Month: August 2004

Where the books were found by… Blammo!

My old mucker BowieNetter Paul Kinder, who just so happens to have his own Bowie fansite, (the very special BowieWonderWorld.com) has today posted an interesting piece about the Terry O’Neil photo session for Diamond Dogs.

You’re all familiar with the shot above which was used as the basis for a painting by Guy Peellaert that was finally used for a promotional poster.

Well, Paul has unearthed a contact sheet (see below) that contains another eleven different shots from the session. It’s likely that O’Neil would have taken many more than this at the session but the contact sheet is a great discovery anyway.

Paul (aka Rednik) also asks to be put out of his misery regarding the identity of the author of the book at David’s feet in these shots. The enigmatically entitled The Immortal is hard to make out in most of the published versions of the shot, but I have been in possession of a large format print for some time (see enhanced detail from print above) and I can exclusively reveal that the author is a certain Walter Ross.

The Immortal was a pulp fiction novel published in 1959 about a wild young actor called Johnny Preston loosely based on a famous actor of the time, cast from the same mould. There were many versions of the cover printed for different editions, of which I have a few. The hardback in the O’Neil shot was originally a colour illustration and even Andy Warhol designed one edition complete with illustrations inside.

The paperback edition, above, left no doubt as to who Johnny Preston was based on, sporting, as he does, one of the more famous James Dean outfits… an outfit that so impressed David he borrowed it for his cool-as-fuck appearance in Christiane F.

There ya go Paul… one less thing to worry about while you relax in the sun.

And I’m busting up my brains for the words…

Finally got around to choosing ten winners for the Rebel Never Gets Old promo CD competition I set a few years back. (07.15.2004 NEWS: MORE PROMO RNGO SINGLES UP FOR GRABS)

It wasn’t easy trawling through all the stories of heartbreak and loss, and it’s only after some intensive counselling that I feel I am able to post the winners now. And so, before the waterworks start again, here they are in no particular order:

j_lope
lalalinda
deeyock
spidey
scaramouche
Arabia
eleanor57
nickmilton
tonyp
jennmc

Well done all. E-mail or IM your real world names and addresses to me and we’ll get one of those highly collectable promo CDs out to each of you pronto… and, as a little bonus, I’ll enclose one of those equally scarce RNGO promo badges to each of you too. As I said on the MBs, obviously you don’t get yours until we see the tattoo, Jenn! };-)

BowieNetters can read the winning entries by clicking on the image above.

Singing old songs we love…

We told you about David Bowie tribute outfit, The Bowie Experience, a couple of weeks back (07.23.2004 NEWS: WITNESS THE BOWIE EXPERIENCE IN THE UK TONIGHT) and it seems August is going to be just as busy for Laurence and the boys as July was.

Fresh from a triumphant show in Taunton, Somerset, last night, the band continues to storm the West Country this evening with a show in Dorset as outlined in the August diary below:

August Dates

Friday 6th – Bowiexp as 7 piece – Mr Kyps, 8a Parr Street, Lower Parkstone, Poole, Dorset. Tel: 01202 748945 (Log on to web site for fan review)
Saturday 7th – Bowiexp as 7 piece – The Marine Theatre, Lyme Regis. Box Office: 01297 442138
Sunday 8th – Laurence – Shell Bay Bistro, Ferry Road, Studland, Dorset. (5:00 – 7:30pm) Tel: 01929 450363
Friday 13th – Bowiexp as 5 piece – Scallies, Weston Super Mare, Somerset.
Saturday 14th – Laurence – The Starre, 7-9 Purewell, Christchurch, Dorset. Tel: 01202 474762
Sunday 15th – Laurence – The Spice Ship, Preston R`d, Preston, Weymouth, Dorset. Tel: 01305 834651
Friday 20th – Bowiexp as duo – Shell Bay Cafe, Studland Road, Studland Dorset. Tel: 01929 450363
Friday 27th – Bowie solo – The Mermaid Hotel, Bristol Road, Sherborne, Dorset. Tel: 01935 812229
Saturday 28th – Bowiexp as 5 piece – The Bell Inn at Ash, Ash, Devon.
Sunday 29th – Bowiexp as duo – The Castle Inn, Corfe Castle, N`r Wareham, Dorset. Tel: 01929 480208

Also during the afternoon of Sunday 29th August the band will be taking part in the free party in the park at Poole Park in Poole Dorset, contact Mr Kyps for details.

If the online reviews are to be believed and if the Unplugged And Somewhat Slightly Dazed CD that Laurence sent me is anything to go by, The Bowie Experience is well worth checking out. The band plays a wide range of songs from all eras of the Bowie back catalogue and does a pretty convincing job of many Bowie originals from Eight Line Poem through Scary Monsters to Seven and beyond.

If you do pop along to any of the above dates, please say hello to Laurence from us.

When I posted the June dates for The Bowie Experience, BowieNetter Spidey pointed out the existence of the motley crew above. No, not THE Mötley Crüe you understand, but a five-strong group of boys and girls hell-bent on flying the Glam flag under the collective banner of DiamondDogz. Needless to say, the band performs plenty of Glam era Bowie tunes among those of other popular Glitter stars of the day.

So, if you fancy a wild night of big fun, big colourful hair, poorly-applied unisex make -up and classic seventies pop noize, then click on the image above to get to DiamondDogz.co.uk, where you can see if the band are playing a wedding near you that you can gatecrash sometime soon.