Month: May 2001

Psychodelicate girl come out to play…

After last year’s various releases of Christiane F. on region 2 DVD throughout Europe, it’s now the turn of America and Canada to finally enjoy a region 1 version. Scheduled as an early July release it looks like this is going to be a better version than the DVD currently available in Europe. Those who are interested will understand the following technical doo dah regarding the release:

Widescreen: 1.77:1, Enhanced for 16X9 TVs, Color, Mono, Original Language: German, English Dubbed: Mono, Subtitles: English

Good eh?

Thanx to Special Lightning for the pointer };-)

The fun begins at 5PM EST! Just click here to join in!!

We can be Hero, for ever and ever

Almost a year later our question is answered. Ziggy Hero became a book in his own right, well the title of one at least. BowieNetter Simone wondered on the MBs a couple of days back whether an English version of the above German edition existed. Though her question was answered fully on the MBs, I thought the book was also worth a mention here.

You may remember we first broke news of ‘Slow Down Arthur, Stick To Thirty’ by Harland Miller back in early June last year ( 06/07/00 NEWS: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ZIGGY HERO? ). The recently published German version of the book takes its name from the central character, and hero of the piece, Bowie Impersonator Ziggy erm…Hero.

What next? A Swedish version simply called David Bowie perhaps?

“Son, now here’s some little something”

The release date for ‘Substitute – The Songs Of The Who’ has been put back another week in the UK to June 4th. But to help soften your disappointment a little, we have procured five copies of the scarce 4-track promo (above) that is already being greedily snapped up for silly money. Here is the track-listing for the CD:

01. Stereophonics (featuring Noel Gallagher on backing vocals) – ‘Who Are You’
02. DAVID BOWIE – ‘Pictures Of Lily’
03. Sheryl Crow – ‘Behind Blue Eyes’
04. Paul Weller – ‘Circles’

To be in with a chance of winning this little beauty simply tell us who produced David’s version of ‘Pictures Of Lily’ that appears on the album. Send your answer to MrTotalBlamBlam@AOL.Com by midnight in your timezone, Sunday night. Please remember to post from an @.davidbowie address to get your correct answer considered by TRS.

We can also exclusively reveal the launch of the new ‘Substitute’ website, where you can hear a 30 second teaser of this superb version of ‘Pictures Of Lily’, and enter competitions to win ‘Substitute’ merchandise. But we feel that 30 seconds is perhaps too much of a tease, and so we’ve decided to tantalise you with a whole minute more than that…Didn’t want to give you it all, you can have too much of a good thing…If you win the promo of course, you get to hear the whole thing at your leisure, but in the meantime, go here.

Phat Beeeeetz!

A reminder that Mr. Campbell himself is dropping by tomorrow for tea and crumpets. Oh, and he’ll be chatting, too. The fun begins at 5PM EST on Thursday, May 10th!

Of course you can ask him about what it’s been like to keep the beat behind db, or behind the numerous other artists he’s worked with including the B-52s, David Byrne, Duran Duran and more. But did you know that Sterling is also active in Falun Dafa and in the human right violations against the practice of such in China?

A photography exhibit on the subject is currently being held at the Gallery Stendhal in Soho:

A Photo Exhibition
“The Journey of Falun Dafa
A Return to Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance”

May 3 – May 21, 2001
Gallery Stendhal
386 West Broadway, corner of Spring Street
New York City
Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

See you there!

Phat Beeeeetz!

A reminder that Mr. Campbell himself is dropping by tomorrow for tea and crumpets. Oh, and he’ll be chatting, too. The fun begins at 5PM EST on Thursday, May 10th!

Of course you can ask him about what it’s been like to keep the beat behind db, or behind the numerous other artists he’s worked with including the B-52s, David Byrne, Duran Duran and more. But did you know that Sterling is also active in Falun Dafa and in the human right violations against the practice of such in China?

A photography exhibit on the subject is currently being held at the Gallery Stendhal in Soho:

A Photo Exhibition
“The Journey of Falun Dafa
A Return to Truthfulness Compassion Forbearance”

May 3 – May 21, 2001
Gallery Stendhal
386 West Broadway, corner of Spring Street
New York City
Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 6pm

See you there!

In an ‘Eyewitness’ feature in the June 2001 edition of Q magazine, Richard Barnes, Who biographer, talks about Pete Townshend’s choices for the part of The Acid Queen in the film version of the rock opera ‘Tommy’. “Pete wanted Tiny Tim to do it, and then Little Richard, Mick Jagger, David Bowie….”

Can you imagine?……

(Thanks to the super fertile brain of our lovely European correspondent, Total Blam Blam, for the image)

:))

…as romantic as hell

Most of you will recognise the picture above as a still from the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video, but perhaps there are a few of you who are a bit too young to remember the New Romantic Movement (hi Baby Steve). The chap second in from the left, known to most of us as Steve Strange, was the host of the Blitz club in London from where David Bowie chose his cast of colourful characters to populate aforementioned promo.

The Blitz wasn’t the first of these clubs, it evolved from Bowie nights at a club called Billy’s in Soho, and every one of the beautiful people that risked their lives to wander the streets of London on their way to these nights was a self-confessed Bowie fan. Well, if you weren’t around to witness the bizarre goings-on at the time, you have a chance to glimpse some of the boys and girls that turned the heads of the easily-shocked during the early eighties by tuning into BBC1 here in the UK tonight at 10.35pm (GMT).

Expect contributions to this fifty minute special from Boy George and Culture Club, Duran Duran, ABC, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk and Spandau Ballet. Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet (perhaps even more famous now as Steve Owen in EastEnders) had this to say: “We were all huge Bowie fans and enjoyed dressing up. People forget that a lot of great bands and songs came from that era.” Hear! Hear!

Tune-in, make-up and sing out. };-)

Moulin Rouge opens Cannes film festival on Wednesday, and the UK press coverage has begun in earnest. In yesterday’s UK Sunday Times, Culture section, Baz Luhrmann describes Moulin Rouge as the third and last of his “red-curtain” movies, which all have a central theme intended to “awaken an audience and remind them that at all times they are watching a film”. For Strictly Ballroom, this theme was dance and for Romeo + Juliet, the Shakespearian dialogue. For Moulin Rouge it is song. “Moulin Rouge is a story told through song”, he says.

So, what of the songs themselves? The Sunday Times says: “Instead of commissioning a whole new score, Luhrmann decided to “take all the culture of the past 100 years, tear it up and piece it back together to make our own world”. This lead to some deliciously incongruous melanges for a musical ostensibly set at the end of the 19th Century. Kidman sings Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend; McGregor sings Elton John’s Your Song with Placido Domingo; David Bowie and Massive Attack collaborate on the Nat King Cole number Nature Boy; Jose Feliciano sings Roxanne as a tango; Beck and Timbaland do a cover of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs; and so on.”

David’s two recordings of Nature Boy open and close both the film, and the soundtrack which is on sale in the UK from May 14th and in the USA tomorrow!.

:))

And I ask you, “Hey mister, have you seen Pictures of Lily?”

It’s May Day here in the UK which makes it a public holiday. Record companies and the like don’t normally work on days like these, but from what I can gather, it seems the tribute album ‘Substitute – The Songs Of The Who’ has not hit the shops in the UK today. By all accounts the release date has been put back three weeks to May 28th.

As you know, David Bowie is no stranger to Who cover versions, he recorded both ‘I Can’t Explain’ and ‘Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’ for his own 1973 tribute album, PinUps. But, if you’ve not heard it yet, I can tell you that the Bowie/Plati produced contribution to this album, ‘Pictures Of Lily’, is well worth the wait. Here is the full track-listing.

01. Cast – “The Seeker”
02. Ocean Colour Scene – “Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere”
03. Paul Weller – “Circles”
04. David Bowie – “Pictures Of Lily”
05. Pearl Jam – “The Kids Are Alright”
06. Fastball – “The Real Me”
07. UnAmerican – “Naked Eye”
08. Stereophonics – “Who Are You”
09. Phish – “5:15”
10. Sheryl Crow – “Behind Blue Eyes”
11. The Who featuring Kelly Jones – “Substitute”

I know the sleeve of the promo above would seem to contradict this running order, but as the artists are certainly not listed alphabetically on the promo, I can only suggest they are listed in order of brilliance or something similar? };-)