Month: April 2004

BOWIE FANS GET CHANCE TO ALTER ?REALITY? WITH MASH-UP REMIX CONTEST;

BOWIE?S NEW ?REBEL NEVER GETS OLD? MASH-UP SINGLE RELEASED APRIL 12

DAVID BOWIE fans will put their own musical skills to the test beginning April 8 as they compete to create the best “mash-up” remix of a song from his current REALITY album with another track from his catalog. The contest will run for six weekly periods during which public voting will determine each week?s entry for the Grand Prizes.

After the judges who include BOWIE and noted masher Mark Vidler select their favorite entries, they will award the Grand Prize Winner with a 2004 Audi TT coupe.

The second prize winner will receive a complete set of Sony Media Software titles including: ACID® PRO 4 software, Vegas® +DVD Production Suite, Sound Forge® 7 software, CD Architect^TM 5 software, Four (4) Vision Series? Libraries and 50 Loops for ACID? Loop Libraries. Third prize is a Sony Vaio Z1 series laptop. BowieNet and Sony Media Software will also provide additional prizes for all the weekly finalists

Audi of America is presenting the North American leg of BOWIE?s in-progress “A Reality Tour.” Audi is currently airing a television commercial with “Rebel Never Gets Old,” a mash-up remix of BOWIE?s “Never Get Old”–a highlight of the critically acclaimed REALITY album–and his timeless “Rebel Rebel.” The TV spot generated such a favorable response that BOWIE asked mash-up guru Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions fame to take the two original masters and create a single version of “Rebel Never Gets Old.” The track will be released during the week of April 12.

By visiting www.neverfollow.com, entrants can select one-minute downloads of songs from REALITY and selected classic BOWIE tracks. Entrants can then use a free version of the Acid PRO music creation software, called ACID Xpress, which will be available at the site. Entry to the contest will last through May 18. www.neverfollow.com was created jointly by Audi and CondéNet, a division of Condé Nast.

DAVID BOWIE’s sold-out and critically acclaimed worldwide “A REALITY TOUR” returned to North America, visiting 29 additional dates at theatres, arenas and amphitheatres. The Polyphonic Spree is supporting the first half of the tour (March 29-April 30), while the Stereophonics will open shows running from May 6-May 27. “A REALITY TOUR” launched last October in Europe and the U.K., marking the influential rock legend?s first major world tour in nearly a decade and encompassing 17 countries. The mammoth trek is in support of BOWIE?s 26^th album REALITY, which debuted in the #1 position on Billboard?s Pan European chart and entered the Top 10 in 15 countries. 

For more information visit www.davidbowie.com.

BowieNet, David’s pioneering online community at www.davidbowie.com, has been expanding the limits of artist/fan interaction and collaboration since 1998. Members have co-written a song with BOWIE, helped choose album art and packaging, participated in a variety of chats, webcasts and online events and even attended members-only concerts. Trial membership to BowieNet is included with every ticket sold for A REALITY TOUR. Ticket holders receive a free 3-month membership.

Audi of America is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and markets a line of performance-oriented European premium vehicles: the A4, A4 Cabriolet, A6, A8, TT and the allroad quattro. In 2003, Audi broke its all-time U.S. sales record by selling a total of 86,421 vehicles in over 260 dealerships. Audi’s event marketing programs center around the performing arts, lifestyle and sporting events. For more information about additional Audi-related events and corporate news, visit www.audiusa.com.

Sony Media Software and Services, a division of Sony Pictures Digital Networks, manages the following media creation software titles: Sound Forge® software, Vegas® software, CD Architect? software, DVD Architect® software, ACID® PRO software, Loops for ACID? music libraries, Noise Reduction? Plug-In, Sony® Screenblast® Movie Studio, Sony Screenblast ACID 4.0, and Sony Screenblast Sound Forge. The team also runs www.ACIDplanet.com, the internet’s leading site for original music and remixes.

For additional product information, please visit www.sony.com/mediasoftware.

You’ve got your transmission and your live wire…

We first told you about this exciting new Bowie project in the news last week, (03.27.2004 NEWS: BOWIE MASH-UP FOR NEW SINGLE?) and you may have already heard further details via a BowieNet e-mail… if you haven’t, you will do very soon.

David Bowie, in conjunction with Audi of America and Sony Media Software, has given fans the chance to create their own Bowie mash-up in an exclusive competition, which launches tomorrow (Thursday April 8th) and for which the grand prize is a 2004 Audi TT coupe.

The contest idea was inspired by Mark Vidler‘s brilliant creation of the next Bowie single, a mash-up entitled Rebel Never Gets Old. The single will be available in formats we’ll outline shortly, in the week commencing April 12th.

In the meantime, everything you need to know about the six-week contest is outlined in the press release below, with links to all the relevant places you need to visit.

So, go take a look around and stay tuned to davidbowie.com for updates and answers to any questions you may have.

Uncage the colours, Unfurl the flag…

David Bowie’s A Reality Tour reached the City Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City in Canada on Sunday, for a relatively intimate show to a crowd of 5,000 very appreciative Bowie fans.

We posted the set list, and some cracking shots taken by Erik, in the Virtual Ticket section yesterday, but here follows a round-up of some of the reviews and some great fan contributions.

BowieNetter NancyH was right there down the front as usual, and she supplied the excellent shot above of David holding the Quebec flag, and the one below of him making the dunce’s hat sign. Here’s what she had to say about the latter:

Funny story David told, goofing on Gerry: when he was introduced, Gerry, as he often does, did that little “Christmas tree” thing he likes to do, with his hands over his head. So then David does it too, and goes off on a tangent about how any time the band screws something up, or he, David, forgets lyrics or something, that’s the sign they do, like a dunce cap.

Thankfully, we don’t witness too many instances of David making the dunce hat sign, but going by his explanation of it, that’s probably a good thing.

Here’s a few of the online reviews kicking around right now… unfortunately, for the unilingual English speakers among us, the reviews are in French. But, I’m sure if you e-mail BowieNetter Celine, she will provide a personal translation of the reviews for you, along with any other French documents you’d like to understand. Don’t tell her I sent you!

From Matinternet: Bowie toujours aussi fascinant

From Mes Nouvelles: David Bowie continue sa tournée à Québec, dans un état de grâce

From cyberpresse.ca: L’éternelle jeunesse de Bowie (This review has been syndicated by the look of it, as it appears on several sites.)

Finally, thanx to BowieNetter placebo24 for permission to use the shot above… and to HNB for the officially confirmed 27-song set list:

Quebec City April 4th 2004

01 Rebel Rebel
02 Modern Love
03 New Killer Star
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 All The Young Dudes
07 China Girl
08 Never Get Old
09 The Loneliest Guy
10 The Man Who Sold The World
11 Fashion
12 Hallo Spaceboy
13 Sunday
14 Heathen (The Rays)
15 Under Pressure
16 Days
17 Slip Away
18 Looking For Water
19 Ashes To Ashes
20 Hang On To Yourself
21 Quicksand
22 I’m Afraid Of Americans
23 “Heroes”

(Encore)
24 Starman
25 Five Years
26 Suffragette City
27 Ziggy Stardust

A Reality Tour continues in Canada tomorrow with a show at the Winnipeg Arena.

To be right in that photograph…

It seems the BowieNet membership is supplying me with more than enough live shots to illustrate the tour reports in the news…. do keep ’em coming and thanx so much for your continued generosity.

But, you may also have already noticed that a whole bunch of other excellent pictures are appearing in the Virtual Ticket section. These are being supplied by Erik and Anthony and the intention is to get four or five exclusive shots from each show, when possible, for BowieNet members only.

Go check out VT now for the latest batch I’ve just posted from last night’s show in Quebec City, courtesy of Erik. VT is also the first place you should check for the set list for each show from now on, as I will post there before I post in the news.

Oh we can’t dance, we don’t talk much*, we just ball and play…

David Bowie’s A Reality Tour reached the Corel Center in Ottawa in Canada on Friday, and by all accounts it was a cracking show. Here are some interesting observations kindly supplied by BowieNetter Mark Rabinowitz, aka Withnail:

I’m not sure I can put into words what David did in Ottawa. It was simply the best show of the tour that I have seen. Granted I have only seen seven shows to date, but since one of them was Dublin night 2 (generally considered the first or second best on the tour) I feel like I can speak up. Simply put, the crowd was inspired.

From the get go, Sailor seemed to recognize that and in return, he gave the funniest, chattiest show I have ever seen, smiling during songs and keeping the audience in stitches in between. He seemed honestly blown away by the response he received for “The Motel,” a song that he estimated only 25 people in the audience would actually know.

Continuing on from there he aped Brando during “China Girl” and did his now familiar “I’m on the radio” story for TMWSTW. “When I heard myself on the radio I went absolutely apeshit. If it ever it happens again, I’ll do the same?.That’s a little Clear Channel joke!”

Between “Heathen” and “Under Pressure,” he not only intro’d the band, but went on a free-form riff about a blues song (“Don’t Start Me Talking,” challenging the audience to name the performer, as he couldn’t remember. It was Sonny Boy Williamson, Sailor!), did a little beat box and said that before Gerry joined the band, he was a professor of micro palaeontology at Trinity College Dublin.

When the audience clapped for this he said: “You don’t believe that, do you? It’s complete and utter bollocks!” He then went on to riff, in an Irish accent, about “a wee piece of bone, that used to have flesh on it” to which Gerry responded that he should be careful because it can get “stuck in your ‘troat’.”

After “Days” David went off on a playful rant about how the trees from the set design have gone from a forest to a few pathetic branches and the Polyphonic Spree passing around some Koo-Ail to drink (Jim Jones and Jonestown ref.)

(Blam Note: I can’t find any reference to the Jonestown cyanide-laced drink being something called “Koo-Ail”, and I wonder if David actually said “Kool Aid”, a reference to Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as recorded in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe? I could be wrong.)

He then picked up the Stylophone and did “Slip Away” (after a mention about how the Uncle Floyd Show was on “two levels. A kids’ level and a stoned level.”)

After “Slip Away” he gave us a little lesson about the history of the Stylophone complete with a tease of “Space Oddity,” actually playing the opening bars and singing the first line. The crowd went nuts, actually thinking he was going to play it. He then grinned mischievously (does he ever grin any other way?) and softly sang: “Golden Years, go-old, wop wop wop.”

All in all, David was more playful than I have ever seen, with countless extended chatty bits, most of which were laugh out loud funny. Many of them won’t translate to the written word, so you’ll have to imagine it!

Brilliant, thanx so much for that, Withnail. Sounds like I missed a truly great show.

Many thanx also to BowieNetter Marik for permission to use her wonderfully atmospheric shots… and, as ever, to HNB for the officially confirmed 32-song set list. The Ottawa set list is a perfect example of why I wait for the official set list, the running order is quite different to versions posted elsewhere:

Ottawa April 2nd 2004

01 Rebel Rebel
02 Modern Love
03 New Killer Star
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 All The Young Dudes
07 The Motel
08 China Girl
09 Never Get Old
10 The Loneliest Guy
11 The Man Who Sold The World
12 Hallo Spaceboy
13 Sunday
14 Heathen (The Rays)
15 Under Pressure
16 Days
17 Slip Away
18 Looking For Water
19 I’ve Been Waiting For You
20 A New Career In A New Town
21 Be My Wife
22 Ashes To Ashes
23 Hang On To Yourself
24 Quicksand
25 I’m Afraid Of Americans
26 “Heroes”

(Encore)
27 Blue Jean
28 Changes
29 Starman
30 Five Years
31 Suffragette City
32 Ziggy Stardust

A Reality Tour continues in Canada tonight with a show at the City Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City.

*Well, actually that’s not completely accurate. In this particular case he did talk much!

Yeah, I got a girl who loves me true…

Ahead of the Bowie shows at the Berkeley Community Theatre on April 16th and 17th, the San Francisco Chronicle has today reprinted comedienne Margaret Cho‘s impressions of the show last time David was in town. I can’t remember if we reproduced her report at the time, but as the Chronicle has proven, it bears repeating.

Margaret has two reports on her blog, one from The Shrine and another from The Wiltern, from which, these short excerpts:

From: 2/3/2004 Bowie

Bowie. Whoa. You wish you could have been there and I do too. If you haven’t seen him live, do so as soon as possible. If you haven’t seen the legend of him, the history of rock that he carries with him everywhere he goes, take a moment and recognize. All hail.

As an artist, David Bowie has been challenging the cultural definitions of gender, music, image, fantasy, identity, politics, sexuality, originality, beauty, fashion, fucking everything. As an icon, he has been the most inspiring deity to hit the world since the beginning of time. He has no peer. No one compares. No one comes close.

And from: 2/4/2004 Bowie II

I didn’t meet him. I couldn’t. Ava was about to drag me up to the Mighty Bowie himself, and she would have done it, but I dug my heels into the pavement. His makeup artist, a fan of mine, said he had wanted to meet me, and was waiting too, wondering where I was, insisted that I go up to the dressing room, one I myself have used many times, the stairs that I run up and down to do my shows – this time seemed too long and scary. How do you meet someone who has meant so much to you? How do you say hello to God? I don’t know. I just went home. But that was enough. Oh thank you David Bowie. Thank you.

And thank you also for declining knighthood. Why should you be knighted when you are already King?

Click on the shortcuts above to read the full pieces on Margaret’s blog.

Sailors fighting in the dance hall…

Here’s the second instalment of Anthony‘s Zoot trilogy. This one is entitled: “In response to this, a group of over 200 uniformed sailors attacked the Latino Community in East LA.” …which makes a little more sense when read in conjunction with the title of part one.

BowieNet members can click on either of the images above to view the video. Stay tuned for part three shortly.

It’s happening now…

Marc Riley‘s first solo show for the BBC’s 6 music that we told you about recently will air in about five minutes (14:00 UK time). Marc tells me that David Bowie will be joining him on the show via a Trans-Atlantic phone call. Here’s some stuff from the official BBC blurb explaining why the three-hour show is essential listening:

Please be upstanding for man music mountain Marc Riley.

Yes, 6 Music is very proud that Mr Riley will be presenting three hours of the finest tunes with a wry humour, some testing quiz features for you the listener to ponder and of course you’ll also be a major part of the show with your emails and text messages.

This week, the Divine Comedy‘s Neil Hannon is in to chat to Marc and the Pixies feature with classic session tracks. Plus stand by for Rocket Science’s CRYPTIC CRANIUM CONUNDRUM!

Exciting stuff eh kidz? Good luck Marc… not that you need it with a schedule like that!

If you’re reading this after the show aired, don’t fear, the show will be available 10 minutes after it’s finished broadcasting live, here.

NB: Sorry to those of you who listened in especially for David’s live call. Marc, unbelievably, missed it! In a message left on Marc’s answer phone, David promised to try again next week… as if he’s not busy enough!

You can hear the message David left by clicking on the above link where you can find the ‘listen again’ section that will be active ten minutes after the show ends. Scroll forward to the end of the show to hear David’s message. I have a feeling Marc will be gluing the phone to his head for next week’s show.

The boys in the clothes shop…

While we’re waiting for pictures from last night’s show in Ottawa, here’s a little something to keep you entertained. This is the first instalment of another great three-parter from Anthony. It’s a six-minute plus epic and a fascinating glimpse of just how enthusiastic David can be when it comes to the history of fashion… and this boy sure knows his stuff.

As ever, the film is as cryptically titled as you’ve come to expect from young Anthony…and this one’s no exception. “On June 3, 1943, eleven sailors stated that they were attacked by a group of Mexican pachucos” is the title of it, and If you’re a BowieNet member, you can click on either of the images above to viddy the video now my friends. If you’re not a member, well…

Something In The Air Canada Centre…

David Bowie’s A Reality Tour stopped of at the The Air Canada Centre in Toronto last night. Both Modern Love and Starman got another dusting off after having been absent from the set for a while… Sorry for the delay in posting, but I’ve been waiting for some pictures… which hadn’t been forthcoming.

However, BowieNetters Mr and Mrs Crosby have kindly come to my rescue by sending in a few words and pictures for your pleasure. Here are a few recollections from Lindsay, with a few of LaLaLinda‘s excellent pictures:

Well what does one say when they have just had a fantastic time? Yippee! I am so glad that Linda, my wife, and I are David Bowie fans and were lucky enough to get front row spots with our good friends and fellow BowieNetter Orba (Rob) and his wife Bev.

David Bowie was only feet away. Yes he sat there playing his Stylophone almost within an arms reach. I was smiling so much inside that I forgot to smile directly back at David Bowie. You know I am still kind of in awe of him and that?s what makes it so special.

David played a much different set list from the other shows that we have attended so far on this tour. It was a jolly good one though which included a wonderful acoustic version of Days. Other beauties include the return of Heathen, Quicksand, Never Get Old and Looking For Water.

I love “Heroes” and every time it’s sung I want to say it was amazing. Oh, guess what? It was! Slip Away was performed with affection and if it’s not one of David?s personal favorites then he?s a very good actor indeed. It?s in his eyes.

To tell you a funny story Linda, Orba and I were in so much of a hurry to get sat down to listen to The Polyphonic Spree, that when Linda stopped to shake Erik?s (David?s Bodyguard) hand and say hello, not one of us realized that David was sat only inches away from us watching The Spree. In thirty years we had never managed to get that close and when we do we didn?t see him under his baseball cap. Really it was nice to see David enjoying the support act.

On stage David was funny and responded to an amazing Toronto audience, gee do they like Bowie??Yes they do!

Being April Fools Day, David was really clever and got the audience convinced that there was not really an April Fools trick coming. Well he had me hook line and sinker and I believed him when he told the audience that Toronto is in fact Sterling Campbell?s hometown. Sterling rose up to a wonderful applause to which David replied: “but of course that was a complete lie??..April fool!”

David was talkative all through the show another little tease was that he let us think that he might play Space Oddity. He was showing off his Stylophone and eventually asked the audience to name things that we would like him to sing about. David said Major Tom as he scribbled an imaginary list on the palm of his hand. With a crafty smile and nod to the band Ashes to Ashes kicked in.

Thanx for that Lindsay… and thanx to your lovely wife for all these great pix.

There have already been a few very favourable online reviews of the Toronto show, which you can reach by clicking on the links below:

ChartAttack.com: LIVE: David Bowie Bests All The Old Dudes. By Joanne Huffa

The Toronto Sun: Bowie played guitar – Pop-rock chameleon put on a perfect show. By Jane Stevenson – Sun Rating: 5 out of 5

The Toronto Star: Bowie flashes his gold – Toronto audience revels in smash hits from his songbook. Singer also pleases with newer gems. By Ben Rayner

The Globe and Mail: Old duke, new tricks. By Simon Beck

These Canadians certainly like their Bowie. Some wonderful words of appreciation in that lot… and how right they are.

Here’s the officially confirmed 26-song set list that got all the reviewers so excited, sent in, as ever by HNB:

Toronto April 1st 2004

01 Rebel Rebel
02 Modern Love
03 New Killer Star
04 Fame
05 Cactus
06 All The Young Dudes
07 China Girl
08 Never Get Old
09 The Loneliest Guy
10 The Man Who Sold The World
11 Hallo Spaceboy
12 Sunday
13 Heathen (The Rays)
14 Under Pressure
15 Days
16 Slip Away
17 Looking For Water
18 Ashes To Ashes
19 Hang On To Yourself
20 Quicksand
21 I’m Afraid Of Americans
22 “Heroes”

(Encore)
23 Starman
24 Five Years
25 Suffragette City
26 Ziggy Stardust

Handsome Nick B accompanied the set list with another of his holiday snaps. (I’m sorry folx, we have to humour him, as rejection now would probably harm what has, so far, been a very successful return to the community for him.) This one is from his hotel window, from where he claims he saw Tokyo Joe (see previous entries for details about this companion of Nick’s) waving from the building opposite. Doesn’t Toronto look lovely?

A Reality Tour continues tonight with a show at The Corel Center in Ottawa, Canada.