Month: October 2002

Looking for information…

The e-mail address required for PayPal when ordering The Ziggy Collection, a limited set of enamel badges by George Underwood, is info@georgeunderwood.com. If you missed the original story go back a couple of days for more information about this beautiful limited edition set. (10/06/02 NEWS: GEORGE UNDERWOOD ZIGGY SET AVAILABLE NOW)

Oh she’s a tongue twisting storm, come to the show tonight…

Regular visitors to these pages will be more than aware of the very talented Kristeen Young. But, just in case your are in any doubt as to quite what she is, this excerpt from her most recent press release explains all:

“Plucked from the thick-brown-rumblin’n’rollin’-Tina Turner-Chuck Berry-Muddy Waters of the Mississippi River arrives ROCK singer/songwriter, KRISTEEN YOUNG. This native St. Louisan re-introduces ADVENTUROUS rock as only a 1/2 Apache/bible-fed/orphaned child/now non-teen/mid-westerner can. It’s from a far-off distant planet called Missouri and it’s got scars.

Kristeen leads her band, KRISTEEN YOUNG & the Low Boys, with a driven, blown-out, guitar-riff piano sound that is equal parts Jerry Lee Lewis/Jimmy Page/Jello Biafra in attitude. She combines this with a Thomas Dolby meets DMX meets Bowie flavor, then, throws it into a 3 minute/verse-chorus American blender for good measure. This is definitely music from a person sitting in the middle of a continent (no boundaries). Vocally, she slides just as effortlessly through styles, wielding a 4 octave range. And, of course, her clothes could only be designed by her all 600s structure gone sliding sideways into that American artery.

Rock and Roll as an ADVENTURE…Rock and Roll as a BLOODSPORT…Isn’t it time? To see it is to believe it.”

Now that’s cleared up, it just remains for me to tell you about the shows. Kristeen Young & the Low Boys start a residency at CBGB’s tonight, here’s the schedule for the whole of October:

Tuesday October 8th @ CBGB, 8:30
Thursday October 17th @ CBGB, 8:30
Tuesday October 22nd @ Luxx (in Williamsburg), 8:00
Thursday October 24th @ CBGB, 8:30
Tuesday October 29th @ CBGB, 8:30

I’m sure you are all aware that Tony Visconti, the producer of Kristeen’s wonderful album, is but one of the Low Boys. While we’re on the subject of the album, which has a working title of ‘Breasticles’, we’re giving ten BowieNetters the chance to win a specail promo CDR copy of it. Apart from the obvious attraction of having a Bowie lead vocal on ‘Saviour’, ‘Breasticles’ is a great record in its own right anyway.

From the scorching opener of ‘Bite Down’, through the aforementioned sheer class of ‘Saviour’ and the impossibly catchy future hit, ‘We Want More!?’, to the out and out strangeness of ‘Wake The Dead’, ‘Breasticles’ is a fine record with a brilliant Tony Visconti production.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy is tell me four artists, other than Kristeen, that Tony Visconti has produced. How easy is that!? Send your answers to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of “I Want Kristeen Young”. The competition will end about this time next week, and I’ll announce the winners later that same day.

As she hits the floor he sighs…

As you all know David Bowie appeared on the very popular Italian TV show, Quelli Che il Calcio, in Milan on Sunday afternoon, to perform a two song live set that comprised of ‘Cactus’ and ‘Everyone Says ‘Hi”. David looked cool in that red silk number (Dior, I think) that he’s been wearing at recent shows, you know the one, it’s the same style as the blue suit he wore at Hammersmith.

Well of course it’s no surprise to any of you, that women throw themselves at David’s feet, it must happen all the time. But when it’s presenter Simona Ventura, (a huge star in her own right in Italy) throwing herself at David’s feet on live national TV, it all becomes a bit surreal. But, apparently the Italian beauty did exactly that at the end of David’s second song, as our pictures show.

Apart from those present at the TV studio, the event was witnessed by a viewing audience of approximately seven million! I have no idea how comfortable David was with the situation, but he does look a little uneasy in these pictures. Perhaps he knows that Simona Ventura’s behaviour is apparently a traditional thing that Italian women do to declare their undying love! Who said romance is dead?

A short while later, and apparently unfazed by his ordeal, David kept his appointment at La Feltrinelli for what was reportedly the busiest signing session he’s done yet. Another woman who ended up on the floor just for David, was BowieNetter Susans who joined the queue for the signing the night before, and slept on the pavement underneath a huge Bowie poster in a sleeping bag!

Susans was rewarded for her efforts by managing to get a moment with DB at the signing… By all accounts (ie, Susan said) he smelt lovely. How can one man handle so much love?

I’ll give my, complete attention to a very good friend of mine…

Artist and long time friend of David Bowie, George Underwood, has commissioned a beautiful set of enamel badges to commemorate the first UK and US Ziggy tours of 30 years ago. The badges are based on the original Ziggy Stardust cartoon images that George created for early promotional material. The five characters; Ziggy, Starman, Lady Stardust, and Weird and Gilly have been lovingly recreated for this special limited set of only 1,000 tins.

Here’s the blurb from the official George Underwood site:

The Ziggy Collection by George Underwood
A 30th anniversary commemorative set of enamel badges

In 1972 George Underwood designed a set of cartoon images based on characters featured on David Bowie’s LP Ziggy Stardust. In August that year the drawings were used in a programme for David’s famous Ziggy Stardust concerts at the Rainbow Theatre in London. A sheet of colour transfers was also produced and used for promotional purposes, mainly in America. The images were widely used to promote many of David’s early Ziggy shows and original printed items featuring these designs are now rare and highly collectable..”

To commemorate the first UK and US Ziggy tours 30 years ago, George has commissioned a set of enamel badges featuring all five characters; Ziggy, Starman, Lady Stardust, and Weird and Gilly . Each character has been faithfully reproduced as a high quality enamel badge, personally overseen by George himself. The badges are carefully mounted on black foam inside a silverglow tin, its hinged lid embossed with the collection title.

This complete issue is limited to just 1,000. A booklet inside features a short history of the characters and features an individual printed number. Sets are issued from number one onwards – early orders will receive the lower issue numbers.

Go check out George’s site for individual shots of each badge, and for technical and payment details. To order via PayPal you need to use info@georgeunderwood.com as the e-mail address.

Where the sailors all meet…

(Ooops…please forgive me…I forgot to upload this story yesterday!) Here are a few pictures from the BowieNet meet and greet at Hammersmith on Wednesday. Our two winners, Kisch and gwtmh, each bought a guest along with them to this very exclusive post-gig bash. I’m sure there have already been accounts posted on the MBs, but here’s a little of what I remember.

After a little panic to find our winners, we were all escorted through a couple of well-guarded doors to a small room, with a bar at one end and a couple of sofas at the other. We had dragged Spaceface along to join our four guests, because…well, because she bloomin’ well deserves it. The room was populated by other meet and greet winners, industry nobs and a few of David’s friends.

It was touching to see everyone affected by nerves, not just Kisch and her friend*, (who had both travelled all the way from Russia and seemed particularly nervous) but also ultra-cool characters like June (aka gwtmh) and her guest Rus, seemed to be a little agitated before David’s arrival.

But sure enough, after a short wait, David breezed into the room, looking for all the world like a man who had been relaxing all day…not somebody who had just performed a very energetic set for close on three hours to a sold out Hammersmith Carling Apollo! He looked great, as you can see from my pictures, and made everyone feel as at ease as they could possibly be in such a situation.

Kisch was the first to grab her moment with David, and she was determined to make the most of it. After a longer chat than most got, she gave a very appreciative DB a book about Saint Petersburg, and after leafing through it for a while, he finally made his way round the room to talk to the rest of the guests and sign various bits and pieces.

I’ve spoken to a few people about meeting David Bowie over the last couple of years, and it seems that most of them worry about what to say, and probably their greatest fear is that the conversation might dry up. Believe me, it won’t. It won’t, because David won’t let it! It constantly amazes me how he still makes time for this sort of thing… particularly after having just done a show, and how he manages to appear genuinely interested in what people have to say.

Anyway, our winners all got some time with David, and as they were ushered out, the conveyor belt delivered more people who had been promised a moment with the main man. I hung around to get some more pictures, and chatted with the likes of George Underwood and John Cambridge…two very different characters you couldn’t wish to meet. Watch this space tomorrow for some great news on George’s latest project.

*So sorry, I’ve forgotten your name, Kisch’s friend… But be sure to send me your name and address so I can get your Hunky Dory sleeve signed. Thanx again for the Russian ‘Heathen’… Very cool of you!

Jeder sagt ‘Hi’

On Saturday 5th October (tomorrow), as we mentioned previously, David will perform ‘Everyone Says ‘Hi’ on the German ZDF TV Show ‘Wetten Dass’ and will also give an interview. The show airs from 8.15PM until 10.30PM.

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We were so turned on

Its highly unlikely that you need to be reminded of tomorrow night’s BBC Radio 2 broadcast (8.00PM), but it IS a great excuse to bring you one more of Blammo’s beautiful photographs, taken on the day of the recording. If you missed the original BowieNet news item (09/18/02 NEWS: BOWIE RADIO TWO SESSION PICTURES AND REVIEWS), check it out right now, and then make sure all of your recording equipment is in top shape. This is SUBLIME!

Titled ‘David Bowie Live and Exclusive’ the website describes the show thus:- “Jonathan Ross introduces an intimate, exclusive performance by David Bowie, recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios in London on September 18th, featuring new and classic tracks.” Jonathan Ross will be playing a special teaser for this on his regular BBC Radio 2 show, tomorrow morning.

If you aren’t in the UK then you can listen to BBC Radio 2 online, here. The same page also has a list of previous shows which can be listened to at your leisure, so check back after the show.

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Tutti dicono Ciao

On Sunday 6th October, David will be in Milan to record ‘Everyone Says ‘Hi’ for the Italian TV show ‘Quelli che il calcio’

He will also be at the Milanese megastore La Feltrinelli, Piazza Piemonte at 3.00PM to sign copies of ‘Heathen’. Passes will be given out, directly from the store at 8.00AM on the day. No-one without a pass will be admitted to the signing. You can check out Sony Music, Italy, for details.

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Became the ‘special’ man..

BBC6, the BBC’s digital radio and internet channel, are offering ‘An Evening with David Bowie’ from 6.00PM on Sunday 6th October. The website says:-

Bob Harris presents an evening dedicated to the continuing musical success of David Bowie.

The evening starts with another chance to hear David talking to Gary Crowley (09/25/02 NEWS: NEW RADIO INTERVIEW AND TOTP ON TV), and continues at 7.00PM with a repeat broadcast of the BBC Radio 2 show mentioned above. At 8.00PM there is a chance to hear the first part of the fascinating in depth db documentary ‘Golden Years’ which first aired in March 2000 (03/18/00 REMINDER: RADIO 2) (03/21/00 UPDATE: RADIO 2: GOLDEN YEARS) and (03/29/00 UPDATE: GOLDEN YEARS PT 3). If you enjoy reading, do check out those BowieNet News pages. There are acres of transcript done by some hapless BowieNet Member. ;-). Further instalments of Golden Years can be heard, also on BBC Radio 6 from Monday to Thursday at 9.00PM on The Evening Sequence with Tom Robinson.

You can listen to BBC6 via the internet, and on cable and satellite TV, and of course on DAB digital radio. Check out this page for listening details.

:))

I struggle hard to take these pictures in, but…

I guess the headline says it all, so here are a few more pix I took at Hammersmith and a round-up of the online reviews, a couple of which we posted links to yesterday… but you can’t have too much of a good thing. Come back around this time tomorrow for some pictures from the BowieNet Meet and Greet. Enjoy!

Hammersmith Reviews

CarlingLive

CNN

YAHOO!

Ananova

Sky

Dot Music

BBC

BBC (2nd review)

The London Evening Standard

NME

NME Photo Gallery

Most of the reviews have pictures from the show. Don’t forget to check out the MBs for some great member reviews and pictures too. Meanwhile, here’s a few more of my snaps…

Hope you like ’em kidz… don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for the Meet and Greet pix.

Look!

We’ve updated the little pod here to make it quick and easy for you to get to 4 cool BowieNet features.

1. THE HOTLIST: Pop out the this list for quick links to the most important BowieNews items that you may not seen if you missed a day of BowieNews.

2. SUGGESTION BOX: Drop us a line, we want to hear your suggestions on how to make BowieNet better. We can’t improve the site if we don’t know what you want. Speak up an you’ll be heard.

3. POSTCARDS: Perfect for any occasion, we pulled these up from the VIRUS section so its quick and easy for you to send a musical BowieCard anytime the feeling grabs you.

4. GOODIES: At long last we’ve got the goodies. A screensaver, some IM icons and loads of wallpapers will make your MAC or PC full-on BowieNet-ified and Heathen-ized.

“But where are all the special features that used to be in that space before??!!”

That’s easy, click the ‘special features archive’ button below the ‘link pad’ and you’ll see all the special features ever made avaialable here on Bnet — oh, and if something is missing, send us a suggestion and let us know, we’ll dig through the archives and post it up again.

We played our songs and felt the London sky…

Sorry for my tardiness in getting this report to you…Bad computer day…Grrrrr. Anyway, you’ve probably seen the online reviews for last night’s Bowie show at Hammersmith, including: CarlingLive, CNN, BBC, The London Evening Standard, (this is a member site that has two reviews, Bowie Finds His Stardust and Looking Back In Pleasure), and the NME Photo Gallery. All of the reviews have pictures from the show. It’s also worth checking out the MBs for some great member reviews and pictures from what was another truly astonishing Bowie performance.

We’re using a member review here today. BowieNetter LizSK2 has kindly sent in her excellent review which we have reprinted in its entirety below. I’ve also included a few of the shots I took last night – They’re a little bigger than usual, hope you don’t mind? – I’ll be posting more of these over the next couple of days. Before I leave you in LizSK2’s capables, here follows the songs David played in his incredible two hours, forty minute set:

Life On Mars?
Ashes To Ashes
Look Back In Anger
Survive
Breaking Glass
Cactus
China Girl
Slip Away
Absolute Beginners
Alabama Song
Speed of Life
Be My Wife
Fame
I?m Afraid of Americans
5:15 The Angels Have Gone
I?ve Been Waiting For You
Afraid
Fashion
Rebel Rebel
“Heroes”
Heathen (The Rays)
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Sunday
I Would Be Your Slave
Moonage Daydream
Changes
Starman
A New Career In A New Town
Everyone says ‘Hi’
The Bewlay Brothers
Sound and Vision
Hallo Spaceboy
Let’s Dance
Ziggy Stardust

Over to LizSK2, aka Liz Tray:

David Bowie at the Hammersmith Odeon, October 2nd, 2002 by Liz Tray

There was a particular feeling pervading the former Hammersmith Odeon last night: privilege. The buzz, the whispers, the excitement; rarely has a performance been as easily anticipated as this one. As a veteran of only three previous Bowie concerts, this was it. The one to tell people you attended; the one to boast about.

The arrival of Bowie on stage felt like the ultimate in fevered anticipation. As Methuselah himself strolled out, sat behind his piano and launched into the familiar opening of Life on Mars we strained to catch a glimpse. And then, there he was. Outfitted in a blue silk suit, with (tied) tie, he sauntered, in that particular way of his, to centre stage as the theatre erupted. And from that moment you knew it was going to be a night like no other. That long, cold night on the concrete outside the venue last Friday was going to be worth it, as we always knew.

Before we could blink he was off – Ashes to Ashes, Look Back in Anger and the “first cowboy song of the night”, Cactus followed. The set was a blur as the songs came thick and fast. I’m sure someone will have written it down but I sat in awe as David thundered through the songs that have defined and accompanied all our lives. His trademark energy puts us all to shame – how can this man, if you shall pardon the phrasing, keep it up? His boundless, ceaseless zest for all the material was astounding.

The Heathen tracks sat beautifully next to the other songs – 5.15, Slip Away, Afraid, I’ve Been Waiting for You took their rightful place alongside Fame, Fashion, Breaking Glass and so on. The welcome addition of Absolute Beginners was a surprise and I don’t think I’m alone in being envious of the wonderful Gail who danced around the stage with David as the song ended. Not to be outdone he then uttered the famed phrase “not only is this the last show of the tour.” The crowd sank to a hush then a cheer as he repeated the line he had once said many years before then he added “but this is the last show we’ll ever do.” then a pause for dramatic effect before adding “on the day of a fucking Tube strike!”

A cheeky stripped down version of Rebel Rebel had the crowd in paroxysms of delight and the gorgeous title track of Heathen ended the first part of the show. Everyone sat, simply stunned in submission by what we were watching and before we could catch our breath he was back again with the sublime Sunday. If the exact song order is sketchy it can only be because it was hard to centre oneself after such a night. Then came the moment I had been dreaming of for as long as I can remember. The most worn part of my Ziggy Stardust tape and my Madison Square Garden 50th birthday tape. He was actually going to do it.

“I’m an alligator.” My heart jumped a hundred feet. “I’m a rock and rolling bitch for you.” He did it and did it right; the first verse accompanied by the sexiest moves you’ve ever seen. If the gig had been 99.9% perfect until now this was the missing link. I never thought in any wild dream that I would see him perform Moonage Daydream let alone in this venue. Before (or after, still hazy on specifics) someone threw a black and silver feather boa on stage which David picked up and draped around his neck as he had once done before on this same stage – it was pure fantasy straight from all our dreams. This has been hard to write, as usually a review must have balance, the parts liked with the parts not as much. This was impossible as, genuinely, as all the moments had been just as I imagined every night before this. Now it had been made real.

Then as if it was the most casual announcement it came: “We’ve only ever performed this song once before.”. I think my heart actually stopped as I thought, no chance, he isn’t actually going to do this song is he? A song that’s, arguably, the finest song from Hunky Dory? It just wasn’t possible – that we could witness only the second ever public performance of. “This one’s called the Bewlay Brothers.” It was like an Aladdin Sane lightning bolt to the heart. He thought no one would know it but the vast majority if the crowd knew exactly how much this one meant. It was word perfect. Can’t wait to get the bootleg.

I was stunned after that; to be lucky enough to hear this song performed live was something that left me speechless. It was a wonderful blur – Everyone Says Hi, Starman, Changes, I never wanted it to end. But it must and what better way to make grown men weep than with a roof-raising rendition of Ziggy Stardust. He has so far to go, so many great moments yet to bestow on us. The night that had begun as people remembered the past ended as people looked forward to a better future.

Tune in again tomorrow for loads more pictures from last night’s show…and possibly more!