34 replies to this topic

[Driver Nate]

Mine arrived today which was a very pleasant surprise as I wasn't really expecting another one. I won't give anything else away but I will say it includes an explanation from Chris Bilheimer as to why the final holiday package was the way it was.

[thomas08]

Driver Nate, on 05 January 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

Mine arrived today which was a very pleasant surprise as I wasn't really expecting another one. I won't give anything else away but I will say it includes an explanation from Chris Bilheimer as to why the final holiday package was the way it was.

any chance of a pm with details? never got a chance to renew this year

[dsobel]

Just let us know!  That is why we come to this site -- we want information.

People on this site know how it works.

Spoiler Alert: STOP READING!

[cjr67]

It was already up on ebay yesterday.

[TheMiddleDistance]

Got mine today as well. Personally, I'd rather have the other option he gives rather than what R.E.M. wanted. Just my feelings though.

[madloop]

dsobel, on 05 January 2012 - 04:37 PM, said:

Just let us know!  That is why we come to this site -- we want information.

People on this site know how it works.

Spoiler Alert: STOP READING!

Agreed. I know I was a big non-revealer back in the day, but the lack of actual information on Murmurs the last month has been pretty astounding.

[Reverend Bill Funderburk]

TheMiddleDistance, on 05 January 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

Got mine today as well. Personally, I'd rather have the other option he gives rather than what R.E.M. wanted. Just my feelings though.

I'd rather have just about anything besides what they chose for the last fan club holiday package. Mine will likely find its way into the garbage sooner rather than later. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am.

[2headedcow]

Maybe a steaming tird would have been a more appropriate gift for the ungrateful fan club members.

[clicli]

2headedcow, on 05 January 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Maybe a steaming tird would have been a more appropriate gift for the ungrateful fan club members.

I'm with you on that. Save for any specific reference to it being the last package from the band, I think the 2011 package is beautiful. A lot of time and thought went into it, for sure.

[welliwonder]

Reverend Bill Funderburk, on 05 January 2012 - 07:23 PM, said:

I'd rather have just about anything besides what they chose for the last fan club holiday package. Mine will likely find its way into the garbage sooner rather than later. The more I think about it, the more disappointed I am.

Keep strong and hold on , you can make it through this.Thinking of you at this difficult time.

[Sweet Fanny Addams]

2headedcow, on 05 January 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Maybe a steaming tird would have been a more appropriate gift for the ungrateful fan club members.

What's a tird? A bowel movement with wings?
I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the REM fanclub. What great people, they always went above and beyond  anything fanclubs of other artists, and never once raised the cost of membership.
I still think the final package was bullshit, but I put that down to lack of interest of the band formerly known as REM. It just looks like the 3 of them couldn't be arsed to do or say anything. Unless you count the calendar, which is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. 12 of the most nondescript, boring photos in the theme of "toss off landscapes", no doubt from one of Michael's  shelved projects. It doesn't look  to me as if it had been thought out carefully, or at all. It looks more like like "HOKAY! CU L8ers maybe  sometime never from Michael, Mike and Peter, oh and by the way live your life filled with some of our old lyrics".
It's just a shame the fanclub has to take the flak, because they were given bugger all to work with.

[Reverend Bill Funderburk]

Sweet Fanny Addams, on 06 January 2012 - 06:00 AM, said:

What's a tird? A bowel movement with wings?
I have nothing but respect and gratitude for the REM fanclub. What great people, they always went above and beyond  anything fanclubs of other artists, and never once raised the cost of membership.
I still think the final package was bullshit, but I put that down to lack of interest of the band formerly known as REM. It just looks like the 3 of them couldn't be arsed to do or say anything. Unless you count the calendar, which is really scraping the bottom of the barrel. 12 of the most nondescript, boring photos in the theme of "toss off landscapes", no doubt from one of Michael's  shelved projects. It doesn't look  to me as if it had been thought out carefully, or at all. It looks more like like "HOKAY! CU L8ers maybe  sometime never from Michael, Mike and Peter, oh and by the way live your life filled with some of our old lyrics".
It's just a shame the fanclub has to take the flak, because they were given bugger all to work with.

I have no issues with the folks who run the fan club. I agree with you that this was the band's call. And the final package was bullshit.

[Sweet Fanny Addams]

dsobel, on 05 January 2012 - 04:37 PM, said:

Just let us know!  That is why we come to this site -- we want information.

People on this site know how it works.

Spoiler Alert: STOP READING!

I'd like to know what's in the last newsletter too. If someone could post it with a SPOILER label for those who prefer to wait, that should  suffice.

[C.A.]

Driver Nate, on 05 January 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

............ it includes an explanation from Chris Bilheimer as to why the final holiday package was the way it was.

Mine hasn't arrived yet - somewhat puzzled that the Fan Club rep. felt compelled to give an explanation of the final Holiday package.  "It was three other boys, big boys, who did it and ran away?"

[ThunderRoad]

I'd also be interested in the explanation.
Why not create a spoiler thread?

Thanks!

[fanfan]

C.A., on 06 January 2012 - 10:29 AM, said:

somewhat puzzled that the Fan Club rep. felt compelled to give an explanation of the final Holiday package.

Chris Bilheimer worked as a designer for R.E.M. so - without having read the article - I guess he is talking about the fan club package from a design point of view.

I'd also be interested in knowing what's written in the newsletter, maybe someone could scan the page?

[Avalon]

Mine arrived yesterday. I'm glad there was an explanation about the chosen art. While I am not ungrateful, I have to agree, that calendar reminded me of looking at a slide show of someone else's holiday photos. You sit there politely and look at them, but they have no real meaning because you weren't there.

[wagtail]

I haven't received the newsletter, but I think maybe the calendar works for me in the way the song 'walk it back' works for a lot of fans - in that it is an expression of nostalgia.  I really don't like 'walk it back' because to me it is a lament about the passing of time, and kind of yearning for a opportunity to go back.  The calendar however reminds me of images that I used to see as a kid, when my family visited the homes of friends who had migrated to aussie-land - they seem like nostalgic images, but not images that call you back to a place just ones that describe where someone comes from or where they may have been.  That's a kind of nostalgia I can appreciate, one that inspires happiness, maybe some sentimentality, but definitely not regret.

[gonzo787]

Can spmebody post the damn explanation already?