Mike Garson’s DB Deep Cut Of The Day

 

“As surely as our love is bright”   

 

What to say about Mike Garson that Clifford Slapper hasn’t already said in his excellent Bowie’s Piano Man: The Life of Mike Garson.

The longest-serving member of the David Bowie band in many of its various incarnations, Mike was also singled out on many occasions to perform with Bowie as a duo for a fair few memorable one offs.

Mike has chosen one such performance for this instalment of DB Deep Cut Of The Day.

It’s a heartbreakingly emotional rendition of My Death from September 18th 1995. The occasion was a benefit for The Joseph Papp Public Theater, at The Grand Ballroom, Manhattan Center, New York.

Over to Mike…

 

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When I played the first few notes with Lorde at the rehearsal in London ALL I could think was how at times I took the gig with David for granted.

I made a decision to appreciate every moment from there on. As humans that is difficult but I will continuously try.

 

This version of MY DEATH might be the most poignant version ever. David’s voice is low and rich and creamy.

Not too many fans no less the world have heard this. It is beyond gorgeous. David and I performed this in NYC for a fund raiser in 1995.

I never understood why David and I never did a duet tour. Hopefully posthumously we can put out all the songs the 2 of us did together over the years.

I think you might be able to play this song 100 times and never stop crying.

 

Mike Garson

 

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Thanks Mike, it is indeed a very moving version.

 

You can hear the performance here on YouTube.

Also, check out Mike’s tribute to DB from a couple of weeks back here.

 

#DBDCOTD  #BowieDeepCut

Tribute to Bowie on last night’s VINYL

 

“The band was all together…”

 

Those of you who have been keeping up with VINYL, the new(ish) HBO show from executive producers Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, will have seen the Bowie tribute in episode six, Cyclone, last night. (Sunday 20th)

Here’s the synopsis of that episode, complete with spoilers for those who haven’t watched it yet.

We’re not giving anything away by telling you that one scene catches Ziggy (played by Noah Bean) with The Spiders From Mars rehearsing Suffragette City.

Obviously it’s actors portraying Bowie and the band and they do make a pretty good fist of it, even if they are just miming to a heavily reverbed version of Bowie’s original recording.

As you can see from our montage, the three main Spiders are all present and correct, but the programme makers have even gone to the trouble of including Trevor’s silver sideburns along with Mike Garson and Geoff MacCormack lookalikes.

Later in the episode, while staff clean up after the Yankovich bat mitzvah, Zak watches in awe as the house band’s lead singer delivers a heartfelt rendition of Life on Mars?.

He actually mimes to the Trey Songz version of the song which appears on the VINYL soundtrack, which is available now.

if you’ve not been watching VINYL it’s definitely worth catching up with.

Finally, here‘s an interesting Noah Bean interview on Business Insider UK.

 

#VINYL  #VINYLHBO  #BOWIEVINYL  

Bowie visual collaborators at SXSW shortly

 

“My friends talk, Of glory, untold dream”

 

Join fellow Bowie fans for a discussion with the visual collaborators surrounding David Bowie’s album campaign including long-time artwork designer Jonathan Barnbrook as well as the creatives Carolynn Cecilia and Lawrence Peryer behind UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries who were given early access to the album to develop a unique original content series airing now on Instagram.

The panel will incorporate elements from these creatives as well as a premiere of the full UNBOUND MINISERIES video for the first time.

 

Go here and here for more details.

 

David Bowie Visual Collaborators

Saturday, March 19

3:30PM – 4:30PM

 

Austin Convention Center

Room 16AB

531 E 4th St

 

 

#SXSW  

Tony Visconti at SXSW 2016

 

“Man, I need TV when I got SXSW”

 

Tony Visconti delivered his keynote speech at Austin Convention Center during SXSW in Austin, Texas, yesterday. (Thursday, March 17)

Apparently, Tony spent a little while talking about Bowie during the nearly 80-minute address, while also delving into tales of his own musical history, before offering thoughts and visions for the future of the music industry. There have been many online reports with excerpts from his speech, here’s a bit from Billboard:

 

“It could go this way. All the signs are there,” Vinsconti warned. “I think we’re living in a time when formulas are being repeated more than they’ve ever been repeated in the past. There’s a great unbalance between trying to get that elusive teenage market to buy all these records being made … with a few notes, with loops. You listen to a pop/rock record today, and it’s not a band, but you’re actually listening to a computer and vocal that was doctored to however knows how much. Then you have people like Sun Kil Moon that wrench you. It tears your heart out. And my dear friend David Bowie turned me on to that album.”

 

Read the full Billboard piece here.

Tony was also interviewed for the March issue of SXSWorld magazine, which you can view here (Page 40).

 

#SXSW  #SXSWorld  #SXSWVisconti

TMWFTE World Premiere this day in 1976

 

“Loving The Alien”

 

Around about this time 40 years ago tonight, an excited audience of Bowie fans, curious movie goers and contest winners, sat in London’s Leicester Square Theatre waiting for the world premiere of David Bowie’s first major acting role in The Man Who Fell To Earth.

All these years later the Nicolas Roeg directed film is still a remarkable piece of work, with Bowie as the beautifully mysterious Thomas Jerome Newton, an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth with a plan to transport water back to his drought-stricken and dying planet.

The Man Who Fell To Earth is based on the 1963 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, and if you’ve not seen it you really need to check it out.

Bowie is magnificent and timeless in this film, not to mention looking absolutely incredible…with and without human disguise.

 

#TJNewton  #TMWFTE  #Lazarus 

Bowie and The Great Model

 

“Screaming above Central London”

 

Iman has posted a beautiful and poignant picture of David Bowie during a visit to London, viewing Christopher Wren’s ‘The Great Model’ situated in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Made by William Cleere in 1673/4 from full-size drawings scaled up by Wren and his assistant Edward Woodroffe, ‘The Great Model’ is available for public viewing.

Read more about it here.

Many thanks to Iman for sharing such a special memory.

 

#BowieLondonBoy  #StPaulsCathedral  #FBF

Bowie print auction for Brixton projects

 

“There’s more than money moving here”

 

Online auction house, Paddle8, have launched their Legendary sale, featuring a unique print of the award-winning B£10 “David Bowie” note featuring David Bowie as Aladdin Sane.

The item is being auctioned to raise money for community projects in Brixton, south London, the birthplace of David Bowie.

The framed print is #001 in an edition being published by This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll for the Brixton Pound. The auction is live now until March 31st 2016.

Keep reading for the press release.

 

#BrixtonPound  #B£10Bowie

 

 

Unique David Bowie print raises money for community projects in Brixton

 

A unique print featuring David Bowie as Aladdin Sane is being auctioned to raise money for community projects in Brixton, south London.

The auction will take place on Paddle8, online auction house, between 16 – 31 March 2016, as part of their Legendary sale.

The print is no. #001 in an edition being published by This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll for the Brixton Pound, and features their award-winning B£10 “David Bowie” note.

The edition of 300 – of which 250 will eventually be offered for sale – went into production in December 2015, with David Bowie’s approval.

The A3 print has been produced by the note’s designers, This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll, together with Orion Security Print, the company responsible for printing the Brixton Pound notes.

The print is produced on the same diamond-patterned security paper as the circulation notes, and features several of their original features such as orange fluorescent ink and die-cut metallic & holographic foiling.

Both sides of the note are displayed, featuring David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust guise from the cover of Aladdin Sane, as well as a detail from the Nuclear Dawn mural on Brixton’s Coldharbour Lane.

Each print is titled ( –2016) in pencil, individually numbered in both black and metallic ink, and blind-stamped by the designers. The print will also be accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from the Brixton Pound.

This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll’s Charlie Waterhouse says: “The print looks absolutely stunning. The fluorescent ink leaps off the page and the foiling has been die-cut to incredible detail. It really has been produced to an incredibly high standard.”

”We’re quite emotional about it. The Aladdin Sane cover image has always been melancholy, but to see it now in conjunction with the ascending dove from Nuclear Dawn is incredibly poignant. We got Bowie’s permission to use the image for this print in December. It’s as if it’s his parting gift to Brixton.”

All proceeds will go directly into the Brixton Fund, a grant scheme managed by the Brixton Pound to support community initiatives in the area.

The auction will be live from March 16th – 31st at www.paddle8.com/legendary

 

PRINT SPECIFICATION

Edition of 300 (250 available for purchase)

Unframed

Paper size: A3 (297mm x 420mm)

Print size: 235mm x 250mm (approx)

Tear-resistant diamond pattern Security Watermark paper, 95gsm

Printed in four-colour process and single colour fluorescent ink.

Individually numbered in both gold foil and black ink.

Die-cut holographic and silver foil.

Annotated ( –2016) in pencil.

Blind-stamped by the designers.

 

THE BRIXTON POUND

The Brixton Pound (B£) was launched in 2009 as the first local currency in an urban area in the UK. It aims to demonstrate what a social economy in Brixton might look like, encouraging people to shop at independent businesses, build community connections, and consider what money is.

B£ is a Community Interest Company with a board of seven directors. It exists in paper as well as electronic format, also known as pay-by-text, since September 2011.

Some 300 businesses are currently accepting B£, and there are over 2,000 pay-by-text customers.

www.brixtonpound.org 

 

THE BRIXTON FUND

The Brixton Fund is the Brixton Pound’s micro-grants fund, financed by revenue from the Brixton Bonus (the Brixton Pound’s monthly community lottery), B£ merchandise sales in the Brixton Pound Shop and 1.5% transaction fees when people spend B£s using their mobile phones.

The Fund supports local individuals and groups that might struggle to access larger funding pots, and work to:

• Increase local employment opportunities

• Take action for social justice

• Strengthen communities

The deadline for applications to the next round of the Brixton Fund is 29th April 2016.

www.brixtonpound.org/fund

 

THIS AIN’T ROCK’N’ROLL

This Ain’t Rock’n’Roll are an award-winning Brixton-born graphic design consultancy. They are responsible for the design of the Brixton Pound paper currency and identity. In addition to the Brixton Pound they work with clients like Médecins Sans Frontières, The Royal Horticultural Society and the Greater London Authority.

www.thisaintrocknroll.com

UNBOUND charity auction #2 on eBay

 

“I leaned back on my radio, oh oh”

 

As we hit the three quarter mark with the posting of the twelfth instalment of the: UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries, you may want a second chance to own a very collectable piece of memorabilia from the set of the series.

As we told you with the first auction, some of the props from the films are being auctioned off for charity on eBay, with the first two lots receiving bids in aid of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

The first item went for an impressive $620.00 USD at final hammer.

Go here, to read more and join in the bidding for the second item.

UNBOUND film props charity auction on eBay

 

“The solid book we wrote can be found on eBay”

 

Those of you that have been watching the intriguing and curiously compelling Instagram films: UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries, will know that the series has just passed the half way point, with nine of the sixteen films now available to view.

Some of the props from the films are being auctioned off for charity on eBay, kicking off with the books pictured here, currently receiving bids in aid of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

Go here, to read more and join in the bidding.

CHANGESONEBOWIE random vinyl due in May

 

“But it may come clear”

 

20th May, 2016, marks forty years since David Bowie’s first ever best of compilation, CHANGESONEBOWIE (with tracks from the period 1969 to 1976), was released.

The album stayed in the Top 10 for eleven weeks, peaking at #2.

To mark this anniversary CHANGESONEBOWIE is being reissued on 180g heavyweight vinyl, cd and digital formats including Mastered for iTunes.

Half of the limited vinyl will be black while the other half will be clear, this will not be mentioned on the sleeve so it will be completely random as to which one you end up with.

This creates what is possibly the first vinyl equivalent of Schrödinger’s cat for collectors who decide to leave their records sealed.

 

CHANGESONEBOWIE vinyl tracklisiting

 

Side 1

Space Oddity

John, I’m Only Dancing

Changes

Ziggy Stardust

Suffragette City

The Jean Genie

 

Side 2

Diamond Dogs

Rebel Rebel

Young Americans

Fame

Golden Years

 

CHANGESONEBOWIE is released via Parlophone on 20th May, 2016.

 

#CHANGESONEBOWIE  #BowieVinyl