Post by davidhr on Dec 28, 2008 15:23:08 GMT -5
The last full week of the year ended with a bang for Lara, with several notable events.
Her interview on Brussels TV took place last night. It lasted for 30 minutes; a portion of it can be seen at
www.lesoir.be/special/popup_multimedia/popup_multimedia.phtml?mode=2&obj=20081226_aldente_lafabian
and RochLara has indicated that it should be available on NABBOX tomorrow.
The 30 minute program consisted of an interview over dinner. The interviewer was very well informed, and knew various anecdotes about Lara. According to the reports from those who have seen it, the following points were made:
1) It started with Lara discussing her infancy and the early portion of her career [BTW, this latter topic is also a focus of the newest Farfallina];
2) She talked about Pierre, as both her father and also as an artist himself.
3) They discussed her house in Brussels, and that she loves to cook.
4) The interviewer brought up the criticism that Lara has received over the years; she apparently is still quite upset about it.
5) As shown in the extract available, they discussed her experiences with her English albums, and the fate of “A Wonderful Life” (Lara indicating that politics intervened).
6) Lara would like to do a song with Celine Dion; she also still has a theater project in mind.
7) Concerning the new album, Lara said, “TLFM exists in 3 languages for the moment, it exists in English it is called "Every women in Me", there is a selection that exists. It also exists in Italian.”
Interviewer: “Is this 3 different albums?”
Lara: “This is 3 volumes”.
Interviewer: “They will appear in time?”
Lara: “Yes.”
Obviously, this last aspect evokes the greatest interest, with people wondering whether the album’s delay may be because it will now be a 3 CD set, covering all three languages. But Lara’s meaning was not clear – perhaps the other two CDs are planned to be released subsequently. None of this can be taken all that seriously, given Lara’s predictions concerning a ‘multilingual’ album and an ‘Italian album’, neither of which has ever surfaced. But it would be nice to dream…
The other big news this week concerned the opening of the new website (at least the French version),
www.larafabian.com
It is functioning parallel to the old website – except that Lara has added a new message to the new site that has not been reproduced on the old. Presumably the old one will be left to wither and die, or be closed entirely at some point. In her message (which at this time has not been translated) she notes she wanted to provide something new (cybernautically speaking) before the end of the year. She also notes that the new album is now scheduled to be released sometime between mid-March and mid-April, which is a further delay from the March 9th date. It’s certainly not impossible that additional delays will arise as well. (How this relates, if at all, to the possibility of the English and Italian versions is again unclear. In the latest Farfallina, as well as in this new message, Lara indicated that the delay was due to the search for perfection, both musically and vocally, so as to provide as great an homage as possible to the original singers and songs. Nothing was said about additional CDs…)
Concerning the new site, the forum and most of the other sections are for the moment still the ones from the old site, to which you are transferred. There are now video extracts available in the Discography DVD/videos section, a definite upgrade from the old version. But as in all Lara’s dealings with the public, the effort made only goes so far. There is no official word on the old site that the new site has opened - not a good beginning. (Were people expected to find that out for themselves?) In a sign of hoped-for comprehension, included in the video list is the VHS tape of “From Lara With Love” (which we know was never released); however, the extract shown of ‘Broken Vow’ is not from that show at all, but from “Tout Lara Fabian”. The CD listings also have extracts (unfortunately, all references to “La Difference” are omitted - maybe that is the legal ruling). It is good to see the new site, which Lara said is meant to honor and welcome the new album, but the major question is whether more attention will be given the interactions with the fans, and that remains to be seen.
In other news, Farfallina 12 is now showing up around Europe. For those who would like to see it, scans of it (as well as all the other Farfallinas) are available at:
lhttp://larafabian-rus.narod.ru/magazine_farfallina_12.html
In it, Lara mentions that her special TV program on the Rights of Women will be broadcast March 8th. It will also include other important female personages.
Mario Frangoulis’ latest album is now available, containing his wonderful duet with Lara of “All Alone Am I”. It is still not available on Itunes or amazon.com for those wishing to download just that one song.
This last News Update of the year concludes with the ‘Year in Review’. Obviously, this is a personal assessment; undoubtedly, it would look quite different if Lara were to be writing it!
Year in review 2008
Towards the end of the ‘Year in review’ for 2007, the question arose as to how many of Lara’s plans would come to fruition in 2008. We now know that 2008 was close to being a lost year for Lara’s career, with little, as of yet, to show for any of the actual work she did in the recording studio.
To some extent, this was to be expected. The birth of Lara’s child in November 2007 had presaged a year in which she would devote much of her effort to maternal duties; she had, after all, yearned for a child (publicly) for at least the last decade. She has also been haunted by the spectacle of her child growing up with an ‘absentee’ mother, and had indicated she had every intention of avoiding that. In this sense, Lara got her wish: during the whole of 2008 she gave (by my count) just 9 public concerts (and two private ones), including the concert for fans in Brussels at which she did not actually sing. Another staple of previous years, Live TV performances, was completely absent, though she was shown about 8 times from past performances. She had no new albums of her own, but was included on 3 albums from other artists, and also the Night of the Proms CD/DVD. Her record company did re-release three of her albums as a 3 CD set, and also provided shorter versions of her Live albums.
In contrast to this year’s meager professional resume, Lara was in the press numerous times, mostly associated with rumors that for one reason or another, did not come true. Similarly, most of the space on this year’s “News Updates” was associated with events that did not happen. Lara was the victim of two extended sets of what appear to be malicious rumors, both initiated by press releases claiming to be from Universal Records. In the first, she apparently was to appear in a theatre production in the summer, which was to be preceded by numerous public appearances in June. In the second, she was supposed to release an album of new songs in the fall, preceded by a new single right after the summer holidays. Both sets of rumors contained many believable specifics (as any good cons should), and were picked up by numerous media outlets. Lara herself debunked the first set, and her website ended up denying the second, but in both cases their delay in responding caused many people to be misled.
Events did not happen for other reasons as well. Lara was ‘dis-invited’ to the one-year memorial concert honoring Pavrotti’s death in September. The official site explained that it was because only opera singers would take part, but when the event actually occurred, that proved not to be true. Lara herself cancelled concerts in Reunion Island in October, two charity events in November, and at least two more events in December (including a Star Academy show), all in conjunction with the cancelled promotion of her new album originally planned for early December.
On the positive side, whenever Lara did appear, she sang wonderfully. Highlights included her concerts with Mario Frangoulis, in which she not only excelled, but she sang many different types of songs, including one in Greek. Another highlight was her excellent performance in Paris at the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding, and here she also sang a song in Hebrew. Although it took place in 2007, her performances from the NOTP tour shown on Belgian TV were amazing. She is still at the top of her form. As the year progressed, she lost the weight associated with childbirth, and looked great as well.
But from a public relations point of view there were many negatives, as indicated by the increasingly rancorous comments left by her own fans on the official site forum. By the end of the year Lara and her people was being routinely criticized, leading to the censoring of many of the messages. Among the chief points of contention was that the official site had become increasingly non-responsive, failing to answer basic questions or give information on upcoming events, being slow to debunk rumors, and basically showing little respect for the fans. In addition, it was reported that Lara had made paid appearance at private parties, while she was cancelling appearances at charity events simply because her album promotion had been delayed. Lara’s return with a new album of reprises also elicited criticism, both due to her failure to write new songs, as well as what many perceived to be lackluster singing. [As Alex put in on Laradom, “Lara has systematically avoided using her powerful chest voice and vibrato, preferring to find refuge in phrasing and style”. Undoubtedly this is the result of the criticism she received earlier in her career for her singing style. Apparently, in her recent interview on Belgian TV, she showed she was still sensitive to this criticism.] The fans’ complaints about the upcoming album were also heard/felt by the head of Universal, leading to a four-plus month postponement of the album’s release.
The rumors and Lara’s inactivity had consequences for her on the web. Several of the more prominent private websites closed, with less-than complimentary remarks about Lara and her ‘people’, while those still in business showed greatly reduced activity. However, her new website, meant at least partly to publicize the new album, did open just before the end of the year, and showed that some effort was being made to boost her career.
One area that undoubtedly provided Lara great personal satisfaction, the first year of life for her daughter Lou, proved another source of dissatisfaction with some fans. Unlike other celebrities, Lara has been highly protective of the child, refusing to discuss her in any of her communications (including in quarterly Farfallinas), and trying to keep all pictures of her out of public view. For those fans who took Lara at her word when she told them how much she loved them, refusing to share this important aspect of her life made her seem unaccountably distant. And it was in direct contrast with Lara’s keeping them up-to-date during the pregnancy itself. Perhaps the ridicule she received in some quarters for that ‘closeness’, sparked the opposite response on her part.
Lara has complained for years (most recently in her Belgian TV interview) that she’s been unfairly criticized in the press, and in many respects that is true – the dislike of her singing too powerfully, for example. And all of the fans’ complaints on her website could be classified in the same way. We can imagine her defense: the false rumors weren’t her fault; she was simply protecting her child, rather than exploiting her; she had to cancel the charity concerts perhaps because she needed to work on the album, while the private concerts were at more convenient times; the lack of response on the official site to even basic questions was due to the failure of the people she had hired…And to be fair, many fans did back her with such explanations. However, all these issues would have been easily cleared up with better communication, and that is her responsibility.
The year contained other contentiousness aspects for Lara, in this case in the courts. Rick Allison sued her for withholding royalties from their songs. Lara sued the real estate company in Quebec for mishandling the property she bought from them. And when “Voici” did manage to capture Lara and the child in a picture, Lara sued them for showing the child’s face.
All of this proved fodder for the press; so while Lara was largely out of sight as far as her musical activities were concerned, she was not out of mind. It is said that no publicity is truly bad as long as it keeps celebrities on the front pages. For Lara’s sake, let’s hope that’s so.
In summary, then, 2008 was the worst year of Lara’s professional career, but the establishment of a family probably brought her much personal happiness.
There are some reasons to be hopeful about 2009. As noted earlier in the update, Lara closed the year in a more public fashion. Her interview on Brussels TV was the first such in over a year. And her new website opened, with some thought having been put into it (we will see how well it is run). These events suggest that her career is still of concern to her, which some fans had begun to doubt. Her program on the “Rights of Women” will probably air March 8th,, providing her much-needed publicity. That was also intended to be a lead-in to the new album, although with the latest postponement, to the mid-March –mid-April time frame, it will no longer be quite as effective. In the Brussels TV interview, she suggested that there would be three CDs of “Tous les femmes en moi” – in French, English and Italian; it’s not clear whether the latter two are intended to be follow-ups or released simultaneously (probably the former). We will see how much of that comes to fruition. A tour has been noted for the fall of 2009 – if it and the album(s) are successful, 2008 will be quickly forgotten.
Lara still has great talent and attractiveness, and along with her sparkling personality and wit, she can transport her audience. In the past, these attributes have often managed to overwhelm her habitual public relations debacles, but in 2008 they were not frequently enough on display. If she has the desire to refurbish her career, she can do it, as a singer at least. [Her best songwriting took place with a partner, and there’s no obvious candidate; furthermore, with most of her dreams and ambitions having come to pass, does she still have anything to write about?] As with all of us, her future depends on what she really wants. We’ll see what 2009 brings; knowing Lara, we can be sure it will be interesting.
David
ps- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Her interview on Brussels TV took place last night. It lasted for 30 minutes; a portion of it can be seen at
www.lesoir.be/special/popup_multimedia/popup_multimedia.phtml?mode=2&obj=20081226_aldente_lafabian
and RochLara has indicated that it should be available on NABBOX tomorrow.
The 30 minute program consisted of an interview over dinner. The interviewer was very well informed, and knew various anecdotes about Lara. According to the reports from those who have seen it, the following points were made:
1) It started with Lara discussing her infancy and the early portion of her career [BTW, this latter topic is also a focus of the newest Farfallina];
2) She talked about Pierre, as both her father and also as an artist himself.
3) They discussed her house in Brussels, and that she loves to cook.
4) The interviewer brought up the criticism that Lara has received over the years; she apparently is still quite upset about it.
5) As shown in the extract available, they discussed her experiences with her English albums, and the fate of “A Wonderful Life” (Lara indicating that politics intervened).
6) Lara would like to do a song with Celine Dion; she also still has a theater project in mind.
7) Concerning the new album, Lara said, “TLFM exists in 3 languages for the moment, it exists in English it is called "Every women in Me", there is a selection that exists. It also exists in Italian.”
Interviewer: “Is this 3 different albums?”
Lara: “This is 3 volumes”.
Interviewer: “They will appear in time?”
Lara: “Yes.”
Obviously, this last aspect evokes the greatest interest, with people wondering whether the album’s delay may be because it will now be a 3 CD set, covering all three languages. But Lara’s meaning was not clear – perhaps the other two CDs are planned to be released subsequently. None of this can be taken all that seriously, given Lara’s predictions concerning a ‘multilingual’ album and an ‘Italian album’, neither of which has ever surfaced. But it would be nice to dream…
The other big news this week concerned the opening of the new website (at least the French version),
www.larafabian.com
It is functioning parallel to the old website – except that Lara has added a new message to the new site that has not been reproduced on the old. Presumably the old one will be left to wither and die, or be closed entirely at some point. In her message (which at this time has not been translated) she notes she wanted to provide something new (cybernautically speaking) before the end of the year. She also notes that the new album is now scheduled to be released sometime between mid-March and mid-April, which is a further delay from the March 9th date. It’s certainly not impossible that additional delays will arise as well. (How this relates, if at all, to the possibility of the English and Italian versions is again unclear. In the latest Farfallina, as well as in this new message, Lara indicated that the delay was due to the search for perfection, both musically and vocally, so as to provide as great an homage as possible to the original singers and songs. Nothing was said about additional CDs…)
Concerning the new site, the forum and most of the other sections are for the moment still the ones from the old site, to which you are transferred. There are now video extracts available in the Discography DVD/videos section, a definite upgrade from the old version. But as in all Lara’s dealings with the public, the effort made only goes so far. There is no official word on the old site that the new site has opened - not a good beginning. (Were people expected to find that out for themselves?) In a sign of hoped-for comprehension, included in the video list is the VHS tape of “From Lara With Love” (which we know was never released); however, the extract shown of ‘Broken Vow’ is not from that show at all, but from “Tout Lara Fabian”. The CD listings also have extracts (unfortunately, all references to “La Difference” are omitted - maybe that is the legal ruling). It is good to see the new site, which Lara said is meant to honor and welcome the new album, but the major question is whether more attention will be given the interactions with the fans, and that remains to be seen.
In other news, Farfallina 12 is now showing up around Europe. For those who would like to see it, scans of it (as well as all the other Farfallinas) are available at:
lhttp://larafabian-rus.narod.ru/magazine_farfallina_12.html
In it, Lara mentions that her special TV program on the Rights of Women will be broadcast March 8th. It will also include other important female personages.
Mario Frangoulis’ latest album is now available, containing his wonderful duet with Lara of “All Alone Am I”. It is still not available on Itunes or amazon.com for those wishing to download just that one song.
This last News Update of the year concludes with the ‘Year in Review’. Obviously, this is a personal assessment; undoubtedly, it would look quite different if Lara were to be writing it!
Year in review 2008
Towards the end of the ‘Year in review’ for 2007, the question arose as to how many of Lara’s plans would come to fruition in 2008. We now know that 2008 was close to being a lost year for Lara’s career, with little, as of yet, to show for any of the actual work she did in the recording studio.
To some extent, this was to be expected. The birth of Lara’s child in November 2007 had presaged a year in which she would devote much of her effort to maternal duties; she had, after all, yearned for a child (publicly) for at least the last decade. She has also been haunted by the spectacle of her child growing up with an ‘absentee’ mother, and had indicated she had every intention of avoiding that. In this sense, Lara got her wish: during the whole of 2008 she gave (by my count) just 9 public concerts (and two private ones), including the concert for fans in Brussels at which she did not actually sing. Another staple of previous years, Live TV performances, was completely absent, though she was shown about 8 times from past performances. She had no new albums of her own, but was included on 3 albums from other artists, and also the Night of the Proms CD/DVD. Her record company did re-release three of her albums as a 3 CD set, and also provided shorter versions of her Live albums.
In contrast to this year’s meager professional resume, Lara was in the press numerous times, mostly associated with rumors that for one reason or another, did not come true. Similarly, most of the space on this year’s “News Updates” was associated with events that did not happen. Lara was the victim of two extended sets of what appear to be malicious rumors, both initiated by press releases claiming to be from Universal Records. In the first, she apparently was to appear in a theatre production in the summer, which was to be preceded by numerous public appearances in June. In the second, she was supposed to release an album of new songs in the fall, preceded by a new single right after the summer holidays. Both sets of rumors contained many believable specifics (as any good cons should), and were picked up by numerous media outlets. Lara herself debunked the first set, and her website ended up denying the second, but in both cases their delay in responding caused many people to be misled.
Events did not happen for other reasons as well. Lara was ‘dis-invited’ to the one-year memorial concert honoring Pavrotti’s death in September. The official site explained that it was because only opera singers would take part, but when the event actually occurred, that proved not to be true. Lara herself cancelled concerts in Reunion Island in October, two charity events in November, and at least two more events in December (including a Star Academy show), all in conjunction with the cancelled promotion of her new album originally planned for early December.
On the positive side, whenever Lara did appear, she sang wonderfully. Highlights included her concerts with Mario Frangoulis, in which she not only excelled, but she sang many different types of songs, including one in Greek. Another highlight was her excellent performance in Paris at the 60th anniversary of Israel’s founding, and here she also sang a song in Hebrew. Although it took place in 2007, her performances from the NOTP tour shown on Belgian TV were amazing. She is still at the top of her form. As the year progressed, she lost the weight associated with childbirth, and looked great as well.
But from a public relations point of view there were many negatives, as indicated by the increasingly rancorous comments left by her own fans on the official site forum. By the end of the year Lara and her people was being routinely criticized, leading to the censoring of many of the messages. Among the chief points of contention was that the official site had become increasingly non-responsive, failing to answer basic questions or give information on upcoming events, being slow to debunk rumors, and basically showing little respect for the fans. In addition, it was reported that Lara had made paid appearance at private parties, while she was cancelling appearances at charity events simply because her album promotion had been delayed. Lara’s return with a new album of reprises also elicited criticism, both due to her failure to write new songs, as well as what many perceived to be lackluster singing. [As Alex put in on Laradom, “Lara has systematically avoided using her powerful chest voice and vibrato, preferring to find refuge in phrasing and style”. Undoubtedly this is the result of the criticism she received earlier in her career for her singing style. Apparently, in her recent interview on Belgian TV, she showed she was still sensitive to this criticism.] The fans’ complaints about the upcoming album were also heard/felt by the head of Universal, leading to a four-plus month postponement of the album’s release.
The rumors and Lara’s inactivity had consequences for her on the web. Several of the more prominent private websites closed, with less-than complimentary remarks about Lara and her ‘people’, while those still in business showed greatly reduced activity. However, her new website, meant at least partly to publicize the new album, did open just before the end of the year, and showed that some effort was being made to boost her career.
One area that undoubtedly provided Lara great personal satisfaction, the first year of life for her daughter Lou, proved another source of dissatisfaction with some fans. Unlike other celebrities, Lara has been highly protective of the child, refusing to discuss her in any of her communications (including in quarterly Farfallinas), and trying to keep all pictures of her out of public view. For those fans who took Lara at her word when she told them how much she loved them, refusing to share this important aspect of her life made her seem unaccountably distant. And it was in direct contrast with Lara’s keeping them up-to-date during the pregnancy itself. Perhaps the ridicule she received in some quarters for that ‘closeness’, sparked the opposite response on her part.
Lara has complained for years (most recently in her Belgian TV interview) that she’s been unfairly criticized in the press, and in many respects that is true – the dislike of her singing too powerfully, for example. And all of the fans’ complaints on her website could be classified in the same way. We can imagine her defense: the false rumors weren’t her fault; she was simply protecting her child, rather than exploiting her; she had to cancel the charity concerts perhaps because she needed to work on the album, while the private concerts were at more convenient times; the lack of response on the official site to even basic questions was due to the failure of the people she had hired…And to be fair, many fans did back her with such explanations. However, all these issues would have been easily cleared up with better communication, and that is her responsibility.
The year contained other contentiousness aspects for Lara, in this case in the courts. Rick Allison sued her for withholding royalties from their songs. Lara sued the real estate company in Quebec for mishandling the property she bought from them. And when “Voici” did manage to capture Lara and the child in a picture, Lara sued them for showing the child’s face.
All of this proved fodder for the press; so while Lara was largely out of sight as far as her musical activities were concerned, she was not out of mind. It is said that no publicity is truly bad as long as it keeps celebrities on the front pages. For Lara’s sake, let’s hope that’s so.
In summary, then, 2008 was the worst year of Lara’s professional career, but the establishment of a family probably brought her much personal happiness.
There are some reasons to be hopeful about 2009. As noted earlier in the update, Lara closed the year in a more public fashion. Her interview on Brussels TV was the first such in over a year. And her new website opened, with some thought having been put into it (we will see how well it is run). These events suggest that her career is still of concern to her, which some fans had begun to doubt. Her program on the “Rights of Women” will probably air March 8th,, providing her much-needed publicity. That was also intended to be a lead-in to the new album, although with the latest postponement, to the mid-March –mid-April time frame, it will no longer be quite as effective. In the Brussels TV interview, she suggested that there would be three CDs of “Tous les femmes en moi” – in French, English and Italian; it’s not clear whether the latter two are intended to be follow-ups or released simultaneously (probably the former). We will see how much of that comes to fruition. A tour has been noted for the fall of 2009 – if it and the album(s) are successful, 2008 will be quickly forgotten.
Lara still has great talent and attractiveness, and along with her sparkling personality and wit, she can transport her audience. In the past, these attributes have often managed to overwhelm her habitual public relations debacles, but in 2008 they were not frequently enough on display. If she has the desire to refurbish her career, she can do it, as a singer at least. [Her best songwriting took place with a partner, and there’s no obvious candidate; furthermore, with most of her dreams and ambitions having come to pass, does she still have anything to write about?] As with all of us, her future depends on what she really wants. We’ll see what 2009 brings; knowing Lara, we can be sure it will be interesting.
David
ps- HAPPY NEW YEAR!
