Month: September 2009

The solid book Nick wrote…

Last week we set a contest to win five signed by Nicholas Pegg copies of his soon to be published fifth edition of The Complete David Bowie. (09.11.2009 NEWS: FIVE SIGNED COPIES OF COMPLETE DB TO BE WON)

OK…on with it. Here are the questions that Nick set, followed by the answer in each case…

Q1: The front cover of the new edition of ‘The Complete David Bowie’ (pictured above) features a photo that was taken on 26 March 1976. Now that you’re armed with that information… at which concert venue was the picture shot?

A1: Madison Square Garden, New York.

Q2: Bearing in mind that the previous edition of ‘The Complete David Bowie’ was published three years ago, among the latest additions to the updated A-Z of songs are two new entries which, alphabetically, fall immediately before and immediately after the song ‘Fame’. What are they?

A2: ‘Falling Down’ and ‘Fannin Street’…both, coincidentally, from Scarlett Johansson’s debut album of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head. DB guested on both tracks, of course.

Here are five people who got those right and then also got lucky with The Random Generator…

andrewbarr
martyn
newton
roomcq
pmfwoods

If each of you could please let me know if you will be attending next weekend’s signing session/launch party. (08.27.2009 NEWS: NICK PEGG SIGNING LATEST EDITION OF COMPLETE BOWIE) If you are, Nick will sign your preferred dedication in front of your very eyes…

If, however, geographical and/or time constraints make it impossible for you to be there, then publisher Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. have generously offered to dispatch your book directly to you.

Either way, and just in case you don’t make it on the day, could all five of you please furnish me with your postal address and details of who you want the book to be signed to, ASAP…Please mention if you do plan to be there on Saturday too.

They’re quite aware of what they’re going through…

This one is best explained by the people who created it over at New School Thinking…

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On Thursday 27th August, Lewes New School released the music video for their recording of Bowie’s CHANGES.

The song was produced to promote the New School Thinking conference which we are hosting in October.

Only pupils from the school play the instruments and sing, except for the bass. This was provided by renowned musician Herbie Flowers, the bass player who toured with Bowie in the 70s.

The track will be available to buy on CD or download on iTunes from Wednesday 16th September.

All profits will go towards the New School Thinking conference and generally furthering the school’s educational approach.

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The Lewes New School version of Changes is very faithful to the original arrangement and the video is really quite moving, with some very clever little touches that I won’t spoil for you now…even the androgynous child on the cover, (above) has different coloured eyes!

Great to see Herbie Flowers name in there, a lovely man who often involves himself in this kind of thing.

So, go watch the video and read up about this project, and if you agree with the school’s policies show your support by buying the single.

Hang him on your wall…

HMV has marked the third anniversary of its acclaimed ‘my inspiration’ campaign with the just published limited edition 18-month 2009/2010 charity calendar of ‘my inspiration icons’ in aid of the Children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent.

David Bowie features on the December 2010 page which I’ve posted above and inset with the front and back covers. You can also read all about the calendar in the BowieNet press release section and you can purchase it directly from HMV here.

Here’s a bit from the calendar’s foreword by Paul Rees the Editor In Chief of Q Magazine…

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Bowie (to name but one other My Inspiration perennial) brought us Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke, the glacial funk of Station To Station and the white boy soul of Young Americans, but I?d contend he?s summoned forth nothing that will linger longer than Life On Mars?s drop-dead perfect opening line: ?It?s a godawful small affair, to the girl with the mousy hair.? So it is with all great songs and songwriters ? whatever magic might be conjured musically, it is invariably the words that hold us fast to the tune and come to define our relationship with it.

I should say that it?s actually fitting to reference Bowie, as, aside from his inspirational qualities to other musicians, he was the very first artist to take part in HMV?s my inspiration campaign when it began back in September 2006 ? selecting Syd Barrett?s Gigolo Aunt.

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If this campaign isn’t familiar to you, check out these previous be inspired/my inspiration stories on BowieNet: 09.06.2006 NEWS: ALADDIN SANE INSPIRES HMV CAMPAIGN & 09.09.2006 NEWS: HMV CAMPAIGN – SYD IS DB’S INSPIRATION & 05.22.2008 NEWS: BOWIE IS ONE NIGHT ONLY’S INSPIRATION – WIN POSTERS & 10.04.2008 NEWS: THE SCRIPT CHOOSE BOWIE FOR HMV CAMPAIGN.

I look at my clock it says 9.25…

In an NME festival poll, readers have voted David Bowie #4 as the act they would most like to see headline next year’s festivals in the UK.

Here are the poll results…

The Libertines 16%
Muse 13%
The Strokes 12%
David Bowie 7%
Foo Fighters 6%

The remaining 46% was made up of numerous other bands who didn’t receive enough votes to get a significant placing in the poll.

As to the likelihood of David Bowie doing any live work next year, I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea of his plans in that area…though he has already denied the Glastonbury 2010 rumours.

One thing’s for sure, if and when he does decide to return to the live arena, his warm welcome is guaranteed by all generations of music lovers.

Further evidence of the NME’s continued love for DB can be found in the merchandise section of this same issue.

Just read the caption for the above Bowie clock for evidence…not that I can actually find the thing anywhere in the NME store.

Make me know you really care, Make me jump into the air…

London’s The Little Black Gallery is proud to announce its autumn show I WANT IT ALL, an exhibition of photographs of film stars, rock legends, cooks and queens.

Seeing as how David Bowie fits more than one of those categories, it’s no surprise that he is the subject of one of the eighteen iconic photographs on show.

All of the images on display were shot on film and are available to buy, including Terry O’Neill‘s jumping dog picture of DB from 1974, above.

Here are the details of that particular shot…

TERRY O?NEILL
DAVID BOWIE, 1974
Digital bromide print
Edition of 50 (signed 21/50)
20? x 24?
£2,070 (inc. frame + VAT)

The exhibition also includes images of the following stars:

The Beatles (Michael McCartney)
Dean Martin (Terry O?Neill)
Marilyn Monroe (Bert Stern)
James Dean (Richard Miller)
Kate Moss (Tony McGee)
HRH Queen Elizabeth II (Chris Levine)
Marco Pierre White (Bob Carlos Clarke)
Jimi Hendrix (Gered Mankowitz)
Elvis Presley (Alfred Wertheimer)
Billy Idol (Patrick McMullan)
Keith Richards (Bob Carlos Clarke)
Michael Jackson (Alan Davidson)
The Rolling Stones (Willie Christie)
Mick Jagger (Bob Carlos Clarke)
Jean Shrimpton and Terence Stamp (Terry O?Neill)
Mick and Bianca Jagger (Patrick Lichfield)
Twiggy (Barry Lategan)

You can view a pdf of all of the prints on show, along with the gallery address and opening times, at the Little Black Gallery site.

The sound of tomorrow…

I’m sure many of you have already heard about the new format that is making inroads into the Japanese market called SHM-CD (Super High Material CD). For those of you that aren’t familiar, here’s an explanation of the format…

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The high quality SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic.

Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies’ research into LCD display manufacturing, SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc, allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head.

SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players.

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The following Bowie albums will be released on this format on the below dates.

28th October:
Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold The World
Hunky Dory
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
Aladdin Sane
Pin-Ups

25th November:
Diamond Dogs
Young Americans
Station To Station
Low
“Heroes”
Lodger

23rd December:
Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Let’s Dance
Tonight
Never Let Me Down
Tin Machine

All of these titles will be released in the Japanese paper sleeve style packaging and stickered to inform people that they are now on SHM-CD.

As explained above, this new format plays in a CD player and doesn’t require any changes to the master as it is purely the pressing of the disc that differs.

Cor…sounds good, eh? Takes me back to the time I got my first diamond stylus!

You got me spinning…

Thirty five years ago Europeans had their first taste of an official live Bowie release with the issue of the Knock On Wood/Panic In Detroit single as a taster for the upcoming David Live LP.

Issued three months after the Diamond Dogs single in the UK, (06.14.2009 NEWS: DIAMOND DOGS IS THIRTY FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY) this old Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd standard didn’t seem an incongruous release to my newly-birthdayed 14-year-old ears.

Indeed, the record-buying public was obviously in agreement with me as it was yet another top ten hit for Bowie in the UK, even without a picture sleeve.

As you can see above, in Europe the release was accompanied by some of the very best Bowie picture covers of all time, though, as with Diamond Dogs, the Americans weren’t treated to an A-side release of Knock On Wood at all.

The USA got the studio version of 1984 as a single in July 1974 instead of Diamond Dogs and they got a live version of Rock ‘N’ Roll With Me in October in place of Knock On Wood.

Sales of the single in the UK may have been helped by a forty second preview on an eight track promotional flexi-disc given away with Record & Popswop Mirror shortly after Knock On Wood went on sale.

You can listen to the flexi over on Chas Pearson’s brilliant David Bowie 7? Singles site…more of which, shortly.

Fashion! Turn to the left, Fashion! Turn to the right…

No, it’s not a historical record of the mildly successful Britpop group…that would more likely be entitled One Hundred Days Of Menswear.

One Hundred Years Of Menswear is a 320-page book by Cally Blackman, due in the next couple of weeks through Laurence King Publishing…and David Bowie is the man chosen for the cover to represent the subject…and rightly so.

Here’s the doo dah…

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A rich, comprehensive collection of images covering the revolution in menswear over the last 100 years with text by fashion historian Cally Blackman.

Rare photography and illustrations reveal the elegant tailoring of Savile Row and tough khaki and denim of the uniform and workplace giving way to an exuberant array of styles and colours as the century progresses. Packed with images of Hollywood style icons, the artist personalities of the 1930s and more, the evolution of menswear from practical to peacock is explored in an array of rarely-seen photographs and illustrations.

The impact of Pierre Cardin, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and other designers is contrasted with the street fashion of the 1960s, punk and the clubbing scene to bring together the story of the flourishing menswear scene in one invaluable book.

A unique collection, 100 Years of Menswear will prove indispensable for all fashion students, historians of dress and lovers of men’s clothes.

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You can read more about the book on the LKP site, and once it’s available to order I’ll post a BowieNet discount code that entitles you to a £7.00 GBP reduction off the £24.95 cover price. Off the top of my head, that’s an unbeatable 28% reduction!

Although today’s lyric quotation may seem an obvious choice, it also refers to the fact that the publishers have flipped the Terry O’Neil picture on the Book’s cover.

The version bottom right in the montage above is the correct way round.

Me, I’m fresh on your pages…

Thanks to the generossity of Nick Pegg and his publisher, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd., we have five signed copies of the soon to be published fifth edition of The Complete David Bowie that we told you about last month. (08.27.2009 NEWS: NICK PEGG SIGNING LATEST EDITION OF COMPLETE BOWIE)

The prizes will be available to collect in person from Nick at the signing session we mentioned in that earlier news item. However, if you can’t make it along to that, the publisher has kindly agreed to dispatch copies for those that can’t collect in person.

Anyway, Mr Pegg himself has provided the questions for this one, and so…over to you Nick…

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Hi Blam, right then. I’ve come up with not one but two questions for the competition:

1. The front cover of the new edition of ‘The Complete David Bowie’ (pictured above) features a photo that was taken on 26 March 1976. Now that you’re armed with that information… at which concert venue was the picture shot?

2. Bearing in mind that the previous edition of ‘The Complete David Bowie’ was published three years ago, among the latest additions to the updated A-Z of songs are two new entries which, alphabetically, fall immediately before and immediately after the song ‘Fame’. What are they?

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Ha! I bet that first one lulled you into a false sense of security.

Now all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning a copy is email me here with the correct answers to Nick’s questions.

The contest runs until midnight New York time next Friday (18th) with winners being announced shortly thereafter.

Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name. If you do neither of these things you won’t be eligible to enter.

Drive-In Saturday… (Or get the ferry)

Well, you can find out all you want to know about the latest exhibition by Mick Rock (Official Worldwide Glam Rock Photographer) by reading the flyer below.

Alternatively you can learn even more at the SHOW gallery site…and you can read an interview with Mick published today over at silive.com.

Either way, Saturday the 12th, Staten Island, 8:00pm if you want Mick Rock to scribble something rude in your GLAM! book. (Inset, top right)

I’ll leave you with a bit from aforementioned interview:

Q. Who is the single most beautiful specimen — male, female, whatever — you’ve ever shot?
A. David Bowie was always a special subject, very photogenic. My personal fave pics that I took of him were in fact taken in 2002, one of which is in the exhibition. Although, of course, he was a magical subject in his Ziggy period — as the “GLAM!” parade at the SHOW Gallery will bear witness.