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

Hi Thor,

How cool to read you worked in Marie's Crisis. I always visit when I'm in NYC. Sadly, like London a lot of gay venues are closing mainly due to astronomical rents. In the past few years Splash and Rawhide closed. Also a great gay gift/bookshop on 8th called Rainbows and Flags I think. I picked up the Mark Blake Queen book there.

What bars/ clubs did you guys go to in NYC?

Hey splicksplack,
Ha, ha. I started working at Marie's Crisis in 1973 when I was 17 years old. For some reason, the drinking age in New York was 17 at the time. This was before Freddie, but I had some great times there. Did you know that the building is a landmark because Thomas Paine wrote "The Crisis Papers" there. The mirror behind the bar displays the French motto "Liberte, Egalite Fraternite" in a mirrored mosaic of the American Revolution. On a lighter note, Bette Midler used to live in the upper apartment in the early seventies. She left her tub running once and flooded Marie's Crisis. What a laugh.
We went to "The Eagle", "The Spike", "Ty's", "Badlands", "The Saint" and of course "The Anvil" where I first met Freddie (this bar started getting busy at 4AM which was great for night workers and bartenders)- Oh, and Famous Musicians!

Oops, sorry. I googled Marie's Crisis and there saw that the mirror depicts the French Revolution. I really should have remembered that having looked at it hundreds of times. LOL.
No offense meant to any French people on this site. You guys AND your country are great!

Hi ThunderGod.
Was there any place Freddie would have liked to have traveled, but never went? Or perform a concert in a country that he never got to perform in?
Was there anything out of the ordinary that he collected?
Thanks for your time :)

Hello Bullet with Butterfly Wings,
I cannot answer the first question. I think over the years he went almost everywhere..hmmm...maybe not Antarctica. But I know he had a thing
for Japan and collected several artistic pieces such as vases and paintings and a medium sized porcelain, ornately dressed doll from there. He brought
Lee and myself kimono's back from his trip to Japan. i still have mine but it does not fit anymore... maybe after that next diet...LOL

thundergod, re:

>my personal preference was to be a "sender" and not a "receiver" which may have helped.

Absolute. Gold. Right there......

[QUOTE] [b]thundergod wrote:[/b]

Hello Bullet with Butterfly Wings,
I cannot answer the first question. I think over the years he went almost everywhere..hmmm...maybe not Antarctica. But I know he had a thing
for Japan and collected several artistic pieces such as vases and paintings and a medium sized porcelain, ornately dressed doll from there. He brought
Lee and myself kimono's back from his trip to Japan. i still have mine but it does not fit anymore... maybe after that next diet...LOL
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your reply :).

Thank you dudeofqueen for your comment.- much appreciated.!

You are welcome Bullet with Butterfly Wings...anytime

Hi Thor!

As an opera fan, what do you think of the Barcelona album?
Did Freddie ever asked for feedback during the process of making the album, or after its release?

Thanks!

I appreciate your efforts here Thor

But "my personal preference was to be a "sender" and not a "receiver" which may have helped." is a little bit too much detail ;-)

Hey Conundrumme,
Freddie had given me an advance video of "Barcelona" and I absolutely loved it. I was not all that familiar with the work of Montserrat Caballe,
but after Barcelona, I tried to familiarize myself with some of her work. Fantastic!


Hello talismaniak,
Those who needed to know understood my slight variation of the words. Someone asked me how I stayed alive and I think that statement
suggests a reason why but not a certainty.

I hadn't visited this site in many months and visited today and stumbled upon this incredible thread!

Wow. This has got to be the coolest thing I've ever seen on either Queenzone or Queenonline.

I have poured over the pictures from Phoebe's book for years wondering what the people in those photo's were like. Wondering if they were phony hangers-on or truly friends to Freddie.

I can't describe how insanely fantastic it is to have you here, Thor, and interacting with us! Thank you so much and hang around here forever, please!

Hello PrimeJiveUSA,
Wow, thank you so much for your response. I'm glad you are enjoying the thread. I like sharing my memories and answering whatever questions I can.
I understand that I am not the last word in Freddie and Queen information.

Yeah, not many people have said this: but it's magnific to have you here. I hope this isn't only a temporary visit, for then leaving QueenZone for a long time. You're a great dude, from whom we actually learned a lot, and we're very proud that you're here. Thank you, for insisting in posting here besides some unfortunate comments. We all did bad comments, at least once in our lives. P.S.: Is this you?

@Thor

When I was 11-12 years old and obsessed with all things Queen back in 1980-82(Freddie's New York phase) and I was a member of the Queen International Fan Club, we would receive a quarterly magazine/newsletter where one of the band members would pen a handwritten letter to the fans(photo-copied of course). I distinctly remember Freddie writing about his time in "fab New York" and how he had taken up "smoking" and how hung over he was.

You were one of the people that was with him during all of that! And you were in LA with him when they were recording parts of The Works! I can't tell you how cool it is that you have entered these boards! You admit that you aren't an encyclopedia of knowledge about Queen...but who cares! LOL...you bring something to the table that is rare indeed. First-hand, personal experience with Freddie and observations about him as a person.

You say you weren't his "lover" but you did share one encounter with him...yeah...that's AWESOME! And I'm saying that as a totally straight, heterosexual guy! You spent the night with Freddie Mercury!

I just went to a concert last week in Nashville where Adam Lambert described Freddie as a "god" and the crowd roared at any video image of Freddie...and you were friends with him!

What an honor to have you here.