Bowie Gets Thumbs Up From Audio Review

New York's In Love...Part Two

David's performance on The 'Concert for New York City' CD released yesterday in the US on Sony/Columbia (Next Monday December 3rd in Europe) is already getting great reviews in the US. This from Audio Review a couple of days back...just look at that last line:

"Assembled and shipped in what was likely record time, the two-disc companion piece to last October's Concert For New York isn't The Last Waltz, exactly, but it serves as a worthy-and extremely faithful-souvenir of one of the most significant tribute concerts of the past twenty years.

With acts presented roughly in order of appearance, The Concert For New York is parsed into three categories: regulars on the benefit concert circuit (James Taylor, John Mellencamp), classic rock legends (the Who, Paul McCartney, Jagger & Richards), and sops for the kids (Destiny's Child, Goo Goo Dolls, Jay-Z, the Backstreet Boys).

There are random moments of awkwardness: Listeners could likely do without the scattered spoken interludes (Adam Sandler's "Operaman," for example, loses something in translation), and McCartney's show closing "Freedom," while obviously well-meaning, is a surpassingly bad song.

That said, stellar moment abound: Five For Fighting are about the only newer act to distinguish themselves, with the '70s-inspired, oddly Cat Stevens-like gem "Superman." Elsewhere, the Who, with an awe-inspiring mini-set culminating in a thunderous "Won't Get Fooled Again," resolve any lingering questions about their relevancy; James Taylor is in superb voice on the surprisingly fitting "Up On the Roof," and David Bowie's cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "America," perhaps the disc's best moment, is moving and fine."

Zoolander In The Uk

The Prettiest Star

In advance of the much anticipated, general release of Zoolander in the UK tomorrow, you can catch Jonothan Ross interviewing director and star, Ben Stiller, on the long running UK film review show, Film 2001, at 11.35pm GMT on BBC1 tonight.

Just before you see the film for yourself, you can check out David talking about his cameo appearance in the movie, in this journal entry from Sept 2000.

:))

Bowie On Pixies Documentary Tonight

David Bowie on 'Gouge'...he quite likes Pixies.

I am un chien andalusia...

Channel4 in the UK are tonight showing the long-awaited 'Gouge', an excellent documentary about Pixies. Airing at forty minutes after midnight (so technically it's on tomorrow I guess), the programme features some incredible rare early footage of the band, and contributions from U2, Radiohead, PJ Harvey, Badly Drawn Boy, Blur and David Bowie among others.

I don't need to tell you how big a fan of the band David Bowie is, and I could wax lyrical on this particular subject for far longer than you would want me to myself. So I'll leave it to the programme makers to impress upon you the importance of this band, as if there's anybody out there that didn't already know.

There are tons of Bowie connections to Pixies and Frank Black (formerly Black Francis as singer of Pixies), such as: they supported him on some of the European leg of 1990's Sound and Vision tour; Tin Machine tackled the Pixies' classic 'Debaser' on their 1991 tour (a song based coincidentally on Luis Bunuel's 1928 surrealistic masterpiece 'Un Chien Andalou', which was shown as a support feature on the 1976 'Station To Station tour); David wore a 'Death to Pixies' T-shirt on some of those same Tin Machine dates; Frank Black performed 'Scary Monsters' and 'Fashion' with David at Madison Square Garden as part of the 50th birthday concert celebrations...and probably loads more that I can't recall off the top of my head right now.

Bowie: "Three elements made them important I think..."
And you'll just have to watch 'Gouge' to find out what they are.

David has also been quoted many times over the last few years on the subject of Pixies, and tonight is no exception. I'll leave you with one particular quote from 'Gouge' to hopefully whet your appetite:

"I found it just about the most compelling music, outside of Sonic Youth, off the entire Eighties."

And who could disagree with that?

Three More Gail Ann Shows This Week

GAD gives it some at the BBC, June 2000.
Photograph by Total Blam Blam.

Here she comes again...

Following on from her shows in Hudson, New York, a few weeks back (11/01/01 NEWS: GAIL ANN DORSEY LIVE IN HUDSON, NY, TOMORROW) Gail Ann Dorsey, informs us that she has three more shows lined up - Here's the full skinny, as you guys say:

GAIL ANN DORSEY will be performing her solo material with 'THE HUDSON VALLEY GIRLS'. Bassist, solo recording artist SARA LEE (Gang Of Four, B-52's, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls), and KATE PIERSON (lead vocalist with The B-52's) have joined forces to showcase new original material and some favorite oldies. A unique and exciting live music experience!

Wednesday, November 28th@ The Fire412 West Girard Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19123Doors: 9:00 PMShowtime: 11:00 PM(267) 671-9298

Thursday, November 29th@ I.O.T.A. Club2832 Wilson BlvdArlington, VA 22201Doors: 7:00 PMShowtime: 8:30 PM(703) 522-8340

Friday, November 30th@ The Canal Club1545 East Cary StreetRichmond, VA 23219Doors: 7:00 PMShowtime: 9:30 PM(804) 643-2582

Thanx to BowieNetter Karen Baker for supplying us with this same information and those all-important telephone numbers. Karen also had this to say:

"They are all shows of solo material by Gail Ann Dorsey, Kate Pierson, and Sara Lee combined together in a set, with the other two backing up whichever one is singing her song at that moment. I was privileged to see a shorter version of their sets on September 20th at the Woodstock Film Festival opening gala. It was really fabulous. I highly recommend the show!"

So there you have it, good luck girls...and please head this way soon.

Cfnyc Cd Out Today, But Still No Tori

New York's In Love...

The 'Concert for New York City' CD is released today on Sony/Columbia. As we mentioned earlier in the month David's performance kicks off the CD, (11/10/01 NEWS: FINAL TRACK-LIST FOR CFNYC CD) the two tracks he performed being Paul Simon's 'America' and his own "Heroes".

However, the Tori Amos cover of David Bowie's 'After All' does not seem to have surfaced yesterday as promised. (11/13/01 NEWS: TORI CD IS RELEASED AFTER ALL) Despite a copy going on eBay just yesterday for $30, a record company spokesperson said she'd get back to me with another revised release date today...she didn't. I wouldn't hold your breath on this one.

Meet Iman In Person, View Launch Pix And More!

David Bowie, hostess Donna Karan, Iman and Isaac Mizrahi
at the launch of 'I AM IMAN' at DKNY, 13th November 2001.
Photo: © Patrick McMullen, All Rights Reserved.

Crazy clothes and acid full of soul and crazy hip...

Iman will be signing copies of 'I AM IMAN' on December 6th at Sephora Rockefeller NY between 2pm and 3pm local time. Go to Iman's site for further details on this and how you can have a one-on-one makeup consultation with Jay Manuel, I-IMAN's national makeup artist, followed by a full makeover with an artist from I-IMAN's makeup team using this season's beautiful I-Iman Makeup collection. Almost wish I could get there myself. };-)

While we're on the subject of 'I AM IMAN', a wonderful set of twenty of Patrick McMullan's pictures from the book launch have become available to view online at Style.com. When you get there click on the picture of Moby, Diane Von Furstenberg, Iman and Damien Loeb to take you to the slide show.

Jeff Koons looks on as Blammo gets a little bit fruity with DB!
Actually it's Julian Schnabel, but a girl can dream can't she?
Photo: © Patrick McMullen, All Rights Reserved.

While we're still on the subject of 'I AM IMAN', David and Iman have very kindly agreed to sign another hundred sets of the 'I AM IMAN' limited book and CD bundle due to the many e-mails we have received from distressed people worried that they won't get a set. There is still a load of this second run available, but I imagine that will be the end of them.

The random winners from the first part of the David and Iman chat have now been notified, and for those who haven't yet noticed it the transcript of that chat has been posted here.

Syd Barrett On Bbc2 Tonight

"Between the dull cold eyes and the mind unstable..."
Syd Barrett at his Earls Court flat in 1971 by Mick Rock.

Crazy clothes and acid full of soul and crazy hip...

The long-awaited Omnibus documentary 'Syd Barrett - Crazy Diamond' is to be screened on BBC2 this evening at 19:25 (GMT). (Sorry about the short notice...got lost in Syd stuff) The fifty minute programme features contributions from former Pink Floyd colleagues such as Roger Waters who had this to say about 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond', the Floyd tribute to Syd from the album 'Wish You Were Here':

"When I'm singing 'Shine On', Syd's right there all the time...the song is just absolutely about him. It describes how I experienced his disintegration."

Mick Rock also witnessed this "disintegration" during his time with Syd around the late Sixties and the start of the Seventies, when Mick produced the stunning shots for the first solo Barrett album 'The Madcap Laughs', released in January 1970. The shot above is an outtake from that session. It was Mick who conducted the last ever interview with Syd for Rolling Stone magazine in 1971.

All of Mick's pictures of Syd, and indeed the full transcript of that interview, can be found in a new book, 'PSYCHEDELIC RENEGADES' released next year through Genesis Publications. There is a beautifully produced version of the book that is actually signed by Syd himself...his first public act since the release of his last solo album. But if you're interested, I suggest you reserve a copy fast...these volumes are bound to be snapped up in no time at all. Watch for contributions from Mick tonight.

'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' - Acrylics on canvas board
9¼" x 11" - Syd Barrett painted by George Underwood.

Of course, David Bowie himself has never made secret his admiration for Syd Barrett. Apart from being the proud owner of the picture above, painted by his old friend George Underwood, David recorded a wonderfully unhinged version of the Barrett-penned Pink Floyd classic, 'See Emily Play', for his 1973 album, 'PinUps'.

He has hinted more than once that Syd was one of the many ingredients that helped in the creation of Ziggy. This was his reaction to seeing Barrett live in London:

"Syd Barrett with his white white face and his black eyeliner all around his eyes - this strange presence singing in front of a band that was using light shows. I thought, 'Wow! He's a bohemian, a poet, and he's in a rock band!"

So nip over to BBC2 shortly for one of the saddest Rock 'n' Roll tales of unfulfilled promise there ever was.

Steve Harley Returns To The Three Tuns

Cockney Rebel's classic 'Psychomodo' cover from 1974.
Photography and design by Mick Rock.

Looks like you've been there too...

Never realised so many of you out there enjoy the music of Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, a fair few of you remarked how good it was to hear "Tumbling Down" being used as one of the warm-up tracks at last year's Roseland shows. For those of you not familiar with the tune, it's the song sung by the Bowie-esque (ish) Jonathan Rhys Meyers character, Brian Slade, near the start of 'Velvet Goldmine'.

Anyway, when we learnt that Steve had been added to the bill for the unveiling of the plaque at the Rat & Parrot (formerly The Three Tuns) in Beckenham High Street on Thursday, 6th December, we asked him what his connection with the Beckenham Arts Lab was, he replied thus:

"When David went off the be a pop star with Space Oddity, I found myself playing more and more Sundays covering him. Eventually, I was offered my first headline spot at the Arts Lab and was paid the princely sum of £15. Bowie indirectly kick-started my professional career - who'd have thought?"

Steve went on to explain that those early performances at The Three Tuns consisted mainly of songs that were later recorded for his first two classic albums; 'The Human Menagerie' and 'The Psychomodo'. Coincidentally, Mick Rock photographed and designed three or four of Steve's album sleeves from 'The Psychomodo' onwards.

If you're interested in seeing Mr Harley play at the Rat & Parrot event, nip over to BowieWonderWorld. Rednik has all the details that you need if you want to spend the day with fellow fans celebrating the Beckenham Arts Lab and the music of David Bowie at this historically significant venue. See ya there.

Happy Thanksgiving To All

"Not exactly what I meant by a nice bird with a big chest...however."

Thank god heaven left us, Standing on our feet...

It's the third Thursday of November and that means Thanksgiving in the US of A. For the benefit of some of us Europeans that are wondering why we're getting no e-mail from our American friends today, it's because they're too stuffed to move.

Thanksgiving is a time when Americans celebrate, with the aid of food (turkey in particular), the perseverance of the Pilgrims who sailed into Plymouth harbour aboard the Mayflower almost 400 years ago...and it's a nod of appreciation to a rather helpful Abnaki Indian with some pretty useful gardening tips who went by the name of Squanto.

Anyway, you don't need any history lessons from some flaky Limey...so eat, be merry...and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Win Ultra-rare Signed Hedwig Posters

John Cameron Mitchell as the outrageous Hedwig. © Mick Rock

Search through your angry inch thoughts...

As promised yesterday, a Mick Rock competition. I'm sure you know that Mick was responsible for the promotional and merchandise shots for the incredible 'Hedwig And The Angry Inch'. Well, he has now kindly donated a couple of beautiful posters for the film, based on the image above of John Cameron Mitchell, actor, writer and director for the film in which he stars as the internationally ignored songstress, Hedwig.

The posters are a huge 40" x 27" glossy affair with a gorgeously glittery logo and are most collectible indeed...and that's before I tell you that they are signed by both Mick and John!

For your chance to win one of these beauties you have to make sense of the titles below. Each of the three titles is an anagram of a song from the soundtrack of 'Hedwig', and you've no doubt worked out that your task is to give me the original song titles before I scrambled 'em...Easy enough ain't it?

sex pose critique

leg fortnight

cow twit killed ten

Answers by this time next week from a BowieNet e-mail account only (as always), to MrTotalBlamBlam@AOL.Com with a subject line of "Hedwig poster". We'll announce the winner soon afterwards.

Mr Rice's Bowiephiles

I believe in magic

As we reported on Monday (11/19/01 NEWS: MR RICE'S SECRET OUT ON REGION 2 DVD TODAY), the Region 2 DVD for Mr Rice's Secret is now available to own. The 'behind the scenes' interviews include cast and crew talking about their experiences of working with David. Here are some extracts :-

Nicholas Kendall (Director)

'It's wonderful to have a star like David Bowie in a movie like this. When I heard the news that we had David Bowie I was really excited. I had always been a fan of his work but I had obviously never met him and he's been just great to work with. He and Bill Switzer who plays Owen on lead character, they've developed a great relationship in the few days that they've been working together. It's been great.'

Colleen Nystedt (Producer)

'...about as excited as I could be I think. I mean we all have our own personal remembrances and David Bowie has been a huge icon forever. I mean one of the first concerts I ever went to...I can track things back and forth in my life according to what album was out at which time. .....He's touched people's lives in wonderful magical ways all the way along. People can list off all his movies let alone his albums. Go on the internet and check out how many David Bowie sites there are. It's phenomenal. There is something about this man. There is some magic that he has that has touched people over a long period of time in many different ways as he has been able to remanifest himself.'

Bill Switzer (Actor)

David Bowie is just, he's, well....when I took this project, people told me 'well David Bowie is going to be be playing Mr Rice' and I went..... (puzzled expression)...because I wasn't sure about David Bowie and stuff and I knew who he was, don't get me wrong. I knew who David Bowie was but not on the same level....my parents both freaked, you know, 'David Bowie'. So I went out and I listened to a couple of CD's and I looked him up and realised how big this was and it was amazing. You know, I went to a readthrough before we started shooting with Nic and Colleen and I was expecting (acts nervous) 'oh my goodness David Bowie' but I got there and he was really friendly and open and just, you know, yeah he was, he was really cool. .....He was one of the nicest people I've met; not for people of his, you know, status, but for anyone. He's just so..he's really caring. He's really cool.

Bowiephiles - The Rest

Cool and Still

Coolness : London Evening Standard : 11/19/01 In an interview with Ben Stiller, he discusses the many cameos by the famous which have helped Zoolander to success. "I wanted a character that everyone would associate with coolness, an icon. I put Bowie in the script, never thinking he would do it".

Iconic couple : New York Times : 11/18/01 In an article describing her 'Night out with Iman' at Donna Karan, last Tuesday, the writer had this to say about David and Iman: "The artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel was there, as were the society scribe Fran Lebowitz, the comedian Sandra Bernhard and her pal the fashion maker turned stage designer Isaac Mizrahi. And so of course was David Bowie, Iman's husband of 9 years and the other half of what some see as New York's most iconic couple. They linked arms, prompting Mr. Mizrahi to snipe: "You two seem too happy. I don't buy it. You ought to go into couples therapy."

:))

Mick May Be Older, But He's Still Rockin'

"No Mick, you're not having that...You had that last year!"

And there was a little old man*

Nobody really knows the age of the loveable, but completely swishy old tart...but it IS Mick Rock's birthday, and I know everybody reading this would like to wish him many happy returns. I'm sure you would have felt it more appropriate had you been born actually on Thanksgiving Michael...but have a great day all the same.

Stay tuned for a Mick Rock competition tomorrow...if you can escape the Thanksgiving celebration's of course.

*Actually, he's really rather big...in terms of his height at least, you understand!

View Rca Secret 2001 At Bowieart Now

Some postcards being viewed using the traditional method in London yesterday.

Secret secret never seen...

As we mentioned a couple of weeks back, for the first time ever you can view the RCA SECRET exhibition online. (11/06/01 NEWS: VIEW RCA SECRET 2001 AT BOWIEART) All 1,600 cards are available now for your viewing pleasure courtesy of the girls over at Bowieart.com, who will now be hibernating through the winter months due to exhaustion.

Damien Hirst, R.B. Kitaj, Prada, Marc Quinn, Nick Park, Manolo Blahnik, Anish Kapoor, and Billy Childish are just a few of the artists and designers who have donated postcards to this year's show, as has that queer-eyed rock-god, David Bowie.

The cards go on sale at 8:00am (GMT) on Thursday 29th November 2001 and you can get the full low-down on exhibition times etc here...You can also take your time to view the cards online here, in a hassle-free environment, while you enjoy the warmth and comfort of your very own computer room...unless of course you have braved the elements to log on at your local cybernet cafe...sorry, I'm rambling.

I'll have that, and that, and that, and that, and that...

Anyway, as I say, David has contributed, but don't pester me for clues as to the nature of his work...I know nothing!

};-)

Bowienet Discount At Musicfoto.com

David Bowie performing 'Cracked Actor' during the 'Serious
Moonlight Tour' of 1983. © Lawrence Kirsch Communications

I keep a photograph, It burns my wall with time...

That ever-so generous Lawrence Kirsch over at Musicfoto.com has kindly given BowieNetters the chance to buy from his impressive folio of Bowie photographs at a preferential purchase price. These classic shots, that cover tours from 1974 to 1987, can be bought by BowieNetters with an incredible 40% discount until December 15th. In Lawrence's own words:

"The current discount for all those who surf by the Musicfoto.com home page is 30%, already quite considerable. However, exclusive to Bowienet and anyone who has a DavidBowie.com address they will be entitled to an additional 10% discount, a whopping total of 40%!"

Go here for the Musicfoto.com Bowie pages and to maybe give you some Christmas gift ideas for you favourite Bowie fan friend, family member, European Correspondent, etc... };-)

Bbca Rocks With Bowie For Thanksgiving

Just watch me now...

If you missed BBC America's two previous Bowie weekends, don't worry.. Especially for Thanksgiving, they are planning yet another weekend "celebrating music legend David Bowie".

Programmes are as follows :

11/22/01 (Thursday)

Bowie at the Beeb : 8.00PM
Bowie at the Beeb : 9.30PM
Later with Jools : 11.00PM

11/23/01 (Friday)

The Man Who Fell To Earth : 12.00AM
Bowie at the Beeb : 3.00AM
A Little Later : 4.30AM
Bowie at the Beeb : 1.00PM
A Little Later : 2.30PM
Cracked Actor : 8.00PM
Bowie at the Beeb : 9.00PM
Cracked Actor : 10.30PM
The Man Who Fell To Earth : 11.30PM

11/24/01 (Saturday)

The Man Who Fell To Earth : 2.30AM
A Little Later : 5.30AM

Bowie at the Beeb, June 2000, by Total Blam Blam.

Also, if you visit the BBCA website, you can win one of 10 "Bowie at the Beeb" box sets, and, as always, you can find full details of these and other programmes, in our calendar.

Enjoy!

:))

Happy Birthday To Gail Ann Dorsey

Gail rehearses for the show that never was at the Roseland Ballroom,
NYC, Saturday, June 17th, 2000. Photograph by Total Blam Blam.

O Supergirl...

Best wishes, many happy returns, and all that sort of happy birthday malarkey, to the very gorgeous and obscenely talented Gail Ann Dorsey. Much love from the members, staff and Governor of BowieNet.

Have a wonderful day...and I know I speak on behalf of everybody here when I say we are very much looking forward to seeing you live again next year. Get learning that new stuff girl!

};-) xxx

Mr Rice's Secret Out On Region 2 Dvd Today

Formerly known as 'Exhuming Mr Rice'...
the region 2 cover of 'Mr Rice's Secret'.

Now I'm older than movies...

The Nicholas Kendall directed 'Mr. Rice's Secret' is released on DVD via Odyssey Video in Europe, The Middle East and Japan today. Regular visitors to this news page will be quite familiar with this enchanting story in which David plays the 400-year-old Mr Rice, (03/06/01 NEWS: MR RICE: WHY RENT WHEN YOU CAN WIN? and 09/25/01 NEWS: MR RICE'S SECRET OUT ON REGION 1 DVD TODAY) but here's a brief synopsis for those of you that aren't already familiar with the film:

It's What You Do In Life That Counts.

On a dare, twelve-year old, terminally ill Owen Walters (Bill Switzer) sneaks into church and videotapes Mr. Rice's funeral. Later, Owen and his friends break into Mr. Rice's house to watch the tape on his video machine. While in the house they discover a sealed envelope addressed to Owen, a letter from Mr. Rice, written in a secret code. Owen soon discovers that Mr. Rice has left him a medieval code ring, a treasure map and a series of clues. Clues that will lead him on a surreal treasure hunt to find a magical "Potion of Life" that may save his life.

This version comes in a different sleeve to the region 1 DVD, and the DVD itself has an EPK that includes interviews with some of the cast and crew, including a couple of minutes with David, and some behind-the-scenes footage.

Stevie Ray Vaughan Cd Out Tomorrow

David Bowie, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Nile Rodgers recording 'Let's Dance'.
Thanks to Susans for tracking down this rather elusive shot.

Words are flowing out like endless rain...

Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'LIVE AT MONTREUX 1982 & 1985' that we mentioned at the start of the month (11/02/01 NEWS: BOWIE FOREWORD FOR STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN CD) is due out tomorrow on Sony. As we said before, the 19-track CD features a 1,200 word foreword by David, from which, another exclusive excerpt:

"December rolled around and after only a couple or so weeks in the studio Nile Rodgers and I had put down the tracks and vocals of my new album, Let's Dance. All that was left was to overdub the lead guitar. In the third week of December Stevie strolled into the Power Station and proceeded to rip-up everything one thought about dance records.

After his blistering solo on the title song he ambled into the control room and with a cheeky smile on his face, shyly quipped, 'That one's for Albert', knowing full well that I would understand that King's own playing was the genesis for that solo.

One after another he knocked down solo upon solo, song upon song. In a ridiculously short time he had become midwife to the sound that I had had ringing in my ears all year. A dance form that had its melody rooted in a European sensibility but owed its impact to the blues."

You can read the other 1,050 words of the foreword if you get your hands on a copy of the CD booklet tomorrow. Read about David's joy of discovering Stevie's talent, and the sadness and heartbreak behind the last-minute cancellation of the late guitarist's place on 'The Serious Moonlight Tour'.

David And Iman Chat Transcript

David and Iman backstage at the CFNYC.

I was Thursday's Child...

In case you've not already seen it, you can now relive the fun of Thursday evening via the transcript for the moderated chat with David and Iman. The transcript is now up in the BowieChat Archives. We will be posting the public chat early next week.