Month: May 2002

Hey, that’s far out so you heard him too!

Rolling Stone
“A loose theme runs through these songs, covers included: the search for guiding light in godless night. But the real story is Heathen’s perfect casting: Bowie playing Bowie, with class.” – David Fricke

Music Week
“Bowie’s first album for new label Columbia marks a stunning return to form…Most of the tracks sound like a crossbreed of Hunky Dory and Scary Monsters, which will delight his enormous fanbase.”

Vanity Fair
“On ‘Heathen’ David Bowie has made a real David Bowie album – his first collaboration in twenty years with producer Tony Visconti, and by far his best in ages.” – Lisa Robinson

As I say, we’ll be posting more as we get them, but in the meantime, if you spot any you think we may not have seen, please forward them to me at the usual address. };-)

And the stars look very different today…

About a month ago we broke news of the Bowie career retrospective to be hosted by MTR (04/26/02 NEWS: BOWIE CAREER RETROSPECTIVE AT MTR). You will also have received a reminder of the programme of events in the BowieNet ‘Heathen’ update e-mail that was sent out last week. If for some reason you didn’t, click on the image above to take you to the schedule now.

Anyway, at the time of our original posting, I teased you with the picture below, about which I said very little…almost nothing in fact…actually, nothing whatsoever, except a vague promise that all would be revealed soon. Well now that soon is here!

The image is taken from a performance of ‘Space Oddity’ at the Ivor Novello awards ceremony at The Talk Of The Town in London, in November 1969. David was presented the award for the most original song of the year from the Songwriter’s Guild of Great Britain. The performance was broadcast around Europe, and was even shown in the US and Australia.

David comes across as a confident young man, no doubt buoyed by the fact that he was mobbed by fans on the way in. Also, one imagines the success of the record itself and the award would have made him feel pretty good about himself. Not to mention how hot he knew he looked in pink bell bottoms!

Keep an eye out too for David’s barely concealed laughter as he hears the lead solo, presumably provided by a member of the house band. Now you can watch the whole of this wonderful performance by clicking on one of the shortcuts below…prepare yourself if you’ve not seen it before though, it’s priceless stuff.

Space Oddity low quality

Space Oddity medium quality

Space Oddity high quality

You can expect more goodies like this during the BowieNet/MTR presentation of David Bowie: Sound + Vision, A Career Retrospective.

Made for a real world…

In today’s journal, David talks about the thread that runs through ‘Heathen’, and what sort of person the 21st century man is. He toys with the possibility of “a full blown major World Tour”, and he also explains how he expresses himself through his music and how happy he is with his writing right now…and if he’s happy, I hope you’re happy too. };-)

Click on the image above to take you to the tenth instalment of The Heathen Journals.

Is there no reason?

BowieNetter LaLaLinda, very kindly spent most of last night typing up the David Bowie interview with Ingrid Sischy that appears in the current edition of Interview magazine. Obviously due to space limitations, and the fact that it’s really not the done thing, we can’t reproduce the whole thing here…but here’s an excerpt from this compelling interview anyway:

IS: Don’t you think the point of art – paintings, music, writing – is that it captures the shape of a certain time? And whenever one looks at it, hears it or reads it, we, the audience, understand something about that time.

DB: It’s like this – It’s a head-spinning dichotomy – of the lust for life against the finality of everything. It’s those two things raging against each other, you know? And that produces these moments that feel like real truth, because when you say, “Isn’t it great to be alive…and it’s all gonna fuckin’ end!” those two points together are like, Ahhhh. That is the entire story, right there. That’s it. There’s no more to be said. It’s like, how do you come to terms with that situation? Is there any comfort factor to be found in there at all? What is the point of all this?

IS: That’s right.

DB: And that’s kind of what Heathen is. I love this work. I love this life. I’m so greedy not to want to give it up. I just don’t want to give it up. It’s hard to give it up. This album is about that. And it was this place that helped me do it, I’m telling you. I really felt that I knew what I was as a writer.

Wow…How do you follow that? Intense and moving stuff, isn’t it.

If you can’t get a copy of Interview right now, LaLaLinda has posted more pictures from the magazine on the MBs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she posts the whole interview up too, if enough people naughtily goad her in to doing it…not that I condone that sort of thing. };-)

Thanx again Linda…Now, what do I owe you for a copy of the mag?

We’ll spend some time together…

Judging by the MBs and the e-mails I’ve received over the last couple of days (Thanks Squeakie et al.) many of you are already aware of the current issue of Entertainment Weekly (May 31st, 2002). The magazine has loads of great pictures of DB and Moby together, and a very entertaining interview with the pair.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece that concerns the first time Moby ever saw DB live in concert, as mentioned in the news earlier this month (05/01/02 SNIPPET: MOBY: “BOWIE IS UNTOUCHABLE”):

MOBY: You did the coolest thing I’ve ever seen a musician do on stage. It was at Giants Stadium and it was during ”Young Americans.” It got to the part where you said, ”Ain’t there one damn song that can make me…” The audience goes crazy. You sing it again. The audience goes nuts. ”Ain’t there one damn song that can make me…” And you fell down onto the stage.

BOWIE: And I just stayed there, right? I remember.

MOBY: You stayed there for about 10 minutes.

BOWIE: I know. I pushed it.

MOBY: For the first minute, everyone was going nuts, but then you didn’t get up. You didn’t move. People were getting uncomfortable.

EW: What were you doing down there?

BOWIE: Just seeing how far I could take it.

EW: And what was going through your head?

BOWIE: ”Uh, am I going to get bottled for this?”

We’ll hopefully post some exclusive pictures from the Entertainment Weekly shoot over the next week or so, but in the meantime, you can go check out a few more, and part of the interview, by clicking on either of the images above.

Well, David, what shall I do?

David Bowie is scheduled to make an appearance on the Late Show With David Letterman on Monday 10th June. The recording of the programme takes place the day before both the release of ‘Heathen’ in the US, and the June 11th BowieNet members’ show at the Roseland Ballroom.

At the moment it’s looking like David will be chatting and performing, but we’ll give you more definite details as we get them. Our man is no stranger to Mr Letterman, as this will be his third appearance on the show since 1997.

There does seem to be a facility to get tickets for the Letterman Show online, but I have no idea how successful this method is. I’ve given BowieNetters a first go at it anyway, by not posting this story on the free site. I’m sure BowieNet will endeavour to get some tickets for our members, but that’s not a promise of any kind, so no cussing on the MBs please. };-)

Baby doll, Baby doll…

The time has come for BowieNetters to influence the twisty-turny course of fashion once again with a whole bunch of ‘Heathen’ shirts. There are three types of shirt, the large type T-shirt that are favoured by those that favour large T-shirts, the smaller baby-doll type thang worn by smaller people, and a long-sleeved affair generally found in the wardrobes of people with arms.

It’s all very straightforward, simply click on the image above to take you to the BowieNet Heathen T-shirt Poll. There are eleven designs in all and you can inspect all of them a little closer by clicking on each shirt to take you to a bigger version.

Once we’ve decided on the ‘Heathen’ garments we want, I’ll be struggling into one of the baby-doll T-shirts, which I hope to wear with just a horses tail and knee-high DMs for The New Heathens Night at the Meltdown festival. Sorry to have planted that mental image into the minds of those of you about to lunch!

I can see it now…

An incredibly moving journal from David today. Read why he didn’t like writing the song ‘Heathen’, and then come back and look at the lyrics below to capture some of what he has expressed in the journal. As ever, click on the image above to take you there.

Total Blam Blam – (BowieNet News Editor)

——————————————————————————————————————————

Heathen (The Rays)

Steel on the skyline
Sky made of glass
Made for a real world
All things must pass
Oo-o

Waiting for something
Looking for someone
Is there no reason?
Have I stared too long?
Oo-o, Oo-o

You say you’ll leave me

And when the sun is low
And the rays high
I can see it now
I can feel it die
Oo-o, Oo-o

——————————————————————————————————————————

Hey, that’s far out so you heard him too!

A few of you will have now attended a ‘Heathen’ listening party over the last couple of days. If you have, please don’t forget to tell us all about it. You can reach the Submissions Page by clicking on the image above.

Meanwhile, Chicago and Austin will be hosting listening parties this evening, see below for the full timetable. Listings in red have already taken place:

Cleveland – R&R Hall of Fame – 21 May – 7:00pm
Detroit – Magic Bag – 22 May – 6:00pm
Chicago – Gene Siskel Film Center – 22 May & 23 May – 10:00pm
Austin – Mercury Club – 23 May – 8:00pm
San Francisco – SONY Metreon – 24 May – 7:00pm & 8:30pm
Philadelphia – IMAX @ Ben Franklin Institute – 28 May – 8:00pm
Portland, OR – NW Film Center – 29 May – 8:00pm
Denver – Gothic Theater – 29 May – 8:00pm
New York City – The Screening Room – 30 May – 7:30pm & 8:45pm
Seattle – JBL Theatre @ Experience Music Project – 30 May – 7:00pm & 8:30pm
Boston – Berklee Performance Center – 30 May – 7:30pm
Los Angeles – Silent Movie Theatre – 30 May – 7:30pm

New dates for additional ‘Heathen’ listening parties will be released via the ‘Heathen’ website as they are confirmed. Click here for your chance to enter the contest, and to view the most up-to-date listings.

Things really matter to me…

In part eight of The Heathen Journals, David revisits Uncle Floyd and he talks about how ‘Afraid’ was groomed to slot nicely into the ‘Heathen’ album. Click on the image above to take you there.

See yesterday’s news for the lyrics to ‘Afraid’, and if you want to remind yourself of that original version recorded for ‘Toy’, then go visit this news item: 11/01/00 NEWS: ‘AFRAID’ CRUMMIE FROM TOY!