by Vibber 20 Nov 2000

Dave goes Honest in France

Last week Dave Stewart spent some days in Paris promoting his film 'Honest'.

Monday, 13 Nov
He appeared in the FNAC store at Etoile Monday to talk about the movie and give autographs. As usual Dave Stewart didn't stick to just talking about the movie he also readily told the audience about a lot of current projects including work with Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney (I don't have details about these collaborations though).

He had a laptop with him and played some of his own tracks explaining the writing and production process (somebody saw files named Annie1 and Annie2 on the computer screen but nobody dared ask...). Although he mentioned working on a solo album (a world music album with singers like Amina and others) he stressed that he would never let an opportunity to perform with Annie go him by.

When asked by an fan whether they would ever let any of unreleased Eurythmics tracks see the light of day as an official release he said 'I consider it, actually'.

He also have tentative plans to make a giant online archive of all of his and Eurythmics' work. Because of the issues with copyright clearances these plans would not become reality for another 3-5 years however. The idea was basically a subscription TV, you would pay for it and you would then get into a virtual world with access to unreleased Eurythmics songs, concerts and so on. He showed a part of it on the computer screen and it was very similar to the video for It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back).

Tuesday, 14 Nov
Tuesday after the premiere of 'Honest' at EuroDisney Dave played a jam session at the Billy Bob Country Music Bar consisting exclusively of cover versions like Instant Karma, Come Together, Walk On The Wild Side, Revolution, Like A Rolling Stone, Sweet Jane, J'aime Les Filles and many others. He only played one of his own songs, Jealousy, apparantly because he only met his band on Sunday and he was the only one to know how to play them.

Wednesday, 15 Nov
Finally Wednesday Dave went back to FNAC once more. When asked about his and Annie's plans for Eurythmics he said that fans will have to wait a year or more before seeing a new Eurythmics album. He mentioned the need for Annie and himself to spend time with their respective families. He revealed however that the two of them did meet up recently for some musical experimentation.

Dave was very pleased that the fame of Eurythmics is not so overwhelming anymore. He showed the audience a video of a press conference in 1986 where him and Annie had difficulties getting out of a hotel because there were too many fans. Dave commented that he was very relieved not to be under such pressure anymore.

He had been working on a song with Bob Dylan and showed a small video clip with him performing it in a simple acoustic version.

Several fans were there these three days in Paris, very pleased to find Dave so pleasant and down to earth. It's from some of these people I heard the things reported here.