When you’re a boy, Other boys check you out…
We all know that David Bowie is a fan of the work of many other artists, (see yesterday’s Arcade Fire piece) but it seems more than ever that celebrity Bowie fans around the globe are involved in projects with links to our man to a lesser or greater degree. Well, here’s just a few recent examples, and how better to start than with self-proclaimed “No.1 World-Wide Bowie Fan”,
BowieNetter Vernard from Vancouver pointed me in the direction of this story, and so, over to him…
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“I was watching Fashiontelevision last night and good old Boy George comes on and he (unbeknownst to me) just designed a clothing line called B-Rude. Last week in New York he had his first opening ever, so he was interviewed by our Canadian host and was asked who influenced him to do this particular design of clothing (its pretty wild) and of course he started gushing about David Bowie.
Of course, we know how much Bowie has influenced George, but many of these clothes have big prints of David Bowie on them, (a-la Ziggy Stardust) and the models in this fashion show were extremely Bowie-esque. Some were called Bowie boys. So it was quite a nice surprise I thought. I always think its great that Bowie’s influence continues way beyond his music, such as fashion and culture of course.”
Thanx for that Vernard…good to hear from you.
You can check out more from the B-Rude range and view pictures from the star-studded B-Rude fashion show at the Hiro Ballroom in New York during the Olympus Fashion Week Fall 2005, on
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Another celebrity who has committed their well-known love of all things Bowie to something more permanent than words, is
“Well if you know anything about me, it’s probably no secret that I’m a huge David Bowie fan. You know, from my perspective, I think that he’s the most remarkable musician of the last fifty years, possibly even of the last century, and I guess it’s pretty obvious that “Spiders” is my homage or tribute to David Bowie.
It’s also in large part inspired by that feeling of being alienated from the mainstream culture in which we all live. And I don’t know about you, but the last…(laughs) the last few years have made me feel more alienated from mainstream culture than I ever have. And, of course, David Bowie has always been the king of making a great creative virtue out of that sense of alienation.”
It’s a great song, and if you’ve heard the track you’ll know that it does allude to Bowie with lines like: “Come back to us Spiders, Come uncrush my hands” and the touching refrain: “Oh, why did you leave? Why won’t you come, And save us again?”.
Moby has said that Hotel is a sample-free recording, and if songs such as the “Heroes”-esque We Are All Made Of Stars and the excellent Extreme Ways from 18 are a hint of things to come, then I look forward to Hotel‘s release on March 14th. (March 22nd in North America)
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Next up is the work of another truly colourful and somewhat eccentric Englishman…and another huge Bowie fan to boot,
Though many of you may be wondering, Spizz…celebrity? Who him? …some of the older members among you European members will remember Spizz as the head of the band that dominated the indie charts back in the late seventies/early eighties with a name change so frequent that it probably didn’t help the band’s career path.
Remember Spizz 77, SPIZZOIL, SPIZZENERGI, Athletico Spizz 80, The Spizzles? Well, even if you don’t, you’ll have to agree that laying claim to the very first official indie chart #1 with Where’s Captain Kirk? and having the song covered by REM is pretty cool. Not to mention three singles in the official indie chart top 30 at the same time and a Top 20 album!
However, before the clarion call of Punk Rock beckoned him, Spizz had been trained in fine art immediately after leaving school in 1975, and was directly influenced by POP ART. He designed all of his record sleeves and his graphic design wit was apparent when virtually every one of his single sleeves was reproduced in the music weeklies because of their distinctive appeal.
Anyway, an original painting on canvas by Spizz (see above) is up for grabs on
“The first proper rock LP I bought was Ziggy Stardust and the first concert I attended was David Bowie at the Birmingham Town Hall, June 22nd 1973, 2nd performance Row C (for £1.50!). So it is appropriate that my first painting specifically for eBay should be an adaptation of that great album.
I spent many hours with this LP on maximum volume (as instructed) gazing at the lyrics and especially the sleeve as Mick Ronson’s space-age guitar soared on Moonage Daydream. It evoked such wonder in me and I was fascinated by the way the light fell on Bowie. I was also intrigued by the illuminated sign saying ‘K.West’.
These two ingredients are the subject of the painting. It measures 60cms x 60cms x 2cms (considered by other eBay sellers as a large painting at just under 24″ x 24″ x 3/4″).”
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Finally, though not known for being a big Bowie fan himself, (Though who knows? A man of taste, so he probably is!) actor Mackenzie Crook appears on the front of the latest (April issue)
The magazine continues with the Bowie punning inside, thus: “The Mackenzie Crook that Maxim interviews is a very different figure to the edgy Thin White Duke who appears in our fashion shoot.”
The allusion to TJ Newton is further enforced by Mackenzie’s friend and The Office co-star, Ricky Gervais, who has this to say about the picture above: “My word. I know for a fact that my hairdryer weighs more than him. But this is quite cool, 1974 Bowie-esque. I think he fancies himself. If he was dressed like that, I’d have to keep touching his knee – that’s the only way to put him off. He hated it. He has the boniest knees in the world. Like a turkey’s. Hmmm…I will never work with him again.”
He he, nice to see Ricky a little envious.
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Well, there’s more of this stuff…But, I’m afraid you may stop reading if I go on any longer, so I’ll probably do a Celebrities Who Love Bowie follow-up shortly.