15 Aug '02: Catching up: Dave and Da Playaz on the road
So what's Dave been up to lately? He's been touring Europe.

Dave made his live debut as Da Univerzal Playaz with Gary "Mudbone" Cooper at the Montreux Jazz festival on July 7. They were backed by a female rapper/singer and a DJ. The band played all new tracks except for a version of Missionary Man. The real surprise showed up by the end of the gig in the shape of Sam, Daves oldest son, playing the guitar. During July the band made appearances in Nice, France, Val Lumnezia and Luzern, both Switzerland. Check a lengthy review of the Lumnezia concert at ethrill.net.
An album by Da Univerzal Playaz is scheduled for release in October, but apparantly there are no more live dates planned.

Da Playaz were last seen at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games on Aug 4 in Manchester, UK. They played a song called "Freedom's coming" and as a guest vocalist Jimmy Cliff performed "People" and "City". Dave Stewart also wrote the 12-minute musical score for the closing ceremony.

www.davestewart.com features a pic of Dave on the cover of Financial Times (again for the second time this year). Inside the mag Dave talks about the ambitious Hospital project.

15 Aug '02: Catching up: Glimpses of things to come
And what about Annie's summer? We hope she had a good one but apart from that we don't know a lot about her where-abouts or activities. Already in June however there were glimpses of things to come, when Billboard journalist Timothy White revealed this:

"Having recently heard a half-dozen tracks in London from her forthcoming album in progress," White adds, "fans can expect a dramatic, new, post-Diva chapter of uncommon songwriting, plus heart-piercing vocals of exceptional richness. Indeed, the vocal arrangements are best-described with a phrase from the working lyrics of one new song: 'a thousand beautiful things.'

On June 3 Annie performed live in London at Party At The Palace among many other artists honouring the Queen at her 50 year anniversary. Annie performed two tracks backed by some of the singers from the Peace Tour, 'Why' and 'Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves'. The show has been released on video and DVD in Europe (more info here) and the US (more info here)

Annie has recorded a duet with reggae and soul star Jimmy Cliff who is releasing this and some other tracks written and/or produced by Dave on a new album later this year. Listen to one of the tracks at www.davestewart.com

03 Sep '02: One more live date
There were some news earlier this year that Eurythmics would perform together at the opening of The Marquee in London. This doesn't seem to be the case. However Dave will gather his Univerzal Playaz for one more date in November. Go here for concert info

03 Sep '02: New album of goodies
Dave reveals plans that a compilation of rare Eurythmics tracks will see the light of day in 2003. He talked about it before but this time it sounds like it's going to happen. Listen to the full interview where Dave also tells us what he thinks of Annie's forthcoming solo album.

24 Sep '02: Surprise appearance
It seems that both Annie and Dave turned up at the aforementioned concert for peace Saturday night. Here's the pictures to prove it: One of Annie and one of Dave and Jimmy Cliff. Annie read a personal message from the Dalai Lama and Dave performed a few songs old and new with Jimmy Cliff including their new theme for the event.

7 Oct '02: Surprised again
Nobody suspected that Annie and Dave would turn up at the MOBO awards celebrating "Music of Black Origin", but they were both there in London on 1 October to celebrate with their new friend Jimmy Cliff. Annie handed Jimmy Cliff a Lifetime Achievement award and Dave joined Jimmy on stage for a couple of songs. Annie did not perform at the show.
The Rex photo library has a few photos from the event of Annie and of Dave.

7 Oct '02: #32 - Never have a perm
Find this and 49 other pieces of wisdom on Dave's website. He has learned a lot from his time on earth you know ...

7 Oct '02: More important than sex appeal
American music station VH1 has decided that Annie is the #63 sexiest woman in music today. However when it comes to overall 'greatness' they place her up at #9. As Annie never particularly liked being a sex symbol in the first place she probably doesn't mind the order of those two placings. Interestingly in a similar countdown of greatest female artists at VH1 in the UK Annie only gets the #14 spot.

31 Oct '02: Hanburg concert cancelled
Dave was scheduled to play with Da Univerzal Playaz on 3 Nov in Hamburg, Germany, but the show has now been cancelled.

31 Oct '02: Dancing with the Stones
Annie could be seen dancing the night away while Bill Wyman was busy promoting his new book about the Rolling Stones - and Dave was there too. Have a look at some great photos from the book launch at rexfeatures.com

29 Nov '02: New Annie song leaked to the net
Nobody seems to know how it happened especially not the record company but just the other day someone found a brand new Annie Lennox song on the Internet. "A Thousand Beautiful Things" apparantly got leaked and it spread very fast. It's not clear if the pirated version was the finished thing or a demo.
It starts out with Annie singing very softly over some looped strings and keyboards "Everyday I write the list of reasons why I still believe they do exist / A thousand beautiful things". The song proceeds as a mellow ballad not unlike some of the songs heard on "Peace" and in the vein of "I Saved The World Today". Annie's voice sounds very clear and soft as she does her own trademark backing vocals and the lyrics are simple but almost spiritual "Light me up like the sun / To cool down with your rain".
My guess is - and it is a guess only - that this song will be released as a single very shortly.

29 Nov '02: Annie releases album in June 2003
Whenever impatient fans have been in touch with management and record company recently they've been told that Annie's album was still very much in the making and that only maybe would it be out next year. Now however it's confirmed that the album will be out in June next year and that the title is "Bare" (source ethrill.net). Plans do have a tendency to change, but with "A Thousand Beautiful Things" out in the open I think it's safe to assume that the much talked about album is finally going to see the light of day.