Ask Uncle Ian
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[edit] Introduction
The Ask Uncle Ian Fan Club Forum (otherwise known as Ask Uncle Ian or AUI) is a messageboard community associated primarily with The Police fandom. It exists as part of the website for Backstage Cafe, a bar/restaurant in Beverly Hills, California established by Ian Copeland, brother of Stewart Copeland and formerly of Frontier Booking International. The bar was similar to a homespun Hard Rock Cafe, and Ian was regularly seen there as well as on the forum of the website.
[edit] Moderators
The board was originally loosely moderated by Ian Copeland, in as much as he would be looked up to and his requests respected if discussions turned inflammatory. After Ian's death the board has existed without any structured moderation although Ian's daughters have occasionally stepped in to answer questions regarding the future of the site, Backstage Cafe itself, and other related matters.
[edit] Message board history
- On November 5, 1997, the webdomain www.backstagecafe.com was registered.[1]
- It is unclear exactly when the forum went active, as the community archives currently only go back to May 7, 2003 and it is clear that discussions had been going on there for some time before then.[2]
- June 10, 2004, Henry Padovani, who had been the original guitar player in The Police, began posting on Ask Uncle Ian.[3],[4],[5],[6] It was verified that this was indeed the real Henry and not a sockpuppet.
- On July 15, 2004, Ian Copeland extended an open invitation to all members of Ask Uncle Ian (AUI) to attend a birthday party for his brother Stewart the next day at Backstage Cafe.[7] Members of a Police tribute band were performing. Although it was uncertain whether Stewart would attend himself, he did, eventually joining the band on-stage to perform several Police songs with them.[8]
- Ian Copeland lost his battle with melanoma on May 26, 2006. For many months afterwards, the forum was the site of many tributes and messages to Ian and his family from friends, fans, and former associates in the music industry.
- On July 6, 2006, discussion began regarding the matter of keeping the board active in Ian's absense. The resolve to keep the board going followed a response from Ian's daughter Barbara that she wished for the community to continue.[9]
- On January 7, 2008, the question of the continued purpose of the board was again raised in light of Ian's absence and kerfluffles of increasing tension between board members due to the lack of active moderation.[10],[11]
[edit] Kerfluffles
[edit] Sock Puppets
The messageboard has been prey to several cases (confirmed and suspected) of fake identities and sock puppetry.
[edit] David D., Tamra, and Jennifer
- David D., who had been a regular posted on AUI since at least 2003, claimed to be a reporter for the Washington Post.[12]
- On January 22, 2004, two new posters named Tamra and Jennifer first appeared on the site. They claimed to be college students at the University of New Hampshire who had been introduced to AUI by David D. at a democratic candidate rally in New Hampshire.[13],[14]
- Tamra and Jennifer would primarily appear in threads interacting with David D. in a teasing fashion. They would also be involved in supporting/talking about bands he was active in supporting, although members of those bands (including Ryanhood and The Dares) would later admit to never having met the girls, even when they had supposedly been at one of their concerts or appearances.[15],[16],[17],[18],[19],[20],[21],[22],[23],[24],[25]
- On May 6, 2004, Tamra posted a link to photos of herself and Jennifer with David D.[26] Although several members of AUI had met David D. in person before and knew he was a real person, no one had meet or spoken to the two girls besides, supposedly, David. D.
- On July 20, 2004, Tamra posted that she and Jennifer were in Scotland now and it was difficult to obtain internet access regularly.[27]
- On June 7, 2005, a new user appeared with the screen name DavidDTamraJennifer questioning whether all three people were one and the same. Many people did not want to believe the accusation, although a few site members including Stephen and Peter agreed that something seemed suspicious and admitted to feeling that way for some time.[29]
- On June 13, 2005, DavidDTamraJennifer posted again with a breakdown of the evidence for and against the accusation.[30] Some of the most damaging points were that using IP address tracking, all of Tamra and Jennifer's postings seemed to come from one computer -- David D.'s. Stephen detailed his own work trying to track down whether the girls were real while claiming to be in Scotland, which seemed to once again prove that the mail was actually coming from David D. There was also suspicion that David D. had several other sock puppet accounts on the board which had been used less frequently.
- Argument continued for some time whether this evidence could be believed or not.[31] Through it all, neither David D., Tamra, nor Jennifer appeared on the boards again, which continued to upset some of those who had been supporters of them and refused to believe the accusations of sock puppetry.[32],[33]
[edit] Nigel Gray
- On June 14, 2004 (only several days after the real Henry Padovani first posted), someone with the login name "Nigel" and with the email address "NigelGray@graysounds.com" began posting, claiming to be Nigel Gray, the producer of the first three albums by The Police.[34] His introductory message stated:
Hello! I was speaking to Tina from the Police/Sting fanclub last week and she had mentioned that I might like to have a look at Ians website. I have just spent a very enjoyable hour reading some of the posts and getting up to speed on what people are still talking about and so I thought I would drop a line myself. It does seem that people are still fascinated with what was happening in the studio with The Police so if any of you have any questions about their formative years then please do not hesitate to drop me a line. Regards Nigel
- His postings were convincing to many members at first, including some of the most devoted collectors and historians of the band who frequented the site and Ian himself.
- By June 16, 2004, Nigel's original posting thread was now invaded by new members claiming to be "ANDY", "GORDON" and "Nigels Mum", leading some to suspect a joke was in play, although the suspicions were mostly played against these new impostors and not the original.[35]
- "Nigel" continued his ruse and postings well through the fall of 2004.[36],[37],[38]. His stories were often outlandish but grounded in just enough believability to convince people he could be real. Some further examples of his postings:
I thought I would leave you with this amusing little tale that occured while recording "Outlandos" - On the fade out of "Peanuts" Sting actually starts to sing "Penis" as Andy was waving the resident "Blow up doll" in his crotch! The blow up doll was a present from myself to produce the right atmosphere in the studio for the recording of "Be my girl"[39]
Believe it or not I do have the original mixing desk from the old Sound Studios which was replaced for the recording of Zenyatta. Its followed me around in various moves to different houses and you can imagine that has not always been easy considering the size of the thing. Now I have decided that it really does need to go, its gathering dust and taking up a lot of room. So here is my offer to you if anyone is interested....... If anyone would like it and is prepared to travel to Malta to collect it then they are most welcome to it. God knows how much it will cost you to get it home! However it does still have a few bits of sticky tape on some of the controls with notes scribbled during the recording of The Police albums![40]
Anyway as an exclusive to you I can reveal 2005 will see the opening of the musical based around songs by Sting and The Police. Its premiere will be in Paris and at this stage we are looking at an April start. The musical will be called "A Sting in the tale" and we are just about to start auditions. I cannot reveal the storyline at this point for obvious reasons however I can say its a comedy set in the 17th century! So you can see it really is going to be totally unique in every way. Now, remember that mixing desk we talked about and how I was looking for a new owner for it!? Well I'm glad I'm delighted to say it will feature as a major prop in the production! In fact it will be part of a horse drawn carriage/mobile recording studio. I wish I could show you the drawings of how the prop will look, you will have to wait till the production website is launched in January as there will be information and pictures on their.[41]
- This last story ended up providing the first piece of concrete evidence that the Nigel poster was a fake, as StingUs posted a statement on November 15, 2004 denying the plans for a Police musical confirmed by the genuine Nigel Gray.[42]
- "Nigel" attempted a return on November 16, 2005 with new claims of Police and Sting related information, this time claiming that "I will be travelling as Stings envoy to lead a project being funded by him to dig the Air Recording studios from the volcanic ash! We plan to rebuild the studio and install there the original mixing desk from my Surrey Sound Studios." By this point he was dismissed as an imposter and no longer taken seriously.[43]
- The Nigel Gray impersonator returned on April 13, 2008 with a new email address (Nigel@nigelgray.com) with a variation on the same story as before:[44]
Hello, some of you may recognise the name Nigel Gray - I produced the first three albums by The Police, in fact I still have the mixing desk in the garage of my house in Malta. Im writing a book on my involvement with the band during the formative years. Id like to throw open the doors to you and ask you what sort of information or anectdotes would you like to see in the book?
Please feel free to drop me a line or post your suggestion on this site for other people to read.
Thanks again
Nigel Gray
- By April 18, 2008, members were questioning the motives of this continual impersonator, with curiously one of the previous, primary supporters of the Tamra and Jennifer sockpuppets, Diane, now referring back to those events as a "fiasco".[45]
[edit] Members
The exact size of the messageboard membership is unknown. Many active members of Police fandom have had accounts on the site, as well as members of The Police and their associates including Stewart Copeland, Miles Copeland III, Henry Padovani, and others.
