Month: September 1998

On Thursday, September 24th, The 1998 MuchMusic Video Awards, the Canadian MTV, were showcased this year by presenting David Bowie with the “Eye Popper Award”. The award is given to those artists whose significant contribution to the artform has succeeded in exploring & exploding the creative boundaries of music video. Click here to view David’s acceptence speech and a short video introduction featuring David’s works.

Jeffrey Gaines could easily see himself living in the 1960s, hanging out and making music at someplace like Haight-Asbury in San Francisco. On the phone, he sounds mellow and laid back. He peppers his speech with “dude” and “vibe.” And he’s a singer-songwriter, for crying out loud. This is the ’90s. If you’re a guy, you gotta play alternative or swing or hip-hop, or you’re just not happening. Gaines doesn’t listen to that kind of talk. By the mid-’80s, he caught his first break. WTPA-FM (93.5) in Mechanicsburg was putting out a CD featuring local musicians. From that he went to Philadelphia, where he began to find his own voice. He started playing an acoustic guitar, and that changed his whole approach to music. He dropped the harsh, electric metal he had grown up with in favor of more personal songs. “Galore” is the first release under his new deal with Rykodisc. In the end, he didn’t have enough time for a double record. The finished album has 13 songs. A bonus CD includes his best-known song, a live version of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” His bandmates on the record include Reeves Gabrels, Gail Ann Dorsey and Zachary Alford. All three played in David Bowie’s most recent touring band. Former E-Street Band keyboardist David Sancious sat in, too. “We kept the vibe so relaxed,” he says. “Somewhere around song six, the record gets into this groove and just keeps going.”

Just in case you have your monthly planner out, the radio station WXRT in Chicago is re-broadcasting the acoustic show David did with Reeves at the Chicago Trax Studios on October 16, 1997 sometime in the next two months. The show was all acoustic, David and Reeves performed “Scary Monsters” (a country & western version); “Always Crashing In The Same Car” and “I Can’t Read” (the version from the film “The Ice Storm”). In between songs, David chats with the radio host and takes questions, jokes around, etc. The show is roughly 45 minutes long. BowieNet will have a direct link to WXRT’s web site.

Legends on VH1 @ 10:00 PM ESTDavid Bowie first attracted a cult following in the early seventies with his rock superstar caricature, Ziggy Stardust, and then casually slipped from one guise to another in pursuit of his art. Now in his fifties, David Bowie has also established a name for himself as a painter, an actor, a writer, an internet service provider, and a book publisher while he continues to stay on the cutting edge of music. Through an exclusive new interview with Bowie, Legends will uncover the personal story behind one of rock’s most controversial figures and will feature rarely and never before seen performance clips, interviews, photos and articles. The Legends Show featuring David Bowie will be re-broadcasted on Monday 9/28 at 12:00 AM, Wednesday 9/30 at 10:00 PM, and Sunday 10/4 at 4:00 PM. All times are EST.

On October 6th “RED HOT AND RHAPSODY” A tribute to George Gershwin will be released which features the track” A Foggy Day in London Town” sung by David as already mentioned in Bowie News. The new news is that the Greshwin penned track will be posted on BowieNet for your listening pleasure.

Keep an eye out for the new Mitsubishi commercial – it includes the opening drum riff from “Lust for Life” written by Iggy Pop and David.

Reeves and Robert Smith of The Cure, along with Cure bandmate Jason Cooper have formed a side project band – COGASM (CO for Cooper, GA for Gabrels, SM for Smith). COGASM have their first soundtrack offering, called “A Sign From God” included in the new feature film called ‘Orgazmo’. The film is written and directed by ‘South Park’ co-creator Trey Parker. BowieNet will post Reeves’ thoughts about the song and working with Robert Smith in the upcoming weeks. The audio clip of the new song will be posted on BowieNet. Also look out for the video of Reeves on stage with The Cure……
David in London last week filming acceptance of MuchMusic Award. [ click to view video clip! ]

A CHAT — with DAVID BOWIE for members of BowieNet will occur on September 30th at 9:30pm EST. More details are forthcoming.

DAVID BOWIE — soon to start work on a new album for release in 1999 — made an impressive showing in a major poll in the U.K., “The Virgin Top 1,000 Albums Of All Time.” The results of this newly published poll–based on 200,000 votes cast in pop polls over the past 30 years–found BOWIE and the Beatles as the only artists in the Top 20 with more than one album. BOWIE is also the only solo artist in the Top 20 with more than one entry, for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (#11) and Hunky Dory (#16). In addition, BOWIE is also the highest ranking solo artist on the chart (with Ziggy at #11). Meanwhile, BOWIE continues to make his presence on music and pop culture with his new music. His video for “I’m Afraid of Americans”–a track from his Earthling album that was reconstructed by Nine Inch Nails for his remix EP, “I’m Afraid of Americans”–has received two nominations: “Best Male Video” by MTV and “Best International Video” by Canada’s Much Music (the only category in which a non-Canadian can be nominated), where the video is competing against LL Cool J’s “Phenomenon,” Madonna’s “Ray of Light,” The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Ava Adore” and The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony.”

First Time Fully-Protected, Time-Released Content Used To Help Build ISP Subscriber Base

CHICAGO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — HyperLOCK Technologies, Inc. (www.hyperlock.com) today announced a strategic development agreement with UltraStar Internet Services, LLC, the management company of David Bowie’s new Internet service, BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com). Under the agreement, UltraStar will take advantage of HyperLOCK’s HyperCD® encryption technology to securely distribute exclusive David Bowie audio and video tracks via the Internet to new subscribers of BowieNet, which launched into cyberspace this week.This relationship represents a number of firsts for both companies. For example, BowieNet is the first Internet service provider to use exclusive time-released video and audio content as an incentive to drive subscribers to its site and increase enrollment. For HyperLOCK, the BowieNet HyperCD is the first commercial release of both a Microsoft® DirectX®- and an Apple® QuickTime 3.0®-enabled HyperCD.”We are excited about working with UltraStar to help build a subscriber base for BowieNet,” said Ken Park, vice president of new media development for HyperLOCK. “We’ve always seen HyperLOCK’s technology as a perfect compliment to an ISP enrollment disk, whether it be to deliver high-quality, exclusive content, enhanced e-commerce transactions or targeted video advertising. Our relationship with UltraStar represents a major paradigm shift in the concept of music distribution via the Web.”As part of a special enrollment program, new subscribers will receive a BowieNet HyperCD. The CD-ROM will contain the customized browser as well as two encrypted classic live David Bowie 50th Birthday video tracks never before released to the public, as well as an exclusive, time-released Bowie audio track, called “Fun.”

HyperLOCK Announces Agreement with UltraStar/BowieNet, page 2When the BowieNet HyperCD is installed and “unlocked” by HyperLOCK’s proprietary encryption technology, subscribers are seamlessly linked to the BowieNet Web site. There, members can instantaneously access audio and video content stored on the CD-ROM. Because they are already at the site, subscribers also can simultaneously browse, download information and make electronic purchases.BowieNet offers its subscribers high-speed Internet access, a customizable home page, a davidbowie.com e-mail address and 5 MB of Web site space. The subscriber also has uncensored access to news groups, chat rooms, online shareware, multi-player gaming and exclusive content from David Bowie. This content includes photos, chats, Bowie’s preferred links, live video feeds from his studio and exclusive access to the Thin White Duke’s private domain. “HyperLOCK’s HyperCD technology allows UltraStar to protect high-quality audio and video from piracy, while providing a way to offer a more exciting multimedia experience to users. With HyperCD, members of our ISP not only have access to these three exclusive David Bowie audio and video tracks, they’re also just one click away from all the unique multimedia goodies we have in store for them on the Bowienet site,” said Ron Roy, project manager at UltraStar. “We expect to work with HyperLOCK on additional Internet promotions in the future.”UltraStar is a management technology partnership that specializes in the arena of Internet services bringing major entertainment, sports and fashion clients to the world in a community-based forum delivered over the Web. A partnership between UltraStar and Concentric Network, Corp. provides the network services to run BowieNet.HyperLOCK’s HyperCD® and HyperDVD(tm) are the world’s first fully encrypted multimedia gateway technologies linking pre-recorded CD-ROM video and audio with real-time information on the Internet. Designed to address the Internet’s chronic bandwidth limitations, HyperLOCK’s technology opens the door for time-released Web programming, enhanced video advertising, QVC®-like electronic commerce, and comprehensive distance learning programs on the Web. HyperLOCK’s unique blend of technologies offer important two-way connectivity advantages for both the end-user and Web developer — providing many of the multimedia, control, security and revenue-generating features today on the Internet, even over a 14.4 dialup connection, that broadband technology might achieve in 25 years.HyperLOCK’s HyperCD and HyperDVD are used by such diverse companies as Apple Computers, Warner Bros. Online, BMG Online, Capital Records, UltraStar, Highway One Media Entertainment, Honeywell, Spiegel, Ameritech, JAMtv and the American Society of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons. For more information about HyperLOCK Technologies, please contact the company at 847/673-6200 or visit the Web site at (http://www.hyperlock.com.HyperDVD is a trademark of HyperLOCK Technologies, Inc. HyperCD is a registered trademark of HyperLOCK Technologies, Inc.