Month: October 2015

 

“Five years, my brain hurts a lot”

 

To celebrate the release of David Bowie’s (Five Years 1969 – 1973) box set, BuzzFeed has posted a fun, fact-filled feature which highlights nine Bowie things relating to the period 1969 – 1973.

Read the subject of each entry in the list below, or just go view the whole thing right now here.

 

1. Bowie had to do battle with his record label to get the “Space Oddity” single released in stereo.

2. No singles were released from The Man Who Sold the World, nor did Bowie tour behind the album.

3. Although Bowie never released “Oh! You Pretty Things” as a single, he played piano on a cover of the song by Peter Noone, which hit #12 in the UK.

4. The backing vocals on “It Ain’t Easy,” from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, are provided by a woman who was British Junior Water Skiing Champion for four years running in the 1960s.

5. Although he ended up in the top five of the UK singles chart with his own version, Bowie was so frustrated with Mott the Hoople’s disinterest in recording “Drive-In Saturday” that he shaved his eyebrows.

6. Were it not for Bowie’s cover of Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play,” Syd Barrett might well have retreated to Cambridge forever even sooner than he ultimately did.

7. While Bowie and his entourage were staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel in conjunction with the performance which was immortalized on the album Live Santa Monica ‘72, Iggy Pop showed up with the master tapes for The Stooges’ Raw Power.

8. In 1973, when Bowie performed what he described as “the last show we’ll ever do” (even though it wasn’t), Jeff Beck joined him onstage for two songs, yet he’s nowhere to be seen in Ziggy Stardust: The Motion Picture. Why? Because of his attire.

9. “Holy Holy” was released as a standalone single in 1971 because Bowie’s label had deemed the entirety of The Man Who Sold The World as being devoid of any obvious singles and felt that the song had a shot at chart success. They were wrong.

 

#FiveYearsBox  #BuzzFeedBowie

 

“Loving The Alien”

 

Tickets for all performances of the New York Theatre Workshop’s presentation of Lazarus sold out within hours of going on sale today.

Congratulations to all involved with the production and many thanks to all of you who purchased tickets.

 

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LAZARUS

By David Bowie & Enda Walsh

Directed by Ivo van Hove

Inspired by the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

2015/16 SEASON

November 18, 2015—December 27, 2015

 

Following his revelatory production of Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, the internationally acclaimed director Ivo van Hove returns to New York Theatre Workshop with a new production, Lazarus, by David Bowie and Enda Walsh. Mr. Walsh makes his return to NYTW after the successful run of Once. Lazarus features songs specially composed for this production by Mr. Bowie as well as new arrangements of previously recorded songs. Lazarus, inspired by the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, centres on the character of Thomas Jerome Newton, famously portrayed by Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation directed by Nicolas Roeg.

 

Go here for the full cast list and read the press release here.

 

#Lazarus  #LazarusNYTW  #TJNewton  #TMWFTE

 

 

To set the record straight (no pun intended) Spongebob is only using the track “No Control” from “Outside” for their theatre project. However David has written 4 new songs for his own theatre piece “Lazarus” which opens on December 7th, 2015.

 

“At the centre of it all, Your eyes”

 

Go here to view The Last Panthers opening credits sequence, featuring a 47-second tease of BLACKSTAR, the first new music from David Bowie since last year’s Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime) single release.

Sky Atlantic unveiled the opening credits for the major new drama today, featuring the brand new original song written and performed by David Bowie.

The Last Panthers title sequence first look comes just five weeks before the show launches simultaneously across Europe on Sky Atlantic at 9pm, 12 November 2015.

BLACKSTAR is the result of a meeting of minds between David Bowie and the director of The Last Panthers, Johan Renck, who met during the filming of the show.

Renck had this to say regarding their meeting:

 

“I showed Mr. Bowie the two first episodes in the rough state they were at the time, and he liked what he saw very much. We discussed the various aspects of the show; naturally the plot line, but also the underlying currents of guilt and personality flaws. We talked about the dark heart of Europe. We talked about the biblical aspects of human nature. He asked if there was anything else to see, so I showed him the first concept board I had just made for the title sequence – images from the show laced with chimaeras and demons from the worlds of Bosch and Grunewald. That’s when he said go – it all fits. Then he played me his new song BLACKSTAR.”

 

The six part series, jointly pan-European commission from Sky and CANAL + in France, stars Academy Award nominee and BAFTA winner Samantha Morton alongside double Cesar award winner Tahar Rahim, Croatian star Goran Bogdan and two time Academy Award Nominee, three-time BAFTA winner and Golden Globe winner John Hurt.

The series is produced by France’s Haut et Court TV (‘The Returned’) and the UK’s Warp Films (‘This is England’) and directed by the acclaimed Johan Renck (Bloodline, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead as well as videos by Madonna, New Order, Beyoncé and Lana Del Rey) and was filmed in Marseille, Belgrade, Montenegro and London. 

The Last Panthers will screen on CANAL + in France and on Sky Atlantic in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria from 12 November.

 

#BLACKSTAR  #LastPanthers  #NewBowieSong

 

“You’ve really made the grade”

 

With the 40th anniversary picture disc of Space Oddity released worldwide today, David Bowie has no less than five vinyl 45s in the current official UK chart, with three of those in the Top 20.

All five are headed in the right direction, including a surprise new entry for the 2013 The Next Day single.

 

Official Vinyl Singles Chart Top 40

25 September 2015 – 01 October 2015

 

#04 Fame (up from #11)

#11 Kingdom Come (up from #40)

#15 Young Americans (up from #17)

#22 Knock On Wood (re-entry)

#38 The Next Day (new entry)

 

Seems like there’s a section of Bowie fans who really are into vinyl again.

Don’t forget that the extremely limited Space Oddity 40th Anniversary T-shirt/Pic Disc bundle is available to order here now.

 

#DavidBowie #SpaceOddity40 #OCCvinyl45s

 

“Sending me so far away, so far away”

 

Up until now tickets for Lazarus have only been available to subscribed members of the New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW).

 

However, that changes on the morning of October 7th when tickets go on general sale here.

 

Tickets are selling well with some nights already sold out even before the general sale.

If news of Lazarus has passed you by for one bizarre reason or another, keep reading…

 

LAZARUS

By David Bowie & Enda Walsh

Directed by Ivo van Hove

Inspired by the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis

 

2015/16 SEASON

November 18, 2015—December 27, 2015

 

Following his revelatory production of Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, the internationally acclaimed director Ivo van Hove returns to New York Theatre Workshop with a new production, Lazarus, by David Bowie and Enda Walsh. Mr. Walsh makes his return to NYTW after the successful run of Once. Lazarus features songs specially composed for this production by Mr. Bowie as well as new arrangements of previously recorded songs. Lazarus, inspired by the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis, centres on the character of Thomas Jerome Newton, famously portrayed by Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation directed by Nicolas Roeg.

 

Go here for the full cast list and ead the full press release here.

 

#Lazarus  #LazarusNYTW  #TJNewton  #TMWFTE