Month: September 2003

Johnny Vaughan presenting a Ziggy Stardust gold disc to Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.

Fashion! turn to the left. Fashion! turn to the right…

Regular readers of the BowieNet news pages, will know very well just how big a fan of David Bowie the UK’s Liberal Democrat leader, Charles Kennedy, is. You may remember a story from last year (01/12/02 NEWS: UK POLITICAL PARTY LEADER SINGS ‘HEROES’ TONIGHT) where, to his obvious delight, Charles was given a Ziggy Stardust gold disc (that was originally presented to David himself – see above) by TV presenter Johnny Vaughan.

Now it seems Charles has made his appreciation for all things Bowie even more public by expressing his love of David’s music at the Liberal Democrat party conference. Fresh from a surprising Brent East victory, the delighted Mr Kennedy was reported in yesterday’s Times by Ann Treneman thus:

He was then asked the toughest question of the day: who was his favourite to win Fame Academy and/or Pop Idol? He stalled. ?Well, um,? he said. ?This week I?ve had one or two other distractions to deal with.?

He wasn?t too sure about Pop Idol because there were too many contestants and he wanted to allow for late swings. (How irritating must it be to watch television with this man?) But he did know about Fame, he said, not least because it was a great David Bowie track.

And Bowie, he announced, is ?my spiritual musical hero?. The audience, shocked to be hearing something not about Brent or Baghdad, burst into applause.

?I got to meet him once,? said Mr Kennedy, suddenly almost shy. There were some good points to his job, he added, and getting to meet David Bowie was one of them. ?He?s certainly liberal,? he added. ?I?m not sure he?s Liberal Democrat.?

Bowie a Lib Dem? I don?t think so. It is impossible to imagine this most elegant and beautiful of men in a long frizzy beard, wearing mudcoloured corduroy and a badge in favour of recycling.

Do Lib Dem men wear eye make-up? Could they embrace lipstick? Can we imagine Kennedy, mascara dripping, playing air guitar to Rebel Rebel? No white suit could possibly save him, though at least he wouldn?t have to dye his hair.

Mr Kennedy then told us how he was going to vote. When it came to Fame Academy, he said, it had to be Pete. The reason? ?He reminds me a bit of David Bowie.?

You can read the full Times article by clicking on the image above. Oh, and btw, it’s no wonder Peter reminds Charles of David Bowie… After all, as we told you at the time, (08/30/03 NEWS: 1000 ZIGGYS, FAME ACADEMY …OR BOTH?) Peter did give a winning performance of The Man Who Sold The World in one of the recent Fame Academy heats.

We can beat them, for ever and ever…

US television viewing figures for Monday night’s Late Show With David Letterman on which David performed New Killer Star, make for interesting reading.

Apparently, Late Show With David Letterman beat The Tonight Show on Premiere Monday for the first time since 1993. Monday night’s show was the second highest season premiere for the Late Show. Here’s the official figures:

In Late Night, with appearances by Dr. Phil, David Bowie and the newly-crowned Miss America, LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN beat “The Tonight Show” in the metered markets 5.1/12 vs. 5.0/12. This marks the first time LATE SHOW has beaten “The Tonight Show” on premiere Monday since 1993.

FYI, the 5.1 number means 5.1. million homes and the 12 after it means 12% of the tv sets in the country were on.

The Late Show also finished only -0.3 rating points behind Conan O’Brien. This was the smallest rating margin between the Late Late Show and Conan O’Brien on season premiere Monday since the Late Show began against Conan O’Brien in 1999.

For those of you that managed to catch the broadcast, or the UK repeats this morning, I think it’s plain to see who people tuned in for. And, imho, it wasn’t for Dr. Phil or Miss America! };-)

Thursday Morning from 7-8 am EST we will be conducting scheduled maintenance on the site to improve performance. During this time the site may appear slow.

New York’s a go-go and everything tastes nice…

David Bowie has contributed a great piece to the current issue of New York Magazine, (September 29, 2003) the main thrust of which relates to his experiences of New York, funnily enough.

Even though a couple of the stories are already known to attentive Bowie fans, (First Velvets LP, Elvis at MSG etc.) it’s still a fascinating read that even makes mention of one Louis Hardin, better known as Moondog… possibly the inspiration for “And it was stalking time for the Moonboys” or Fall Dog Bombs The Moon?…but probably not!

Anyway, here’s a couple of lines from the piece, the whole of which you can read by clicking on the front cover above:

When I first came to New York, I was in my early twenties, discovering a city I had fantasized over since my teens. I saw it with multicolored glasses, to say the least. Also, I rarely got up before noon and hit the sack again around four or five in the morning. Two New Yorks, really.

These days, my buzz can be obtained by just walking, preferably early in the morning, as I am a seriously early riser. The signature of the city changes shape and is fleshed out as more and more people commit to the street. A magical transfer of power from the architectural to the human.

New York Magazine is on the shelves now, and it contains another great shot inside from the same Frank Ockenfels session that graces the cover.

Welcome to Reality… Pow, Pow, Pow!

As the chart positions start to dribble in to us from around the globe, it’s clear that the Europeans certainly love a bit of David Bowie. Reality, has entered at least eight European charts in the top five in it’s first week of release, including a #1 in Denmark and the top ten in a couple of other countries.

Here’s the breakdown in order of chart positions that I have right now:

Denmark #1
France #2
Norway #2
Austria #3
Germany #3
UK #3
Italy #4
Switzerland #5
Ireland #6 (With the Best Of Bowie at #10 in the same chart!)
Finland #9
Australia #13

Wow… isn’t it great to be proved right yet again. Well done guv! We’ll continue to bring you other chart positions from around the world as we get them.

Girls… They come and they go, Like spirits…

I know I don’t have to bother with any introductions for Emm Gryner, and those of you in the UK familiar with the voice of this delicious songbird will be pleased to learn that she now has a couple of solo UK dates… and here they are:

OXFORD October 19th at The Port Mahon, 82 St. Clements, Oxford (01865) 202067
LONDON October 20th at the Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon, EC1R 3BL (020) 7336 7326

These shows will be Emm’s debut UK gigs and both dates are with The Sad Song Co. & Lord Francis. Sadly, I have a previously-arranged date in Paris on the 20th. But, hopefully I’ll be able to get along to the Oxford date. If you manage to get along to either show, please tell Emm we sent you and tell us how it went.

I’m not going for the sympathy vote here, but I can’t resist posting a quote from the e-mail that Emm sent me: “Ironic that my last UK concert experience was Glasto and my newest will be, by contrast, the smallest venues in all of England.”

On the strength of what I’ve heard, it won’t be long before Emm has moved up from “the smallest venues in all of England” to mass appreciation as an artist in her own right.

—————————————————————————————

Meanwhile, if you’re in London tomorrow night, (September 23rd) you may want to join us at the Underworld in Camden to cheer along somebody else surely destined for bigger things. Kristeen Young (pictured above during her support slot with Frank Black in Camden back in July) will be on stage at 8:00pm sharp, and as if that isn’t enough of a lure, we’ll also be celebrating the birthday of one Susan Smith, aka Susans, aka Sus, who is 19 today. Happy birthday love… See ya tomorra!

Talk to me…

David Bowie will do a live interview/call in show for American radio station Rockline on Wednesday, September 24th from 11:30pm until 1:00am EST. He will take calls in addition to being interviewed by host Bob Coburn. The number you need to call for your chance to speak with David is 1-800-344-ROCK

As well as the chat, tracks from Reality, mixed in with a few classic tracks, will provide the musical entertainment for the broadcast.

You can find a list of affiliate stations by clicking on the image above, from where you can check to see which of your local stations will be broadcasting the show.

Everything will be alright tonight…

I’m sure nobody has forgotten the Letterman show tonight that Spaceface told you about a couple of weeks back. (09.05.2003 NEWS: FORTHCOMING ‘REALITY’ TV) If that’s news to you, then you really should pay more attention. Here are the words from her original piece:

On Monday 22nd September, David and the band are scheduled to perform New Killer Star on The Late Show with David Letterman. The show airs on CBS in the USA at 11.30PM ET/PT.

So now you’ve been told!

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

As we mentioned on Saturday, the pre-sale for the North American leg of David Bowie’s 2003/2004 Reality tour will continue tonight at 6:00pm EST with seven more dates being made available to BowieNetters ahead of the general onsale.

Here follows the next seven correct pre-sale dates:

07 Dec – Washington – DC Patriot Center
07 Jan – Cleveland, OH – CSU ?Convocation Center
09 Jan – Detroit, MI – The Palace of Auburn Hills***
11 Jan – Minneapolis, MN – The Target Center
19 Jan – Denver, CO – The Fillmore
25 Jan – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre
31 Jan – Los Angeles, CA – Shrine Auditorium

Our pre-sale for these shows ends at noon on Friday September 26th, ahead of the general onsale, and you can purchase tickets for the above seven Bowie shows by going here tonight at 6:00pm EST.

***Due to last-minute scheduling issues, presales for the Detroit show have been delayed.

Tickets will be available to BowieNet members for purchase on Tuesday, September 23rd at 12:00 noon ET.

DETRIOT | THE PALACE AT AUBURN HILLS

Due to last-minute scheduling issues, presales for this show have been delayed.

Tickets will be available to BowieNet members for purchase on Tuesday, September 23rd at 12:00 noon ET.