del amitri, who produce much finer promos or peter
gabriel, who has a quarter of sting´s output - so it wouldn´t
be so expensive.
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