Month: March 2002

Oh don’t lean on me man, cause you can’t afford the ticket…

Had a few e-mails concerning the accuracy of my Mick Rock meets Bowie at Birmingham story that I posted last Sunday. (03/17/02 NEWS: WHEN ROCK MET ZIGGY) It would seem that a couple of the other more popular fansites have the actual date listed as April 17th 1972, as opposed to my date of one month earlier. Well frankly, I’m offended! Does anybody really think we’d post such an important date without checking our facts first? };-)

Not sure when this confusion began, but certainly older publications have the date listed as March 17th, which is the date that Mick Rock himself remembers, but most of the websites and recent publications have it as April.

Well, let’s clear it up here and now…the show was definitely March 17th. Apart from the ticket above, (kindly supplied by superfan Martyn Hammond) we have traced a press ad for the same date that also lists Mister Crisp as support. And, we’ve also traced another fan who was actually there. This chap not only kept his ticket, but he says he knows he would remember if the show had been re-scheduled. So unless somebody out there knows differently, I think the spotters among us can sleep soundly once again.

Johnny looks up at the stars…

The ever-so Bowie-friendly Jonathan Ross has made no secret of his appreciation of all things DB. Bowie music regularly features on the playlist of Jonathan’s weekly Radio 2 show here in the UK (Today it was ‘Sorrow’, last week it was ‘Young Americans’, and the week before it was ‘Andy Warhol’) and for the TV campaign advertising Radio 2, Ross could be seen driving a large open-top convertible shouting to the camera: “David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Roxy Music…Bring ’em on!”

Apparently, Jonathan, (recently, and unfairly IMHO, voted Britain’s Worst Dressed Man) also has a running gag along the lines of “Next week we have David Bowie as a guest on the show…”, though he hasn’t yet, and those who haven’t managed to erase the memory will recall the particularly nasty moment when the gangly TV presenter decided to dress as Aladdin Sane, complete with poorly-executed lightning bolt across his face.

Anywaaay…Mr Woss, sorry, Ross, had John Lydon, (aka Johnny Rotten) as his guest this morning. With the conversation focusing on artists that Lydon admires, Ross, with his colours already nailed firmly to the mast, asked: “At sometime, you must have been a Bowie fan, mustn’t you?”, to which the former Sex Pistol replied: “Well, of course. You’ve got to love Bowie, he delivers the goods.” And with compliments from Mr Rotten even thinner on the ground these days than they were in the bad old days, that’s praise indeed.

Staying back in your memory…

BowieNetters Alex Alexander and Pete Foulstone have finished their latest limited edition, DAVID BOWIE 1962-1968, which is a follow up to DAVID BOWIE 1969-1971 that we mentioned back in January.

Following the same format as their previous effort, DAVID BOWIE 1962-1968 is limited to just 100 copies. Culled mainly from press clippings, this 96 page publication collects together rare interviews, reviews, tickets, posters, flyers, programmes, and much more from the period.

Produced in black and white with four pages of colour, and, for a cover price of only fifteen quid, it’s still a great way to get your hands on tons of great articles from a fascinating period in David’s history.

DAVID BOWIE 1962-1968 is available from: Alex Alexander, 143 Ferry Road, Langstone Marina, Portsmouth, Hants PO4 9UD, UK.

Total price in the UK – £15 / In Europe – £15 or $20USD / Outside Europe – £20 or $30. Alex can accept cash in most currencies but can accept cheques and postal orders from the UK only. He now accepts PayPal, and can be contacted at alex@davidbowie.com.

…come to the show tonight, Praying to the light machine.

Gerry Leonard, aka Spooky Ghost, (who you will remember from several mentions in David’s journals) is playing a regular haunt (pun most definitely intended) tonight and next week. Expect to hear tunes from his follow up to ‘Spooky Ghost‘, which I am informed will be entitled ‘The Light Machine’. Gerry is hoping to have advance copies of the album available at both shows which are taking place at The Living Room…here’s all the stuff:

SPOOKY GHOST @ THE LIVING ROOM FRIDAY MARCH 22 @ 8.00 PM – 10 PM
The exquisite Pamela Sue Mann will play an opening set from 8 till 8:30pm and the Ghost will take the stage about 8:45 pm joined by Paul Bryan (Bass) and Doug Yowell (Drums).

SPOOKY GHOST @ THE LIVING ROOM FRIDAY MARCH 29 @ 9.00 PM – 10 PM
Ghostings to occur from 9 till 10 pm

The Living Room
84 Stanton St
(Allen/Stanton)
1 Block below Houston
212 533 7237

So if you’re in the area tonight boys and ghouls, be sure to go along and show your support for what will most likely be a very spirited performance.

The Voyeur now in production, A beauty…

In keeping with the new look of the magazine, The Voyeur website now has a new homepage. “The longest running David Bowie fanclub in the World” has regular updates on its news page, including mention of the 2002 fanclub meeting scheduled for October 6 and pictures from the last one.

There is also an opportunity to order Back Issues of the magazine and Voyeur merchandise. Click on the image above to take you there.

The Thin White Duke is a real cool cat…

The current issue of Rolling Stone magazine has a list of the fifty coolest records ever made, compiled by the magazine’s staff. Topping the list is a particular favourite of David’s, the Velvet Underground’s 1968 classic, ‘White Light/White Heat’, the title track of which will be very familiar to Bowie fans. The U.S. version of the Rolling Stones’ 1966 ‘Aftermath’ album grabs second place, followed by another Bowie favourite, James Brown’s 1968 release ‘Live At The Apollo’.

David Bowie’s own ‘Station To Station’ was voted in at number 21, and who can deny the coolness of a record made by the iceman himself, The Thin White Duke. David still has his original copies of both ‘White Light/White Heat’ and ‘Live At The Apollo’, and I wouldn’t mind betting he has a copy of ‘Station To Station’ somewhere too…how cool is that?

The music is outside. It’s happening, now..

As we reported recently, (03/08/02 SNIPPET: BOWIEPHILES) , David is the subject of one of the episodes of a new TV show, exclusive to Play UK, ‘For Your Ears Only’. Each week, a celebrity guest makes a compilation tape for someone they care about and for this episode, Radio 1 DJ, Emma B compiles a tape for David Bowie.

Emma is interviewed by Scott Mills for the half hour show, and what is evident from the outset is the thought and care which has gone into the selections she makes. She mentions her interview with David at NetAid, and describes how thrilled and awed she felt.

Here are some quotes from the show:-

SM – “We are choosing records today for Mr David Bowie. Why?”

EB – “… He’s so very eclectic. He’s been through so many different periods in his life. He’d have such a great tape… So many different types of music on there.“

SM – “How did you choose the records for David and why are they so recent – current even?”

EB – “He’s made an effort all his life to be a very contemporary person, drawing from influences around (him) all the time. You have to keep up with the times if you are going to be musically relevant. Like he still is today. He’s still musically competitive and musically relevant.“

Emma gave her reasons for the selection of each track, and had this to say about Ash. “That’s what I think David Bowie is all about. This whole idea that pop doesn’t have to be about Britney Spears. Pop is about choruses, and anthems and melody and beats and all about hooks.”

Referring to the Robbie Williams track she said, ” There were times when David Bowie played live when he did have five costume changes, because it was all part of the whole David Bowie experience. It wasn’t just the songs that David Bowie delivered, it was a David Bowie experience.“

She chose the Madonna track because she felt David would enjoy the video, the work of director Chris Cunningham, and the Pulp track because they worked with Scott Walker on this album, and she knew that David admired him.

In the summation, she said, ” David Bowie is a complete hero. He looks fantastic.” Scott Mills asked her to send a personal message to David, and she looked to camera and said, ” I really hope you like it. I’m going to make a copy at home. Maybe you could come round and (we could) play it together? “

To echo a recent comment from our European Correspondent, “A girl can dream, can’t she?”

:))

There’s too much talking for a night drive…

Susans has completed the unenviable task of making sense of the chaos that was the Emm Gryner chat last week. As appealing as unmoderated chats are, they aren’t so easy to follow after the event.

Anyway, Susans has managed to dig out all of the bits relating to direct communications to and from Emm, and you can see the results of what looked like a very fun evening by clicking on the image above. Thanks again Smudger! };-)

…the great mistake I never made…

Nobody seemed to pick up on our deliberate mistake with the “Isolar T-shirt” in the new auction. The shirt is soooo obviously an Iman T-shirt, that I’m amazed you all fell for it. Well OK, the mistake wasn’t that deliberate, if truth be told it was almost accidental…

I think the confusion came about because David first met Iman in the Isolar offices when she was doing some plastering or something like that. Actually I’ve embroidered that a little too…Oh I remember, a disgruntled employee hacked BNet and eBay and put all that wrong info in…dash it, I’ve been completely economical with the truth with that one too! Anyway, it’s all somebody else’s fault and the shirt will be up again on Monday with a slightly more accurate description, I should hope…Phew!

Meanwhile, after just one day, the Paul Smith shirt, signed and worn by David, holds the new high-bid record at an astonishing $700!

Ragged limbed and hungry…

I’m sure many of you will have seen Dukebox’s post on the message boards last month. But here’s a reminder for those of you who didn’t. David Bowie’s performance in ‘Baal’ is to be screened at the National Film Theatre on The South Bank in London (just along from the RFH, venue of the Meltdown Festival) this Thursday and again next Wednesday.

Originally shown on the BBC almost exactly twenty years ago in March 1982, ‘Baal’ is being screened as part of the excellent Alan Clarke season, which (IMHO) includes some of the most powerful work ever shown on British screens. Here’s a bit from the NFT site regarding ‘Baal’ itself:

“Ever since his days directing theatre in the 60s, Clarke had been obsessed by Brecht, and here committed to video a version of the great man’s earliest play, the tale of an unkempt, carousing poet who crashes into Bavarian high society, leaving chaos in his wake. David Bowie is suitably debauched as the eponymous anti-hero, and lends his vocals to several inimitable BB ballads. Working from a scenario devised by the eminent Brecht scholar John Willett, Clarke’s adaptation is bleak and bawdy by turns. With Jonathan Kent, Zoe Wanamaker. 62 mins.”

Although the recordings are different from the film versions, I’m sure you’re all aware of the brilliant ‘Baal’ soundtrack EP that includes some remarkable Bowie vocals, (particularly in ‘Remembering Marie A.’ and ‘The Drowned Girl’), but, if you didn’t get to see the broadcast the first time round, and you don’t have a copy of the scratchy video that circulates among collectors, you really should try and get along if you’re in London on Thursday.

There will be a repeat screening next Wednesday, and you can check ticket availability by calling the NFT box office on +44 20 7928 3232.