Month: July 2014

 

“The ticket’s in my hand”

 

Tickets for David Bowie Is at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago go on general public sale today at 10 am CST.

Individual tickets are $25 for adults and teens, $10 youth age 7–12, and free for children 6 and under. Price includes admission to see the rest of the museum.

Because the exhibition is ticketed by time, people need to select a date and time for a ticket to be issued. Tickets are sold in half-hour slots ending two hours before the museum closes for the day.

Tickets can be purchased online here or by calling the MCA Bowie Hotline at 312.397.4068 during museum hours.

David Bowie is was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago from September 23, 2014 to January 4, 2015.

Keep reading for more special Bowie-related events during the exhibition’s run in Chicago.

 

 

MCA TALKS | Bowie

 

MCA Talk: Bryan Ferry and Michael Bracewell

Wednesday, September 17, 6 pm, tickets $5

Renowned singer, musician, and songwriter Bryan Ferry joins writer and curator Michael Bracewell, author of Roxy Music: Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Art, Ideas and Fashion, to discuss fame, music, and creative inspiration in anticipation of the exhibition David Bowie Is.

 

MCA Talk: Curating Bowie

Sunday, September 21, 1 pm, tickets $10

David Bowie Is curators Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London preview the exhibition, which opens September 23, and discuss Bowie’s life and work.

 

MCA Talk: Todd Haynes and Sandy Powell on Glam Rock

Sunday, October 5, 3 pm, tickets $10

Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell and Oscar-nominated director Todd Haynes discuss movie-making, glam rock, and David Bowie. Haynes and Powell collaborated on the film Velvet Goldmine (1998) starring Christian Bale and Ewan McGregor in a tribute to the 1970s glam rock era, drawing on the histories and mythologies of David Bowie, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop.  

 

MCA Talk: Simon Critchley Panel Discussion

Friday, November 7, 2 pm, tickets $5

Bowie, a new book by Simon Critchley, Chair of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York, combines personal narratives of Bowie’s life with meditations on identity while exploring Bowie’s songs. Critchley and panelists from a variety of disciplines discuss the singer’s life and music. 

 

MCA Talk: Kevin Barnes on David Bowie

Thursday, November 20, 6 pm, tickets $10

Kevin Barnes is the singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist for the indie rock band of Montreal. Barnes performs a selection of David Bowie covers and discusses the impact Bowie has on his work.

 

 

MCA LIVE | Bowie 

 

MCA Live: Covering Bowie

Select Tuesdays, 6-8pm, free for Illinois residents or with museum admission

Throughout the exhibition run of David Bowie Is, local Chicago musicians cover Bowie songs and albums.

 

September 23: White Mystery Covers Bowie

October 7: Tim Kinsella Covers Hunky Dory

November 4: ONO Covers Bowie

 

 

MCA FAMILY DAY | Bowie

 

MCA Family Day: Dare

Saturday, October 11, 11 am – 3 pm, free for families with children ages 12 and under

Inspired by David Bowie, families explore risk and chance with bold and daring art activities.

 

MCA Family Day: Changes

Saturday, November 8, 11 am – 3 pm, free for families with children ages 12 and under

Inspired by David Bowie, families explore transformation, change, and different points-of-view.

 

 

MCA STAGE | Bowie

 

David Bowie Variety Hour

September 26–27, tickets $20; students $10

MCA Stage presents an eclectic combination of Chicago performers celebrating David Bowie.  Curated by Jyldo and accompanied by Nick Davio’s house band, the program features Chicago club and stage stars, including BAATHHAUS, Chicago Tap Theatre, BOOM CRACK! Dance Company, dance tribute queen Kasey Foster, and LADY/WATCH.

 

Michael Clark Company: come, been and gone

October 25–27, 2014, tickets $28; students $10

In his first Chicago appearance, British choreographer Michael Clark presents this critically acclaimed production performed primarily to the music of David Bowie. One of the most influential dance artists of his time, Clark creates work that combines classical ingenuity with an experimental sensibility, exploring contrasting themes of virtue and vice, abandon and control, grace and embarrassment. Clark collaborated with pioneer dance filmmaker and video artist Charles Atlas on the production’s lighting design. 

 

Bowie Changes

Tickets $20; students $10 (each performance is ticketed separately)

Chicago musicians re-create three of David Bowie’s classic albums in this performance series.

 

November 15: Bobby Conn – Wearing glitter and high heels, Bobby Conn plays Station to Station, channelling Bowie’s Thin White Duke persona.

November 21: Jon Langford and Sally Timms – Jon Langford and Sally Timms, former collaborators in the post-punk band The Mekons, reunite to perform Bowie love songs, including Modern Love.

November 22: Disappears – The indie rock band Disappears re-creates the studio album Low, bringing to light Bowie’s first collaboration with Brian Eno.

 

 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS | Bowie

 

David Bowie Tribute Concert at Daley Plaza

Tuesday, September 23, noon – 1 pm

Celebrating the opening day of the David Bowie Is exhibition at the MCA, WXRT, Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the MCA present a concert on Daley Plaza featuring the Sons of the Silent Age, the leading David Bowie cover band. Sons of the Silent Age, led by Chris Connelly (Ministry and the Revolting Cocks) and Matt Walker (Morrissey and Smashing Pumpkins), honors the music and aesthetic of David Bowie in their impressive selection of songs taken from the eclectic and extensive canon of David Bowie.

 

“Hooked to the silver screen”

 

in coordination with the David Bowie Is exhibition opening at the MCA in September, tickets go on sale today for the nationwide US theatrical release of the V&A’s David Bowie Is Happening Now documentary film.

David Bowie Is Happening Now, a film of the exhibition created by the Victoria and Albert Museum, is scheduled for exclusive screenings in movie theatres across the US on September 23, 2014, distributed by Omniverse Vision.

The tickets for the 100 selected US theatres are on sale from today (July 31, 2014). To see the film trailer and book tickets, visit www.davidbowie.com/davidbowieisfilm.

This film takes the audience on an extraordinary journey through the David Bowie Is exhibition with special guests including legendary Japanese fashion designer Kansai Yamamoto, Pulp front-man Jarvis Cocker, and other collaborators, to explore the stories behind some of the key objects that document Bowie’s artistic career. The exhibition curators, Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh, provide fascinating insight into the most memorable works in the exhibition, revealing the creativity and evolution of Bowie’s ideas.

The documentary was filmed on the closing night of the V&A exhibition in London and directed by Hamish Hamilton, the BAFTA-winning Director of the Academy Awards and the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

 

Details of the international release of the film to follow shortly.

 

“We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes”

 

US Bowie fans get a chance to see Francis Whately’s superb award winning documentary, David Bowie – Five Years: The Making Of An Icon, when it begins airing on Showtime on Friday, Aug 1 at 9pm ET/PT.

For those unfamiliar with the film, here’s the synopsis from Showtime…

 

 

DAVID BOWIE: FIVE YEARS

An intimate documentary spanning five key years in David Bowie’s music career, featuring a wealth of unseen footage and charting the star’s continual evolution through various roles, making him an icon of our times. This portrait explores Bowie’s regeneration in Berlin, and his numerous critical triumphs, and features interviews with all of his closest collaborators.

 

 

Visit the Showtime Five Years page to view trailers and more. We’ll leave you with the list of upcoming airings (All Times ET/PT):

 

DAVID BOWIE: FIVE YEARS:

 

Fri, Aug 01, 9:00 PM SHOWTIME

Sat, Aug 02, 1:00 AM SHOWTIME

Sat, Aug 02, 1:00 PM SHOWTIME

Sun, Aug 03, 7:00 PM SHO 2

Mon, Aug 04, 5:30 PM SHOWTIME SHOWCASE

Tue, Aug 05, 10:00 PM SHO 2

Wed, Aug 06, 10:00 PM SHOWTIME

Fri, Aug 08, 3:30 PM SHO 2

Sun, Aug 10, 8:00 PM SHOWTIME SHOWCASE

Mon, Aug 11, 7:00 PM SHO 2

Tue, Aug 12, 5:15 PM SHOWTIME

Sat, Aug 16, 4:00 PM SHOWTIME SHOWCASE

Wed, Aug 20, 7:00 PM SHOWTIME

 

“You got me spinning, baby”

 

The September edition of MOJO magazine has the upcoming Knock On Wood 40th Anniversary picture disc as their vinyl package of the month…not a bad feat for a 45!

And that’s without them knowing about The Stereo Boutique’s excellent pre-order bundle which includes the picture disc and a commemorative ticket stub replica from Bowie’s 1974 show at the Tower Theater, Philadelphia, from where Knock On Wood was recorded.

 

Pre-order your bundle here now, before it sells out again!

 

A-Side Knock On Wood (David Live – 2005 Mix)

(Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd)

Produced & mixed by Tony Visconti

Recorded live at Tower Theater, Philadelphia, July 1974

 

AA – Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me (David Live – 2005 Mix)

Produced & mixed by Tony Visconti

Recorded live at Tower Theater, Philadelphia, July 1974

 

KNOCK ON WOOD (LIVE) / ROCK ‘N’ ROLL WITH ME (LIVE) is released on Parlophone September 22nd 2014.

 

DAVID BOWIE SOUND+VISION

Four CD Box Set Released September 22nd

 

The Sound+Vision 4 cd boxset covers DAVID BOWIE’s career from 1969 to 1994 starting with the acoustic demo version of his first hit, Space Oddity to the return to his Bromley roots for the soundtrack to Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha Of Suburbia which is often cited as the most underrated piece in the Bowie canon.

 

As his surprise return with The Next Day showed, Bowie continues to be a cutting edge musician and artist, icon, fashion guru, and all round inspiration to several generations and remains a unique phenomenon in contemporary culture.

 

Sound+Vision is a collection spanning four decades, covering the 21 albums from Space Oddity through to The Buddha Of Suburbia. It’s a rich survey of David Bowie’s many musical lives offering a generous helping of hits, an intriguing dip into archives, classic album tracks and long lost B-sides, explosive live recordings, soundtrack recordings and remixes.

 

Sound+Vision also documents Bowie’s ever-onward work aesthetic. From Dylan inspired folkie (The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud) to the hard-rocking hero of grunge legends Nirvana (‘The Man Who Sold The World’); from Glam Rock superstar (Ziggy Stardust) to white soul pioneer (Young Americans); electronica trailblazer (Warszawa) to first New Romantic (Ashes To Ashes); stadium filling star (Modern Love) to high endurance 90s legend (Jump They Say). He’s been there – and back again – often before anyone else has.

 

Other albums recorded by Bowie after the time span of this box set are Outside (1995), Earthling (1997), ‘hours…’ (1999), Heathen (2002), Reality (2003) and The Next Day (2013).

 

DAVID BOWIE SOUND+VISION Tracklisting:

CD1:

1/ Space Oddity (original demo 1969)

2/ The Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud (rare B-side version 1969)

3/ The Prettiest Star (single version 1970)

4/ London Bye Ta-Ta (stereo mix recorded 1970)

5/ Black Country Rock (from The Man Who Sold The World)

6/ The Man Who Sold The World (from The Man Who Sold The World)

7/ The Bewlay Brothers (from Hunky Dory)

8/ Changes (from Hunky Dory)

9/ Round And Round (alternate vocal take 1971)

10/Moonage Daydream (from The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars)

11/John I’m Only Dancing (Aladdin Sane outtake 1973)

12/Drive-In Saturday (from Aladdin Sane 1973)

13/Panic In Detroit (from Aladdin Sane 1973)

14/Ziggy Stardust (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)

15/White Light/White Heat (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)

16/Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (live from Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture 1973)

17/Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (from Pinups 1973)

18/Sorrow (from Pinups 1973)

19/Don’t Bring Me Down (from Pinups 1973)

 

CD 2:

1/ 1984/Dodo (recorded 1973)

2/ Big Brother (from Diamond Dogs 1974)

3/ Rebel Rebel (rare single version 1974)

4/ Suffragette City (from David Live 1974)

5/ Watch That Man (from David Live 1974)

6/ Cracked Actor (from David Live 1974)

7/ Young Americans (from Young Americans 1975)

8/ Fascination (from Young Americans 1975)

9/ After Today (Young Americans outtake 1975)

10/It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City (recorded 1975)

11/TVC15 (from Station To Station 1976)

12/Wild Is The Wind (from Station To Station 1976)

13/Sound And Vision (from Low 1977)

14/Be My Wife (from Low 1977)

15/Speed Of Life (from Low 1977)

16/”Helden” (German version of Heroes – 1989 remix)

17/Joe The Lion (from Heroes 1977)

18/Sons Of The Silent Age (from Heroes 1977)

 

CD 3:

1/ Station To Station (from Stage 1978)

2/ Warszawa (from Stage 1978)

3/ Breaking Glass (from Stage 1978)

4/ Red Sails (from Lodger 1979)

5/ Look Back In Anger (from Lodger 1979)

6/ Boys Keep Swinging (from Lodger 1979)

7/ Up The Hill Backwards (from Scary Monsters 1980)

8/ Kingdom Come (from Scary Monsters 1980)

9/ Ashes To Ashes (from Scary Monsters 1980)

10/Baal’s Hymn (from Baal E.P.)

11/Drowned Girl (from Baal E.P.)

12/Cat People (Putting Out Fire) (soundtrack album version)

13/China Girl (from Let’s Dance)

14/Ricochet (from Let’s Dance)

15/Modern Love (Live) (B-side)

16/Loving The Alien (from Tonight)

17/Dancing With The Big Boys (from Tonight)

 

CD 4:

1/ Blue Jean (from Tonight)

2/ Time Will Crawl (from Never Let Me Down)

3/ Baby Can Dance (from Tin Machine)

4/ Amazing (from Tin Machine)

5/ I Can’t Read (from Tin Machine)

6/ Shopping For Girls (from Tin Machine II)

7/ Goodbye Mr. Ed (from Tin Machine II)

8/ Amlapura (from Tin Machine II)

9/ You’ve Been Around (from Black Tie White Noise)

10/Nite Flights (Moodswings Back To Basics Remix Radio Edit)

11/Pallas Athena (Gone Midnight Mix)

12/Jump They Say (from Black Tie White Noise)

13/Buddha Of Suburbia (from The Buddha Of Suburbia)

14/Dead Against It (from The Buddha Of Suburbia)

15/South Horizon (from The Buddha Of Suburbia)

16/Pallas Athena (Live as Tao Jones Index)

 

“The clock waits so patiently on your song”

 

Good luck to all those involved with this evening’s sold out concert at The National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland.

The Art of the Song : David Bowie, looks like it’s going to be something special so please do let us know how it went if you’re attending.

The event focuses on the music of David Bowie and features Lisa Hannigan, Duke Special, Jape, Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh, Heathers and Adrian Crowley.

Here’s the official blurb…

 

 

The Art of the Song : David Bowie

As part of Summer @ NCH

Saturday 26th July, 8pm

Main Auditorium

 

Featuring: Lisa Hannigan, Duke Special, Jape, Heathers, Adrian Crowley

 

The Band: Ross Turner (I am the Cosmos, Lisa Hannigan, Jape), Glenn Keating (Jape, Somadrone, The Redneck Manifesto), Rian Trench (Solar Bears), Donal Gunne (Túcan), Caoimhin Ó Raghallaigh (The Gloaming, This is How We Fly), Seán Mac Erlaine (This is How We Fly)

A new occasional series sees the National Concert Hall bring some of Ireland’s most exciting artists together to pay tribute to the great writers of modern music. This show sees Lisa Hannigan, Duke Special, Jape, Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh, Heathers and Adrian Crowley pay tribute to the Thin White Duke.

 

“As was the case with Miles Davis in jazz, Bowie has come not just to represent his innovations but to symbolize modern rock as an idiom in which literacy, art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary can be rolled into one.” Rolling Stone magazine

 

From July 1969 when Space Oddity hit to UK Top Ten through to the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single “Starman” and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, David Bowie has created a modern canon of work marked by its constant re-invention and exploration. This went on to feature his landmark  Berlin Trilogy of albums, his collaborations with Brian Eno and Lou Reed right through to blue-eyed soul of Fame and mainstream American success. He has recently released the unanimously acclaimed The Next Day.

 

Emerging from the Hall’s Artist Writing Space project, this concert will see some of those Resident Artists, some of Dublin’s innovators and most acclaimed singers address the considerable work of David Bowie.

 

Presented by The National Concert Hall

Supported by Newstalk 106 and The Irish Independent

 

 

“Only one man could be seen”

 

Since his cover of Where Are We Now? released on the same day as Bowie’s original last year, Momus has graced these pages more than once.

On September 13th 2014, he will perform a cabaret featuring the songs of David Bowie live at London’s Cafe Oto.

In preparation for the gig and along with the Bowie covers Momus has already uploaded to YouTube, he has posted another six Bowie covers in the shape of: DJ, Joe The Lion, Candidate, The Bewlay Brothers, Letter to Hermione and Conversation Piece, all in the last week.

We caught the Momus show at Cafe Oto back in March when he performed a brilliantly bonkers set peppered with Bowie references, including a histrionic version of Ashes To Ashes and a kind of mash-up of Fantastic Voyage over a backing of Boys Keep Swinging, called Fantastic Swinging.

He even referenced the closing moments of Bowie’s performance of Boys Keep Swinging on the Kenny Everett Video Show in 1979, which our exclusive image of Momus also alludes to.

Here follows a lovely tribute from the absurdly prolific Momus regarding An Evening with Dybbuk Momie – A Cabaret Featuring the Songs of David Bowie

 

“David Bowie is the cultural figure without whom I as Momus simply wouldn’t have existed: a genius, a massively liberating presence producing prolifically throughout five decades, an enthusiastic index of cultural connections, a sort of internet-before-the-internet. Like the dybbuk of Jewish mythology, Bowie is a sum of stolen souls, a collection of all the most impressive gestures and talents of cultural figures he’s encountered and been smitten by. I want to make an unashamedly dark and leftfield take concentrating on the early cabaret work, the demos, the flickering shadows of Brecht and Brel, the avant-garde and eccentric moments, the symphonic poems. Songs Bowie has never performed live himself will be unfurled in unexpected yet faithful new readings, accompanied by video projections showing the many imitators whose souls the great dybbuk has so wonderfully spirited away.”

 

Go here for more information and to book tickets for both the Bowie tribute on the 13th and the Momus tribute to Howard Devoto on the previous evening.

 

“And 75,000 peoploids split into small tribes”

 

You’ve no doubt seen the announcement from Avantgarde.de regarding the two week extension to David Bowie at the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin until 24 August 2014.

This comes at the same time as the news that the Berlin exhibition has attracted 75,000 visitors thus far.

Fans have travelled the globe to see the expanded Berlin room, which now includes exclusive images (such as those pictured here), along with many other Bowie-in-Berlin-related goodies.

Check out Avantgarde.de for further details and ticket links.

 

Meanwhile, here’s the info regarding the two brilliant images accompanying this item.

 

David playback at Hansa Studio, 1977

Courtesy of The David Bowie Archive

Image © Coco Schwab

 

Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Coco Schwab, East Berlin, 1977

Courtesy of The David Bowie Archive

Unidentified photographer 

 

 

“New Music: Night And Day”

 

Six years in the making, Dylan Howe’s new album, SUBTERRANEAN – New Designs On Bowie’s Berlin, is finally released this week.

Subterranean is Howe’s first studio album in ten years and it’s made up of his arrangements of tracks from Bowie’s influential Berlin Trilogy era releases, Low and “Heroes”.

We’re loving it here at DBFBHQ, but don’t take our word for how good it is. Here are a few quotations from recent reviews…

 

 

“An exquisite take on Bowie’s late 70s largely instrumental collaborations with Brian Eno. Subterranean possibly glimpses how Coltrane may have interpreted Bowie. Howe combines a great concept, a superb band and his own significant talents as a drummer and arranger to deliver his best album to date.”

Rhythm Magazine

 

“A beguiling jazz rethink of Berlin-era Bowie. 8/10.”

Uncut Magazine (Also featured in Uncut’s Top 20 Best Albums of 2014)

 

“Probably one of the UK’s most important and vital drummers…”Subterranean” is an audacious and  astounding piece of work that should be in every music collection – a real triumph – 9/10.”

Blues & Soul

 

“A splendid recording – gorgeously intimate…A project for which he deserves huge credit. 4 stars”

Jazzwise

 

 

Here’s the tracklisting:

 

1. Subterraneans 08:23

2. Weeping Wall 07:04

3. All Saints 11:04

4. Some Are 06:29

5. Neuköln – Night 04:59

6. Art Decade 04:41

7. Warszawa 11:07

8. Neuköln – Day 05:28

9. Moss Garden 06:23

 

Check out the dedicated bandcamp page where you can listen to the album in full, and if you like what you hear, there are various EXTREMELY limited formats available to purchase on the same page. There are also details of Dylan’s upcoming autumn tour.

 

FOOTNOTE: Those of you wondering about today’s lyric quotation would be right in concluding that New Music: Night And Day was never a Bowie lyric. However, it was the original title for Low and it ties in nicely with Howe’s night and day versions of Neuköln.

 

 

PHILIP GLASS: Symphony No.1 “Low”

 

Finally, the other CD in our illustration is the recently released new recording of Philip Glass’s Low Symphony, performed by Basel Sinfonieorchester and conducted by Dennis Russell Davies.

This is considered to be a superior performance of the work compared with previously available versions.

 

“Let’s Dance, to the song we’re playing” 

 

Prince made a surprise appearance during Nile Rodgers’ set on Friday night at the 20th Essence Festival in New Orleans, making July 4th even more of a celebration when he joined the Chic leader on guitar for a cover of Bowie’s 1983 worldwide smash hit, Let’s Dance, a song which Rodgers co-produced with Bowie.

Nile’s tweets and posts on his FB page over the last 24 hours or so (below) say it all.

 

 

“Nile Rodgers & Prince jamming on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance””

 

“I’m still flipping out over this moment”

 

“I’m still reliving this show”

 

“How Proud Am I at This Moment? Playing “Let’s Dance” w Prince is so symbolic. That album w Bowie changed my life… ”

 

 

There’s a fan-filmed teaser compilation on YouTube, but a full-length video of the performance is yet to surface…unless you know differently?