Month: July 2003

Dancing with the big Boy…

The very lovely Beth over at Bowieart.com has sent me details of Bowieart’s participation in this years Portobello Film Festival. Entry to all events is free, and here follows an excerpt from the press release, the whole of which can be read over at Bowieart.com news:

Get yourself prepared for the film festival which is unlike any other. It will soon be time again for the Portobello Film Festival which this year hosts a breathtaking programme of over 500 shorts and features, allowing audiences to experience some of the most innovative and culturally diverse filmmaking around.

Documentaries, music, animation, drama and travel are just some of the genres featured and nights include everything from A Tribute To Joe Strummer featuring rare and unseen Clash footage, the best in new Iranian short filmmaking, an Extreme Sports selection to an Italian evening, from club films by Pinkypoos and Kinky Gerlinky to an exciting contemporary South African programme.

And as with previous years the festival climaxes with three days of Megascreen madness in one of Portobello?s superb local parks. This is cinema alfresco at its best, a superbly programmed festival-within-a-festival, featuring everything from family films, to classics, to independent shorts.

Here’s a bit from the blurb over at the Portobello Film Festival:

This year Portobello Film Festival is showing over 600 brand new independent, mostly short films. Entry to all events is free.

Venues include Westbourne Studios where on Fri 1 August the Festival kicks off with An Evening With BowieArt, showcasing the best in contemporary video art sponsored by the great pop star and three very rare films from John Malkovich and Bella Freud. Sat 2 August sees a programme from the Italian Cultural Institute. Other highlights at Westbourne Studios include a Music Video Convention featuring documentaries on Jeff Buckley, Pink Floyd and Columbian Hip Hop on Sat 9 August, Iranian Films on 10th August, Final Cut Pro Demonstration on 12 August and a tenth anniversary for Wall of Sound Records on 14 August.

Bowieart screenings will take place in the cinema from 7pm Friday 1 August – Westbourne Studios, 242 Acklam Road, London, W10

We can do “Heroes”, Just for one day… (not including repeats)

Ed Harcourt has performed a great version of David Bowie’s “Heroes” on the BBC’s new series of the excellent Re:Covered TV show here in the UK. Ed preceded the song with a version of his own Watching The Sun Come Up from his brilliant last album, From Every Sphere, and when asked why he chose “Heroes” he revealed this connection between the two songs:

I just thought it would be quite cheeky because I think the song that I did just now was kind of inspired by that song…so I thought well I might as well be a little bit cheeky.

Though you can hear where Ed is coming from, the connection isn’t immediately obvious, but If you’ve missed all of the broadcasts so far, there’s still a chance to judge for yourself over the next couple of days:

Mon 14 Jul at 19:15 on BBC Three
Tue 15 Jul at 00:35 on BBC One
Tue 15 Jul at 19:15 on BBC Three

Click on the image above for a breakdown of the full line-up of this particular instalment of Re:Covered.

You want more and you want it fast…

Christopher Claire of Scotland on Sunday yesterday reported that David Bowie’s Glasgow show sold out in just 90 minutes. Here’s an excerpt from the online piece which you can reach by clicking on the image above:

Fans of David Bowie have snapped up almost 10,000 tickets for the singer?s only Scottish show, making it a sell-out in just 90 minutes. Hundreds of fans queued for hours to get their hands on the £48 and £36 tickets, which went on sale at Glasgow?s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre on Friday.

Officials from the venue said the show on November 28 was one of their fastest sell-outs. Some die-hard fans even slept overnight outside the venue to ensure they got the chance to see their idol. Tickets went on sale at 9am and were gone by 10.30am leaving thousands of fans disappointed.

With this news, and the news of the incredible speed with which the Dublin shows sold out, It seems that the Celt Bowie following is among the most passionate in the world… but that’s before tickets for Australia go on sale of course!

Leather, leather everywhere…

BowieNetter David Bowie very kindly tipped me off about this one. Out now, Vol. 17 Issue 5 of the American magazine SOMA features the rather tasty shot of David above, plus a six-page feature, entitled Post-Modern Love, which includes four new Frank Ockenfels shots.

You may recognise this faithful old leather jacket from the Glass Spider promotional campaign, and, indeed, from some of last year’s New York shows. BowieNet members can view a larger version of the cover by clicking on it… Boy, is David Bowie gonna look the coolest man on Earth forever or what?!

I always wanted new surround-sound…

EMI are to release three Bowie SACDs on September 29th…and here are the details:

Firstly, there will be hybrid stereo releases of the Scary Monsters and Super Creeps and Let’s Dance albums featuring the 1999 remaster on the PCM stereo layer and a new 2003 remaster on the DSD layer.

Also due at the same time will be a hybrid multi-channel SACD release of The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars featuring the 2002 remaster as PCM and DSD stereo layers, and a layer featuring a 5:1 multi-channel mix of the album created by Ken Scott at Abbey Road in January of this year.

I had the very good fortune to be present at this 5:1 Ziggy surround-sound remix at Abbey Road, and I have to say it sounds incredible. Perhaps the only time I can imagine it being an absolute pleasure to be surrounded by Spiders!

I’ll bring you a full report nearer the release date.

It’s over now…

By the time you read this, the members-only ticket presale for the November 28th show at the SECC in Glasgow, Scotland, is probably over. (Just over an hour to go as I post.)

However, tickets for the general public sale will be available from 9:00am tomorrow morning, (Friday July 11th) when those of you that didn’t get tickets via BowieNet can purchase your tickets online via ticketmaster (click on TM Scotland link) or via secc.co.uk.

Tickets for both the 2nd Dublin show and the Milan show will stay on sale until our allotment has sold out. Click on the image above to keep a track of the current state of play on the A Reality Tour Tickets Page.

Me, I’m fresh on your pages…

BowieNetter Bianca has kindly sent in details of the latest issue of the German language magazine, Schnitt, which has a 23-page Bowie special. The feature, (which is apparently titled: Station to Station – The Performer David Bowie) is broken down into several articles, including the following:

“Suburbian Legend” by Sukhdev Sandhu
“Pfeile in die Augen” by Sascha Seiler
“Ein Gott auf Durchreise” by Georg Seeßlen
“Pastiche und Parodie” by Andreas Höflich
“I Just Cut and Blackout” by Johannes Ullimaier
“The Second Coming” by Vivienne Gaskin

The piece is illustrated throughout with many mono shots of David, and if you understand German, you can read the first three pieces by clicking on the image above. Bianca tells me that this is a serious in-depth look at different aspects of David’s career.

This issue of Schnitt (Nr. 31 Sommer/03) is available now.

Dancing with the big Boy…

The do in Brixton that we told you about last week, (07/03/03 REMINDER: BOY GEORGE AND ZIGGY SCREENING IN LONDON TONIGHT) seems to have impressed Boy George enough to write about it in his weekly column for the Sunday Express, here in the UK. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

I was booked for the opening night of Rock ‘n’ Roll Fag Bar in Brixton. This weekly glam get-together is on Thursdays at Brixton’s Sub Station and is a chance to wallow in nostalgia.

Before getting down to all things glam, goth and indifferent, punters were treated to a showing of Ziggy Stardust: The Movie. This, of course, attracted a throng of Bowie fans who only wanted to hear David’s music but I managed to keep them happy with one or two classics.

Patrick Lilley, the club’s proprietor, also sent me this:

In this weekend’s Sunday Express column Boy George discusses, favourably, how Substation’s Rock N Roll Fag Bar customers refused to go home after his DJ set at Thursday’s opening party – playing to a lock in for over an hour and said he’d be happy to play again.

More news to follow about him and other exciting upcoming guests and events. Next instalment this Thursday 10th July at Substation South with DJ Mikko and friends 10pm – 2am. Happy Hour 10pm – midnight.

Visit www.rocknrollfagbar.co.uk for a few images from last weeks opening party, including some shots of a couple of BowieNetters. BowieNetters can also get a better view of which particular Bowie classic Boy George is holding in the picture above by clicking on it.

Dancing with the big Boy…

For those of you that haven’t yet noticed, the transcript from last month’s Mike Garson chat is now live. If you, like me, couldn’t make it on the day, you can now read Mike’s answers to such probings as:

What has been your most embarrassing moment on stage? What is it about David that amazes you the most? What’s the meaning of life? What has been your favorite sounding Bowie tour? What’s your tip of the day? Do you ever get sick of having to look at Bowie’s butt when you’re on stage?

Click on Ziggy’s hat to take you to the BowieChat archive.

You fall for Reality…

We are immensely proud to be able to give you an exclusive peek at the artwork for David Bowie’s 26th studio album, Reality, and the final tracklisting for the release which is due on September 15th.

The sleeve, (above) features the combined talents of Rex Ray (who you all know and love for his work on many previous Bowie projects) and typographer Jonathan Barnbrook, who also worked on Heathen.

Reality is the fourth Bowie studio album to feature a painted image of David on the cover, (the first three being Diamond Dogs, Scary Monsters and, of course, Outside ) and we hope to bring you some of the ideas behind the construction of this sleeve in the very near future.

Here follows the definite final tracklisting for Reality:

01 New Killer Star
02 Pablo Picasso
03 Never Get Old
04 The Loneliest Guy
05 Looking for Water
06 She’ll Drive the Big Car
07 Days
08 Fall Dog Bombs The Moon
09 Try Some, Buy Some
10 Reality
11 Bring Me The Disco King

Some of you may already be familiar with at least four of the titles on Reality for various reasons.

There are two cover versions on the album, the first being Jonathan Richman‘s Pablo Picasso, (Also covered by John Cale on his Helen Of Troy album) and the second being the George Harrison song Try Some, Buy Some, which was released on George’s 1973 album Living In The Material World. Ronnie Spector also released a version of the song as a single on the Apple label.

The other two songs you may be aware of on Reality are both Bowie originals: Never Get Old and Bring Me The Disco King. The former was used in the recent Vittel advert, and the latter is a song that David has tackled before, but hasn’t been happy with until now.

We are hoping to bring BowieNet members exclusive snippets of some of the tracks on Reality ahead of it’s release in September, so stay tuned to BowieNet.