Month: September 2003

Thank you all for being brief and to the point in your emails to Domingo. As they come in, they are being sorted into 3 categories. Missing tickets, wrong tickets and bad tickets.Missing tickets and wrong tickets will be dealt with immediately. Bad tickets, as you know, will be dealt with in about a week once the final sightlines are determined.All of you who sent an email will be notified by return email in the next 2 days. It will pretty much look like a formal confirmation (so don’t be offended) with a number you should use in future emails. Sorry, but we just can’t sort by names or email addresses.Two more people have been assigned to the project; Richard and Rachael. If you get a confirmation, please don’t send the same inquiry again. We have a lot to fix and anything that slows the process down will, well, slow down the process.I would say, please hand in there, you won’t be disappointed, but I think you’ve heard that before. Seriously, we are making progress and I believe we can resolve all of the problems. I’m only sorry that there are problems to resolve.Thanks again for all the good wishes and most of all, thanks for all of your patience.

You’d let me know when the time was now… Part 3

The pre-sale for the North American leg of David Bowie’s 2003/2004 Reality tour will continue in around five and a half hours with two more dates being made available to BowieNetters at 6:00pm EST this evening… and here are those dates:

27 Jan – San Jose – HP Pavilion at San Jose
05 Feb – Phoenix – Dodge Theatre

Our pre-sale for these shows ends at noon on Friday October 3rd, ahead of the general onsale. You can purchase tickets for both these Bowie shows by going going here at aforementioned time.

It’s Warhol actually…

The very lovely Rachel Stevens (OK she was in a silly pop group… but give the girl a break, she was voted Britain’s sexiest woman in an annual poll for FHM magazine… again!) releases her debut solo album, Funky Dory, today.

Apart from the obvious nod to Bowie with the album title, the title track itself utilises the main guitar phrase from the verse of Andy Warhol, from Bowie’s own Hunky Dory of course. The clever tie-in continues into the chorus with a nod to the original Bowie lyric, (“Andy Warhol looks a scream, Hang him on my wall“) and indeed to Warhol, or at least Pop Art:

You’re a work of pop art
Wanna hang you on the wall
You’re funky dory baby
Baby, that’s all

Funky Dory will be Rachel’s next single, and you can listen to the whole album by going here. You will have to listen through the first track (her current hit single) before you get to Funky Dory, but if your curious enough, it’s worth the wait.

Though I may be pushing the Bowie link a bit with this next observation, I do feel obliged to point out that the video for Rachel’s aforementioned debut smash-hit single, Sweet Dreams My LA ex, features her being circled by various dancers who are constricting her with long red silk ribbons, while she attempts to deliver the song. Sound familiar? Imagine ropes instead of ribbons and dig out that Cracked Actor documentary.

I heard the news today, oh boy…

Among the other new releases today, (see above and below) you may have overlooked the SACD releases of three classic Bowie albums that we first told you about back in July (07/11/03 NEWS: ZIGGY, SCARY AND DANCE SACDs DUE IN SEPTEMBER) …and now here we are in September!

You can read all the technical stuff about the releases if you go back and check out that story from July. But I can tell you these three sound superb. You haven’t heard Ziggy Stardust until you’ve heard it in 5:1 surround… well, you have actually, but you know what I mean.

It’s hard to beat the sound of Mick Ronson slicing through the air from one speaker to another, while Ziggy sings a few feet in front of you and a couple of Spiders thump away behind you… truly magical stuff.

We will be running yet another contest to win copies of the Ziggy Stardust SACD next week sometime. You will let me know if you’re getting fed up with all of these competitions, won’t you?

Just a small thin chance…

Almost a month ago we ran a competition to win the New Killer Star one-track promo CD single, (09/02/03 NEWS: CD FORMATS, KINKS COVER, HMV DOWNLOAD AND NKS COMP) and, indeed, it was over a month ago that we exclusively announced the tracklisting for today’s release in the UK of David Bowie’s NKS DVD single. (08/23/03 NEWS: DB COVERS SSS ON NKS DVD)

This very first DVD only single release is a great little package, which includes the beautifully strange NKS video, an enchanting little film that has the feel of a lenticular or 3D postcard… you know the ones that you have to move from side to side to see the image change.

Anyway, the release is on the shelves of your local CD/DVD emporium, but if it’s not, you may want to try and win a copy here on BowieNet right now. We have copies of the UK DVD single to give away to ten randomly selected BowieNetters who manage to solve the following dilemma.

The only audio track on the NKS DVD, is an absurd cover of Sigue Sigue Sputnik‘s 1986 #3 hit, Love Missile F1-11. Tony James was the leader of SSS, but when and where did he first catch Ziggy live in action? The answer is somewhere here on BowieNet… possibly nearer than you think.

Send your answer to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of: Tony James first saw Ziggy live at… Usual rules apply, BowieNet user name must be supplied, etc.

This contest will end at midnight GMT on Monday, and I’ll announce the ten winners on Wednesday.

My patience never tried, I got seven changes to spot this time, Or seven ways to die…

Pretty straightforward this one… and very popular too. It seems you really do like this kind of contest.

I asked you to point out the seven differences between the two versions of ‘hours…’ that I posted. But, don’t worry if you only provided six, as I did change it from six to seven differences, which the great majority of you didn’t notice anyway.

I think the easiest way to illustrate the seven differences is pictorially, which the image below does nicely… for which, many thanx to Ken Sweden.

That’s my altered version on the left and the original on the right. Here are the five people who have won a set of all three CDs:

ShawnLierow
stoneghosts
LEXUS
quadrophonic
moonlight

If you all get your real name and address to me pronto, we’ll have your prizes to you before the tour madness commences. Send an e-mail to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of: Spot the difference winner. Well done folx.

Message for all U.K. ticket holders from Bill Z.I wanted to update everyone on how we are progressing on improving the seats which were sold for shows in Birmingham, Manchester and London.As these shows are sold out, we have only a few options to correct the ticketing mistakes that were made. The first is to trade out every ticket that was held for production once we determine that these will not be obstructed. The second is to find places on the floor to legally add seats. I say legally because we have capacity issues as well as fire and safety codes to deal with.As I?ve told many of you, the final determination of which seats will not have obstructed views will not take place for about one week. I will personally go to production rehearsals and determine the site lines along with our production manager.We will then begin the process of trading tickets. The tour is hiring 1 full time individual to deal with the logistics as well as direct communications with each of you that need to be upgraded. His name is Domingo. Be kind. He?s here to help.Here is what we would like you to do if you either did not get the tickets you ordered (wrong price and/or location) or you received unacceptable locations:Please email you Name, address, day time phone (or home if you prefer) Date of show and the exact location of the tickets you ordered.Please add a brief statement of the problem. I am asking for this because not all of you have the same problem. Some have bad seats. Some have wrong seats. Some have even not received their tickets (in which case we don?t expect you to leave the location.)For the sake of speed, please save comments not relevant to the ticket exchange for me or the bulletin boards. This person is not with UltraStar or BowieNet. Please copy me on all emails. That way I can monitor what is happening. Please email Domingo at: bowienet@ticketzone.co.ukCopy me at: billz@davidbowie.comThe following FAQ?s come from the e-mail?s I have gotten over the last week. They may help avoid duplication and a further slowdown in responding to you:How many people will get trades?We don?t know yet. We will determine the exact number in no more than a week. How will you decide who to offer trades to?Once we know the number we have to trade, we will break these down between PL1 trades and PL2 trades. We will then trade them ?back to front? until we are out of ticketsWhy are you asking for all of this information on us? Don?t you know who bought tickets?Yes. But there are not only members who have already sold their tickets (which is fine if they wish to go through this process for the people they sold them to) as well as scalpers (yes, there are scalpers among you.) If you don?t ask for a trade, you will not get one.How many tickets per member will be traded per show?If you purchased 1, then 1 is all you will get. If you purchased 2 or more, then 2 will be your maximum. So please tell us how many you would like to trade, knowing two will be the most you can trade. That is 2 per show.Will I be told the location of the tickets I?m trading for in case I don?t want to trade?YesWho will determine what a bad seat is? What if someone in a good seat asks for a trade and is only looking for a better seat?I will. They won?t get themWhat if I?m waiting for the right tickets to be returned to me and I don?t know if they are bad?Please email to be safe. Give us your info and just state the problem.When will you deal with the Boston tickets? You?re reading the wrong news item. Please read the next one.What about Block 35 at Wembley?We will tell you if these are good, bad or somewhere in between. If you have Block 35 feel free to send your details via email. If you ordered Floor and got Block 35, we will replace them only if we have floor seats to give you.Can I speak to a human being?Yes, but not until we know exactly how many ticket we have. Right now we need your information. You will have a name and number that you can call as soon as we have real answers for you. Right now it would only take up valuable time we need to resolve these problems.What if tickets I?ve paid for have not arrived yet (U.K. show or not?)Please send an email and copy me.What if I?ve already sent you an email?Please send another one. When will I get a response to my email?That depends on your problem. Seat relocates will take 5-7 days as previously stated. Other problems will be dealt with immediately.I?ve sent 5 e-mail?s to 5 different people already. Why do I have to send another one?Please, work with me here.How will you ever make this up to us?I?m sure BowieNet will think of something. Next time you?ll get the same seats, but we?ll put the stage at the back.What if I didn?t buy tickets because only bad ones were left?Sorry. Nothing we can do.I?m sure you have a lot more questions than I?ve covered here. This should cover the most pressing. I?m sorry to put everyone through this. But we?re doing the best we can in a bad situation. ————————————————————————————————Message for all Boston ticket holders from Bill Z.As many of you know, we have 40 tickets in the first 5 rows that we are going to trade out for people who have bad seats and wish to trade them. I?ve determined the method we?re going to use, and while it?s a bit complicated, I believe it?s fair.Everyone who purchased tickets through BowieNet will have a chance at an upgrade. The worse your seats, the better your chances. 30 tickets will be allocated to PL1?s and 10 to PL2?s. We will draw the member?s names at random giving a greater weight to those with the poorer locations. If, for example, 100 people purchased PL1 tickets; the worst seats will have a 100 times greater chance to receive a trade than the best seat. The next worst seat will get a factor of 99 and so on. While the best seat has a chance of an upgrade, the likelihood is astronomical. And while the worst seat has the best chance, it is not a certainty.We will do this in the next 2 weeks. We will notify you directly and ask if you would like to trade. If you do, we will give you simple instructions on how to do so.You will know your new seat locations in advance, but considering they are in the first 5 rows, the likelihood is you will want to trade.You will be limited to a maximum of 2 tickets to trade. If you only purchased 1, you will only be offered 1 to trade.I?ll continue to answer questions on the MB?s and emails.Many thanks to all of you for your patience. We hope we can at least make it up to some of you.

And I’m busting up my brains for the words…

Here’s the latest round-up of first week chart positions for Reality. Apart from a baker’s dozen of Top Ten placings, the album has now entered the Billboard Top Thirty in the US.

Reality also went straight in at number one in the Billboard European Top 100 Albums chart!

Here’s the latest breakdown in order of chart positions:

Denmark #1
France #2
Norway #2
Germany #3
UK #3
Austria #3
Italy #4
Israel #5
Sweden #5
Switzerland #5
Ireland #6 (With the Best Of Bowie at #10 in the same chart!)
Iceland #7
Finland #9
Canada #12
Australia #13
Holland #15
New Zealand #16
Spain #25
USA #29

To celebrate all this good news we have a jolly groovy competition to win Reality related, signed-by-David Bowie goodies. We have ten double-sided bookmark-sized Reality bookmarks, ten 61cmx41cm (24″x16″) Riverside posters and one beautiful (the picture below really does it no justice) 35cmx35cm (almost 14″x14″) Reality canvas… all pictured here and all signed by David Bowie this month.

OK, it’s another fun, but time-consuming, and no doubt irritating-for-some competition that I’ve dreamt up this time. I’ve taken the eleven Reality songs titles…

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

…and I’ve rearranged them into eleven new titles using words contained in the original eleven titles, thus:

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

The thing is, I didn’t use all of the words from the original eleven titles and what you have to do is find those words that I didn’t use. But, that alone would be far too easy.

So, when you’ve found the missing words, you then have to find a David Bowie song that contains all of those missing words in a single line from that particular song. Then all you have to do is tell me the name of that song… It couldn’t be easier!

When you think you have that song title, send an e-mail to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of: Missing Words. Usual rules apply, BowieNet user name must be supplied, etc.

This contest will end at midnight GMT next Friday, and I’ll announce the 21 winners sometime over the following weekend. The Reality canvas will be won by the first name selected by TRG, followed by ten poster winners and then ten bookmark winners.

All the pages that have turned…

Pick up the current issue of Hello magazine, cover date Sept 30th, for interviews and photographs of both Iman and David. Within the ten page spread, both talk at length about family life, marriage and parenthood. Here are a couple of extracts:

Q: Do you like to entertain a lot?

Iman: About once a month, we’ll have twenty people over. We usually do a screening after dinner. It’s always something unusual, like a silly documentary from the BBC that is just a hoot. It’s the only way to have a good conversation and mix it up and be easy. I’d much rather be at home.

And David on taking Iman to Australia:

I adore it and I find it constantly refreshing. It’s an extraordinary place and I get on very well with the people. I know Iman will love it.

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Ready, set, go…

Streaming online right now is an interview David gave recently, to San Francisco based radio station, KFOG. They say:

World Class Rock legend David Bowie joined the KFOG Morning Show recently to chat about life, love and his new album, Reality with the KFOG Morning Show’s Irish Greg McQuaid and newsman Peter Finch.

Click on the picture and scroll down for links to two parts of the interview.

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Come blow me away…

David talks about his musical heroes in this interview at Rolling Stone.com. Here’s a great anecdote about his first saxophone teacher:

Ronnie Ross — who was featured in Downbeat as one of the great baritone players — lived locally, so I looked in the telephone book, and I rung him up. I said, “Hi, my name is David Jones, and I’m twelve years old, and I want to play the saxophone. Can you give me lessons?” He sounded like Keith [Richards], and he said no. But I begged until he said, “If you can get yourself over here Saturday morning, I’ll have a look at you.” He was so cool.

Much later on, when I was producing Lou Reed, we decided we needed a sax solo on the end of “Walk on the Wild Side.” So I got the agent to book Ronnie Ross. He pulled out a wonderful solo in one take. Afterward I said, “Thanks, Ron. Should I come over to your house on Saturday morning?” He said, “I don’t fucking believe it! You’re Ziggy Stardust?”

Click on the image to read the whole thing.

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:))

Look at my friend with unusual eyes…

It seems that Fleet Street’s silly season here in the UK isn’t over quite yet. A couple of yesterday’s tabloids ran a story about a Siamese cat called Queenie from Bangalore, India, whose differently coloured eyes were considered bizarre enough to warrant a piece comparing them to those of David Bowie.

The piece was followed up in today’s Sun newspaper with another about a sheepdog called Fly, with similarly odd eyes. The headlines for both pieces, DAVID MIAOWIE and DAVID BOW-WOWIE prove that even after almost 35 years of Bowie chart action and world-wide fame, the tabloid press still hasn’t grasped the pronunciation of Bowie.

When will they learn that it’s Bowie as in violin bow, not Bowie as in take a bow or bow out?

Anyway, Fly’s owner, Trish Smith of Pentyrch in Wales, takes up the story: ?Originally we called him Bowie, after David. But we renamed him Fly because he has so much energy and flies around everywhere.? Obviously Trish hasn’t realised how the name change nicely anticipated the release of the bonus edition of Reality, which contains the excellent track Fly on the bonus disc, as if you didn’t know.

You can read the rest of the piece on the Sun’s website by clicking on Fly’s hooter.

Of course pets with differently coloured eyes being compared to David Bowie are nothing new to BowieNetters… even if David does insist his eyes are the same colour blue. We posted a story back in 2000 (02.23.2000 SNIPPET: THE YEAR OF THE SCAVENGER) about a pooch called Ziggy (that’s him in the middle in the colage above) who appeared on the popular UK TV show, TFI.

Perhaps you know a creature of some description with Bowie-esque features? Send your pics to me at the usual address… no chameleons!