Month: December 2006

I like the beat of your drum…

New Yorker Zachary Alford is the first in an occasional alphabetical listing of Bowie band members, past and present, that we’ll be featuring on these pages over the coming units of time.

I’m sure everybody remembers well young Zack’s inspired and powerful skin bashing contributions to the Earthling album and indeed the Outside and Earthling World Tours between 1995 and 1997.

During this period, Zack kept the drum stool warm for his neighbourhood buddy Sterling Campbell‘s eventual return. Sterling had already recorded Outside as part of the Bowie band, before returning in 1999 for some contributions to a few of the songs on ‘hours…’ after which he became a permanent member of the band, and has been so since, up until the last full shows in 2004.

Not that Zack could ever be accused of merely keeping the drum stool warm…he was an exciting and passionate addition to the Bowie band for those Outside and Earthling tours…and he looked pretty cool too.

Check out Zack’s site here, where you can read more about the man and see how he’s managed to stay in touch with old friends by touring with Gwen Stefani along with his old mucker Gail Ann Dorsey!

Something about me stood apart…

Rolling Stone magazine in Spain is the first off the blocks with a celebration issue of David Bowie’s 60th birthday which was published last week.

Apart from the front cover of this December issue, inside there’s a 12-page retrospective that looks at the career of David Bowie through the eyes of the magazine over the years.

The front page includes the quotation: “Siempre he necesitado ser algo más que un humano.” Which is the Spanish translation of the first part of a quotation that may very well have appeared in the pages of Rolling Stone in the first place, and that went something like this: “I always had a repulsive need to be something more than human. I felt very puny as a human. I thought, ‘Fuck that. I want to be a superhuman’.”

Well, I’m sure there are many reading this that would agree David Bowie achieved his ambition. Thanx to BowieNetter Simone for the pointer.