Dear everyone,

First of all, hope you have recovered from the Christmas and had a good New Year. I hardly know where to start this letter, since everything has changed since I did the September newsletter...

Anyway, the disappointing news is that Mark's album and tour are postponed. Now I do, of course, realise that you all paid your subs in anticipation of getting a lot of news the next year, and a chance to get great tickets near the front for the shows. We did think of "holding over" your subscription monies until the album and tour do take place, but decided that this would not be fair since we don't know exactly when that will be.

You will therefore find enclosed a refund of your subs.

The reason for the postponement is that Mark wants to write and record some additional tracks. Since it will take him a little time to do this (he hasn't even written the songs yet), we will not be able to deliver the finished product to the record company in time for them to meet the proposed March 1st release date. The most likely time for the album to come out will now be autumn of 1995, and the tour will be after that, possibly even as far off as 1996. We will keep all names ...

Very, very sorry about this - but there's nothing I can do about it. We had an exceptionally well routed tour set up which took months of planning and which we have now had to cancel, and a lot of people lined up to work on the tour who are now without work for next summer, so believe me, it is not a decision that was taken lightly... and we are all just as disappointed by the whole thing as you probably are (understatement of the year)!

INTERNET

While DSIS is closed, some of you might like to know that on the worldwide computer network InterNet, there's a DS section with two services. ...

AUCTION TOTAL

I'd like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who took part in our recent auction. It was very successful, and we were able to send a cheque to the Elton John Aids Foundation for £4,500.00 just before Christmas! Below you will find a copy of the letter from the Foundation acknowledging receipt of this sum, and we've had a lot of letters in from happy DSIS members who are now in possession of rare items of memorabilia which they never thought they would be able to own!

DRAWING COMPETITION RUNNERS-UP

Since we have so little news now, it's an ideal time for me to feature the drawings of the runners-up from our competition (as promised), so here they are!

THE TERRENCE HIGGINS TRUST

You may recall we put a note in the last newsletter concerning this charity and the fact that it had received some bad publicity just prior to the newsletters going out. To set the record straight: this concerned a story which appeared in The Sunday Times about alleged drug dealing, sexual harassment and mismanagement at The Trust. The reason we put the note in the newsletter was NOT because we believed the story (we had no way of knowing the facts at that point), but because we thought it might put some people off bidding in the auction if they too had read the article, in which case both charities would have suffered. It turns out that the press article stemmed from the allegations of two people who had recently left the THT under not-very-amicable circumstances. We have since been in touch with the Trust, and have no reason to believe there was any truth in anything that was written in the article concerned, so will be continuing to support them in future.

Well, that's all for now. Sorry this is a disappointing newsletter, but that's life I guess. In this business it seems that nothing is confirmed until it is actually happening! I am now going to put my head in the oven...

Best wishes,

PS

Re the Elton John Aids Foundation: As you may have seen on TV or read in the press, Elton has opened a shop in London, selling off a lot of his old stage gear and designer clothes, (so I'm back to two jobs again!) - it's unpaid, but lots of fun. Initially, it was mayhem - on the opening day we had to have police and barricades because there was such a huge crowd, but thankfully it's a little calmer now.

There are still some good bargains to be had there - you can pick up an Armani jacket for about £100 or a Versace shirt for about £30 - £50, plus there's lots of rare memorabilia. If you're in the UK during the next couple of weeks, try and visit it, it's called "Out The Closet", 171 Fulham Road, London SW3 (nearest tube South Kensington, opening hours 10.30 to 6.30, tel: 071 591 0335). All proceeds go to the Foundation since everyone working there is doing it for nothing. You'll have to hurry though, as it's only temporary and closes mid-February, by which time Elton will have nothing to wear at all!!!