clarification of Thor Arnold's role in Freddie's life

Hi Thor,

Freddie´s fondness for Japanese culture is well-known. Do you know whether he liked aspects of German culture? Did he like certain composers or painters? What abouT German movies?

Hi stevendabudgie,
Although during the Munich days, we only communicated with Freddie on a few brief phone calls with terrible delays
to fluent conversation. I would have to say that the feedback I got was that Freddie loved German culture while being
immersed in it. Prior to this live experience for him, I do not remember him saying anything about Germany at all. It
seems weird to me now that he must have played West Berlin, Hamburg, or Munich and knowing that I was of German
heritage, that he did not tell me more of his experiences in Germany. However, as I have mentioned before, Freddie
always prefered to be in the present, at least with his close friends and rarely spoke about the past. Until "Barcelona"
he never really talked about his future plans either.

What he talked about the future in Barcelona?

Hello A_Darko,
Freddie was very excited about having his song "Barcelona" be the theme song of the
upcoming Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1982, and spoke proudly about this song.
Unfortunately the song became identified with a man who seemed to be succumbing to
the "gay plague" namely AIDS and Spain discontinued its support, despite the "Pride of
Spain's" Montserrat Caballe's inclusion.

At this same time Disney discontinued a project to do an animated cat themed movie
with his beloved cat, Delilah in a leading role. As I have mentioned before, Freddie had
a framed drawing of the animated Delilah from the Disney Studio prominently displayed
in his home and was so excited and unusually talkative about this upcoming project.

No one at that time wanted anything to do with even a rumor of AIDS. Too bad for the
world.

That's a shame the Disney thing didn't work out. Fast forward to 2017, and Disney displays gay characters in their major motion pictures. A lesbian couple was shown in Finding Dory (Ellen was thrilled as she was doing the voice for one of the main characters), a gay couple were seen with their own family in Frozen and the remake of Beauty and the Beast had it's first openly confirmed gay character (LeFou) on the big screen. I would like to think Disney would be more open to the idea these days (granted, people are more educated about HIV now than they were then so the fear is less on the mind of the general public), had Freddie been able to make it to 2017. Who knows what could have been. Sounds like a cute movie. It reminds me of Bolt, if you're familiar with it. It was a movie about a little dog my nieces absolutely adored.

Hi Thor,
Thanks for your kind welcome. You can rest assured I'll never participate in any nastiness. Some of it is truly both sad and ridiculous. I just want to enjoy the quest I'm on to learn as much as I can about Freddie and Queen. I really do intend to lurk because I don't have any idea what questions to ask, but I will give you a little background about how I came to be here before I step back. I'm about to date myself..................
In the seventies and eighties I was aware of Queen, but I was mostly busy raising two sons and trying to hold a dismal marriage together. I went to concerts (Elton John, Rod Stewart, Simon and Garfunkel, The Stones etc) but never Queen. They came close to my area several times, but though I liked some of their music, I never got to a concert. Believe me, I'm kicking myself now. Live Aid was an awakening to me because I realized what I had been missing, but my big follow up to that was buying a "greatest hits" album. Flash forward to the television show The Amazing Race a year ago. They began the race in Zanzibar and the first clue was to find the home of Farrokh Bulsara. Like all of the contestants I was thinking, "Who??????????". When the first couple found the house and I realized FB was Freddie Mercury, it was like "holy crapola, no way!" And I was off.............starting with Google. I could not get enough. Now I'm following several groups on Facebook, I have files and files of YouTube videos, I've read every book I can get my hand on, Queen CD's are playing in my car, and my entire wish list for Christmas consists of Queen items. My family is pretty sure I've lost my mind. I could care less!!

So in my internet searching I came upon Queenzone and read several threads. It's nice to find a place with like-minded people who wouldn't think I am crazy! I have no idea how I came upon this particular thread a few days ago, but it is fascinating and now I can hardly wait for Lee to chime in. I'm getting such a kick out of the willingness you have to share your special friend here and I thank you for that. I debated actually joining but I had to in order to see the attachments others have posted. When I have more time I want to go back and find the one with the current picture of you. It's fun to drop by and see the latest posts!

Again, thanks for the nice welcome.

I hadn't heard of the Disney/Delilah thing. Hearing that it makes the inclusion of the song on Innuendo less odd. It would be interesting to know the timeline of events here.

^ the Delilah thing was on page 1,2 or 3 .... one of the first questions Thor was kind enough to elaborate upon

Hey Katydyd5,
Your considerate inclusion of your story is exactly the thing we love here. If you wish to just "lurk" as you have said,
that's ok too.Your passion for Freddie and Queen is so well appreciated. I haven't heard from others yet, but
I hope a few chime in and welcome you too. 95% are wonderful, thoughtful people and I'm sorry, but I am getting
the same feeling from YOU!

Hi Thor.
I mstill in contact with Mike Moran, the co writer of Barcelona. A gentleman.
It was new to me about Deliah.

Welcome Oligneisti,
Your question about timelines can be better answered by Lee. He is still studying all 99 pages. He will read this comment
however, as he always turns to the latest page as well as each of the previous pages. I realize that this thread has become
a novel and I will be patient until Lee is ready to start responding to all of you.

A_Darko,
That is probably because the project was cancelled before it really got going. Again, too bad for us.

Hi Thor!
Thanks for the feedback as usual :)
I was surprised to read that about Barcelona though.
I know it was played in '92 by Montserrat and Freddie on a screen and I never heard any plans to dismiss it or not supporting it anymore, basically all the opposite!
The single, made historic record sales in just some hours after its release, something to talk about because Spain was not very fond of buying singles.
I know that it has always been like the national anthem here, still played everyday.
If at some point they discontinued their support because of the AIDS issue, Im truly ashamed :(

Hi Katydyd5,

I really related to your story. I was a big Queen fan, especially in the 70's. Bought a couple of albums, but didn't carefully follow their career through the years. (Although, I have always considered them my favorite rock band, even when I wasn't listening to them). I still have those albums (Live Killers was my favorite). I too have attended other concerts, but never saw Queen, even when they performed about an hour from my home. (Pre-Internet days...I didn't even know they were nearby)

Roughly a couple of years ago I was reading about the band and saw a reference to Live Aid and Queen's amazing performance. I was vaguely familiar with Live Aid, but to be honest, I couldn't have even told you who performed in the concert, as I didn't watch it at the time. I searched YouTube, found Queen's Live Aid set, and watched....and watched again...and watched again. I was blown away by Freddie's charisma, soaring talent, and the band's "tour de force" performance. It was the first time I had ever seen them perform (albeit not live). Apart from the Bohemian Rhapsody video, I had only seen them on my albums! I immediately reconnected with how much I loved them as a teen. Freddie's Live Aid performance ignited a spark in me, and as you said..."I was off...."

Since then I have watched just about every documentary I could find about Freddie and Queen. I also HAD many files of YouTube videos, but unfortunately my computer recently died and I lost all my bookmarked stuff. I've only read one Freddie bio, but have read a few books about the group. And like you, I play Queen CD's in my car all the time. In fact, I listen to them everyday to and from work. On more than one occasion, my husband has gotten "blasted out" when he turned on the car after I had forgotten to turn down the volume. Oops!!! One day I came home from work to find a note on the counter..."_____Sing as loud as you can until I get home @ 7 pm...Love______" . He had ordered "Messenger of the Gods" for me! My birthday and Christmas gifts last year were all Queen items...all from my husband, including the 18 LP box set: The Studio Collection.

Finally, I too debated whether to join this group. I don't even have a Facebook page and I don't participate in any other groups. Thor's first post really pulled me in though. I read for a while and finally, I couldn't stand to be on the sidelines any longer. Even though posting online is still a bit outside my comfort zone....I had to join in. I have completely enjoyed this experience and feel like I have found some kindred spirits!

Talking about concerts......the very first concert I ever attended was.....Liberace!

(Took a break while writing this post to watch Jeopardy Tournament of Champions....one of the first questions was about Queen and "We are the Champions!")

Rainbow61 we are kindred spirits! It's good to be able to talk and read about Freddie and Queen. My friends don't get it, so I don't bring it up often.

I've blasted many people out of my car because I forgot I'd left it so loud. I don't have many of the CD's yet, but I know the kids will help with that at Christmas. I am active on Facebook so I'm comfortable with posting online, but I'm also comfortable with lurking. I mentioned that I joined this group because I wanted to go back and open the attachments I couldn't see without joining. I've read bits and pieces of other threads here, but it was Thor's post that drew me in too.

I know what pm means but don't know how to tell if someone pm's me. I also don't know what the buddy icon is. Do you?

Thanks for the welcome!