[EDITORIAL NOTE: Brian’s letter to The Queen Fan Club Summer magazine, which he would like to share with readers here. Join The Queen Fan Club HERE for all the advantages of exclusive content and news and info, Conventions, events….. and friends.]
18 June 2011
Hi Folks
All is busy here at Queen headquarters (wherever that might be!!!) We had a great celebration for the 9th Anniversary of the ‘Mother Ship’ of We Will Rock You in the Dominion. I managed to whip my old bones into action to make an ‘apparition’ – and it all went off in very jolly fashion .. thanks to many of you … the dedicated … who were there to make a noise! Not long ago I come back from Aberdeen where we made a similar great splash – I always enjoy becoming part of the WWRY Company for a night. It never gets old. And the three-week run in Aberdeen has broken all records in the city for ticket sales. So right now we have two VERY thriving companies thrashing out We Will Rock You, just in the UK … WWRY overseas is yet another story … also in great shape. More of that later … but we are thankful grateful and blessed!
There is so much going on to honour Queen’s 40th, I cannot keep up. But it’s all good. Meanwhile I have been out touring and having great fun with my singing colleague Kerry Ellis and the Anthems Ensemble band .. all of whom I greatly proud of ! thanks to all of you who supported us out there. We have one more gig to do … up in Lincolnshire for the RAF … see you there … it should be a big one. They already treated Kerry and me to a death-defying ride with the Red Arrows. Unbelievable!!! I’m still recovering!
Always more surprises … I am talking to some friends of Roger’s about doing a song at Goodwood! On the 3rd of July for the Festival of Speed. Who knows ! I think it might happen. Plus we do have the Freddie for a Day dinner coming up and a possible TV show … TBA ! I am now off to Tenerife for an interesting STARMUS festival … I get to speak on matters astronomical, and also play with Tangerine Dream … life is never dull !
Stereoscopically I am active, working on some French Devil tissues from the 1860s, and I have now realised an ambition of actually getting into production publishing some (astro) stereo cards under the banner of the London Stereoscopic Company.
And lastly …the animals. Last night [17 June] I played a version of Born Free – a new arrangement I’ve been working on for weeks, and sung by Kerry … it was to honour Virginia McKenna on her 80th birthday. Virginia is the founder of the Born Free Foundation, and boy have they changed the world. She said, in her brilliant speech, describing how little she enjoyed the spotlight on just her, but how much she wanted to spotlight the plight of animals everywhere … “Truly, the World Stinks” … It was quite shocking, but that is how I feel too. Life is only worth living because, to balance all the hideous cruelty out there, there are GOOD people in the world. Who feel, and understand, and care, and take action. And I know, from the response to SAVE-ME that I have had from Queen fans .. there are many of your out there who fully qualify.
Thanks for all your support for everything that I rush around trying to achieve. I am truly grateful and always will be.
Much love
Bri