Month: January 2002

Full of blood, loving life and all it’s got to give…

Went to the Lee Wagstaff private view last night that I mentioned in the news yesterday. The show is being held in a huge private house in Belgrave Square in two very large rooms. The place was heaving with the sort of folk that I feel a little intimidated by…you know the type, painfully hip and talking far too convincingly about art all the time…like it makes sense. Bit like Rex Ray. (Hallo love)

Anywaaaay…It was all very tastefully done, with huge life-size C-Prints of Lee in various domestic situations, shopping, vacuuming etc. Only joking, the prints are actually very beautiful things that show Lee in all his natural tattooed glory in various settings; a dark forest, submerged in a bath, standing up to his chest in a lake etc., etc. Very impressive stuff.

Then around eight o’clock, Lee, in a bright orange boiler suit, (looking like an escapee from Camp X-Ray) squeezed through the throng for his ‘performance’ which consists of him stripping down to a loin cloth and standing on a rotating plinth while some stirring music played. It all sounds very silly, but it was actually quite moving and very spiritual, not least of all because Lee looked so serious and mournful and as if he was about to burst into tears. He was probably just nervous.

After about ten minutes of this, the music climaxed and as soon as it ended, Lee was gone again. I got to have a quick chat with him after his performance, and I have to say he has an unnerving presence. Not the biggest bloke on Earth, Lee is slight of build and the type that immediately makes one feel protective toward them, the fact that he has undergone such a painful process for his art seems quite perverse now. A bit like those kid boxers at Town Hall charity event type things.

Whatever, his art is good, and if you get a chance to go check out the exhibition you really should. See yesterday’s news, or click on the images above to take you to the BowieArt feature for further details. While we’re on the subject of Illustrated Men…

Ken The Mo

Englishman going insane…

Not much of a Bowie connection to this one I’m afraid, (not yet at least) but, another artist I got chatting to at the do last night, who goes by the name of Ken The Mo, claims to be a work-in-progress himself. Tattooed upon his chest is the legend: “BORN 1961” with a target tattooed below that, and finally the word “DIED” tattooed beneath that. This of course is the “work-in- progress”. Apparently Katey M as he is known when not working (Ken The Mo, KTM, Katey M…get it?) exhibits himself for eight hours on the first Sunday of every month at various locations around the globe.

Not sure how legal any of this can be, but the ‘exhibition’ consists of a naked Ken The Mo seated in front of a table, upon which a loaded firearm is placed, while Ken The Mo mumbles “Go on, pick it up, do it…” and similar phrases to startled passers-by. You’ve guessed the rest.

Katey claims the artwork will be completed by a Japanese collaborator who has already bought his skin for a considerable amount. The collaborator will fill in the final date when Ken The Mo dies, either by natural causes or when his murder is provoked while exhibiting himself. If Katey doesn’t manage the route of natural causes, this will surely be a case for Nathan Adler!

I sort of befriended Katey after we chatted last night, but I’m not sure how long the friendship will last, as I am afraid it may be a relationship founded purely on my morbid curiosity. But anyway, let’s just hope the chap is around long enough to stay friends with!

Halloween Jack is a real cool cat…

Following the London Evening Standard‘s lead yesterday, much of this morning’s press in the UK (Metro, The Times, The Independent, The Mirror, The Daily Express) has given one or two pages up to the top ten photographs from a new book published by Q. The 212 page tome, ‘The 100 Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs’, is worth the cover price alone for the large format reproduction of Terry O’Neill’s classic shot above of David Bowie and friend in 1974.

The Bowie shot is number two in the top 100, pipped at the post by Pennie Smith’s iconic shot of Paul Simonon of The Clash destroying his bass guitar at The Palladium, New York in 1979. Most of you are familiar with O’Neill’s shot of Bowie, which was the basis for a painting by Guy Peelleart, later turned into a very rare promotional poster by MainMan. The image was originally considered as a cover for ‘Diamond Dogs’ before the version we all know and love was settled on.

Anyway, here is the top ten from ‘The 100 Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs’, which you can view by following the Evening Standard link above:

01. Paul Simonon of The Clash By Pennie Smith. The Palladium, New York, 21st September 1979
02. David Bowie by Terry O’Neill. London, early 1974
03. The Beatles by Jim Marshall Candlestick Park, San Francisco, 29 August 1966
04. Robbie Williams by Rankin. Dazed & Confused Studios, London EC1, 3 May 2000
05. Debbie Harry by Chris Stein. Stein and Harry’s apartment, the Bowery, New York, 1976
06. Kurt Cobain by Ian Tilton. Motor Sports International Garage, Seattle, 22 September 1990
07. Johnny Cash by Jim Marshall. San Quentin Prison, 1969
08. Tina Turner Revue by Barrie Wentzell. Hammersmith Odeon, London, Winter, 1971
09. Tupac Shakur by David LaChapelle. Chateau Marmont hotel, Los Angeles, 18 January 1996
10. Napalm Death by Ken Sharp. The Canterbury Arms, Brixton, December 1988

The book also has a fascinating 800-word foreword written by David Bowie…from which, these opening paragraphs:

“A first encounter with the professional side of rock photography was as customer. Around 1957, it must have been around then as I hadn’t yet taken my 11-plus, I was dipping into the back pages of the New Musical Express when I stumbled across a small, column width, half-inch advert for film stills from ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’. Among the available stars was Little Richard standing and pounding on his white piano, backed up with his impressive sax line-up all of which would initialise and inspire my future trajectory in life. The enticingly named StarPix Company offered two ten by eights for the sum of two and sixpence. I duly sent off my postal order then knuckled down to something like a two month wait.

I was furious at the contents of the bent and smudgy envelope that dropped through the letterbox on a damp school day in May of that year. Not only had the ‘cats’ at StarPix omitted one of my two expected pictures but the solitary, dog-eared inclusion was torn and, adding insult to injury, sized at about six by eight instead of the expected whopper. I was devastated and, happily, it was to be the last time I ever shelled out spondulics for a rock photo. Now of course, it’s hard to come by an original signed rockprint for less than about three hundred pounds. Two and sixpence now doesn’t really sound too bad.”

Good stuff eh? ‘The 100 Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Photographs’, goes on sale in the UK tomorrow at £5.99.

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So bloody red, Tomorrow’s shrouds…

Living artwork, Lee Wagstaff, opens his first solo show in the UK tomorrow at 35 Belgrave Square, London. Wagstaff will be showing a series of large format photographic self-portraits, alongside a version of ‘Shroud’, a life size impression of the artist screen-printed using his own blood. You may remember a piece regarding Lee’s work here on BowieNet over a year ago. (09/11/00 NEWS: BLEED LIKE A CRAZE, DAD)

Aside from being one of the first artists to have space on BowieArt, two of Lee’s artworks are owned by David Bowie, the original version of the aforementioned ‘Shroud’ and a photographic print called ‘Baptism’. This new exhibition includes eleven photographs, eight of which have not been shown in this country before, and it runs from tomorrow until March 6th. The exhibition is open Tuesday – Saturday 11:00am – 6:00pm. See more details at BowieArt by clicking on either of the images here.

Sell Me A Coat…

This weeks BowieNet/eBay auctions were ended prematurely due to an offending e-mail link, or something like that. Bidding had been going very well, and hopefully the high bidders will re-join the auctions now that they are live again. Go check out the BowieNet Auctions Page now.

Dress my friends up just for show…

‘Pop Art – Underground Sounds from the Warhol Era’ is a 15-track CD due next month as part of a tie-in with a three-part Warhol retrospective starting on Channel 4 next week. In fact, the UK is due to go Warhol berzerk in the coming weeks with a major retrospective at TATE modern as well as the TV series and CD.

Released through Channel 4 Music, the CD includes tracks from The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Television, New York Dolls, MC5, The Tubes, Nico, The Ramones, 13th Floor Elevators, Blondie, The Modern Lovers, John Cale & Lou Reed and of course, David Bowie.

Surprisingly, the Bowie track is ‘Andy Warhol’…albeit a slightly clumsy edit, at least it is on the promo. I’ll post the full track list and more details of the TV series as they are confirmed, and as you would imagine, we will be making a fairly big deal of this one for obvious reasons, with a couple of competitions hopefully.

Became the special man…

With the approach to the celebration of the release of ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ on June 6th, I thought it would be cool to remember some of the key moments that led up to the album’s release back in 1972. It was thirty years ago today that the UK was privy to the very first sighting of Bowie’s Ziggy persona and it came in the form of the front page of Melody Maker.

Under the headline of “Oh You Pretty Thing”, the popular music weekly carried an interview with David, conducted by Michael Watts, that is generally considered to be the piece that really started all the glorious fuss. Apart from the shocking new look, (nobody with an ounce of cool had short hair up to that point*) the content of the interview raised the blood pressure of many a parent of teenagers in the UK, particularly with David’s “I’m Gay” announcement.

Though Melody Maker made no fuss about the proclamation at the time, everybody else certainly did…here’s the paragraph that did it:

“David’s present image is to come on like a swishy queen, a gorgeously effeminate boy. He’s as camp as a row of tents, with his limp hand and trolling vocabulary. “I’m gay,” he say’s, “and always have been, even when I was David Jones.” But there’s a sly jollity about how he says it, a secret smile at the corners of his mouth. He knows that in these times it’s permissible to act like a male tart, and that to shock and outrage, which pop has always striven to do throughout it’s history, is a balls-breaking process.”

Hard to imagine the impact those few words had at the time, but along with the wonderful new look, a ‘Single Of The Week’ on Radio 1 with ‘Changes’, and the recent release of the critically-acclaimed ‘Hunky Dory’, it was clear to all that David Bowie was on his way.

Elsewhere in the paper, Lou Reed was interviewed while recording his first solo album, unaware that he himself would be working with the cover star in a matter of months, and an advert for West End screenings of ‘Clockwork Orange’ shared a page with a feature headlined “T. Rextacy!” about the continued success of Marc Bolan’s T Rex.

If you want to read the whole transcript of this Melody Maker interview, pop over to Mike Harvey’s brilliant The ZIGGY STARDUST Companion, keeper of the flame of all things Ziggy.

*Adverts for Hunky Dory had run up until the week before in Melody Maker, adverts that depicted the album cover with that famous shot of David with his hair flowing over his shoulders.

Who could ask for more…

With a little over two hours to go, our first BowieNet/eBay auction has been a big success. It seems the unquestionable authenticity of these items has given them more value than such things would normally have on eBay. Or perhaps it’s because you’re a generous lot out there, and the fact that a portion of all BowieNet auction proceeds are donated to Save the Children is why you placed a bid.

Whatever your reason, don’t forget that all auctions that close with a final value (before shipping) of $64.99 or more will receive a free one-year BowieNet membership, including the exclusive LIVEANDWELL CD. Now that is a cool offer when you consider that copies of the LIVEANDWELL CD alone have sold on eBay for over $70!

We’ll post the final results of our first auction tomorrow. In the meantime, keep an eye on the BowieNet Auctions Page for the three items pictured above that will be posted on eBay later today.

In case you haven’t found it.

There is a new BowieNet Poll! (01/18/02 NEWS: NEW POLL TODAY)

Go ahead, take 15 seconds and vote. It WILL make a difference.

Delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, here is the text of Dr. King’s famous “I have a Dream” speech. (click picture)