Q&A - JACKY SMITH
A cura di Valentina (marchoftheblackqueen), Andrea (Lurex), Nicla (QueerQueen) e Andrea (Skizzo).

Jacky Smith gestisce il Fan Club Ufficiale dei Queen dal 1982, anno in cui subentro' ad una precedente gestione. Oggi come allora, Jacky svolge il suo lavoro con professionalita', dedizione e soprattutto con passione, tanto da aver meritato un vero e proprio riconoscimento da parte della band per i suoi "primi 25 anni" al timone del primo Fan Club per eccellenza della nostra Rock Band preferita, e che oggi e' il primo punto di riferimento per i fans di tutto il mondo.

Finalmente possiamo condividere con voi questa splendida Q&A che nasce da tanta disponibilita' nei confronti di noi fans e dalla volonta' di condividere pensieri e ricordi.

Godetevi le parole di questa ragazza tanto in gamba nello svolgimento del suo lavoro quanto fortunata per aver avuto la possibilita' di conoscere ed interagire con ogni membro della band!

Leggi qui la traduzione in italiano.

1. How the way you run the Official Fan Club has changed after the total reorganization of the last years?

I now run the fan club alone, and from my home! I still deal with all the things the fan club has always offered - magazines, website, emails, letters etc.

2. Did you ever considered the idea of a specific project or a collaboration that involves the UK Official Fan Club and the foreign ones?

I always try and work as closely with other fans clubs, and support and help them as much as possible, as for as specific project, I would always be happy to collaborate if it was something that was good for Queen fans!

3. You have managed the Fan Club since 1982, but it was established years before.Which were the activities then, and what's about the changes introduced by you?

The fan club in those early days really was the ONLY way to find about about Queen, and so they had postal letters to deal with, even when I took over we used to get hundreds of letters a week! Obviously since then I have added the website, the members only website and forum, emails, paypal payments etc - trying to keep up with technology! But you know, I STILL get letters and cheques and postal orders for payment!

4. Is there a memorabilia that you particularly care about, given by the band or by one of the members?

I have a photo of myself and Freddie which I adore, I have a signed album from Roger dedicated to me, and a signed album from Brian dedicated to me, and also a signed copy of Barcelona dedicated to me by Freddie and also signed by Montserrat. Oh and a wonderful Christmas card that Freddie sent out to friends one year! I also have my special 'award' they gave me on my 25th anniversary!

5. Till 1991 the band was constantly involved in the Fan Club activities also with donations, conventions, video-messages. With this "Queen+Paul Rodgers" project, what has changed? How do they actually take care of the Fan Club?

The band members are STILL involved with the fan club as much as they can be. They always supply items for auctions/raffles here and for other fan clubs, we always manage to get a message in our fan club issues from at least one of them, they still do video messages for the convention too. Theys till support the fafn club as much as ever really!

6. In your opinion, why Freddie is not celebrated in England with a "tangible award" (a statue, a square, memorial stone, a memorial event) unlike Montreux where a statue has been erected and he's celebrated every year with the two days' "Memorial day"?

We tried and tried many places to get a statue or some kind of memorial for Freddie here in the UK, but I think many people herre are still very narrow minded, and perhaps thought that Freddie was not 'suitable' to have a memorial here! In many ways I can see their point though, in the UK there is still much intorlerance of gay people and AIDS, and if there were to be a statue here, I feel certain it would be spoiled in some way, grafitti or broken or something. At least in Montreux it is safe and well loved - and SUCH a beautiful setting, we could not compete with that in England!

7. The relationship between Freddie and the British press wasn't ever a "bed of roses". How do the english journalists refer to him today?

It's funny how people change their minds about someone when they are no longer here! The press now always refer to Freddie as a 'legend' a 'giant of rock' and other such very true words!

8. Recently Brian said that the film will be about the band, not only about Freddie. Can you tell us something about this project? What's your personal opinion about it?

I know nothing about this really, there have been SO many rumours about this, and all have proved to be false! I think maybe ONE DAY there will be a film about QUEEN, not just about Freddie, but I don't think it will be for a very long time yet!

9. In your opinion, is there a band that could be considered the heir of Queen, or simply one or more, who are clearly inspired by them?

No bands I have heard have come close to Queen - there was much nonsense about The Darkness (I really didn't like them!) being 'like Queen'. They were not even CLOSE to the perfection and talent that are Queen! There are many people now who quote Queen as an influence, and I think that's brilliant. But there will never be another band that comes close!

10. Have you got any news for us about the italian version of the musical "We Will Rock You"?

Sorry, no news! I hope they DO have a version there, I think it would be fabulous, but do you think they would translate all the songs into Italian, as they did into Spanish?!!

11. Did you attended several parties with Freddie and the other members? Which one do you remember with most pleasure?

I was lucky and I have been to many many parties with them! My favourites were Freddie's 40th - the silly hat party. A brilliant party and Freddie was the perfect host, he even got behind his own bar at one point and served us all with Vodka Slammers! My other favourite was one of our Christmas dinners - we used to have them each year, but one in particular was in 1990. Freddie was there (he didn't attend them all) and we all had silly face masks, we all looked so silly. He was not well then, but he laughed with us all and wore the mask and was in good spirits!!

12. After two tours and a new album, Paul wants to take a break. There are some rumours about his intention of stopping the QPR project. It also seems that the 2009' USA tour will be deleted. Many of us suspect that this could be the end of this collaboration. What do you think? Can you tell us something about it?

I know nothing more than you do about this! I have read the interviews with Paul, and it does seem that he wants to take a break now from the QPR project. But that doesn't mean it's all over yet. And if Paul DOES decide not to continue, well, I think Brian and Roger have proved to themselves that they CAN still tour and sell tickets and have fun, so who knows, they just might go out there again on their own, or with someone else!

13. Are you still in contact with John Deacon?

Sadly not personally. But the Queen accountant still is, and he lets John know if I need anything, and John doesn't usually let me down - I ask for signed photos, I usually get some, I asked for a Christmas message this year, I actually got THREE from him so I could choose one! So he still cares!!

14. "QueenItalia" has always supported the Officials Fans Club (both the WWRY italian one and yours). Do you want to send a message for the fans who will read this "Q&A", to invite them to become members of the Official Fan Club?

I think that ALL fan clubs should work together, as we are all here for the same reason - QUEEN! I would love for ALL fans to join the official fan club. I think if we had more members across the world, then we would be a very powerful force for fans. I think we could get more for our members, such as downloads, special releases, rare items etc, if only we had MORE fan power! It's brilliant that there are so many great fan clubs, but I DO think it's very important that there is one MAIN one, as a 'driving force' for fans to unite. So EVERYONE should join us!!

15. Internet is full of fans-sites about the band. Many of them are not particularly interesting, but many others are a sort of "Queen encyclopedia" .These are the result of the fans' work , who have studied the history of the band and have shared their results with the other fans. Do you surf in other Queen websites, Jacky? In your opinion which are the best ones, those that you would advise to the fans (as well as the Official ones, of course)?

I think there are so many excellent, informative and well designed fan sites out there, made by people who have more knowledge about Queen than I could ever HOPE to have! I use them myself if I need to research something! We are going to have a poll to let fans vote on the BEST of the sites out there, and each of the top ten sites will be featured in our fan club magazine as well as on the website.

16. The Official Biography goes back to 1992. After the "The Freddie Mercury Ttribute" there have been a lot of new events. Also thanks to Internet, a lot of new facts have been discovered and many mistakes have been corrected. So Jacky, what about a new official biography? Is it true that you are already working on it?

Work is almost complete on the 'new' biography, and I am hoping it will be printed later this year - I finally have enough money to get this done, as we had a lot of new members joining to get tickets for the tour! I think we should have it done by early summer!

Finally - THANK YOU to you lovely people for asking me to complete your questions, and if there is anything I can do for Queenitalia in the future I would be happy to do it!

Links
- La Q&A sul nostro forum
- Il sito ufficiale del Fan Club

QueenItalia & Jacky Smith, Gennaio 2009.

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