IN THIS ISSUE ...

1 - THE EDITOR WRITES - Latest news and information in brief

2 - ONE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND! - Thursday, 7th December and three
    assorted idiots are braving the cold and rain of a Darlington
    night. Why are they out? Where are they going? Who are they?
    Mike Hearne reveals more.

3 - MADSTOCK - There's just over a week to go until the big day,
    but I'm sure that a fair proportion of you still have bits and
    pieces that you need to get for other people, or have some idea
    of items you'd like to see amongst your own collection of
    goodies.

4 - FINK BROTHERS COMPETITION ANSWERS AND RESULTS - Following the
    recent Fink Brothers competition set up by Jonathan Young, the
    winners have been drawn and the prizes have been issued. Were
    you one of the lucky winners?

5 - CHAS TANGO - Taken from the Chas Smash site at www.chassmash.com,
    and kindly dug out by Jonathan Young...

6 - MOON SKA CLOSE THE DOOR - Eighteen years ago, in 1983, Moon
    Records set out (initially as Icebear), to press and distribute
    Ska in the Usa. Since that time we have seen a phenomenal surge
    in popularity of the music we loved, metamorphs of which
    attracted more fans than ever before.

7 - CAN WE FIX IT? - Here's something from Andrew Langmead that may
    interest all of you who are still kids at heart.

8 - GONE TO STAY WITH SOME MATES - Thanks and closing words

[1] - THE EDITOR WRITES

Evening all,

I hope everyone is surviving the pre-Christmas shopping rush. Only
one more week of work and shopping to go!!!

For the majority of you reading this it's still the weekend, albeit,
the last few hours. So why not spend a bit of that time with your
feet up, a drink in your hand, and this week's MIS in front of you
on your monitor?

Something which will be of interest to subscribers of the excellent
`Madness Unsugged` fanzine. The editor, Vince Carden tells me that
if all goes according to plan, the next issue should see the light
of day sometime towards the end of January. He also mentions the
possibility of a Madmeet in Camden on New Year's Eve. If this goes
ahead, hopefully those of us who aren't able to make it will be able
to read what went on in January's `zine. Many thanks to Vince for the
update.

Did anyone manage to catch last night's edition of the classic
karaoke show, Night Fever? MIS Online subscriber, Phil Smash reports
that it was a school special, and in about the first 15 minutes they
sung `Baggy Trousers`. If anyone managed to video the show, please
could they get in touch with Phil at: mikebarson at hotmail.com

Following last week's announcement that The Selecter would be playing
at The Dome, Whitley Bay, Jeff Sharp has been in touch to tell me
that the date was then changed from the 15th to 16th. If you were one
of the many who went along on the 15th only to find the Selecter
playing the following evening, you may want to direct your moans to
The Dome by phoning; 0191 2512800. Many thanks to Jeff for the info.

With two weeks to go before the close of the `Madness Top Tens` Poll,
chief statistician, Andrew Langmead is already up to 37 entries
(just one less than the total received last time). If you have still
yet to vote for your top ten, please contact Andrew at the following
address with your 10 Madness tracks; andrew at alangmea.freeserve.co.uk.
Please make sure you have `Top 10` in the subject line.

Last week we reported that American rapper, Eminem had put together a
song entitled `Our House`. One part in his version was in dispute as
a number of people suggested that it may be a Madness sample
featuring in the track. Since then, Phil Smash and Mark Adamson have
been rooting around, and have revealed that it is none other than
`Limp Bizkit` providing the Our House lyrics. So, you can all relax,
safe in the knowledge that the our boys have not featured on this
track either in person or sample form. Many thanks to Phil and Mark
for clearing this one up.

Phil Smash also reports that last Wednesday morning Channel Four's
`Big Breakfast` show featured a DJ who was setting up an office
party with presenter Richard Bacon. Richard asked him what
celebrities he had DJ'd for, to which he replied "I did a party for
Suggs' daughter, Cecilia, and we had to play Cecilia, and that was
a little odd`. As Phil rightly points out "He doesn't have a daughter
called Cecilia, so what the hell that DJ was talking about, I don't
know". Most bizarre!! Thanks for that one Phil - much appreciated!

Finally, before we get underway with this weeks issue, the TMML's
Graham Hewson tells us that this month's `Front` magazine has a
small snippet regarding the legendary Suggs pulling pints for the
locals a month or so back. Graham also points out that there's a
picture of the man in action. Probably not worth buying the mag just
for that unless you're a die-hard-collect-everything type fan. Ah,
that's pretty much all of you anyway, isn't it?! Thanks go to Graham
for the rummaging.

Anyway, enough of that, lets get on with the articles.

Enjoy the read,

Robert Hazelby (MIS Online Editor)

[2] - ONE MILLENNIUM AND BEYOND!

Thursday, 7th December and three assorted idiots are braving the cold
and rain of a Darlington night. Why are they out? Where are they
going? Who are they?

Well the 3 in question are myself Mike H, Simesy and Rob W, the
destination is a branch of Yates Winelodge where Badness, the
Madness/Bad Manners tribute band is playing!

We arrived at 8pm and after having a couple of "cups of tea" the
word went out to Mike Watts (the lead singer) that the TMML crowd had
arrived as promised and that the band were welcome to join them for
a drink at some point (the subject had come up during emails with
the band) Within a couple of minutes I was tapped on the shoulder
and after being asked if this was the TMML pork pie hats and mirror
sunglasses were handed to each of them. Once they were all tried for
size another surprise...Mike Watts arrived and shook hands with each
of the Maddies. After asking who was who he then spent a good 15 mins
talking about Madness, Badness and ska before making his way
backstage to get ready for the show.

At around 9pm the air around the small stage was filled with dry ice
and a voice urged everyone to welcome onstage Badness. The 6 piece
group then appeared from out of the fog and the bar was filled with
the shout "Hey You!" before the familiar notes of One Step Beyond
rang out! Once this great version ended Mr Watts then welcomed the
crowd of around 200 bodies, informed us that various giveaways would
be handed out during the night to folks the band felt deserved them
and then stated that various Madness related questions would be asked
throughout the show....adding that he had a feeling 2 or 3 folks in
the audience had an advantage to start with, wonder who he was
talking about;0)

Ten songs into the set Mike picked up the trumpet that had been
lurking alongside the microphone stand and bid us welcome onstage
"The Fat Man". From the back of the stage appeared the band`s very
own fatty Mr. Buster Beefburger before launching into a series of Bad
Manners songs. Buster Beefburger was, I have to say, very good
especially as he hadn`t been with the band very long. Wonderful stage
presence and a fine impression of one B. Bloodvessel ;0)

After Buster finished a very good set Mike Watts returned to the
front and resumed as the front man dishing out even more great
Madness covers as well as throwing lighters and t-shirts into the
crowd.....needless to say the TMMLers each managed to blag every one
of the night`s giveaways;0))

Once the set was finished an encore was in order, after returning to
the stage the question "Does anyone here like classical music?" was
asked. Before a single note was played Mike Watts informed the
audience that Badness were to be joined onstage by 3 friends of the
band in order to help out with the song! This was the cue for Rob W,
myself and Simesy to be asked up onstage and a brilliant version of
Swan Lake was played complete with the Maddies doing the head-butting
dance made famous by a certain Mr Smash and Chalky in the film Take
It Or Leave It!!!!!!! Although the significance of the dance was
lost on almost the entire audience the band themselves appeared not
only to recognise it but also to love seeing it performed by the 3
hard-core maddies, after warm handshakes all round the 3 left the
stage with a very loud thanks from the whole of Badness ringing in
their ears;0)))))

Finally the night came to an end. Badness it has to be said put on
a fantastic show! Although they played Madness tracks they don`t try
to be a carbon copy of Madness but instead add their own twist to
each track. As said earlier, Buster Beefburger was also very good
and the Bad Manners songs created a fine interlude between Madness
tracks. In total a blistering set played by a group of very good
musicians who obviously love what they do and believe me that really
does shines through every single note! Almost 2 hours of solid gold
entertainment.

If you get the chance to see Badness at a venue near you my advice
is DO NOT miss it!!! For those who were going to Darlington but
eventually couldn`t make it, I`m afraid you missed out on a great
night folks, sorry!

Mike Hearne (mike.hearne at ntlworld.com)

[3] - MADSTOCK

There's just over a week to go until the big day, but I'm sure that
a fair proportion of you still have bits and pieces that you need to
get for other people, or have some idea of items you'd like to see
amongst your own collection of goodies. If so, you may be interested
to know that Pulped's very own George Marshall has been in touch,
asking if I would be so kind as to pass on details of the following
bargains.

Those of you who have embraced the digital age, and have shunned crap
picture and sound quality by dumping the video and buying a DVD
player may be interested to know that Pulped are currently selling
the Madstock 4 DVD for a mere £12.50 including postage and packaging.

I know that many of you are still happily using your video players.
If you are one of those people and are still attempting to track down
Madstock 4 on video, Pulped have them in stock for £8.00 with FREE
delivery. Compare that to hmv.co.uk who are charging £14.99 plus
postage, and amazon.co.uk who are charging £12.99 plus postage, and
you can see just how good Pulped's prices are.

For more information, please contact George at the following address:
Stopmusic at aol.com

Please be aware that the Madstock DVD is region 2 and the Madstock
video is PAL.

Many thanks to George Marshall for the info.

[4] - FINK BROTHERS COMPETITION ANSWERS AND RESULTS

The resent competition held on www.2000mad.20m.com & the mailing list
has been drawn:

The answers to the two questions are as follows:

Which two members of Madness comprise the Fink Brothers?

>>1) - Cathal Smyth/Chas Smash & Graham McPherson/Suggs

By what name are the Fink Brothers characters more commonly referred
to in 2000ad.

>>2) - The Angel Gang

The following people are winners, all have been notified by email.

1st prize - Alan Cahill
2nd prize - Mike Hearne
3rd prize - Mark Latus
4th prize - Jerry Haendiges

Many thanks for all the entries, I may hold another competition after
xmas as I have a new idea for a web site I may put up in the new
year. Until then one last plug for www.2000mad.20m.com while the
year is still relevant, go visit it the Fink brothers are greener
than the Grinch! Merry XMAS

Jonathan Young (jonsmad at hotmail.com)

[5] -  CHAS TANGO

Taken from the Chas Smash site at www.chassmash.com, and kindly dug
out by Jonathan Young...

Saturday 9th December,

The Mean Fiddler at Harlesden held its farewell party, exactly 18
years since it's doors opened for the first time. To mark the move
of the Fiddler from Harlesden to the West End's Astoria, the party
entitled 'Last Tango In Harlesden' saw some great entertainment, not
least in the form of Mr.Smash playing a short but sweet acoustic set.
Beginning with Johnny The Horse, then This Friend I Know and finally
Hoo De La La, then leaving with the poem The Weak and The Strong, Mr
Smash alone with his guitar was unspeakably brilliant!

[6] - MOON SKA CLOSE THE DOOR

The following letter is from Bucket, the founding member of Moon Ska
and leader of The Toasters. Many thanks to Skanews
(http://skanews.net) for passing this on to me...

"Eighteen years ago, in 1983, Moon Records set out (initially as
Icebear), to press and distribute Ska in the Usa. Since that time we
have seen a phenomenal surge in popularity of the music we loved,
metamorphs of which attracted more fans than ever before. Many of
these new fans were able to discover the roots and culture of a
musical style that reached back over forty years, and was in effect,
one of the last unexploited styles of true indie music.

But as popularity waxed, so also has it waned, and with an ebb tide of
a proportion that none could have foreseen. The spotlight, for whatever
reason we might speculate, has moved on. Fans and even bands have
surged off to the next trend of the week. Regrettably insufficient
support now remains to preserve the status quo. Against this
backdrop I have decided to close the doors at Moon Records and
concentrate on my own band, The Toasters..

This has been a tough decision to make, since one would always like
to optimistically believe that an up tick is just around the corner.
However a reality of circumstance, both financial and personal, has
rendered it impossible to continue. This is a bad time for indie
music and indie distribution in particular. Distributor failure,
massive product returns, vanishing bands and evaporating sales have
created a tsunami overwhelming cash flow and rendering further
business operations impossible. On a personal level I have discovered
the bitterest truth that there is no such thing as a friend in the
music business. Personal and financial betrayals, have undermined my
will to carry on.

There are, however, no regrets. We are grateful for having had the
honour to support ska music and to release so many great artists. We
have been lucky to have worked with so many dedicated people who did
so much to keep the scene alive in the really dark days. Whereas it
s easy to second guess, we always believed that we were the little
label that could. We took a shot at taking Ska music to the next
level and fell just short of the touchline. There are detractors -
it's a free world, you can say what you like - but Moon always
reserved the right to put out records for bands we admired, and
for hardworking bands that we felt deserved a shot on account of
their hard work. It was never about being trendy, it was about
loving what we did. It was never about the money, we turned down
lucrative deals from major labels on more than one occasion because
we simply didn't see anyone in those organizations who really cared
about the music. They were just looking at the dollars and we felt
that would have been a disservice. The record will show that we
tried our best and we will always be proud of that.

No cloud is, however, without a silver lining. there remain many
quality bands who, I trust, will persevere. And perhaps there is yet
a new label to rise from the ashes in the tradition of this great
music and carry Ska forward into the dawning of a new era.

Thanks for all the support through the years, we couldn't have done
it without you."

Bucket

New York
December 17th, 2000

[7] - CAN WE FIX IT?

Here's something from Andrew Langmead that may interest all of you
who are still kids at heart;

     "If you've seen the video for Bob's excellent new
      single 'Can We Fix It?' you may have noticed the
      little builder dressed in fully nutty gear! Yes,
      that's right, Bob is dressed in Black Suit, Pork
      Pie Hat and Shades, and he even recreates the
      Nutty Walk in one scene!!

If you want to see for yourselves, pop along to www.bobthebuilder.com
and click on the link to the UK site. You can then download the video
and see what I mean.

Enjoy!

Goodnight.

Andrew (andrew at alangmea.freeserve.co.uk)

[8] - GONE TO STAY WITH SOME MATES

A big thank you to everyone who sent in bits and pieces to put in
this week's edition of the MIS. Special thanks must for to Mike Hearne
for the Badness review, and to Jonathan Young who's been in typing
overdrive again this week. Please keep it coming!!

Thanks also to Phil Smash for a number of juicy little tidbits which
have been smattered through this issue.

I am aware that next Sunday is Christmas Eve, but there WILL be an
issue of the MIS released then. I don't know how big it will be, as
like the rest of you, I'll be very busy, but I try to get an issue
out on time.

If any of you out there have anything you'd like to put in next
week's MIS, please get in touch as I could do with the assistance!

Until next week, take care, and don't get too stressed doing that
last minute present shopping!

Robert Hazelby