Month: March 2011

Feeling like lost little children…

Mick Rock has generously donated a limited edition issue of the above previously-unpublished live shot of David Bowie on stage in 1973 to the Mario Batali Foundation.

The MBF‘s mission is to ensure children are well read, well fed and well cared for through support of children’s literacy and education programs, nutrition education and paediatric disease research.

The print is available via an eBay auction which is now live. Here’s the blurb…

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Be the first to own this photo of David Bowie by legendary photographer Mick Rock!

The rare and gorgeous black & white photo has never before been seen or printed, and is being auctioned here exclusively to benefit the Mario Batali Foundation. The 11×14 photo shows Bowie playing acoustic guitar onstage in 1973.

The photo was printed in an edition of 90, with each individually hand-signed and numbered by photographer Mick Rock accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. The photos will be given out in the order they are purchased (i.e. first person to purchase receives 1/90, second receives 2/90, etc.).

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Go here to purchase one of the first ten prints via Buy It Now for US $750.00… if you’re quick, you might still get print #1. But if you’re too late for that, you’ll still be providing enormous help to this very worthwhile cause whatever number you get.

It will tumble from the sky…

The above The Man Who Fell To Earth Region 2 BD that we told you about last year, (12.02.2010 NEWS: TMWFTE DUE ON REGION 2 BLU-RAY NEXT YEAR) was originally due for release about now.

However, this long-awaited Optimum Classic release has now been put back a month to April 4th.

I’m fairly sure this version contains pretty much the same content as its Criterion counterpart, (08.22.2008 NEWS: CRITERION TMWFTE BLU RAY RELEASE DETAILS) but I’ll let you know for certain once I’ve viewed the check disc.

Meanwhile, if you’re pre-ordering, be careful not to accidentally select this The Man Who Fell To Earth DVD pictured below…

I guess this title stems from back in the day when it was suggested on more than one occasion that both David Bowie and Brian Eno were visitors from another planet! It didn’t seem an unreasonable notion at the time. The 70s, eh? I guess you had to be there.

Anyway, I’ll give this DVD the benefit of the doubt for now, but don’t blame me if you order it and it ends up being one of those shoddy cut and paste jobs like so many of the unofficial Bowie DVDs that litter the marketplace.

It’s happening now…

I’m sure a fair few of you have already spotted the registration page over on the Genesis Publications site for this one, but we thought you might like a bit more detail than they have on there right now.

Considering the amount of incredible David Bowie pictures Masayoshi Sukita has taken since their first session together in July 1972, (a picture from which was utilised for the JIOD press advert I used in the signed calendar contest a few days back) it’s incredible that so few of them made it out to the public before the 1990 Ryko Sound + Vision reissue programme and attendant tour.

Of course, we had been given tantalising glimpses via various publications, including official tour programmes, fan club material and record sleeves.

However, a fully-dedicated work for the photographer’s Bowie pictures wasn’t released until 1992, when it finally arrived in the shape of the relatively hard to find Japan only release, Ki – Spiritual Force, (pictured below) a beautiful 140-page hardback published by Tokyo FM Books.

Then a few years back we were teased again by the appearance of a registration flyer from Genesis Publications, see below. This hinted at great things to come, but then it all went quiet again.

Now it’s back on again and if you liked Ki, I can tell you that the upcoming Genesis volume takes things to a whole different level…as you would expect from the company who brought us both Moonage Daydream and From Station To Station.

Currently using the working title of Speed Of Life (which could yet change) the book will hopefully be available in time for Christmas. Speed Of Life will be a limited edition run of 2,000 copies worldwide, each signed by David Bowie and Masayoshi Sukita.

The book will include written contributions from David to accompany Sukita’s incredible archive, which boasts many previously unpublished shots from that first encounter right up to the 2002 session from where the mono picture in the montage at the top of this piece was taken.

Stay tuned for more exclusive teasers and a timeline of Sukita’s Bowie sessions to clear up the confusion surrounding some of them.

It’s hard enough to keep formation, mid this Fall Out Boy saturation…

SPIN.com has a new weekly feature in My Favorite Things, wherein musicians tell us about the things they love. This week it’s Patrick Stump, the ex-frontman of Fall Out Boy.

Among the things Patrick loves is his very favourite album, David Bowie’s 1977 classic, Low. Here’s what he had to say about the groundbreaking masterpiece…

“David Bowie’s Low is everything I want out of a record: It’s catchy pop; it’s disturbing and violent sexuality; it’s kind of funk music; it’s a confounding post-Fluxus movement drug opus; it’s absolutely high art and low art getting caught in bed together.”

Patrick’s debut solo release, the six-track Truant Wave EP, is available online now.

Golden Shears, Baaaa, Baaaa, Baaaa…

Just when you think you know somebody. I read with interest that David Bowie has been timekeeping at New Zealand’s annual Golden Shears event for 35 years.

In fact, I wondered how much of a double life one could lead when I also read that he was involved with the first Golden Shears 51 years ago.

And while I understood that they liked to get kids out to work early all those years ago, my jaw dropped when I read: “Mr Bowie was a member of the Wainuioru Young Farmers Club in 1960 when the Shears began.”

Poor little sod. At only thirteen, how was he meant to practise saxophone and concentrate on his stopwatch at the same time?

Then it hit me, there might actually be more than one David Bowie on the planet. You can read all about the timekeeping one here.

Meanwhile, I’ll remind you how easy a mistake this was to make when one considers that the other David Bowie (the one you lot like) created the above artwork, entitled: Charles’ Sheep back in 1994. Well, proves he must like sheep though.

And showed me the leather strap made by Slick…

Guitarfetish.com has just announced details of an exclusive range of Earl Slick-designed leather guitar straps under the name of SLICKSTRAPS. It’s a very cool range that proves that the Axe God isn’t just a very pretty face and a purveyor of fine guitar licks.

We spoke to our resident Slickophile, Zardoz, who had this to say: “I can’t imagine life without a set of these fine Slick Straps now. They immediately command respect from other guitarists and most of my family. I shudder at the thought of life before Slick Straps!” I then asked exactly how many of the designs Zardoz (real name Frank, coincidentally) had purchased. “Well, I haven’t actually got any just yet, but I will be ordering the whole set. I’ve told other guitarists and most of my family about them and I could tell they respected both my decision to purchase a set and my life choices in general.”

Actually, much of that conversation was made up…well, all of it. But that’s probably how it would have gone, because these are seriously cool straps that you should go check out here now and watch the Slick video while you’re about it.

Meanwhile, we can confirm that the man himself will be present at the Best Buy signing session in Union Square in New York on March 15th that we recently mentioned, (02.22.2011 NEWS: SLICK JOINS NEW YORK DOLLS FOR TOUR, ETC.) and David Johansen has confirmed what Slick already told us in that same story.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent David J interview with The Quietus:

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You’ve managed to pick up Earl Slick [of David Bowie fame] for the UK dates coming up ? how did you rope him in?

DJ: Oh geez, I know him from Staten Island way back. I probably met him in some guy’s garage. It was a long time ago, I don’t remember exactly. We probably went to someone’s garage who had some drums in there and then just started playing with some cats.

We were thinking about who we were going to get in for this tour and I have a friend who said ‘You should check out Earl, I was talking to him the other day and he was saying how he’d like to play with you guys.’ So I did.

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Finally, the band have added a whole load of new shows to their tour page in the form of thirty plus dates for a North American Summer Tour…that’s on top of those already announced. Check out the full itinerary here.

Don’t fake it baby…

We set this one back at the start of the year and it seems it had a few of you foxed. (01.01.2011 NEWS: CELEBRATE THE NEW YEAR WITH A SIGNED 2011 CALENDAR)

Your task was to identify the fake advert from a selection of eight that all boasted pictures by photographer Brian Ward, in keeping with the theme of the calendar. Here’s a memory refresh…

Though we did eventually get enough correct answers, all of the other legit adverts were selected as the fake by many of you…even though I had chosen a shot I thought you would be able to identify as being inappropriate for the period.

As you can see from the animation below, the offending fake was advert D for which I used a 1971 Brian Ward Hunky Dory outtake.

Whereas the original advert (taken from the September 2nd 1972 issue of NME) featured a more current Sukita shot of David taken from their first session together in London during July of 1972.

Anyway, in the event we got more than enough correct entries and the ten BowieNetters below were those luckily plucked from the Random Generator’s hat this time…

brotherziggy
chas
chaspearson
kooksh28
mhammond
michaelwbates
nightlight
paul
reinhold
starlight1

If you folx could furnish us with your name and address we will send your signed calendar without further delay. We will also include a little something extra to make up for not getting the calendars before 2011 actually started! (Entirely my fault.)

But then again, what kind of nut job would actually hang a signed calendar and use it as if it were just like any other calendar? And, on top of that, what particular type of lunatic wouldn’t have already had an unsigned calendar up on their wall anyway? Answer me that if you dare! };-)

And I’m gone gone gone…

You may remember our report back in May of last year about the BBC’s excellent Worried About The Boy presentation. (05.19.2010 NEWS: SEE BOWIE IN BBC BOY GEORGE DRAMA…SORT OF) As you might imagine, one of the things that made this journey through Boy George‘s early career all the more interesting was the wonderful soundtrack, which included, among other gems, David Bowie’s “Heroes”, Beauty And The Beast and Always Crashing In The Same Car.

However, I should warn you that the soundtrack on this commercial release bears absolutely no resemblance to the TV version. Gone are the Bowie tracks and the majority of the others too, with only four songs from the original broadcast remaining…two by Culture Club, one Siouxsie & The Banshees and one Bow Wow Wow.

The missing twenty or so classics are replaced by a pretty nondescript original score that attempts to suggest the flavour of the originals.

Oh well, If it’s any consolation, you do get a bonus nineteen-track best of Boy George and Culture Club CD thrown in.