Posted February 2, 200916 yr :teresa: http://www.gigwise.com/news/49086/Heavy-Sn...illiams-Meeting Heavy Snow Scuppers Coldplay, Robbie Williams Meeting It's cancelled... * by Jason Gregory * Monday, February 02, 2009 * Photo by: Splash News / WENN.com # Heavy Snow Scuppers Coldplay, Robbie Williams Meeting Add to My Fav Bands List More Coldplay * Watch Coldplay - 'Life In Technicolor II' The first meeting of the Featured Artists' Coalition, whose members include Coldplay and Robbie Williams, has been cancelled in the wake of heavy snow fall in London. Williams and members of Coldplay, Blur and Radiohead had been expected to attend the event today (February 2nd). The artists are attempting to establish a more powerful voice in order to take advantage of new technologies. Blur's bassist Dave Rowntree told the BBC that by speaking out and “arguing for what's fair, we can help reshape the industry”. He added: "There are a lot of big issues at the moment - the government's Digital Britain green paper, copyright extension and so on. It's no accident that this body is being set up now. "It's absolutely vital that our interests are represented when decisions are made." Kate Nash, MC Master Shortie and Billy Bragg are also part of the coalition.
February 9, 200916 yr I'm loving aliens instead... Robbie Williams thinks they've invaded his home and record bosses are worried about him By PAUL SCOTT Biographer of Robbie Williams Last updated at 11:23 AM on 09th February 2009 As homecomings go, the return to these shores of Robbie Williams could have been better starred. After a six-year sojourn in sunny Beverly Hills, he finds himself at the mercy of a freezing February - and as he never tires of telling his long-suffering staff, Robbie has always hated the British weather with a vengeance. Nor is he finding being mobbed in the streets by his fans or followed around by the ever-present paparazzi any less wearisome than the last time he lived here. Last week, when he attracted a large crowd while out shopping for racing bicycles near his new Wiltshire home, he put on a rather bizarre display, hiding behind dark glasses and a black balaclava. It was left to one of Robbie's minders to issue an impassioned entreaty for him to be left alone, asking the baying fans: 'Is there any chance you could not hassle him so he can have his first day back in peace?' Needless to say, the plea fell on deaf ears. The singer is said by friends to be miserable that his return home has led to a falling-out with his on-off girlfriend of the past 16 months, American actress Ayda Field. She has told him in no uncertain terms that she won't be giving up her budding Hollywood career to live permanently in the UK with him. All in all, Robbie is not exactly thrilled to be back. Although it should be said that coming home is not without its compensations. There is, after all, the small matter of his new £7 million country pile in a Wiltshire village. Set in 71 acres, the 17th-century French- style chateau comes complete with formal gardens, tennis courts, gym, swimming pool complex, eight bedrooms and its own helicopter hangar (an absolute must, of course, for keeping the snow off one's Sikorsky chopper). None of which seems to have lifted the gloom. In fact, sources close to him told me this week that what they were hoping would be an energising and much-needed new start for Robbie has quickly reverted to a rather depressing re-run of his final months in America. Despite encouragement from his friends - like TV presenters Ant and Dec, and more importantly the beseeching calls of his own management team - to accept invitations out to parties and showbiz events, Williams has retreated quickly into his usual hermit-like existence away from prying eyes. Days are spent, just like in Los Angeles, lying in his bed for long parts of the day, surfing the internet on his laptop computer. Somewhat worryingly, friends say that much of his time online is spent trawling avidly through the sort of crackpot American websites that spout half-baked conspiracy theories and anti-government propaganda. One such underground website that Robbie has become a member of is the little-known AboveTopSecret.com, which dresses up gossip and anti-state paranoia as fact for its gullible subscribers. One of its major recent stories involved claims that the imminent changeover to digital TV from analogue is nothing to do with clearer television pictures, but is instead a plot by the U.S. government to 'monitor and record every household in the U.S.' by placing hidden microphones and miniature cameras inside new sets. Another post announces with unswerving certainty that not only can FBI spy satellites see through brick walls into homes, they can also read the minds of citizens and can scan the brains and memories of humans as if they were computers. Robbie, the Mail has learnt, regularly logs on to the website using his codenames 'cyar' and, bizarrely, 'chrisonabike' to chat with other members about his interest in UFOs. Even more bizarrely, he has allowed himself to appear on the site in a taped interview during which he happily discusses what he believes were alien visitations to him while he was living in America. The first incident, he says, involved his seeing a black-and-yellow striped flying saucer that flew over his sunbed as he lay with a friend at night looking at the stars while staying at the plush Beverly Hills Hotel. The other occurred early last year - according to Robbie - when he was with friends in the recording studio attached to his bedroom at his LA home. He claims he was playing a CD of a song he's written about UFOs, called Arizona, when a ball of light appeared over his house. Then he says a black 'negative' light about 3in thick and 20ft long shot into the room through a balcony door, then out through another window. In an attempt to explain what he saw, Robbie finishes the online interview by saying with complete seriousness: 'All this could be government ops - they want to cover it and we might be getting in the way.' How very odd. Hardly surprisingly, such strange musings have reached the ears of the Stoke-born star's worried management team, who have become increasingly concerned that Williams's weird obsessions could damage a career that is already flatlining. Indeed, it is his anxious handlers who have been the prime movers in persuading Robbie to give up Hollywood and its more oddball elements for the relative normality of the UK (though it should be pointed out that his new West Country home is reported to have been chosen by the singer because it is criss-crossed by ancient 'ley lines' - mystical energy routes believed to attract UFOs). Williams, they have decreed, must 'reconnect' with his British audience before the planned release of his next album in the autumn. Not least, it has to be said, because he has seen a worrying drop in his earnings during a break of nearly two years from recording and touring, during which he has indulged his taste for the downright strange. One senior insider at his record company EMI says: 'The plan is for Robbie to be more visible here in an attempt to throw off this notion that he has gone a bit weird while living in LA. 'It's important that he is seen as the cheeky chappie we all know and love rather than some reclusive Howard Hughes character with a beard and odd obsessions.' Indeed, the full extent of his new eccentric tendencies are explained by a hitherto untold story. At the end of last summer Robbie, his girlfriend Miss Field, his minders and a couple of friends set off from LA to the remote Mount Adams in Washington State. There, amid considerable secrecy, they set up camp at the ECETI (Enlightened Contact With Extraterrestrial Intelligence) research centre - an isolated ranch that has become one of the world's most celebrated UFO-spotting sites. For more than a week, Robbie joined other UFO believers photographing and logging what they claim to be alien activity in the night sky above the mountain. During his time there, the singer became friends with the research centre's founder James Gilliland, a 53-year-old former California real estate worker, who claims he started seeing UFOs after nearly drowning while surfing. Bizarrely, Mr Gilliland told me last week: 'Robbie was here when we filmed some large triangle ships going over. The alien spaceships dock inside Mount Adams in a massive underground base, then link up on a nightly basis with craft from other star nations. 'Robbie told me he had his own experiences and coming here reaffirmed what he already knew inside. He was very open to what he was seeing. He really believed he had seen UFOs. 'Ships did appear and he was part of our crew, playing with the instruments and helping us document the activity.' (Mr Gilliland's website carries pictures of the singer, in a Puffa jacket and cap, watching the sky through a telescope with other UFO aficionados). He added: ' Robbie was really inspired and he and his friends created their own little recording studio, did some writing and put together a lot of music while he was here, just sitting around a camp fire and sleeping in a mobile home. 'We kept his visit under wraps and didn't tell anyone he was coming. I think part of it was that Robbie was trying to get the creative juices flowing again. I heard the music he wrote and it was beautiful. He told me his album is going to be inspired by what he saw during his investigations here.' None of which, to more sceptical observers, would seem to augur well for that new album. And despite his reputed £130 million fortune, the former Take That star's finances are in some need of replenishing. Latest accounts filed by Robbie's The In Good Company reveal that his earnings fell by a massive £65 million last year. The singer's income dropped to £3.7 million compared to £69 million the previous year (most of which had come from a year-long world tour in 2006). And after paying himself £5.5 million in wages, his profits slumped from £15.7 million to less than £500,000 after tax. Not that this means he is exactly on his uppers. Nonetheless, Williams is keen that his planned album, which will be the last new studio record he will make before the £80 million deal he signed with EMI in 2002 runs out, is a hit. He will not want a repeat of the disappointing sales and critical mauling that met his last effort, the appallingly titled Rudebox in 2006. So perhaps it is no surprise that after years of ridiculing his former bandmates in Take That (Williams once branded them 'morons' and wrote a gloating song about the demise of bandleader Gary Barlow's solo career on his 2003 album Escapology), Robbie has recently been attempting to hitch his publicity wagon to the staggering success of the once-defunct boyband. There have been hints that he might be preparing to join his four ex-bandmates on stage during their sell-out tour of the UK this summer, most probably for a one-off appearance at the group's final show at Wembley Stadium on July 5. He has even had the band's double-T symbol newly tattooed on his arm. Not that Take That need Robbie. Since reforming in 2005, the band's two albums, Beautiful World and The Circus, have been huge-selling number ones and their planned 2009 tour broke records as the fastest-selling ever with 600,000 tickets sold in just five hours. It is a dramatic reversal of fortunes, and there is said to be disagreement between Take That's existing members - Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Jason Orange - over whether to allow Robbie to share their glory. A source close to the band told me: 'Last year Rob started a bit of a charm offensive on the boys and relations have improved a lot. 'But there is still resentment because of how he stuck the knife in when he was riding high. Some people around the band are quite openly saying they should tell Robbie to get stuffed.' Jason Orange lifted the lid on the internal divisions over Williams - and hinted at concerns over his well-being - when he said recently: 'We have different opinions. It could only be if he was fit and able. Who knows, but let's just say we have differing views on Robbie coming back.' Robbie, who turns 35 on Friday, remains somewhat emotionally fragile, say friends. Two years ago, he announced he was booking into rehab in the U.S. to deal with his addiction to prescription drugs and in the past he has fought a well-documented battle with drink and drugs. A source close to him told me: 'Robbie needs to be in good shape for all the touring and publicity that will come with the new album. 'His manager Tim Clark is also looking to the future. Following this album and a second greatest hits record, he will be touting for a new deal. 'They are considering not signing with a traditional record label and doing a deal with Live Nation, the international concert organisers who recently signed Madonna. 'It is very important that Robbie reconnects with his audience and living back in Britain is a big part of it.' The question for the under-pressure and increasingly eccentric Williams is: just how long can he stomach the thought of being Back For Good? :arrr: :arrr: :arrr: :arrr: :arrr:
February 9, 200916 yr Author Why did I just read all that, same old headline crap, aliens, hype about Robbie and TT, etc etc it's all getting a little boring now :wacko: Not one mention about him wanting to move back to the U.K. to be living near his mum again, which is probably the most important thing to him.
February 9, 200916 yr Paul Scott was the one who wrote that crap biography about Robbie years ago. What gets me is all these 'shock, horror' exclusives that we've all known about for months. And we know because Robbie posted all about it on his official site. :rolleyes:
February 9, 200916 yr Author I haven't read about the drop in income before though, expected because he hasn't been touring and making music but....... :blink: it really is a huge drop That's if it's true of course
February 10, 200916 yr As a follow on from the original Daily Mail article- From The Scotsman http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Robert-Mc...-you.4962458.jp Robert McNeil: Robbie, if you see a flying saucer, don't be alarmed … but get rid of that balaclava Published Date: 10 February 2009 THIS column keeps an eye out for Robbie Williams, the likeable pop-based oaf who has now dedicated his life to searching for UFOFOSs. UFOFOS stands for Unidentified Flying Objects Fae Ooter Space. Yesterday, Robbie's indefatigable biographer, Paul Scott, gave the nation the latest update, including the bombshell news (to me) that Robbie had come back to live in this country, or at least Englandshire :lol: . He has given up LAT (Los Angeles Toon), because his aides thought it was making him weird. Unfortunately, the relocation plan hasn't worked. According to Paul, Robbie has been wearing a balaclava while oot shopping. Even in the snow, you'd have to have something wrong with you to wear one of these. The itchiness is appalling. Other than that, Robbie spends his days in his new £7 million chateau-style hoose, surfing loonie websites that claim the switch from analogue to digital TV is a US government plot involving hidden microphones and miniature cameras. How ridiculous. Everybody knows it's the Canadians who are behind this. Cybernuts on one site also believe FBI satellites are reading people's minds, which must be difficult work. Make sense of this jumble: new midfield needed, huge hooters, remember to get ketchup, specs are missing again, huge hooters, third goal was clearly offside. That's what I've just found going on in ma ain heid. I didn't even need a satellite. Just stood there with a hairdryer set to maximum. However, fuel will have been added to Robbie's paranoia when he read Paul's revelations of the pop idol's codenames for logging on to the barmy site. I cannot pass these on to you. You will just have to buy all yesterday's papers and find them for yourself. You say: "How could anyone know these passwords, other than the logger-inner himself or even herself?" Actually, it's quite simple. I traced several user-names of one particularly ghastly individual, simply by checking his contributions and matching them to his life over a certain period. It's true I'm a trained investigator (retired), but you could do so too, if you were willing to sit up all night fuelled by a desire for vengeance. My advice to the estimable Robbie is this: do not be alarmed. We are merely your guardians, preparing you for your mission on Earth, or whatever this planet is called. The black-and-yellow striped flying saucer you saw over your sunbed in Beverly Hills was merely involved in a shopping trip for some cling-film. Hmm, delicious! Be still. When we are ready to move against the Earthlings, you will find a big rasta hat waiting for you. Wear that, instead of the balaclava, and await further instructions from our Chinese allies. :lol:
February 14, 200916 yr http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/3am/2009/02...15875-21121915/ Robbie's love is still strong 14/02/2009 It's an extra-special time of year for Robbie Williams... and he's in mighty fine company. He was celebrating his 35th birthday last night before enjoying a romantic Valentine's Day today. And through it all has been his actress girlfriend Ayda Field. The pair scotched rumours they were splitting up with a lovey-dovey reunion yesterday. When Robbie decided to move back to England from LA, Ayda's career was just about to take off, and the relationship looked doomed. But pals say they are stronger than ever. And to prove She's The One Robbie even secretly took his stunning lover up to Stoke to visit his sick mum Jan, who is recovering from a heart operation. A pal said: "Rob's idea to move to the UK was a shock to Ayda initially, especially since they had been talking about looking for a new place in LA. "But she loves the house in Wiltshire. They've been getting wrapped up in winter coats and going for walks in the country - it's romantic. "Ayda has a lot of work going on back in the States but she was desperate to be with Robbie in England for his birthday. "When he suggested going to see his mum in Stoke, she said yes. "Jan is recovering really well from her op at Christmas and this was another factor in Robbie moving back home. "Ayda knows how close Robbie is to his mum and whenever Jan was over in LA they got on really well." But when Ayda goes back to LA, will their love survive? "Jan would secretly love Robbie to settle down and get married," says our source. "He seems the most content he has been in a long while. It wouldn't be a surprise if they announced an engagement, but not just yet." Flipping Ayda!
February 15, 200916 yr I'm loving aliens instead... Robbie Williams thinks they've invaded his home and record bosses are worried about him By PAUL SCOTT Biographer of Robbie Williams Last updated at 11:23 AM on 09th February 2009 One such underground website that Robbie has become a member of is the little-known AboveTopSecret.com, I love that website, I recommend it.
February 15, 200916 yr Oh we all had a good nosey around that website some months ago. Chrisonabike etc etc 'Tis a conspiracy you know! :o :lol:
February 15, 200916 yr Can we start posting news articles in here again, instead of on the main forum. There's not much point in having this sub-forum if we don't use it. Big things like Robbie's new house however can still be posted in the main forum. I'll start merging topics into here for starters.
