Month: May 2005

You belong in rock ‘n roll, Well so do I…

Classic Rock (above) has Velvet Revolver guest editing the latest issue of the magazine. The band’s singer, Scott Weiland, has decided on a seven-page feature about partner-in-crime Slash‘s ex-occasional babysitter, David Bowie. (It’s a long story)

The two pages dedicated to Scott’s thoughts on DB are followed by a five-page photo spread, (above). Scott, who has made no secret of his love of David Bowie’s music, (he often wears a Bowie T-shirt onstage) first got into our man via Hunky Dory at the tender age of eleven.

He then progressed naturally to Ziggy Stardust, but this was his response to interviewer Karl Stephens‘ assumption that: “Most people would probably have you down as a Ziggy Stardust kind of guy”:

“I do love that album. But what fascinates me the most is the ‘plastic soul’ period, after the raunch ‘n’ roll of Ziggy. That was a real cool period for me. Young Americans is one of my favourite records.”

Earlier in the interview, Scott was asked what the initial attraction to David Bowie was. He replied thus:

“I loved his lyrics. What I think is amazing about Bowie is that his lyrics sound poetic but not too intentionally so. The words make sense. It’s not overly stream-of-consciousness. And his melodies… you can hear the influence of vaudeville and Tin Pan Alley. You don’t hear that a lot in rock’n’ roll. That’s one of the things that attracted me to him. I tried to pull a bit of that out when I made my solo record.”

There’s much more, but that’s enough of a teaser for now, or you won’t go buy a copy. The June 2005 edition of Classic Rock is out now.

You’ve made a BADD connection…

David Bowie has again contributed to the BADD (Bikers Against Drunk Drivers) campaign this year by signing three 12-string guitars which are up on eBay right now.

Campaign organiser, Danny Perkins, has very kindly restarted the eBay auction (which had already been running for a few days) to give BowieNet members a fair run at the auction…and to give them time to arrange bank loans, sell their bodies, etc.

Here’s Danny’s description taken from the eBay listing:

————————————————————————————————————-

The Real Deal Folks – This is your chance to own a piece of Rock and Roll History.

David has supported BADD Bikers Against Drunk Drivers for 19 years in a row with these outstanding inscribed 12 String Guitars.Three lucky top bidders will all receive a guitar. The first place top bidder will have their choice of theme, as well the 2nd winning bidder will have their choice of the remaining 2 and the third winning bidder will take the third.

David has written in permanent black marker:

“This ain’t rock n roll. This is genocide! Bowie 2005.”

On another he has written: “Hot Tramp I Love You So! Bowie 2005”

And on the 3rd: “Wham Bam, Thank You, Mamm! Bowie 2005”

Each Guitar Comes in a Hard Shell case along with a Personal David Bowie Guitar Pick. Each winner will also receive a letter of authenticity and thanks from David Bowie’s`personal management.

Bid with confidence. 100% of the proceeds go to the charity and all winners will receive a full tax deductible receipt as well as raffle tickets for a chance to win one of 5 custom Harley Davidsons. BADD was recently on the Dr. Phil show world-wide with tremendous results.

Past auctions have included Guitars Inscribed : “Lets Dance” and “Major Tom” (see Bowienet news Oct 22 2002.) “Time takes a Cigarette” and “Ziggy Played Guitar” (see Bowienet news Feb 12 2004) – These guitars will add to the amazing collection of Unique Signed and Donated Bowie guitars that you can only get from supporting BADD.

BADD accepts Visa, Mastercard and certified money orders.

————————————————————————————————————-

Those of you interested in bidding on one of the guitars can reach the eBay page by clicking on any of the above images, where you can also view more shots of each guitar.

If you have anything you want to ask Danny before you place a bid, you can use the Ask seller a question link on the auction page. Alternatively, non-eBay members can contact Danny directly at danny@baddcentral.com

Please note that BowieNet has no direct involvement with the auction itself and only Danny can answer any enquiries you may have.

This is Ground Control to Major Tom, You’ve really made the grade…

Last week (04.25.05 NEWS: VOTE FOR SPACE ODDITY IN THE SONGS OF THE DECADES) we encouraged you to vote for David Bowie’s Space Oddity in Radio2’s The Songs Of The Decades, which celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards, aka The Ivors.

I’m not sure if it was my threat of a visit from the boys, but, it looks like you entered into the spirit and launched Major Tom back into orbit, by making the 1969 classic Bowie song the winning composition for the period from 1965 to 1974.

As I said at the time, David was up against some pretty stiff competition, but still managed to beat Yesterday by The Beatles, My Generation by The Who, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones and Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks to the top spot.

Well done folx and congratulations to David. Nothing more than the song deserves. You can keep an eye on the voting for the remaining decades by following this link.

Ch ch ch ch changes…

Well, the above advertisement still says everything I would normally have to say here…But, it’s been updated to include a venue change, since last we mentioned it. (03.26.05 NEWS: THINGS TO DO ON MAY 29TH)

Here’s the low-down from Mr Smit himself…

The Voyeur’s 2005 fan(club)meeting, ‘Amsterdam Oddity’, will no longer be held at the earlier mentioned AMP Studio’s.

It will now be held at ‘De Heilige Zeug’ in Amsterdam on the same day, Sunday May 29th. ‘De Heilige Zeug’ is located at the Warmoesstraat 121, only a five minute walk from the Amsterdam Central train station.

Click on any of the red Xs above to read more regarding this special event.

I heard Sweet Thing, Soul Love, favourite melodies…

The EMI Gold David Bowie – The Collection CD that I’ve been carping on about for a couple of months, (03.04.05 NEWS: DAVID BOWIE – THE COLLECTION, DUE NEXT MONTH & 03.17.05 NEWS: EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT DAVID BOWIE – THE COLLECTION & 03.22.05 NEWS: DAVID BOWIE – THE COLLECTION DELAYED UNTIL MAY) will finally be looking for shelf space from tomorrow morning among the homes of those Bowie fans wanting to delve a little deeper than the Best Of Bowie…and why not? It’s a jolly impressive starting point.

Here’s the tracklisting again for those of you that haven’t read it yet and to help with the competition directly afterwards…

DAVID BOWIE
THE COLLECTION

01 Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed ~ From Space Oddity
02 The Width Of A Circle ~ From The Man Who Sold The World
03 Andy Warhol ~ From Hunky Dory
04 Soul Love ~ From The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
05 Cracked Actor ~ From Aladdin Sane
06 Sweet Thing ~ From Diamond Dogs
07 Somebody Up There Likes Me ~ From Young Americans
08 Word On A Wing ~ From Station To Station
09 Always Crashing In The Same Car ~ From Low
10 Beauty And The Beast ~ From “Heroes”
11 Repetition ~ From Lodger
12 Teenage Wildlife ~ From Scary Monsters

For those of you who would like to win a copy of David Bowie – The Collection (remembering this competition is really aimed at new fans, though any BowieNetter can enter if they so wish) simply tell me which studio album between Space Oddity and Scary Monsters isn’t represented by any track on The Collection…possibly because there are no original David Bowie compositions on the particular album I’m referring to.

Once you’ve decided which album title I’m after, send it to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of “Here’s the name of the album that has Twiggy and Ziggy on the front”.

Usual rules: (Sorry, I’m obliged to reiterate this guff every time I post a contest) Only one entry per BowieNet account. Please remember to enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name. It may also speed things up for you if you include your real name and address, as we won’t then have to wait for another e-mail from you in the event you are a winner.