Month: November 2001

Now I’m older than movies…

The Nicholas Kendall directed ‘Mr. Rice’s Secret’ is released on DVD via Odyssey Video in Europe, The Middle East and Japan today. Regular visitors to this news page will be quite familiar with this enchanting story in which David plays the 400-year-old Mr Rice, (03/06/01 NEWS: MR RICE: WHY RENT WHEN YOU CAN WIN? and 09/25/01 NEWS: MR RICE’S SECRET OUT ON REGION 1 DVD TODAY) but here’s a brief synopsis for those of you that aren’t already familiar with the film:

It’s What You Do In Life That Counts.

On a dare, twelve-year old, terminally ill Owen Walters (Bill Switzer) sneaks into church and videotapes Mr. Rice’s funeral. Later, Owen and his friends break into Mr. Rice’s house to watch the tape on his video machine. While in the house they discover a sealed envelope addressed to Owen, a letter from Mr. Rice, written in a secret code. Owen soon discovers that Mr. Rice has left him a medieval code ring, a treasure map and a series of clues. Clues that will lead him on a surreal treasure hunt to find a magical “Potion of Life” that may save his life.

This version comes in a different sleeve to the region 1 DVD, and the DVD itself has an EPK that includes interviews with some of the cast and crew, including a couple of minutes with David, and some behind-the-scenes footage.

Words are flowing out like endless rain…

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘LIVE AT MONTREUX 1982 & 1985’ that we mentioned at the start of the month (11/02/01 NEWS: BOWIE FOREWORD FOR STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN CD) is due out tomorrow on Sony. As we said before, the 19-track CD features a 1,200 word foreword by David, from which, another exclusive excerpt:

“December rolled around and after only a couple or so weeks in the studio Nile Rodgers and I had put down the tracks and vocals of my new album, Let’s Dance. All that was left was to overdub the lead guitar. In the third week of December Stevie strolled into the Power Station and proceeded to rip-up everything one thought about dance records.

After his blistering solo on the title song he ambled into the control room and with a cheeky smile on his face, shyly quipped, ‘That one’s for Albert’, knowing full well that I would understand that King’s own playing was the genesis for that solo.

One after another he knocked down solo upon solo, song upon song. In a ridiculously short time he had become midwife to the sound that I had had ringing in my ears all year. A dance form that had its melody rooted in a European sensibility but owed its impact to the blues.”

You can read the other 1,050 words of the foreword if you get your hands on a copy of the CD booklet tomorrow. Read about David’s joy of discovering Stevie’s talent, and the sadness and heartbreak behind the last-minute cancellation of the late guitarist’s place on ‘The Serious Moonlight Tour’.

I was Thursday’s Child…

In case you’ve not already seen it, you can now relive the fun of Thursday evening via the transcript for the moderated chat with David and Iman. The transcript is now up in the BowieChat Archives. We will be posting the public chat early next week.

Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight…

The funky little item above is the latest addition to the BowieNet Store. Originally sold back in 1983 on the ‘Serious Moonlight Tour’, a limited quantity of these official tour pins are now available to you at the bargain price of $14:99. Please note that these are the original pins, and not some cheapo replicas!

Last night they loved you…

Weren’t they good? – Last night’s chat(s) with David and Iman (in celebration of the release of ‘I AM IMAN’) were most entertaining affairs, and much fun was had by all…I finally laughed myself to sleep around 5:00am my time after the final chats this morning, for which a buoyant Sailor was in fine form. Hope your arm is OK Bladz!

In further celebration of ‘I AM IMAN’, we have a whole bunch of pictures from Tuesday night’s launch party, including a couple more of Iman and David, and a trillion celebs! Go here to see the page of thirty or so pictures.

We also have five winners from last night’s trivia chat, who each win one of the ‘I AM IMAN’ limited book and CD bundles, signed by both David and Iman. The winners are:

Piccadilly
Paul
Demerson
dbfan1847
aleczandah

Please send me your names and addresses so we can get your goodies to you. The remainder of the prize winners were picked randomly from e-mail addresses supplied for the chat, and will be announced on here and notified personally shortly. For those of you that weren’t lucky enough to win, there are still a handful of the ‘I AM IMAN’ limited book and CD bundles left to buy if you hurry.

Also, look out for transcripts of both the David and Iman chats very soon.

…she will come to the show tonight…

In just over three hours time you will be able to join David Bowie and Iman for a chat here on BowieNet. If you weren’t present at last night’s practice chat, here are the details you need, to get you to the action tonight:

As you know, the chat begins at 8PM EST. Go to www.davidbowie.com/chat to login. This page will change shortly before the event to allow you to log in. This chat is NOT available via IRC, so you must log in using the link above.

David and Iman will be answering questions on their latest projects, future plans, and anything else that you manage to tempt them with. After the open chat, the couple will slide over to BowieNet ModChat for a more intimate, exclusive chat with just us Bowienetters. You can use this link to log into the ModChat.

‘I AM IMAN’ limited book and CD bundle…available NOW!

Meanwhile, before the chat takes place, Bowienetters have the chance to purchase an exclusive ‘I AM IMAN’ signed book and CD set, limited to only 100 sets! Iman has signed 100 copies of her astonishing book for this offer, and David has signed the same number of the exclusive promotional CDs that we mentioned last week. (11/10/01 NEWS: I AM IMAN…THE CD)

These sets are available to you at the insanely low price of $45…but hurry if you really want one, as the offer will be open to Joe Public when the chat begins. You can do your part to punish these types that have yet to sign to BowieNet by snapping them all up now!

Photograph king, watches you go

Family photographer : Jam : 11/13/01 In an interview with Associated Press, Iman chooses her favourite photographer. “Iman’s picture has been taken thousands of times by the fashion industry’s top photographers. But, she says, the best are those taken by her husband, British rocker David Bowie. “He captures the real me,” Iman is quoted as saying. Among her favorites: a nude photo when she was pregnant with their daughter, Alexandria.

Beautiful : InStyle : Nov 2001 In an article titled: “Kiefer Sutherland – Man of Style”, Kiefer is asked – Anyone you’d want to be like? “I’ve been in love with David Bowie from the time I was 12. I mean, I see a picture of him and it’s like the line in the song “Mr. Jones” by Counting Crows: “I wish I was beautiful”. I wish I could just for one day walk into a restaurant and try and look that good. (jam)

Basquiat : Guardian : 11/13/01 Five years after its release, Basquiat, showing on the UK pay channel “Film Four”, still found its way on to the “Pick of the Day” lists at both The Guardian and The Independent this week. The Independent had this to say : “In this evocative film, Jeffrey Wright gives a strong performance in the title role, while David Bowie is equally impressive as Warhol.”

Charisma : Sunday Times : 11/11/01 Dylan Jones, Editor of GQ magazine, whose admiration of db we have mentioned before, was having dinner with the restaurant reviewer of The Sunday Times, and he and his fellow guests were swapping anecdotes about meeting the famous. Dylan silenced the opposition (Clint Eastwood, Alfred Hitchcock et al) with this : “”Well, I was in a nightclub scene in The Hunger,” said Dylan. “And, between takes, David Bowie asked me for a light.” He delivered the last sentence with all the gravitas of a man announcing he has just found a cure for cancer.”

I Am Iman : Mona Lisa (TV) : 11/11/01 Iman talks about her new book, in this extensive interview with German TV programme, ML. There are many interesting insights into the woman and her life. Among them, her reasons for choosing that arresting cover photograph. “After 25 years in the modelling business, there were an almost endless amount of photographs which show me as the magazine wanted to show me…. In my book I wanted another type of picture: no styled hair, no make-up – almost raw. The photo was taken as one of the last for the book. The picture is mysterious, but at the same time sharp – it shows me very clearly.” (bia) ( translated)

(contributors : bianca, jamantyla, spaceface)

:))

For all of you that are planning to attend tonight’s chat and giveaway with the Ultrastar team, here are the full details:

– The chat will begin at 5PM EST. We will be testing our new chat system that will be used tomorrow night for the open chat.

– We will start in this new chat room. It is NOT avaliable via IRC, so you will have to login using this link.

– 2 incredible prizes direct from the Bowie vaults will be given out. The first is an OUTSIDE baseball cap. The second, is a Leather Tour Jacket from the Glass Spider Tour (ooohhh!). These prizes will be given out randomly

After giving the new chat technology a sound tire-kicking, we will move to the good old BowieNet ModChat for some more chances at prizes. You can use this link to login.

We hope to see you there!

Please trip them gently…

According to a record company spokesman, the Tori Amos version of ‘After All’ which appears on the b-side of her new single, ‘Strange Little Girls’, (10/08/01 NEWS: A TRIO OF BOWIE COVERS OUT NOW) has been re-scheduled for a November 26th release. This news comes despite the fact that an online music store is charging twenty five quid (approx. $38) for the CD, claiming it has been withdrawn!?

If you’re interested in purchasing the track I suggest you hold onto your cash, at least until the 26th, to see if the record company prediction pans out.

Diamond Gods are poachers and they hide behind trees…

Those lovely folx over at Ncompass have generously donated five copies of the recently released ‘Diamond Gods – Interpretations of Bowie’. The 14-track CD contains a mixture of hard-to-find previously released tracks, (Brix Smith, Nico and Blondie) mixed with new songs recorded exclusively for this compilation (The excellent Tim Bowness and Samuel Smiles version of ‘I Can’t Read’, Iva Davies and Icehouse’s ‘Loving The Alien’ and a scarily menacing techno version of ‘The Laughing Gnome’ by Buster Bloodvessel!).

Officially out last Monday, this is one of the better Bowie covers compilations released in recent years…and there have been quite a few. Here’s the track-listing for ‘Diamond Gods’:

01. Iva Davies and Icehouse: ‘Loving The Alien’
02. EN: ‘Life On Mars?’
03. Brix Smith: ‘Space Oddity’
04. Blondie: “Heroes” (Live)
05. Bellatrix: ‘God Knows I’m Good’
06. Tacye: ‘The Man Who Sold The World’
07. Tim Bowness and Samuel Smiles: ‘I Can’t Read’
08. Buster Bloodvessel: ‘The Laughing Gnome’
09. The Aries Parallel: ‘Panic In Detroit’
10. Hazel O’Connor: ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’
11. Dead Eye Dolls: ‘Real Cool World’
12. Nico: “Heroes”
13. The Nine: ‘Loving The Alien’
14. David Fisher: ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’

One of the more interesting recording’s made especially for this CD is by a woman who once cut David Bowie’s hair. Her name is Hazel O’Connor, and the Bowie connection doesn’t end with a haircut. Hazel’s more famous recordings were produced by Tony Visconti, she used the artist Edward Bell to design one of her album sleeves (He designed ‘Scary Monsters’ and its associated single sleeves) and she released a Bowie cover in the Eighties.

The song she performs on ‘Diamond Gods’ is ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide’ accompanied only by harp and voice, and sounding like Marianne Faithfull, with a hint of Lulu, backed by The Swingle Singers! But what I want to know is the title of the aforementioned song she released as a 12″ only bonus track back in the early Eighties? A clue is that I wouldn’t exist without this particular song. There, I’ve gone and made it far too easy.

Answers by this time next week from a BowieNet e-mail account only (as always) to MrTotalBlamBlam@AOL.Com with a subject line of “Hazel’s Bowie cover”. We’ll announce the winner on the Eighth Day…rather contrived pun definitely intended. };-)

While we’re on the subject of odd women singing Bowie songs…