Month: December 2002

And I’m gone, through a crack in the past…

Sad to report the death of celebrity photographer Herb Ritts last Thursday. Herb, who was just fifty, died of complications from pneumonia. He will be remembered by Bowie fans as the photographer responsible for many stunning pictures of David in the mid to late eighties and early nineties, including a Rolling Stone cover, and contributions to both the 1987 and 1990 tour programmes… and of course the shot above, which was published in his beautiful book, Notorious.

This is what Herb had to say about the session from which this shot was taken:

David Bowie, HOLLYWOOD, 1989

David Bowie’s done it all in terms of visuals. He pulled this outfit out of his suitcase, which I think was from 1970. I want to say Yohji Yamamoto* designed it, but I’m not sure. I just loved this thing. Shooting him in it wasn’t like putting something on somebody who had worn the thing twenty years ago. It was almost like a space oddity, very strange and futuristic.

The outfit was actually designed by Kansai Yamamoto and worn by David for the ’73 Aladdin Sane tour.

ooh, I remember them all

The Early Show’s New Year’s Eve edition aired another two of the songs (‘Slip Away’ and ‘Afraid’) David recorded for the show back in October (10/24/02 NEWS: EARLY SHOW WINNERS!!), as well as repeating ‘Rebel Rebel’. If you click over to their webpage right now, you can view all three songs, and also ‘Cactus’.

:))

I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you…

The mildly loopy Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster is the subject of this week’s ‘Burn It’ feature in NME. (Issue dated 4th January 2003) Regular visitors to this news page know that David Bowie has been in the top ten lists of many artists for this feature.

This week our man rubs shoulders with such luminaries as Lapsus Linguae, Torqamada, and Ikara Colt. EMBLD bassist, Sym Gharial, explains why ‘Moonage Daydream’ means so much to him: “When I was in the biggest psychosis of my life, it was the light at the end of my long, dark, twisted tunnel.”

EMBLD release their second single, ‘Psychosis Safari’, on January 6th. The track, taken from their debut album ‘Horse Of The Dog’, will be available as a 7″ picture disc and two CDs, one of which includes an appropriately scary 3D poster.

Any day now…

The latest edition of The Voyeur fan magazine should be dropping through letterboxes all over the world any day now. It’s packed with all the usual pictures, features and reviews, outlined here by the magazine’s very own Peter Smit…

The December 2002 issue of “The Voyeur” is out now!

The December issue of “The Voyeur” contains reviews from David’s concerts in Bonn, the London Meltdown Festival, a “Best Of Bowie” DVD competition and much, much more.

To celebrate Christmas this edition of “The Voyeur” contains a full colour centerfold with exclusive David Bowie ‘On Stage’ photographs by Antoine Loogman.

In this issue:

Watch out for “The Voyeur”
Welcome to “The Voyeur”
Tress Bonn Bowie (review by Angela Palermo)
5 Past Midnight (review by Allert van Harten)
Standing Ovation From Crowd And Fans (review by Leon Haan)
Exclusive Full Colour Centerfold “On Stage” Photographs (by
Antoine Loogman)
European tour schedule
Searching For Jackalopes (The Mystery Resolved)
A Show You Can Only Dream About (review by Leon Haan)
“The Voyeur” Fanclub Meeting (review)
Ten Ago (by Antoine Loogman)
CD review (including promos, official and unofficial releases)
Best Of Bowie DVD Competition

Above are a few sample pages from the current edition, and if you don’t already subscribe, then you can join up by going to the membership section of the Voyeur website by clicking on either of the above images.

He’s in the best selling show…

BowieNetter Nessler has kindly sent me details of a new release by Belgian singer Jasper Steverlinck from the band Arid. Due to popular demand, Jasper has just released his version of ‘Life On Mars?’ which has enjoyed much success on Studio Brussel’s chart, ‘De Afrekening’.

For this studio version of ‘Life On Mars?’, Jasper is joined by Steven and Stijn Kolacny who both play piano on the track, which is available online here. Meanwhile, you can hear a live version of ‘Life On Mars?’ by clicking on the image above, and you can find out more about Jasper Steverlinck and Arid here.

Good luck with the single Jasper.

Ah, here she comes, Here she comes, Here she comes again…

As we mentioned in the news last week, (12/21/02 NEWS: BOY GEORGE DOES BOWIE AGAIN! ) Boy George performed ‘Sorrow’ as David Bowie in tonight’s Stars In Their Eyes Celebrity Christmas Special. George was his usual entertaining self, and went for the look and sound of the Aladdin Sane era Bowie with utter conviction. That conviction paid off with another well-deserved win.

George explained that he does communicate with David via e-mail occasionally, and he mentioned how the two had dinner together in New York last year. (08/24/01 NEWS: BOY GEORGE ON DINNER WITH DAVID) He also made no bones about the fact that everything that had happened in his life was pretty much David Bowie’s fault!

After an emotional George was announced as the winner, he returned for an even more impassioned performance of ‘Sorrow’, while a host of other celebrities looked on jealously. As I suggested in my news piece last week, let’s hope that this win will give George the confidence to make this an annual event.

Here’s to a hat-trick at the hands of Halloween Jack.

To the seat with the clearest view…

The first of five auctions for five separate pairs of VIP tickets to the Tibet House Benefit Concert in New York City is now live on ebaY. The concert is scheduled to take place in the Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall on Friday, February 28, 2003 at 7:30 PM. Right now, the line-up includes Philip Glass as Artistic Director and guest artists Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Ray Davies and Rufus Wainwright.

This auction package includes:

Two adjacent tickets within rows A-101 thru A-110
Access to an exclusive buffet dinner the night of the show for both ticket holders

One pair of tickets will be auctioned per week, for five consecutive weeks. All proceeds from these auctions will benefit the Tibet House. You can reach the auction by clicking on the image above.

For those that won’t be joining in the bidding, tickets go on sale from the Carnegie Hall box office tomorrow (28th December) at 11:00am. You can buy online by going here, or by phone on 212 247 7800, don’t forget those dialling codes if you need them from your part of the world.

With 2002 being the 30th anniversary of Ziggy Stardust, I thought it appropriate to reproduce the advert above that was published as a two-page spread in the UK music press thirty years ago this week. The ad was placed to plug the show at the Rainbow on Christmas eve 1972, to which punters were encouraged to bring along a toy to be given to a children’s home.

You’ll notice that ‘The Jean Genie’ was David’s current hit at the time, and on a personal note, it was the very first record I danced to at my very first disco that same week. The disco was given even more of a Christmas feel with the use of those wonderful UV lights that made it look like everyone (except me) had piles of snow (dandruff) on their shoulders.

I had turned eleven two months earlier, and my life was changing faster than I thought possible, with no clue as to where I would be thirty years later… Anyway, I’m rambling now. To bring things up to the present day, David has posted a holiday message on the MBs that goes something like this:

Happy Holidays!! – However brief they may be for some, a happy and peaceful holiday to everyone and let’s look for a wonderful and exciting (in a nice way) new year!!! – Sailor

Thanx for all of the e-mails I’ve been sent wishing me compliments of the season, here’s wishing you all the sort of time you want for yourself, from myself and all the staff here at BowieNet… I’m off to carve! };-)

Waiting for the gift of Sound + Vision

If you’re looking for it, you’ll be happy. If it makes no sense, then visit this news story: 12/27/03 NEWS: THE GREAT BOWIENET HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY – PART 2

Oh my, naked eyes….

The BowieNet NSFC (Nekkid Sailor Fan Club) are proud to announce the recruitment of their 100th member! The brainchild of BowieNetter ‘Kisch’, the club has gone from strength to strength over the two years since their inception in January 2001. To celebrate, BowieNetter ‘little_wonder’ has designed some new web pages which house links to most of the photographs chosen by members as their favourite shots of db without at least some of his clothes.

Give yourself a holiday treat and scroll through the pages. Some of you had better have a glass of water and some smelling salts (and I suppose there are various other possible props you might require) handy. 😉

Congrats again to NSFC and very best wishes for lots more future recruits!

:))