Month: January 2003

One more, weekend, of lights and evening faces…

The 200th edition of Q magazine (March 2003) has celebrated this milestone with an in-the-bag collectors issue that includes a photo supplement of “unseen and uncensored” pictures. Unfortunately the supplement has no shots of David, despite the misleading use of a pic taken by our very own Mask (you never call or e-mail me anymore) printed on the gold foil bag that the whole shebang is contained within.

Making up for this in some small measure, the magazine has conducted interviews with a whole swarm of celebrities, who have each given their impressions of how life has been for them since the birth of Q. David is the focus of one such two-page spread, that includes a full-page dressing room shot of him (a detail of which you can see above) that’s bound to turn many of the MB visitors to a quivering jelly. The shot is accompanied by a short exclusive interview conducted with David last year

I don’t want to give too much of the interview away, otherwise you won’t go and buy it and Q will tell me off. However, here’s one small intriguing snippet:

You played the whole of Low and Heathen this year. Any other albums you’d fancy doing in their entirety?

Those shows went down so well it did start me thinking about other album pairings that might work well. I thought that The Man Who Sold The World and Earthling could work together. And perhaps Young Americans and Black Tie White Noise – They’ve both got that R&B thing. That might be interesting.

The interviewer goes onto ask “What about Station To Station?”, to which David gives a very teasing answer, which, sadly, I’m fairly certain will never come to fruition. Elswhere, star of The Office, Ricky Gervais, names Bowie as the greatest living Englishman, and David returns the compliment by namechecking The Office as “…one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages.”

The 200th edition of Q magazine is on the shelves now.

One more, weekend, of lights and evening faces…

David has sent in another journal entry for BowieNet members. As I’m sure you all know, we are about to enter the Chinese New Year, The Lunar New Year – 4701: The Year of the Ram, also referred to as the year of the black sheep, the goat and even the water goat I believe?

Read what that old dog DB has to say about the celebrations in New York, beachcombing, and dragons and lions. You can reach the journal by clicking on the carnival scene above, which is courtesy of the Chinese Community Center Inc.

It *is* life (on Mars) at the top…

Back in December, Blammo brought us news of the Jasper Steverlinck cover of Life On Mars? (12/30/02 NEWS: JASPER STEVERLINCK’S ‘LIFE ON MARS?’ RUSH RELEASED). This week brought the great news that the song is now number one in the charts in his home country, Belgium. Congratulations to Jasper! The live version of the song is still available to listen online, here and the studio version to purchase, here.

(Thanks to BowieNetter Nessler who sent us the update)

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We are hungry men…

Queen drummer and self-professed BowiePhile, Roger Taylor, gave a recent interview for Queen online.com, and one of the questions he answered was about the making of Under Pressure. It seems that that glorious bass line was almost lost because of a pizza! You can view the video online, here, so do check it out (part one of the interview at about 8 mins 35 secs).

And linking rather sweetly, this week’s edition of NME‘s ‘Burn It’ – this time compiled by ‘electro-rockers’, The Faint – includes yet another db song, none other than Under Pressure! They say:-

An epic song. It just builds and builds. I love their voices together, each is filled with so much character you could never mistake them.

(Thanks to BowieNetter Frida for the Roger Taylor link and transcript)

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Tried all kinds of working out…

Airing on BBC Radio 2 at 10.00PM (UK), this Saturday 1st February is The Brian Eno Story, which features some words from db. The blurb says:-

Featuring in-depth interviews with, among others, David Bowie, Bryan Ferry, Bono, Tim Booth, David Byrne, Alex Patterson (of ambient pioneers The Orb) and Michael Nyman, Stuart (Maconie) examines every aspect of Eno, from his work as a glam-rock pioneer to his time as a hit producer with the likes of Talking Heads and U2.

You can listen to BBC Radio 2 online, here.

(Thanks to BowieNetter Dez for the pointer)

:))

In which my thoughts would drown…

BowieNetter Byron, (TAFKA Vinyl) known to those that know him as William, has just launched his own website, primarily to promote his excellent band, The Drown, but also as a forum to present stuff that interests him. The site is in an embryonic form right now, but already it proudly boasts an interview with Bowie band member Mark Plati. Here’s just one of the questions with Mark’s reply:

‘These days, you’re Bowie’s musical director. Were you nervous to get that gig?’

MP: “Slightly, given the fact that I hadn’t played live for a long time by that point. I was a real studio rat by 1999, and hadn’t thought I’d perform again. Then the ‘VH-1 Storytellers’ gig came up, and I thought it’d be cool to play that one gig with Bowie, as I knew they’d need an extra acoustic guitar player for it. The rest is history, I guess!”

You can read the full interview by clicking on the image above, then when you get to the site, scroll down on the right and click on “drown”, then click on interviews. Good luck with both the site and The Drown, William.

It’s a Drive-in Saturday…

George Underwood has told us that he intends to join in the fun this coming Saturday evening at the The Rat & Parrot (soon to revert back to The Three Tuns) in Beckenham. We told you all about this event a couple of months back (11/26/02 NEWS: BOWIENETTERS ORGANISE LONDON GUIDED TOUR AND PARTY), but if you click on the image above you can find all you need to know at the very informative BowieNetters London Tour 2003 site that the tour organisers, (BowieNetters LadyArt and Linda) have made.

As well as actually being there on the night, George has very kindly donated a set of his collectable Ziggy enamel badges for a live auction, and he’ll also have some sets with him for anybody who wants to buy one… if you’re lucky, you may be able to make your set even more valuable by getting George to sign it.

Photographer Steven Roberts will also be auctioning off his last two signed prints of David Bowie and Tony Visconti performing at The Beckenham Arts Lab at The Three Tuns in 1969. This limited edition set of five 9″ x 6″ prints signed by both David and Tony are extremely collectable as we know from the three which were auctioned off here on BowieNet via ebaY last year.

Apart from the auction there will also be a raffle with a few donations from the BowieNet vaults thrown in. All proceeds from both the auction and the raffle will be going to the charity CLIMB.

As I’m sure you already know, these aren’t the only things to look forward to on the night. BowieNetter Tony Day will again be supplying a tasteful and exciting mix of Bowie tunes for your listening and dancing pleasure, and live Bowie music will be performed by Bowie tribute acts ChangesBowie (formerly Little Wonder), Paul Henderson and Rob Storm.

Of course, for the serious fans among us the day begins much, much earlier… 10:45am at the Hammersmith Apollo to be precise. Here’s a bit about the BowieNetters London Tour 2003 from the girls:

The day will start off with a guided tour round Hammersmith Apollo. Please be there for 10.45am as we are due to start the tour of Hammersmith at 11.00am.

Thereafter we shall board a coach to take in some of the many relevant Bowie sites around London and the outskirts. We do have an itinerary planned which we may have to be flexible with, due to unknown traffic conditions and London weather.

See ya there then kidz… don’t forget those motion sickness tablets for the coach journey Sus. };-)

I am once again duty bound to point out that the “BowieNetters London Tour 2003” is not an official BowieNet event. BowieNet and UltraStar have no involvement with the organisation of this event, so please do not aim any of your enquiries at us. The organisers can be contacted through the aforementioned “BowieNetters London Tour 2003” mini site. I will be present in an unofficial capacity, and after a few drinks I may be inclined to politely refuse any questions about BowieNet…In fact, after a few more drinks I may not respond to very much at all!

Friday on my mind…

BowieNetter Breaking Glass (AKA Helen2) has kindly sent in a brief review and some pictures from GAD’s shows at the weekend… and so, here it is:

I have discovered a wonderful way of spending two very cold weekend nights in NYC, go see the Chanteuse Club perform! Three girls, Maggie Moore, Kate Pierson and Gail Ann Dorsey, with amazing but very different voices, singing classics and self-penned songs. Gail Ann stole the show on Saturday night, treating us to her own compositions ‘HoneyPie Loves You’, ‘This Time’ and ‘It’s My Love’ as well as perfect renditions of ‘Alfie’ (by popular demand) and ‘Way Over Yonder’.

After all the performers had had their time in the solo spotlight they came on stage together to sing great classics, including the Cilla Black song ‘Step inside Love’, ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ and ‘ Up, Up And Away’.

By the way, if you are ever looking for the perfect gift for Gail Ann, according to Kate Pierson, she has an ambition to own a laundrette!!! So put all your spare change in an envelope and we will see what we can do for her. If you are in NYC on March 22nd Gail is performing again at the Symphony Space in a tribute show to Joni Mitchell. She is a treat to see perform solo. – Helen2

Sounds like it was a gas Helen. Anybody get it down on tape? I’d love to hear that set… Inspired choice of covers too. Thanx so much for sharing with us H. Gail, if you’re reading this, get your arse Europe-bound soon please! };-)

You’ll freeze and catch a cold…

David has written a new journal entry describing how the cold New York weather is affecting his songwriting. Click on the image above, (nicked from the original Images album cover) to take you there.

Just a perfect day…

Lou Reed is the latest addition to the bill for the fifteenth annual Tibet House Benefit Concert on February 28th. He joins a line-up that includes David Bowie, Ray Davies, Laurie Anderson, Rufus Wainwright, Tsering Wangmo, Angelique Kidjo, Ziggy Marley, monks from the Drepung Gomang Buddhist Monastic University in India and Phillip Glass, who serves as Tibet House artistic director.

BowieNet members should now have received an e-mail regarding tickets for the show, and apparently, “BowieNet has better seats left than Carnegie Hall”. So if you still need a seat at what promises to be a very special Tibet House Benefit Concert indeed, then go here.

The last set of VIP tickets for the Tibet show are now up on ebaY. As predicted, the fourth pair went for the highest amount so far, an incredible $1,525.00! If there’s any pattern to the bidding at all, then it looks like this last pair will fetch around $1,700.00. But as we all know, the world of ebaY auctions is a strange and unpredictable thing. All I can tell you is that the bidding for this last pair currently stands at $720.00.

All proceeds from these auctions will benefit the Tibet House. You can reach the current auction by clicking on the image above, and remember the package includes:

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

Now there is the added incentive of Lou Reed performing too… And while it is pure conjecture on my part, I’m sure you understand as well as I the potential of David Bowie and Lou Reed on the same bill. But, having said that, and before I get accused of rumour mongering, I have had no insider information, and to be honest, I would imagine both David and Lou would be keen to perform their own solo sets.

While we’re talking about the man with the rock ‘n’ roll heart, those AOL members that don’t already have a promo of The Raven can listen to the whole of the album ahead of its release* online. Here follows all of the Lou Reed goodies AOL have for their members:

On Monday, January 20, 2003 America Online unveiled the world-wide exclusive of Lou Reed’s new song, Who Am I? (Tripitena’s Song) through AOL Keyword: First Listen.

Now, Lou’s entire album, The Raven, can be heard through AOL’s Listening Party (AOL KW: Listening Party). To add further excitement in the build up to the release of the album, AOL have also produced a private in-studio Lou Reed performance, which will be available exclusively on February 4th at AOL Keyword: Sessions. Lou performs three songs from The Raven along with classics such as Perfect Day and Sweet Jane.

Lastly, AOL Music has launched the Lou Reed Celebrity DJ Radio Station, which represents Reed’s personally chosen list of 100 favourite songs from artists such as Al Green, Dion, Martha and the Vandellas, Laurie Anderson, Jimi Hendrix and more. For information, AOL members should go to AOL Keyword: Lou Reed.

I can tell you that if you just want to hear Lou Reed and David Bowie’s performance of Hop Frog via the AOL Listening Party, then you need to go straight to disc 2 and start listening at 52:57. Be warned though, it’s one of the strangest couple of recoreded minutes David has ever been involved with. While you’re there though, be sure to check out Lou’s own Who Am I? (Tripitena’s Song), it is quite beautiful.

* There seems to be some confusion over the release date of The Raven, and being the weekend, I can’t get any clarification right now. The official Lou Reed site still reckons it’s this coming week, but some of the bigger online stores seem to have the date put back to February 3rd in the UK, and I’ve even seen it advertised for as late as February 10th. I’ll hopefully have something more concrete tomorrow.