Dear everyone,

We're feeling pretty happy here today - the Money For Nothing single is at no. 4 in the UK charts and the LP has been back at no. 1 for the past two weeks! That makes the single the group's second most successful one in the UK (after Private Investigations).

They are currently in the middle of their US tour, and things are also going extremely well there. They have never done particularly well there before, especially as far as record sales go, but this time it seems like the Americans have caught on at last! The LP is no. 10, and the single in the Top 30, and the album has sold over 850,000 there. The shows are also going down a storm: They broke the house record in Chicago with 28,500 people, and we've had to add some extra shows. They were originally only doing three nights in New York (to 6,000 people a night) and we have just added Madison Square Garden (17,000) and a couple of other big shows just outside New York. Things really seem to be happening there... I'm actually flying out to LA at the beginning of September to join the group for a while, so I'll tell you all the news from that side of the Atlantic in the next newsletter (hopefully I'll be able to get another one done before the UK shows in December). Thanks for all your letters that have been arriving since the summer shows here. The group had a great time here, and they can't wait to do the smaller halls at Xmas time. They are particularly looking forward to doing Hammersmith instead of Wembley Arena (those of you who were at the Wembley shows will recall how strict the security staff were, and Mark was very annoyed that they made the audience sit down through most of the concert). This won't be a problem at Hammersmith - you can stand up and dance as much as you like there!

A lot of you wrote and asked if it was me you saw on TV the night of the Royal Show (July 4th) - well, yes it was - but I don't usually look that smart! Prince Charles asked me if our company was called Mad Management - so I had to explain that it wasn't, it was called Damage, although 'Mad' would fit just as well!! He and Princess Diana really enjoyed themselves at the show and as you probably read in the papers, they even got up and danced about during Walk Of Life and Two Young Lovers (whatever happened to Royal protocol?). We have recently had a very nice letter from Charles saying how they both had a wonderful time at the gig, and of course, through meeting Bob Geldof at the Straits show, they also ended up attending the Live Aid concert. I'm sure those of you who weren't actually at Wembley Stadium watched it on TV, so I don't need to tell you what a great day it was for all concerned. We actually spent most of the day there (in scorching heat!) and as soon as the band had done their part we rushed back over to The Arena where they played their own show. After that, there was a Live Aid party at Legends night-club in London, and I ended up going to bed at about 7 o'clock on Sunday morning, so I was out for the count most of the day. That evening was supposed to be a night off for us (14th July) but we ended up putting on an extra show at The Arena (only announced three days beforehand) which completely sold out! During the Wembley shows I was working l0 AM till 7 PM here at the office and then 8 PM till l AM at the shows, so by the end of the fortnight I was completely knackered! The group left for the USA the next day, so now it is a bit quieter here, and I have six weeks to catch up with the mail before I fly out to join them.

If you weren't at the Wembley shows you may be interested to know that there were guest musicians playing with the Straits most nights and these included: Sting, Pete Townsend, Hank Marvin, Paul Brady, Dave Edmunds, Nils Lofgren (from Bruce Springsteen's band) and Branford Marsalis from Sting's band.

The Tube filmed the Wembley concert on July 10th and will hopefully be screening it in December although they haven't given me an exact date yet. I also don't know whether they are going to screen the footage they shot in Israel separately, or whether they will tack it onto the Wembley footage. I should be able to let you know in the next newsletter. There are no plans to release the Wembley footage as a video-cassette (the set the group are playing on this tour is fairly similar to the Alchemy one) so you should have a blank video ready...

Now here are some answers to questions a lot of you have asked recently:

BIRTHDATES OF BAND MEMBERS: Mark Knopfler - August 12th 1949, John Illsley - June 24th 1949, Alan Clark - March 5th 1952, Terry Williams - January 11th 1948, Guy Fletcher - May 24th 1960, Jack Sonni - December 9th 1954, Chris White - July 13th 1955.

PHOTOS: We don't have any photos left here at all at the moment. When it gets less busy (probably early next year) we will get some more done with all seven band members included.

That's about it for now. After I've come back from LA and San Francisco, I'm only here for about two weeks, and then I'm off to New York for a while. When I get back from there, I'll start doing another letter (i.e. sometime during October/November). Enjoy the rest of the summer (one day it will actually be sunny and we'll all die of surprise...)!

Best wishes,

PS. Hope you have managed to see the Money For Nothing video by now - it's probably the best video the group have ever done...