Month: March 2001

Halloween Jack is a real cool, erm…dog

The folks over at Q have this week published a “Limited Edition Collector’s Special”: The 100 Best Record Covers…Of All Time. Their own description of the 10″ x 10″, 200 page softback follows:

“Take a lavish journey through the art of the record sleeve, accompanied by the expert writers of the world’s greatest music magazine, Q. Never-before-seen images, brand new revelations (plus a smattering of sleeve disasters) make this an indispensable read for all lovers of contemporary art, design and rock ‘n’ roll.”

“Discover! Who the faces on The Smiths’ legendary covers were really supposed to be. Hear! David Bowie’s defence of his mullet on Diamond Dogs. Gasp! At Slade’s bizarre dietary requirements. Learn! how much the nude models on the cover of Electric Ladyland made. Plus The Beatles “butcher sleeve” outrage.”

As you probably guessed from the text above, David Bowie is represented here with the AGI/Guy Peellaert designed classic, ‘Diamond Dogs’. I will be posting an in-depth ‘Diamond Dogs’ special shortly, looking specifically at the cover artwork and associated items. In the meantime, go here for some quotes from the Bowie entry, and for your chance to win the book or order it online.

Total Blam Blam (European Correspondent)

Ain’t there one damn song that can make me break down and cry?

Indian/American cinema takes a plunge into the mainstream this week, as the romantic comedy ‘American Desi’ opens across the U.S. On the soundtrack and, according to Reuters, playing a key part in the film, is the David Bowie track ‘Young Americans’.

The official website for the film, describes it as “a fun-loving romantic comedy reminiscent of the great teen films of the eighties like “16 Candles” and “Pretty in Pink,” mixed with the fresh hip-hop style of “House Party” with a uniquely Indian flavor. From Kris, an All-American boy from India, to Ajay, an Afro-Centric Hindu homeboy, to Farah, a devoutly religious but modern Muslim girl, ‘American Desi’ tells the story of a unique set of characters and their culture from a decidedly hip and youthful point of view. Like the masala films of India, ‘American Desi’ is so full of music and dancing that it might very well do to Bhangra and Garba what “Saturday Night Fever” did to Disco!”

U.K. release is expected in April or May, followed by continental Europe.

:))

Thanks, Spaceface!

The applications are rolling in for “Helping Hands” on BowieNet (03/14/01 NEWS: BOWIENET INTRODUCES COMMUNITY ADVOCATES (AKA THE ‘HELPING HANDS’). Keep ’em coming if you’re interested in applying – we’ll be accepting applications through Friday and will announce the new ‘Community Advocates’ next week!

Telling me she’s dead against it…

The little animation above is of last month’s two clues for the middle Monday competition. The first, that simply read “ITRIP” was translated by most of you, understandably, as “I trip”, throwing you nicely off the scent. An extra clue of “IT R.I.P.” made the whole thing a lot easier, and from then on just about everybody correctly arrived at the criminally underrated, ‘Dead Against It’ from ‘The Buddha Of Suburbia’. Thanks again to Martyn@davidbowie.com for the clue.

Go here for the new clue and the name of its creator, who gets to choose something special from the vault.

Total Blam Blam (European Correspondent)

Thanks to everyone who volunteered in the first round of beta testing for BowieRadio. Most of the feedback we received was along the lines of “Yahoo! Let it rip!” …or something like that. But of course discerning BNutters also provided some detailed feedback which has sent us back to the development tables for a short while. Look for a second round of beta testing later this week (where we will allow up to 100 beta testers), followed by an official launch before the end of the month!

I’ve finished with this journey, I seem to know it well…

Again you are all more than welcome to continue your hunt for the elusive ‘Potion Of Life’ (see image above), but the competition I set on Saturday is now over as we have our second lot of twenty winners. We were aware that you could easily have sent the winning ‘Potion Of Life’ jpg from the last winners announcement, but of course you wouldn’t have known it was the same until you found it, by which point it would have been too late. Anyway you guys ain’t cheats, are you A_Girl? 😉

We will post the whereabouts of the two secret hot-spots for both of the competitions at the end of the week, as I know that there are some of you that are still determined to find them. Thanks yet again to Russell Phillips for supplying us with these wonderful competition prizes. Watch this space for a special deal for BowieNetters who want to buy this video.

Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)

Just as I can be so cruel…

Remember the competition we ran to win copies of ‘Mr Rice’s Secret’ ? (03/06/01 NEWS: MR RICE: WHY RENT WHEN YOU CAN WIN?) Well, Mr Russell Phillips, has donated another twenty copies of this film to BowieNet…How good is he? Again these copies are preview versions in VHS PAL format with a timecode running across the top.

Many of you mentioned that the hot-spot finding system we used last time was a torturously cruel idea, and in fact I know that Mr Kinder for one has not yet fully recovered from the ordeal…according to his lovely wife Dawn, he’s still a quivering jelly sitting in the corner sucking his thumb. No change there then!…For this reason we have decided to do things slightly differently this time. This time we have even more hidden hot-spots! Sorry, just couldn’t resist. Come on, it’s Saturday, what a great way to get out of doing the shopping.

As last time, all you have to do is click on the image of the video cover above to take you to a larger version. You will notice many, many, hot-spots by moving your cursor around the image and clicking on them, but only one of them is a winner. If you find the winning hot-spot you need to mail the winning evidence (being the notification that says ‘Potion Of Life’) to me at: MrTotalBlamBlam@AOL.Com with a subject heading of ‘Son of Mr Rice’s Secret Treasure Hunt’. You must include your real-world name and address and post from an @davidbowie e-mail address to qualify. The competition closes when we have twenty winners. Sorry… };-)

Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)

The Shadow Man catches The Dandys, Glastonbury 2000. Photo by Total Blam Blam

We’ll buy some mugs* and watch a band…

Courtney Taylor -Taylor of The Dandy Warhols has never made a secret of his love of all things Bowie. This mutual respect surfaced at last years’ Glastonbury Festival when David checked out The Dandy Warhols’ set, (recognise that familiar silhouette above?) while later that same day Courtney and Zia watched David’s set from the side of the stage. Standing with Courtney for part of that set, I can confirm that the lead Dandy was utterly transfixed.

This Month’s Mojo has what I presume is a recent quote (in an advert for a Dandy’s show here in London later this month) in which he admits that “Bowie’s a massive influence…He’s just the most.” Go here for more words of praise for our man from Courtney the double Taylor and his top ten of all time. Parents, please note that Courtney often uses fairly expressive language!

*Actually the mug to David’s left in the picture above was not bought by David, and while I am not ruling out the possibility that David may have purchased a mug at some point in his career, I am almost certain that he hasn’t been tempted to obtain one in recent years.

Total Blam Blam – (European Correspondent)

While DB and the band were in Montreal last year for the MusiquePlus specialbackup chanteuses Emm Gryner and Holly Palmer snuck off to do a bit of singingon the new Bran Van 3000 record. Their beautfiul blend of “woo-hoo’s” can be heard alongside a guest vocal performance by the late great Curtis Mayfield on Bran Van’s new single “Astounded”. For a sneak peek, check out www.grandroyal.com/mp3

Also, after doing some singing on Earl Slick’s new record, Emm is back on tour:

March 26 NEW YORK CITY The Living Room 7pm
April 3 ARLINGTON, VA Iota
April 4 CAMBRIDGE, MA Kendall Cafe

For more info on this dynamic duo, try:

www.emmgryner.com

www.hollypalmersinger.com

As we mentioned on Friday last week, the film Intimacy by Patrice Chereau won the Golden Berlin Bear Award at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. The film features two songs by David – The Motel and Candidate. What we did not mention is that another film in the festival – A Ma Soeur – also uses one of David’s songs (“The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell”)! Biensur!