Month: January 2010

And as the sparrow sings dawn chorus for someone else to hear…

OK, this is the one we’ve been teasing you with for the past few days. (01.12.2010 NEWS: ROYAL MAIL SIGNED ZIGGY FDC DAY FIVE & 01.13.2010 NEWS: ROYAL MAIL ON EBAY PLUS K2 STAMP AND CONTEST UPDATE)

I’ve had a few e-mails from members trying to guess what Bowie song the above partial anagram will end up being, with a couple of people thinking they had it after just two letters! Perhaps they did.

So, we’ve decided to offer up three of the ten signed Ziggy Stardust FDCs to the bravest among you. If you are up for it, you need to read on carefully or risk certain failure…or something like that.

Firstly, if you enter this early bird contest you won’t be able to re-enter once the remaining letters of the anagram are posted.

Secondly, this early bird contest only runs until midnight on Sunday NY time.

“What’s the point in that then?”, you may well ask. Well, the point is that it’s unlikely many will go for this, so you probably stand a better chance of winning. Also, it means you won’t have to bother searching for which albums each of the letters came from, as we only need the song title for this early bird contest.

So, if you’re pretty sure you already know the song title that will eventually be revealed by the full anagram, send it to me here. If you’re unsure, then don’t risk it as you won’t get another chance.

We won’t announce the three early bird winners until after the full contest is over and the remaining seven winners have also been selected.

Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name. If you do neither of these things you won’t be eligible to enter.

Those of you that don’t wish to partake in this insanity can continue with the normal contest when the next letter is posted on Monday.

Be brave, but don’t be stupid, kidz!

Duffy lit a fire one day…

I didn’t give this one any advance warning on account of not knowing what Bowie content it might contain…however, in the event there was plenty and what a treat it was.

Following on from his London retrospective, (10.15.2009 NEWS: DUFFY TALKS ABOUT ALADDIN SANE SHOOT ON BBC) photographer Brian Duffy was the subject of last night’s excellent BBC Four documentary: The Man Who Shot the 60s.

The fear was that Duffy may have destroyed his Bowie sessions during a moment of madness when he set a whole bunch of his work ablaze in 1979.

However, visitors to the aforementioned retrospective had the delight of seeing a very vibrant print of the Aladdin Sane cover shot, a promising sign that Duffy’s Bowie sessions were still safe.

I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen the programme yet as it’s worth watching the whole thing. Duffy himself is a joy to listen to and his banter with David Bailey is priceless…particularly their conflicting memories of the infamous bonfire incident.

Aside from the explanation of the apparently purposefully costly production of the Aladdin Sane album sleeve there are lots of other great Bowie moments and unpublished photographs, which I’ve hinted at in the shots from 1972 and 1976 in the montage above.

If you’re in the UK and you didn’t catch it last night, you have many more chances yet to see The Man Who Shot the 60s on TV and even longer to watch it on the BBC’s very handy iPlayer. Go here for further viewing possibilities.

You should also check out the official Duffy site where it is promised many of the previously unpublished Bowie shots will soon be available as prints.

I’m stiff on my legend, The films that I made…

Regular readers of these pages will be well aware of the mainly mental, but quite loveable Mike McCarthy, and his love of all things Bowie. (02.04.2008 NEWS: BOWIE VISIT TO MEMPHIS INSPIRES FILM COURSE & 02.26.2008 NEWS: EXCLUSIVE BOWIE SHOT FROM MEMPHIS FEBRUARY 26 1973 & 04.29.2009 NEWS: BOWIE IN MEMPHIS SITE UPDATED PLUS UNPUBLISHED RONNO PIX)

Well, you’ve probably already gleaned from the poster above the treat that Memphisians are in for tonight…here’s the blurb just in case you haven’t though…

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REEL TO REAL – New Program! The Brooks is pleased to introduce this ongoing monthly series, curated by Memphis personalities who select films that have played a role in the development of their work, or captured their interest in some way. The films will screen on Thursday evenings, and the featured curator will be on hand to discuss his or her selection.

REEL TO REAL. Real people discussing reel favorites. The World of Mike McCarthy.

The series kicks off with filmmaker, artist, and musician Mike McCarthy (Teenage Tupelo, Cigarette Girl), who will present his selections: David Bowie: Cracked Actor and Scott Walker: 30th Century Man, screening for the first time in Memphis.

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Just in time for the 35th anniversary of the BBC’s brilliant Cracked Actor. (01.26.2005 NEWS: BBC’s CRACKED ACTOR IS THIRTY TODAY)

You can find out more here or by clicking on the O in ACTOR in the image above.

However, if you’re in the UK, you might be more interested in the following tonight…

I had to phone someone…

For those of you that prefer to make your online purchases through eBay, with the facility to cough up the cash for your win via the simplicity of PayPal, you may be pleased to learn that the Royal Mail now has an online store with the seller name of: royalmailstampcollections.

Obviously the Ziggy stamp is available, but if you’re sending a package to your favourite Bowie fan and it needs at least two first class stamps, why not try and seek out the K2 Telephone Kiosk stamp from the Classic British Design series to accompany the Ziggy stamp, as above.

As you know, the K2 is the very same model of kiosk as chosen by Ziggy himself to phone someone…Did he pick on you? See back of Ziggy Stardust sleeve for the evidence of him caught in the act.

The K2 will be inextricably linked to Ziggy Stardust forever now. Indeed, if you stare at the stamp long enough you can almost see a momentary bizarre space, time echo of Ziggy in the kiosk.

Finally, for those of you that were expecting Day 6 of our ongoing signed Ziggy FDC contest today, don’t fret, I’m just giving time to those that are thinking of entering the ‘early bird’ contest before we list all of the letters.

See yesterday’s news item (01.12.2010 NEWS: ROYAL MAIL SIGNED ZIGGY FDC DAY FIVE) for the letters we’ve listed so far.

On Friday we will run the ‘early bird’ contest which will only last for two or three days. Tune in on Friday to find out what to do.

I shoot at a full moon…

The wait is finally over for those of you in the USA and Canada…Duncan Jones‘s debut masterpiece, MOON, is available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray from today.

You’ve read it in the tea leaves, The tracks on fuse.tv…

Following on from the Record Store Day guitar sweepstake, (01.06.2010 NEWS: SIGNED BOWIE GUITARS PROMOTION FOR REALITY CD) it’s now the turn of fuse.tv.

Here’s the blurb…

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Win a Guitar Signed by David Bowie!
Enter the David Bowie “A Reality Tour” Autographed Guitar Sweepstakes and you could win an Eastwood Airline® Twin Tone Guitar just like the one Bowie used on his A Reality Tour, signed by Bowie himself. You can also win ‘David Bowie, A Reality Tour Live 2-set CD.’ Available Jan. 26, the CD has over 30 tracks from Bowie’s Reality Tour + 3 previously unreleased tracks.

FUSE TV Presents the David Bowie “A Reality Tour” Autographed Guitar Sweepstakes
Start / End date: January 11, 2010 to February 5, 2010
Prizes: 1 grand prize and 2 runners-up
*NOTE: contestants can sign-up once everyday, so Bowie fans should visit everyday to enter and increase their chances!

GRAND PRIZE: Autographed Airline Twin Tone Guitar
The AIRLINE® TWIN TONE is a new model reissue of the SUPRO Dual Tone, the guitar Bowie used during his A Reality Tour and pictured on the cover photo for David Bowie, A REALITY TOUR LIVE 2-CD set.

RUNNER-UP PRIZE: REALITY TOUR LIVE 2-CD set
A REALITY TOUR LIVE 2-CD set is an audio remastering of Bowie’s hugely successful 2004 tour including three previously unreleased tracks from the concert: China Girl, Breaking Glass and Fall Dog Bombs The Moon.

Tune in Tues, January 26 at 11P/10C and catch the concert only on Fuse, where music lives.

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Did you spot the important bit there? NOTE: contestants can sign-up once everyday, so Bowie fans should visit everyday to enter and increase their chances! Go here to enter.

The concert being broadcast on Fuse on January 26th is the A Reality Tour DVD filmed in Dublin over two nights in November 2003. Obviously these are the same shows that were used for the upcoming A Reality Tour Live 2-CD audio.

I’m sorry to inform those of you outside of the US that this is another one you won’t be able to enter. However, there will be several ways for Europeans to have a stab at winning over the coming weeks, in contests exclusive to particular territories there.

Battle For Britain (The Letter) Day 5…

I thought it was time to remind you exactly what the prize is in this ongoing contest. Well, it’s all of the above…

1. A signed by David Bowie Royal Mail Ziggy Stardust First Day Cover
2. A strip of five Royal Mail Ziggy Stardust self-adhesive stamps
3. A Royal Mail Ziggy Stardust postcard

Ten lucky BowieNetters will win a set each. And so, on with today’s letter…

Above is the fifth letter in our contest and you should be getting the hang of this by now. However, to reiterate…In keeping with the Classic Album Covers theme, we’ve taken letters from several different Bowie album covers, after all, they’re all classics!

You don’t have to do anything just yet, but eventually you’ll not only have to identify the albums each of the letters came from, but you’ll also have to work out the Bowie song title that the letters are an anagram of.

FOOT NOTE: Stay tuned for an ‘early bird’ contest where members who think they have already guessed the song title get a chance to win before anybody else!

I’ll leave you with a refresher of what we’ve had so far. However, please remember that this is an anagram contest we’re talking about so the letters may or may not be in the right order below…That’s for you to decide.

Battle For Britain (The Letter) Day 4…

The Royal Mail has been in touch with a clearer position on the “no living personality other than royalty is allowed to appear on a British stamp” issue that we raised in yesterday’s news.

Here’s a bit from Philip Parker, Head of Stamp Policy at the Royal Mail…

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There are living people on stamps – I thought Royal Mail did not do that?

Royal Mail may show living people on stamps if they are part of a major collective achievement or best demonstrate a particular subject. The Ziggy Stardust stamp includes a painting of David Bowie in the character of Ziggy Stardust, and so that is permitted. It is not unlike the Hammer Horror stamps we issued in 2008 which featured a painting of Christopher Lee as Dracula.

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What, Ziggy Stardust not unlike Dracula? I think not, Philip! };-)

Anyway, on to the latest instalment of our win a signed FDC doo dah…

Above is the fourth letter in our contest to win a signed Ziggy Stardust first day cover. See last Friday’s original news item if you’re not sure what this is all about. (01.08.2010 NEWS: WIN ROYAL MAIL ZIGGY STARDUST FDC SIGNED BY BOWIE)

We’ve taken letters from several different Bowie album covers and your job over the next couple of weeks or so will be to identify the album each of the letters came from.

You don’t have to do anything just yet. But eventually you’ll not only have to identify the album the letter came from, but also the letters will form an anagram of a Bowie song title that you’ll need to work out.

FOOT NOTE: Stay tuned for an ‘early bird’ contest where members who think they have already guessed the song title get a chance to win before everybody else!

Battle For Britain (The Letter) Day 3…

For those of you that missed it, here’s a link to a Channel 4 news report regarding last Thursday’s Royal Mail Classic Album Covers launch, with a particular bias towards the Ziggy Stardust stamp.

There’s a brief interview with Terry Pastor, who, as you know, was the man responsible for colouring the Ziggy Stardust sleeve. (03.22.2007 NEWS: EXCLUSIVE TERRY PASTOR INTERVIEW) And there’s brief snippets of Bowie footage on two occasions in the report.

One of the points raised in the news item is the supposed rule-breaking in terns of “no living personality other than royalty is allowed to appear on a British stamp”.

Well, I know many reading this don’t see Ziggy‘s visage as particularly breaking that rule, seeing as how many consider him royalty anyway.

But, either way, Ziggy won’t have been the first to break that rule seeing as how a Mary Quant model appeared on a stamp for the British Design Classics series last January.

Not to mention The Beatles set of stamps in 2007 where all four Fabs were depicted on various Beatles album covers…I am reliably informed that two of their number are actually still with us.

Anyway, above is the third letter in our latest contest to win a signed Ziggy Stardust first day cover. See Friday’s original news item if you’re not sure what this is all about. (01.08.2010 NEWS: WIN ROYAL MAIL ZIGGY STARDUST FDC SIGNED BY BOWIE)

We’ve taken letters from several different Bowie album covers and your job over the next couple of weeks or so will be to identify the album each of the letters came from.

You don’t have to do anything just yet. But eventually you’ll not only have to identify the album the letter came from, but also the letters will form an anagram of a Bowie song title that you’ll need to work out.

Fly In Saturday…

The headline says it all…so without further ado first up is this annual notice and the advert above from Daniele in Italy…

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Hi Blam Blam, Here we are again, this Saturday after 11 years of bash we will celebrate the 12th Bowie Bash in Italy.

SATURDAY 9th JANUARY @ SHINDY CLUB ? BASSANO DEL GRAPPA (ITALY)
12th BOWIE BASH ?SPACE ODDITY EXPERIENCE?

– The rarest records on LP & 7? taken from Space Oddity Era.
– Live Concert by Piol & The Glitters From Mars mainly dedicated to the Space Oddity Album
– Let?s Glam ? Video & Dj Set All Night Long by Dj Cazale & Ziggy

INFO:FACEBOOK GROUP : BOWIE GLAM NIGHT

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Next up is the David Bowie Birthday Tribute Show at The Bug Jar in Rochester, NY. Here’s the guff with a bit from the Rochester City Newspaper…

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This birthday, David Bowie will have 63 thin white candles to blow out on his cake. But as much as we’d like for him to do it here, Bowie vowed to never set foot back in Rochester after he and Iggy Pop were busted for weed while visiting back in 1976. He’s made good on that promise so far, so we’ll have to rely on the interpretations of artists like Josh Netsky and Walri, who I think will be great at Bowie’s melodic side; Mikey Jukebox and The Indras, for the edgier stuff; and Ian Downey, who boasts the kind of unpredictability that Bowie has exhibited time and again as one of the most individual performers in rock. By Frank De Blase

Who: David Bowie Birthday Tribute Show:: The Indras, Walri, Mikey Jukebox, Ian Downey & Josh Netsky
When: Saturday, January 9, 2010 – 9:00pm – 18+
Where: The Bug Jar, 219 Monroe Ave., Rochester, NY, USA 14607
Admission: 454-2966 Tickets $5

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Sadly, we missed the boat for Tankboy‘s set at The Burlington. I thought it was tonight, but it transpires it was actually on the 6th. Doh!

Still, on the plus side, it seems Tankboy’s appetite has been sufficiently whetted to make this a regular thing. I’ll leave you with a bit from his blog…

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I and the Thin White Duke thank you.

Bowie Night was a HUGE success. We had a comfortable weekend sized crowd digging the jams last night, and I was so pleased to see so many smiling faces and hear so many requests. Other personal highlights included Ivan showing me his very cool Bowie-related tattoo (super thoughtful and totally not cheesy in any way, shape or form) and Val sharing her stories of when her dad worked with Bowie and she knew him as “Pretty Lady Man.”

I wouldn’t sully this concept by going monthly, but I’m definitely going to make it a semi-regular (quarterly? yearly?) thing.

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