The Cure: Classic or Dud?

As I mentioned, they've long since reestablished their friendship, and near the end of the book Lol talks about calling Robert up a couple of years back and telling him he was working on the book. It's not said but it's implied Robert might have contributed to it just in terms of reconfirming some memories, and Robert's thanked near the start of the acknowledgements along with Michael Dempsey.

So basically, yes, I suspect he will read it. It's an extremely sympathetic portrayal of Robert throughout. If anything it's very notable that Lol draws contrasts throughout between Robert's very happy upbringing and his own emotionally fraught family situation; Lol's dad comes in for a LOT of criticism, though he tries to understand him from a distance as well.

Pearl Thompson

When your fandom of RPDR and The Cure collide :-)

Haha!

You know, the two Pearls should meet up and rock out, I'd pay money.

I can see it, given he's wearing even more make-up than she is these days!

was thinking i've never seen porl's name written that way so i googled it and i guess that's his real name

Yeah, he's changed his name again. Paul -> Porl -> Pearl.

It's honestly unclear to me whether Pearl's transitioned or just renamed. I had thought the former.

I thought it was only a stage-name change. Wikipedia still uses "he" and "him", but that doesn't mean it's accurate.

Now I want them all to change their names to Roxxxy Smith, Sharon Gallup, Raja O'Donnell, Latrice Williams, Jaidynn Cooper, Laila Tolhurst and Phi-Phi Bamonte.

"Good luck...and if you must fuck it up, do so with a weird arrangement circa The Top."

Yes gawd!!

Isn't he married to Robert Smith's sister?

IIRC Simon is married to Robert's sister.

i actually think Turrican is right. i remember reading that Porl is the one married to Robert's sister. that is why he always came back because he was around the family.

thanks for this Ned, some great stuff.

Would read. Thanks Ned.

Paul/Porl/Pearl was married to Robert's sister, making them brothers-in-law for many years. That changed a few years back when Porl became Pearl, got divorced and sold all of his music gear to pursue painting.

Yeah thats it. Not sure if divorce was ever announched but it seemed kind of implied that was the reason why Porl/Pearl left the band in 2008.

Hmm. Maybe he is transitioning, then!

https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upload/2015/03/2015-02-03-pearl-thompson-the-cure.jpg

Boris's old house (the one in the pictures on Roger O'Donnell's page) is up for sale if anyone's got £1.5m to spare.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNTwS9aaWA

Robert must've paid him really well.

Well the split songwriting credits he shared during the band's biggest commercial moments that have also resulted in regular royalties didn't hurt. Tolhurst mentions a couple of times in the book that Smith's very practical with band finances -- he specifically credits him with setting it up so band advances were banked and turned into weekly wage money that would give them something to live on in the early days. Meanwhile, when the whole nineties court case was discussed -- Tolhurst pretty much confesses it was all down to his bad judgment to stretch it out into what it became, and that the resetting of the band contract in 1986 that removed him from full partnership was something he 1) did fully agree to and 2) was done because he was rapidly turning into a liability -- he tells a story, presumably one he got from Robert himself, that Robert's dad asked him, "Well have you been paying Laurence all this time?" and Smith went "Of course I have!" (Which is exactly what the court agreed.)

I wonder what Boris has been up to all this time - apart from that small band with his wife in the 90's it seems he's quit music altogether.

Man I don't blame the guy for relaxing. Nice work if you can get it.

Looks like he played with Shelleyan Orphan again a few years back:

http://curefans.com/curenews/boris-williams-update/

got to read about 3/4 of lol's book at work today. it's really good, a lot more put together, coherent and thoughtful than i was expecting for some reason. he really does seem to hold robert in v high regard artistically and personally and professionally. the 17 secs/pornography stuff is really good.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/18/lol-thomson-cure-small-towns-interview-cured-book

I'm curious how much he goes into their musical influences, something which has always seemed a bit obscured or hard to pin down

He definitely brings up a few points of early inspiration -- Bowie on TOTP, etc. He also specifically credits them seeing Wire around 1978 or so as a big influence on how to do one's own thing.

robert always talks about loving jimi hendrix lol

Yeah, they were definitely into Jimi Hendrix very early on (pre-first LP, although they later did 'Foxy Lady') although I remember hearing they liked stuff like Thin Lizzy too.

Oh yeah, Robert's on record as saying Piledriver by Status Quo was an early influence on him.

robert recently picked his top 30 of the 80s and he had some good commentary about why he picked what he did

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2009/05/30/the-cure-robert-smith-top-30-songs-80s-sirius-xm-1st-wave-countdown/

oh guess that was a long time ago but they just replayed it

this is great stuff, going to have to look into this book. Lol in Los Angeles is pretty cool, i knew he DJ's every once in awhile but didn't know he lived here.

I would prefer getting this on kindle but i'm curious about the photos - worth getting the print version?

Only about 7 or8 pages of photos iirc some of which you've probably seen before ie Robert's wedding photo. There is a picture of lol with John hurt where lol looks "soul zapped" and one of lol+ his son + Robert. Kindle version is the way to go I think.

You mean this photo?
http://oi8.tinypic.com/w6vy89.jpg

No, it's outside the chapel. Robert in a suit Mary in a wedding dress + 3 or 4 band members incl Lol.

[Malware link removed]

New interview

http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1303-the-cures-lol-tolhurst-on-blackouts-breakups-and-escaping-the-80s-alive/

thanks for the link Ned.

Totally going to have to read this book.

Lol seems like a genuinely good guy these days.

the cure tickets for the concert in berlin on october 18th sell for 169 €. is that a normal price to see them live these days?

Not really. Vienna is €66.

Whatever I do its never enough..
Pfft tm tm tm tmmm

(Gt hits in the car right now. Alice insisted)

didn't know "Killing an Arab" had been pulled from streaming services

R.I.P. Arab