Month: October 2008

You can’t afford the ticket…

We ran this contest to mark the release of the standard jewel case version of the David Bowie – Live Santa Monica ’72 CD a week or so ago, (10.13.2008 NEWS: WIN JEWEL CASE VERSION OF DB LIVE SM 72) for which EMI kindly donated five copies for BowieNetters to win.

It was a spot the difference contest which, as I suggested at the time, seems to be one of the more popular types of contest we run…not sure what that says, but I guess they are fun.

Below is BowieNetter Zig‘s entry and though he didn’t win, he provided one of the neatest solutions which I’ve lazily utilised to save me doing it…and hear it is.

Here are the five BowieNetters that the trusty old Random Generator smiled upon this time…

colinz
davidjj
lowe
squeakie
velavega

In the event that you haven’t already, could you lucky, lucky people please send me your real name and postal details and we’ll have your CD off to you quicker than you can cry: “Encore!”.

Oh, no, no, no, you’re a rock ‘n’ roll suicide…

As promised back in August (08.08.2008 NEWS: WHAT WE DO IS SECRET IN AMERICAN THEATRES NOW) here are the details of the What We Do Is Secret CD and DVD.

The fourteen-track soundtrack CD which is bookended by David Bowie’s Five Years and Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide respectively is available in North America now and it’s released in Europe next Monday the 27th.

The DVD is released in North America on November 4th and as far as I can make out it has no extras or special features. There doesn’t seem to be a European release date just yet.

Check out the official website for more information regarding both.

And the papers want to know…

Today’s Sunday Times has a nice piece by Dan Cairns regarding David Bowie’s 1969 epic, Space Oddity, in the paper’s regular SONG OF THE YEAR column.

Here are a couple of lines from it…

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In 1969, Bowie needed a breakthrough. Yet nowhere on Space Oddity do you hear tentativeness. On the contrary, the assurance on display is breathtaking. A lyric ? inspired by space exploration, say some; an allegory for drug addiction, contend others ? that could, in almost anyone else?s hands, have seemed cheesy and wince-inducing became, thanks to Bowie?s performance and narrative pacing, the first intimation of his genius.

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You can read the whole article online here. Thanx to Spaceface for the pointer.

Like the video films we saw…

The headline pretty well says it, but here’s an excerpt from the press release with a bit more detail…

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THURSTON MOORE OF SONIC YOUTH INTRODUCES A PROGRAM OF DAVID BOWIE?S GROUNDBREAKING MUSIC VIDEOS ON DECEMBER 1, 2008

Event Is Part of The Museum of Modern Art?s Modern Monday Series

On Monday, December 1, 2008, at 7:00 p.m., MoMA will host a film program of David Bowie?s music videos, co-organized by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media, The Museum of Modern Art. The event will take place in The Roy and Niuta Titus 1 Theater, as part of the Modern Monday series, which presents works by contemporary filmmakers and multimedia artists.

In 2008, MoMA received the complete works of David Bowie?s music videos, as a gift from the David Bowie Archive. From this collection, Thurston Moore and Barbara London have selected 15 videos to be shown at the screening. The program will include such Bowie classics as Life on Mars (directed by Mick Rock), Heroes (directed by Stanley Dorfman), and Ashes to Ashes (directed by David Mallet & David Bowie), among other videos.

The video program is a part of MoMA?s gallery and film exhibition Looking at Music, on view through January 5, 2009. Organized by Ms. London, the exhibition examines music?s role in cross-disciplinary experimentation across media for a generation of artists, beginning in the 1960s.

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You may remember we ran a piece about the Looking at Music exhibition back in August. (08.12.2008 REMINDER: MoMA LOOKING AT MUSIC EXHIBITION OPENS TOMORROW)

Here is the full programme for December 1st…

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Monday, December 1, 2008, 7:00 p.m.

David Bowie Music Videos, introduced by Thurston Moore

John I?m Only Dancing (1972). Directed by Mick Rock. 2:49 min.

Jean Genie (1972). Directed by Mick Rock. 4:02 min.

Life on Mars (1973). Directed by Mick Rock. 3:55 min.

Heroes (1977). Directed by Stanley Dorfman. 3:27 min.

DJ (1979). Directed by David Mallet. 3:58 min.

Ashes to Ashes (1980). Directed by David Mallet & David Bowie. 3:33 min.

China Girl (1983). Directed by David Mallet & David Bowie. 4:03 min.

Blue Jean (1984). Directed by Julien Temple. 3:17 min.

As the World Falls Down (1986). Directed by Steve Barron. 3:41 min.

Fame 90 (1990). Directed by Gus Van Sant. Edited by Edouard Lock. 3:33 min.

Jump They Say (1993). Directed by Mark Romanek. 4:00 min.

The Hearts Filthy Lesson (1995). Directed by Sam Bayer. 4:58 min.

Dead Man Walking (1997). Directed by Floria Sigismondi. 3:49 min.

I?m Afraid of Americans (1997). Directed by Dom & Nic. 4:25 min.

Survive (1999). Directed and produced by Walter Stern. 3:29 min.

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Public Information:

The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

Hours: Wednesday through Monday: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday: 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday.

The public may call 212/708-9400 for detailed Museum information.

TICKETS: Advanced tickets will be available at the Museum?s Lobby Information Desk and online at www.moma.org, beginning November 1, 2008.

A limited number of tickets will be available on the day of the event beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Museum’s Lobby Information Desk.

Ticket Admission prices: Adults $10; MoMA Members $8, Seniors (65 and above) $5; Students (with valid I.D.) $5.

It may be an idea to apply early for tickets on November 1st as this one-off event is sure to sell out quickly and aside from fellow Bowie fans wanting to attend, members of MoMA and no doubt fans of Sonic Youth will also be wanting to attend.

See the press release section above for the…erm, press release which has even more detail regarding the event.

It was God’s land, It was ragged and naive, It was Heaven…

BowieNetter Gaz pointed me in the direction of a great little site called Beckenham History Website. Within its pages there is a whole section dedicated to The Beckenham Free Festival, an event immortalised in David Bowie’s magnificent Memory Of A Free Festival.

Over several pages musicians and old friends of David’s recount their memories of the day, here’s a bit from Bridget St John…

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“I remember the day in general – the pagoda-like structure – being outside and it being a beautifully relaxed and sunny day – I don’t remember my set – but my biggest memory is that after performing a group of us went and listened with David to his test pressing of the single Space Oddity – it was quite amazing and we played it over and over – it was so remarkable.”

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And here’s a bit from the DJ on the day, Tim Goffe…

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“I played a bit of acoustic guitar at the time – I was never any good, but enjoyed singing in and visiting folk clubs – but had this rather nice 12-string, a Swedish Hagstrom, that was lying around the flat whilst I was at college. DB fancied it, borrowed it and played it for a while.

The picture of him at BFF shows him playing it and on the www.Hagstrom.org.uk website it is reported that he used it on Space Oddity. I’m not sure about that – I never discussed it with DB, but he gave me his 12-string, an old cherry sun-burst Gibson, for my Hagstrom in a straight swap. It was the Gibson (see pic above) that was used on Space Oddity. I have often wondered what happened to my old Hagstrom and whether DB has still got it, or who has it now. Incidentally, he told me that the Gibson previously belonged to Pete Townsend of The Who. I can believe that, because it was in poor shape when I got it and it never played well.

I did book David as a live act for a college “Hop” (The London Hospital Medical College, Whitechapel) around the time of the launch of Space Oddity -a sell out!”

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Bill Leisagang from Appendix Part 1 who also played on the day, albeit under the unfortunately named Abortion, remembers this…

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“Another anecdote; A few weeks after the BFF David had been off the scene, there was a report that he had been seen at the Prompt Corner cafe in Beckenham in women’s clothes or something like that! A week later I had a call from Neil Holmes saying David wanted to see me regarding a new band he was in the process of forming. I got on the back of Neil’s rusty moped and headed off towards Haddon Hall. This was very plush compared to the last pad he had. I assumed he must have had some advance from a Record company.

David mentioned me getting involved with a project involving a girl guitarist and Tony Visconti. There was some mention of wearing female clothes. It must have been the catalyst for The Spiders from Mars! Needless to say I made a BAD career move, and turned it down (not because of the dressing up, but because I was just starting at college in Bristol, which was 90 miles away. Needless to say I never completed the course!!”

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Here’s a bit more from Bill, proving, if his story is accurate, that DB had imagined ways to provoke reactions from people long before Ziggy did just that…

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“Bowie used to get people up on stage to play or do mime, or do their own thing! One day he gathered a bunch of us 16 year old hippies and took us into Beckenham Place Park – where we re-enacted various scenes from Lord of the Rings! A light aircraft was circling overhead and kept hovering, so David got us all to form a gigantic V sign to tell the pilot to ‘F’ off!

He was planning on a procession down Beckenham High St with everyone dressed as giant penises, as well as a street fair to coincide with the festival. The people involved were Neil Holmes, Chris Redwin, Mick Udell, Steve Jeffries, Pete Legon, Amanda Jennings, Judy? Larry Frane, Spud Murphy and Bob Bland. Unfortunately this is a tragic list as most of the people here have passed into another world. I miss them dearly.”

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There’s plenty more worth a read at BeckenhamHistory.co.uk though, as I suggested earlier, I can’t vouch for the accuracy of all of these recollections, even if I have no reason to suspect they are inaccurate…aside from the fact that things can get foggy through the mists of forty years.

August 2009 will be the 40th anniversary of The Beckenham Free Festival. To mark that occasion a plaque (see above) will be placed on the bandstand at Croydon Road Recreation Ground. The date for the unveiling is tbc and there will be an event to coincide with this.

Another chance for Bowie fans to meet up and have a bit of a bash perhaps?

All interview text © 2007-2008 by BeckenhamHistory.co.uk.

Singing old songs we loved…

With advance orders of over 150,000, Pin-Ups spent five weeks at number 1 in the UK album chart upon it’s release in October 1973 and remained in the top 40 for twenty weeks. However, despite these impressive sales figures, Pin-Ups is one of the more underrated of David Bowie’s albums, IMHO.

Though it contains no original Bowie compositions, it is a fine collection of twelve of David’s favourite songs from the 1964-1967 period.

The public had been given a taster of what was to come with the release of the Sorrow single from the album the previous week, (10.12.2008 NEWS: SORROW SINGLE RELEASED THIRTY FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY) and as with that song, Bowie really made these recordings his own by breathing new life into them and making them more timeless than the originals in most cases.

Pin-Ups remains a glam rock classic with superb arrangements and sublime performances from all involved, not to mention Bowie and Ken Scott‘s faultless production.

Pin-Ups was the last album to feature Mick Ronson in his role as Bowie’s guitarist and it was also the last with Ken Scott. Though Trevor Bolder was retained for the sessions, Aynsley Dunbar sat on Woody Woodmansey‘s stool. Mike Garson, Ken Fordham and Geoff MacCormack who had all appeared on the previous album, Aladdin Sane, were retained for Pin-Ups.

The album was released bang in the middle of David’s three-day stint at The Marquee in London’s Wardour Street where he was recording The 1980 Floor Show for NBC TV’s The Midnight Special.

See aforementioned Sorrow news item for more regarding the sleeve of Pin-Ups.

Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Miles and Alex…

The Last Shadow Puppets have made no secret of their love for David Bowie’s sixties recordings to the point of releasing their own version of In The Heat Of The Morning earlier in the year, (03.22.2008 NEWS: LAST SHADOW PUPPETS COVER BOWIE ON DEBUT 7″) a version which DB himself expressed his delight with. (04.09.2008 NEWS: DB DELIGHTED WITH LAST SHADOW PUPPETS COVER)

In The Heat Of The Morning is a song the band continue to perform in their live set too, as witnessed at their most recent gig at the Tempodrome in Berlin by BowieNetter j_lope who posted the evidence here on the MBs.

Now Miles Kane of the band has singled out Ziggy Stardust in the current issue of NME as an album that “All bands should hear…” and he even hints that he may be nicking some of the ideas on it for the next Rascals‘ album.

Miles also chose Cygnett Committee as the song that contains his favourite chord change, as you can read in the piece above.

My set is amazing, it even smells like a street…

The Ziggy Stardust Heddon Street Out-Takes calendar is due to be published on Monday 27th October.

Though it’s strictly a European publication, the calendar is available to order via CalendarMart now and they are shipping worldwide…and it’s a very good price they’re doing it for too.

I have no idea what sort of quantity has been produced, so it might be an idea to get your order in early to save disappointment.

And once there were sun birds to soar with…

While sorting through the hi-res scans for the upcoming Ziggy Stardust Heddon Street Out-Takes calendar (09.05.2008 NEWS: MORE OFFICIAL 2009 CALENDAR DETAILS) the above previously unnoticed Ziggy Stardust accessory came to light.

It’s a delightful little diamante thing that Bowie wore on his left breast of that first Ziggy outfit immortalised on the Ziggy Stardust cover and it only shows up in a couple of the close-up shots.

I asked DB if he remembers it and this was his reply: “I do recall the brooch. It was a cheap little thing and I’m quite sure it was from Kensington Market.”

I have a sneaky feeling that they would have had a bit of a rush on these at Kensington Market at the time had the brooch been more visible on the cover…Hand’s up those of you who are off to look for one online now. Please let us know if you’re successful.