Month: August 1999

Break out the candle! BowieNet officially turns one year old today (that’s really 10 years on the cyber calendar). And when you think about it – we REALLY accomplished a lot from our little web seed idea:

What’s Really Happening – the contest, the recording , the webcast and best of all the track making it onto ‘hours'(not to mention making Alex Grant a household name)….

liveandwell.com – the making of an Internet CD production project by the members, for the members….

VH-1 Storytellers Contest – a once-in-a-lifetime event….

Fame Remix – your were the producer at the controls….

great guest chats:

David Bowie
The UltraStar team
David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels
Sandra Bernhard
Gail Ann Dorsey
Mick Rock, Tony Visconti and David Bowie
Iman and David Bowie
Ronan Keating and David Bowie
Mike Garson
Eddie Izzard
Boy George and David Bowie
Joey Arias
Ronnie Spector and Joey Ramone
Placebo
Melissa Auf der Maur of Hole
Roger O’Donnell of the Cure
Mark Plati
Floria Sigismondi

Things – the first interactive screens saver by an music artist….

Building ‘Hours’ – members heard and saw the songs and artwork before the rest of the world….

360 Degree Lucent Cam – Lucent’s hi-level 360 degree camera – launched on BowieNet, first during our private scavenger hunt, then used – for the world to see – during the recording of “What’s Really Happening”….

Member’s Rule! – and you did! Tons of great artwork, poems, stories, photos, fansites, and more. And heck – ya even went out and built your own BowieNet Members Database….

and not to mention a stack of awards – ZDTV Site of the Year
-Finalist for Site of the Year – Yahoo Internet Life, Finalist for Site of the Year – SXSW
-1999 MTV nominee for Internet Site of the Year
-BowieNet – Finalist for Best Entertainment Website by Wired Magazine.

So now you ask – “since the honeymoon is over, what’s next?” Keep an eye out for some ultra-cool announcements as we ramp up for year number 2!

So break out the bubbly, soda pop, party hats, and fireworks – we can all celebrate together. Who knows? Virtual Bowie could be next 😉

Here is a nice birthday note sent in by one of our charter members, Tybalt. Thanks to all for the first year!

Time to vote. We’ve got over 140 t-shirt designs to review. Once you’ve found your favorite one, send in your vote.

Don’t forget, the top 5 winning t-shirts designers will get an autographed copy (that’s signed by Placebo AND Bowie) of the limited edition EP from Placebo and David Bowie- “Without You, I’m Nothing” – for our BowieNet tshirt contest prizes.

So come on, Let’s vote!

27 years ago today, September 1st, 1972 – ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’/’Hang Onto Yourself’ single released by RCA.

Since we post so many stories, here is a end-of-month summary of the major news stories.

AUGUST 16th-31st, 1999 HIGHLIGHTS

8/31/99 BUILDING HOURS

8/31/99 VH-1 JOURNALS

8/30/99 DAVID BOWIE AND VIRGIN RECORDS BRING MUSIC CONSUMERSFIRST MAJOR LABEL ALBUM EVER TO BE FULLY DOWNLOADABLE FROM THE INTERNET

8/26/99 BOWIE AND THE BOMBERS: 3rd ULTRASTAR ISP

8/25/99 BUILDING HOURS

8/25/99 FLORIA SIGISMONDI CHAT

8/23/99 BOWIE TO PLAY NETAID CONCERT LAUNCHES

8/20/99 101 T-SHIRT DESIGNS

8/19/99 HIGH 5 REVIEW

8/18/99 VIRGIN MUSIC GROUP SIGNS DAVID BOWIE TO WORLDWIDE RECORDING AGREEMENT

OK, here is the NEXT track from Hours (bringing the total up to 6 now) PLUS three more chunks from the album cover image.

Enjoy this exclusive first look and listen from the forthcoming David Bowie album “Hours…”

On August 23rd of 1999, BowieNet members from all over the world flew into New York City for the rare chance to participate in the taping of David Bowie’s VH-1 STORYTELLERS session.

50 winners were selected at random. They came from Argentina, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, US, UK, Brazil, France, and Germany for this special opportunity to see David perform in front of an intimate crowd of 250.

This section of BowieNet is where we will now hear their stories. We have asked all participants of the Storytellers show to write in and share their personal journals with us. So here you go, and thanks for the journals!

If you attended the taping, please send your journals in soon.

Special thanks to Kevin Mazur for the photos.

Be on the look-out for the new CD set due out September 21st, 1999 on Dreamworks Records. The CD’s, entitled “Saturday Night Live: The Musical Performances Volumes 1 and 2” capture twenty-five years of musical appearances from artist such as Eric Clapton, Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, the Grateful Dead, David Bowie, and many more (see below).

Here is a tentative track listings for Saturday Night Live: The Musical Performances

Volume 1

Paul Simon – “Diamonds on the Soles (1986)
Sting – “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” (1993)
Eric Clapton – “Wonderful Tonight” (1990)
Counting Crows – “Round Here” (1994)
Annie Lennox – “Why” (1992)
James Taylor – “The Secret o’ Life” (1993)
Jewel – “Who Will Save Your Soul” (1997)
Lenny Kravitz – “Gonna Go My Way” (1993)
Tom Petty – “Honey Bee” (1994)
The Grateful Dead – “Casey Jones” (1978)
Dave Matthews Band – “What Would You Say” (1995)
Billy Joel – “Only the Good Die Young” (1978)
Elvis Costello – “Radio, Radio” (1977)
David Bowie – “Scary Monsters” (1997)
Randy Newman – “I Love L.A.” (1983)

Volume 2

Nirvana – “Rape Me” (1993)
Neil Young – “No More” (1989)
R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion (1991)
Hole – “Doll Parts” (1994)
Beastie Boys – “Sabotage” (1998)
Dr. Dre – “Been There Done That” (1996)
TLC – “Creep” (1995)
Arrested Development – “Tennessee” (1992)
Oasis – “Acquiesce” (1997)
Green Day – “When I Come Around” (1994)
Beck – “Nobody’s Fault but My Own” (1999)
The Pretenders – “I’ll Stand by You” (1994)
Alanis Morissette – “Hand in My Pocket” (1995)
Mary J. Blige – “Reminisce” (1993)
Janet Jackson – “Any Time, Any Place” (1994)
BILL CRANDALL (August 26, 1999)

For the first time ever in the history of the music business, a majorrecording artist and a leading record company are joining with retail tobring a complete album to music fans via download from the Internet.

On Tuesday, September 21st, David Bowie and Virgin Records will make the tensongs from the artist’s new album “hours…” available via download from theInternet from any participating retailer. As a special bonus to theweb-surfing music fan, an eleventh new track offered exclusively through thedownload will be provided. This exciting opportunity is being made availablein conjunction with over 50 retailer outlets for only the two weeks prior tothe album’s actual in-store retail date of October 4th.

Announcing the new venture, Virgin Worldwide Vice Chairman Nancy Berry said,“David Bowie is one of the most technologically well informed and culturallyprogressive artists in the world. It is only natural that he be the firstmusician to bring his art to his fans in this manner. We are very excited tobe part of this experiment in new music distribution with David and ourdistribution channel EMI Music Distribution (EMD). Although this process isnot indicative of how Virgin will conduct business in the future, we areexcited to be pioneering this development and look forward to many otherexciting and ground-breaking advances”

Comments David Bowie
“I couldn¹t be more pleased to have the opportunity of moving the musicindustry closer to the process of making digital download available as thenorm and not the exception. We are all aware that these broadbandopportunities are not yet available to the overwhelming majority of people.However, just as colour television broadcasts and film content on home videotapes were required first steps to cause their industries to expand consumeruse, I am hopeful that this small step will lead to larger steps by myselfand others ultimately giving consumers greater choices and easier access tothe music they enjoy. Concurrently, the Internet, with its low barriers ofentry will allow retailers large and small to compete on a level playingfield. This can only be of benefit to the consumer”

The music from “hours…” will be downloadable in the Secure Digital MusicInitiative-compatible formats Microsoft Audio 4.0 and Liquid Audio. (SecureDigital Music Initiative (SDMI) is the global organisation of record andtechnology companies formed to develop a set of guidelines for digitaldistribution that safeguard original content). Microsoft and Liquid Audiowill establish technical support in the United States as of September 21 toassist cyber savvy music fans with the download process. The download willbe available via the major participating retailers, through which the fanswill also be able purchase an actual CD with all the graphics, lyrics andrecording information, not available from the download.

Comments Jay Samit, Senior Vice President, New Media, EMI Recorded Music, “While various artists have put singles on the web, this is the first time afull album has ever been available via digital download. It makes perfectsense that such a feat be spearheaded by David Bowie, possibly the most Websavvy of all artists and someone who has been on the cutting edge of popularculture. We are proud to be working with him in this endeavour and lookforward to learning about customer behaviour with respect to this newdistribution channel”.

Comments Richard Cottrell, President and CEO, EMI Music Distribution, “We fully respect the role our retailers’ play in selling our artists’ musicand therefore, we are pleased to further support their position by makingthis exciting initiative only available via their existing web sites. Bydistributing the digital download via our retailer sites we gain, for DavidBowie’s album, the maximum impact from the power of the retailer brands andtheir consumer reach”.

Already a visionary in the field of the Internet as early as 1983, DavidBowie¹s record breaking “Serious Moonlight” tour conducted all worldwidecommunications through a new process known as electronic mail. By 1988,Bowie had the first artist news group on the Internet. As the Internetevolved to the utilisation of the World Wide Web, Bowie pioneered both theearliest music web sites and later the world¹s first cybercast. He broke newground once again in 1997 with his Internet only release of the drum andbass single “Telling Lies”.1998 saw the launch of BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com), the first artistcreated Internet service provider in the world. BowieNet offers uncensoredaccess to the Internet, including news, sports, finance and the best musicand entertainment coverage on the web. For Bowie fans and indeed all musicfans. BowieNet provides previously unreleased material, videos, photos andshow reviews from all genres of music. It also offers real time chats andcyber casts (both live and archived) from David himself and a host of otherartists.

Bowienet was a nominee for the WIRED Award for Best Entertainment Site OfThe Year 1999.David Bowie’s forthcoming album “hours…” is due at traditional retail storeon October 4th, the album will be the artist’s first to be handled by VirginMusic Group throughout the world, following a new agreement announced in midAugust. For the past several months David has been in the studio finishingthe new record, which is very song driven, a hark back to his “Hunky Dory”days of the early 70’s.

For More Information Please Contact:
Stuart Bell/Julian Stockton/Alan Edwards at
The Outside Organisation
Tel: 0171 436 3633
Fax: 0171 436 3632
www.outside-org.co.uk

Well, it’s not quite that time again, but just for fun, and because it’s Monday, we have posted3 more chunks of the album cover image for you.

Enjoy thisexclusive first look and listen from the forthcoming David Bowie album “Hours…”

Last night, to celebrate John Peel’s 60th birthday, the BBC aired an hour long documentary special. Included in the special was a videotaped appearance by none other than David Bowie, wishing Peel a happy birthday, and telling a story about how John Peel once helped steer Bowie in the right direction. Here is a except:

“Dear John. When you worked with me on the T-Rex tour, and I was doing a mime piece based on the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese… you were somewhat non-plussed that the audience didn’t like the piece where the back row of the audience lifted their hands up with Chairman Mao’s little red book, and there was a whole feud going on between me and the audience.

You decided that the problem was that I was doing mime. You didn’t like mime. And until I came here to America, I never realized that you were right. Nobody in the world likes mime.Thanks for the advice about the songs. I’m glad I stayed with the songwriting. And a very happy birthday.”

Viewers of the special were then treated to a rare version of David’s 1972 appearence on The Old Grey Whistle Test. The clip was Oh! You Pretty Things.