Month: December 2006

So hologramic…

Those of you in London doing a last minute bit of Christmas shopping may want to pop along to The AIR Gallery in the West End to catch the tail end of Martin Richardson‘s Time, Space & Movement exhibition.

I’m sure you all remember the stunning prize Martin contributed to BowieNet of five of the above signed holograms (09.12.05 NEWS: SIGNED ‘hours…’ HOLOGRAM CONTEST WINNERS) when he ran a version of the same exhibition back in August last year. (08.14.05 REMINDER: HOLOGRAM EXHIBITION STARTS MONDAY)

This time he has more bigger than life-size Bowie holograms but be quick as the exhibition ends on Saturday evening.

Here’s a reminder of what DB had to say regarding Martin’s work: “I don’t think I’ve ever quite experienced holograms like these ? they really are magnificent. They almost become part of one’s family, and a very disturbing and ‘otherly’ family at that.”

For directions and general enquiries regarding the exhibition, please see: www.airgallery.co.uk.

Music may change hi-di-ho keen to follow your nose…

Those of you already signed up to Nokia’s Music Recommenders service should have received an e-mail today with links to exclusive outtakes from a DB interview with Wim Wenders.

In the 17-minute podcast, David discusses his lifelong passion for music discovery, record shopping and local scenes and delivers some lovely little anecdotes along the way.

As explained in the blurb above, the interview snippets are punctuated with tracks from recommended acts, which I’ve listed below for those of you who want to delve further.

Tapes N Tapes – Insistor
Dabrye ft Doom – Air
Assif Tsahar – Departure
D5 – Sides Of Space

Click on David Bowie’s visage in the screen grab above to get to where you want to go.

I see you see me through your window…

Popular singing combo, U2, have made a cheeky little video for their latest single release, Windows in the Skies.

Not dissimilar in concept to the Gnarls Barkley video for Smiley Faces that we told you about in July, (07.21.2006 NEWS: GNARLS BARKLEY REWRITES MUSICAL HISTORY) this U2 promo utilises footage of various rock stars and the like apparently singing along to Windows in the Skies.

Needless to say, for any proper representation of David Bowie you would need at least ten different clips as he’s been so many different important Rock Gods…but for convenience sake U2 have included just two segments of David Bowie, as evidenced in the screen grab above.

First person to tell me what two Bowie videos have been used will be able to pick something nice from the BowieNet prize vault.

Windows in the Skies is released on January 1st (the DVD single in the UK will include the video) and the video itself premiers officially on MTV.com & VH1.com on Monday morning…but, as you may have guessed, it’s already out there anyway.

Nothing’s gonna touch you in these golden years…

The Manifesto section of the January 2007 issue of Esquire magazine features a retrospective look at David Bowie’s career in the run up to his 60th birthday.

The piece, by Graeme Thomson, is broken down in to five sections across six pages, with a timeline filled with many lovely compliments, such as this one I’ll leave you with…

“How typical of Bowie to opt for the tough option; the route that offered the adventure (and risk) of innumerable, unsignalled forks in the road rather than the safety of a fixed destination. It’s that same fearlessness, as much as anything else, that makes him Britain’s one and only pop genius.”

I, I can remember, Standing, by the wall…

Following on from the news exactly two months ago that Radio 2 will be airing a Mark Radcliffe presented Bowie documentary in January, (10.14.2006 NEWS: LENNOX LEAKS BOWIE RADIO DOCUMENTARY DETAILS) it seems he’ll be doing the same for another Bowie documentary a few days earlier on January 2nd.

Berlin…Soundz Decadent is an hour long programme blurbed thus on the Radio 2 site:

“On 8 January David Bowie turns 60 years old. In recognition, Radio 2 celebrates with a programme focusing on Bowie’s remarkable Berlin period in the 70s and the city’s influence, past and present, on him and his music. From Kabaret to Krautrock and beyond, Berlin.”

The albums Low, “Heroes” and Lodger are often referred to, misleadingly, as the Berlin trilogy. But, as I’m sure you know, much of Low was recorded just outside Paris and Lodger was recorded in Montreux and New York. Anyway, it looks like the programme won’t be hindered by such trifles.

I should point out that it has been made with no involvement from DB himself, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the interviews are from the archives.

Berlin…Soundz Decadent airs on January 2nd between 20:30 and 21:30 on Radio 2.

Freak out in a suburban daydream…

Bromley’s most famous son (No, not H G Wells, you dolt!) is the focus of an exhibition that opens this week at the Bromley Museum.

We first mentioned the exhibition back in July when we posted a bit about the above jacket that DB is pictured wearing during his time as a Kon-rad. (07.20.2006 NEWS: DB CONFIRMS AUTHENTICITY OF MUSEUM PIECE)

Here’s the official guff…

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?SUBURBAN DAYDREAM? ? 60s AND 70s ROCK AND PUNK AT BROMLEY MUSEUM

Despite its quiet suburban reputation Bromley has been home to some of Britain?s leading pop stars. David Bowie, Peter Frampton, Billy Idol, Siouxsie Sioux and Bill Wyman are just some of the famous musicians who grew up in the area.

This new exhibition at Bromley Museum explores the borough?s musical connections. Did you know that David Bowie was living in suburban Beckenham when he invented his famous Ziggy Stardust character? Or that the famous sax solo at the end of Lou Reed?s ?Walk on the Wild Side? was performed by Ronnie Ross, Bowie?s old saxophone teacher from Orpington? Or that one of the first Sex Pistols gigs was at Ravensbourne College in 1975? This was seen by a group of local punks who became the notorious Pistols fans known as the ?Bromley Contingent?.

On display for the first time will be a unique piece of musical history recently acquired by the museum, a jacket owned by David Bowie (or David Jones as he was known then). This belonged to David when he was in his first band called the ?Kon-rads? in 1962-63. He later decorated the jacket when he toured with a group called the ?Riot Squad? in 1967. Alongside the jacket will be pop memorabilia and unique photographs of many of the area?s musical heroes.

The ?Suburban Daydream? exhibition will be at Bromley Museum, The Priory, Church Hill, Orpington from Monday 11th December 2006 to Saturday 24th March 2007. It is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm. For further details contact Adrian Green, Museum Curator on 01689 873826.

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Surely worth a trip down through sarf London for.

Velvet Goldmine…

An acetate of an early version of The Velvet Underground‘s first album, The Velvet Underground & Nico, has sold on eBay for an astonishing US $155,401. This easily makes the disc the most expensive of all time.

David Bowie is mentioned in the eBay description of the album, from which this excerpt written by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records…

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This acetate, which is possibly the only surviving copy, represents the first Velvet Underground album as Andy Warhol intended it to be released.

Though the same compositions and even a few of the same “takes” (albeit in different mixes) were used on the subsequent commercial release, that which was eventually issued as their debut album on Verve, “The Velvet Underground & Nico”, was a significantly different creation.

I had heard of these nascent recordings before… it was said by some that the master tapes had burned in a fire, by others that all of those recordings ended up being on the released album, and still by others that the only existing copy of that material was on an acetate owned by David Bowie, and that he was known to tout it as his most prized possession.

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David Bowie has indeed made mention of this acetate which he was given by his then manager, Kenneth Pitt, in December 1966. One of the songs that particularly impressed the 19-year-old Bowie was Waiting For The Man, which is possibly the most performed of any cover version by Bowie.

Here’s what he had to say about the excitement the recording generated for him: “I literally went into a band rehearsal the next day, put the album down and said, We’re gonna learn this song. We learned Waiting For The Man right then and there, and we were playing it on stage within a week.”

In an article for Vanity Fair in 2003 he talked further about just how firmly his finger was on the pulse: “In December of that year, my band Buzz broke up, but not without my demanding we play Waiting For The Man as one of the encore songs at our last gig. Amusingly, not only was I to cover a Velvets’ song before anyone else in the world, I actually did it before the album came out. Now that’s the essence of Mod.”

David’s earliest known version of the song was recorded in 1967 during the Deram sessions and has never had an official release. BBC session versions of the song were recorded in 1970 and 1972 and a live Ziggy version was captured for posterity on the Santa Monica album. Other bootleged live versions have surfaced from various tours over the years.

I asked David if the acetate he owned included different versions to that of the released album. He said that it was the same as the released version, but that it was a pre-release acetate…complete with Warhol signature!

Of course, this too is an extremely rare artefact, but its value is actually irrelevant as it’s not something DB would ever want or need to part with.

If you want to read more about the eBay acetate, click on the very expensive side one above or the shortcut in this sentence.

Just wishing that I had just something you wore…

The boots that David Bowie donated to the Give Landmines The Boot campaign have sold on eBay for a record £1,320 GBP (Approx. $2,600 USD), .

In the end that’s more than twice the amount paid for Phil Collins‘ trainers, which were the next highest auction price at £641.98.

Indeed, for the money spent on the Bowie boots, you could have bought the combined footwear donated by Chris Martin of Coldplay (£510.00), Ringo Starr (£431.51), Brian May (£255.00) and Ricky Gervais (£88.50)…and still have enough left over for a really nice pair of brand new plimsolls! (£34.99)

The lucky winner of DB’s boots was in fact BowieNetter steveabs, who is already considering viewing sessions round his place when the boots arrive and who suggested today’s lyric quotation. Well done Steve.

All good fun and all for a good cause…what could be nicer?

This time tomorrow I’ll know what they fetched…

With less than 24 hours left to bid on the above footwear that David Bowie donated to the Give Landmines The Boot campaign, we’re all waiting for that inevitable last minute bidding frenzy which often accompanies auctions such as these.

There have been no further bids since I last posted regarding this matter, (12.01.2006 NEWS: BIDS FOR BOWIE BOOTS ALREADY AT TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS) but, with the bid currently at £1,020 GBP (Approx. $2,000 USD), Bowie’s boots are still by far and away the most successful auction item out of this current batch of 59 lots donated to the Give Landmines The Boot campaign.

Tune in around this time tomorrow to see what sum the boots finally reached.

Such is the stuff, From where dreams are woven…

Genesis Publications has announced details of Geoff MacCormack‘s (AKA Geoffrey Alexander, Mac Cormack & Warren Peace) upcoming book of David Bowie photographs due Spring 2007.

You will remember the incredibly stylish job Genesis made of Moonage Daydream, and anybody who knows anything about the company will understand that theirs is a name synonymous with excellence in standards of publishing.

Here’s a bit from the Genesis Publications newsletter…

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From Station to Station is the story of Geoff MacCormack’s amazing three years travelling and touring with David Bowie.

From the Spring of 1973 and the invitation to join childhood friend David Jones’s new band, The Spiders, as a backing vocalist and percussionist it was to be a non-stop tour of the US, Japan and the UK.

David Bowie’s fear of flying meant that they travelled by any other means possible – be it ship, train or road.

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Any Bowie fan worth their salt will understand the importance of Geoff’s contributions to the Bowie story. His working credits for David Bowie during the 1970s are too numerous to list here. Not to mention contributions to some of the campest Bowie performances of all time. (Check out Footstompin’ from The Dick Cavett Show and Time from The 1980 Floor Show.)

Over to the man himself for a brief synopsis of From Station to Station…

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“During the early part of 1973, I had two huge strokes of luck and good fortune.

Firstly, while working in a London office I got a call from a childhood friend called David Jones. David Jones was now David Bowie and he invited me to join his band, The Spiders, as a backing vocalist and percussionist, for a tour of the USA, Japan and the UK.

The second piece of luck was that David had a fear of flying. Thus we would have to travel the thousands of miles around the world by ship, train and road.

At the end of the tour David, surprisingly, announced his retirement. Nevertheless I stayed with him for another two years, travelling and working on other tours – Diamond Dogs and Young Americans – and six albums, from Aladdin Sane to Station to Station.

From Station To Station is the story of those three amazing years, together with my previously unpublished photographs of Bowie at work and at play.” – GEOFF MacCORMACK

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Bowie fans have been teased with Geoff’s pictures ever since some of his first published Bowie photographs appeared in rock magazines and the 1976 World Tour programme, ISOLAR, under his stage name of Warren Peace.

Stay tuned to BowieNet for some exclusive previews of From Station to Station over the coming months, including some breathtaking unpublished shots and some contributions to the text from DB himeslf.

In the meantime, click on the image above to register with Genesis Publications for further information regarding From Station to Station.