Make-up Artist Says Db Was Her Saviour

What made my life so wonderful?

Today's Daily Mail newspaper in the UK has a two-page spread by Becky Sheaves about make-up artist Carolyn Cowan, 46, who claims David Bowie gave her some powerful advice while she was employed on a Tin Machine video shoot in Dublin, in July 1991.

Here's an excerpt from the piece:

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I was booked to go to Dublin to do David Bowie's make-up for a video. The night before the shoot, I sat alone in the bar of my hotel drinking whisky, chain-smoking cigars and watching, of all things, the finals of the Miss Ireland contest. I didn't get to bed until 3am; by 5am I had to be up and working.

David Bowie took one look at me, hung-over, red-eyed and incoherent, and told me I was in trouble. He was in recovery from drug addiction and badly wanted me to get well, too.

But I was furious. I'd expected a fun, party time. Instead, every day of the shoot, David asked me if I had managed to stay sober the night before. And, of course, I hadn't.

By the third day, he had persuaded me to go to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. Everything he'd said had finally got through to me and I'm now so grateful for his intervention. For as I sat there in the church hall, surrounded by old Irish drunks, I suddenly had what I can only describe as a spiritual epiphany. I felt filled with the possibility of getting clean and glimpsed a life beyond drink or drugs.

There and then, I admitted I was an addict and vowed to get clean. And I have been ever since.

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You can read the whole article online here.

Thanx to all of you who mailed or messaged me about this item...but mostly thanx to Doug 'Experimental Hair' Doig for being the first to notify me at 11:30pm last night!

Db Says Thank You To R&f On Their 40th Birthday

You Belong In Rock&Folk...

The extremely French Jerome Soligny has been in touch with details of the 40th anniversary edition of Rock&Folk magazine.

UK fans will know just how important the magazine was to us teenagers back in the 70s, (as it was of course to the rest of the world) as it often seemed to be the only source of decent quality Bowie photos printed on glossy magazine pages.

The fact that none of us understood a word of several important and in-depth features back then didn't seem important...At least not when, on the rare occasion that one could get hold of a copy of the mag, you could run straight off to the French teacher for a translation!

Anyway, the magazine continued to boast many exclusive Bowie interviews and features right up to the present day.

Here's David's birthday message in the current issue of the magazine, for those that can't read the small French stuff in the scan above:

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For all at Rock and Folk, my very best wishes to you for this 40th birthday. You are true survivors and we have come a long way together, you and I. Thank you so much for being there for all of us artists and I personally look forward to talking with you again in the near future.

David Bowie

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So happy 40th birthday too from the Bowie fans around the globe whose bedroom walls you managed to brighten in such a stylish way.

Signed Calendar Contest Winners

And ten lucky peoploids...

OK - I won't prolong the agony on this one. Here are the ten BowieNetters that will be receiving a signed by David Bowie and Mick Rock official 2007 limited edition calendar.

chrisgaffney
JAYL
Jozef
kingtommy
LamBugi
paul
paulaf
Spike
toni2
Webwolf

If you lucky buggers could please furnish me with your real names and addresses, we will lay these beauties on you as soon as they have been signed by both the guilty parties.

Stay tuned for some equally exciting competitions over the coming days and weeks...honest, there are some very cool contests on the way.

You still have the rest of October to order the limited edition calendar with a BowieNet discount, as outlined in this news story: 10.01.2006 NEWS: OFFICIAL 2007 BOWIE/ROCK CALENDAR ON SALE NOW!

Last Day Of Signed Calendar Contest

Here today, gone tomorrow...

Don't forget that today is the last day of our contest to win one of ten limited edition official 2007 calendars signed by both David Bowie and Mick Rock.

If you've not yet entered, see the original news item we posted two weeks ago for details. (10.02.2006 NEWS: SIGNED OFFICIAL 2007 BOWIE/ROCK CALENDAR CONTEST)

We will stop accepting entries after midnight tonight UK time...so that still gives you a good seven hours to get your act together if you haven't yet.

Lennox Leaks Bowie Radio Documentary Details

"David, you just wait until they invent the internet. I'm going
to scoop that idiot Blammo if you ever employ the clown!"
Annie Lennox and David Bowie perform Under Pressure
at the Freddie Mercury tribute at Wembley in April 1992.

It's the terror of knowing...

David, if you're reading this, it may be best to turn away now before what might well have been one of your 60th birthday surprises is ruined!

Right, now he's gone it's safe to tell you that Ex-Eurythmic and all-round groovy gal, Annie Lennox, has posted details on her site regarding an upcoming Radio 2 DB special called Inspirational Bowie...Here's the scoop word-for-word from Aberdeen Annie's official site:

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Annie recently contributed to 'Inspirational Bowie' - a one hour radio documentary to tie in with David Bowie's 60th birthday. The programme hears from performers who have been moved by Bowie's music utilising interviews with a large cross section of performers who have been touched by David's influence.

As well as Annie there are interviews with New Order, The Dandy Warhols, Brett Anderson, Moby, Elbow, Boy George, Simple Minds, Richard Hawley, Neil Hannon, Marc Almond and others are planned to be included.

The programme INSPIRATIONAL BOWIE will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 Saturday 6th January 2007 at 21.00. Just so you don't miss it, we will remind you in the new year.

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Well, we'll also do the same and we'll also keep you informed of any other 60th Bowie birthday celebrations as we get them. Providing David's not looking that is.

Thanks to jeffk on the BowieNet MBs for the pointer.

Bowie Track That Changed The Life Of Juliette Lewis

Juliette, Remember me, All the days of your life...

The current issue of NME (October 14th) has the latest in a long line of Bowie songs chosen for The Recommender section of the magazine. Spaceface has been keeping you up to date with the last few of these on the MBs.

The last one I posted on these pages was Brandon Curtis of Secret Machines who reckoned that Ashes To Ashes was the song that was the single biggest influence on him. (03.16.2006 NEWS: BOWIE BIGGEST INFLUENCE ON SECRET MACHINES)

This week actress and singer Juliette Lewis confesses that A New Career In A New Town is the song that changed her life. You can read what she has to say about this sublime instrumental track from 1977's Low album in the piece above.

But, for those that can't quite make out her comments, here's an excerpt:

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"There's this mystery and joyfulness to it, but it's also kind of perverse. All of the second side of this album [Low] is instrumental, and this is the last song of side A, a sort of omen of what's to come.

Brian Eno's production is awesome

(Blammo note: Sorry TV, she said it, not me) - the drums sound really electronic, and there's all these eerie synthesizer sounds. There's something really happy about it, which is weird, because Bowie was in Berlin and going through quite a dark time at that point."

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Actually, Bowie was at Le Château d'Hérouville, just north of Paris in France, but we know where you're coming from, Juliette.

While I personally don't find A New Career In A New Town happy as such, (I actually think it's beautifully melancholic) it is without doubt a hugely uplifting track that still sounds like it belongs way off in the future somewhere. Not bad for a track, or indeed, album, that was recorded thirty years ago.

Juliette & The Licks' album, Four On The Floor, is out now.

Compilation Cds Round-up

A couple of songs, From your old scrapbook...

Above is the latest batch of compilation CDs released in the last few months which each contain a Bowie track. This is an occasional service provided when the mood takes me, as I don't actually believe there are too many of you out there interested in these things.

But, there are enough people, like me, that might perhaps benefit from a little psychiatric help and still feel the need to own these bloody things! Still, I guess they are good for Beat The Intro with the missus.

I won't bother listing every track on each CD, just the relevant Bowie track, release date, etc.

Feelgood Songs
Double CD released through Virgin TV on June 26th
Includes: Let's Dance

Drinking Songs
Single CD released through Virgin TV on July 3rd
Includes: Alabama Song

Between the Covers
Single CD released through Legacy on September 12th
Includes: Dancing in the Street - with Mick Jagger

BBC Radio 2 Presents the Playlist
Triple CD released through Virgin TV on October 23rd
Includes: Life On Mars?

See Tmwstw In Regent's Park Tomorrow

Get out the cab! An interior shot of Sarah Lucas's The Man Who
Sold The World, 2004. © The artist/Courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London.

You're face to face, with The Man Who Sold The World...

The Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent's Park in London, this year featuring over 150 of the most exciting contemporary art galleries in the world...it says here. This fourth edition of the fair will take place from the 12th to the 15th of October.

One of the works displayed in this year's Sculpture Park is Sarah Lucas's 2004 sculpture, The Man Who Sold The World, which was described thus in the same edition of The Observer that published the item in yesterday's BowieNet news:

"A lorry driver's cab decorated with yellowing newspaper images of naked women - and fitted out with a model arm that rises and falls, mimicking the act of masturbation - has been installed in the English Garden at Regents Park. Artist Sarah Lucas's provocative sculpture, The Man who Sold the World, is one of several works to go up in the public garden marking the arrival of the annual Frieze Art Fair, which begins on Thursday. Watched over by a guard while the Sculpture Park is open, her work will be off-limits for under-18s."

You can read Vanessa Thorpe's full Observer feature here...which seems a little better researched than Oliver Marre's aforementioned piece.

The Sculpture Park is open to the general public as well as to Frieze Art Fair ticket holders from tomorrow.

The title of Sarah's work put me in mind of other well-known artworks by YBAs that have clearly been influenced by a David Bowie song.

Above is Marc Quinn's rather enigmatic I Need An Axe To Break The Ice, 1992. The work, a latex balloon cocooned in glass, was gifted to the British public along with several other important pieces, via the Arts Council, by multi-millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi.

Finally, Beautiful, Hello, Space-boy Painting, 1995, (above) was produced by DB in collaboration with Damien Hirst. This was one of many spin paintings made by Hirst where a large circular canvas was rotated on a gigantic turntable while household gloss paint was thrown onto it from above. The technique was basically a scaled up version of the popular 60s childrens' painting toy, SPiRO-matic.

DB described the process at the time:

"We took a big round canvas, about twelve foot, and it's on a machine that spins it around at about twenty miles an hour, and we stand on the top of step-ladders and throw paint at it. It's from a child's game, you drop paint on and centrifugal force pushes the stuff out."

Next week, so we're not accused of favouring the Young British Artists, we'll be looking at similar appropriations for the Young Americans and Young Americans 2 exhibitions at The Saatchi Gallery in 1996 and 1998 respectively.

Limited Edition Signed Ziggy Art Print Discount Update

Alone on a mean street...

David Bowie's iconic 1972 The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars album cover has been reproduced as a limited edition art print (in an edition of 195) by UK based company, St Pauls Gallery.

The 28" x 27" print has the official seal of approval, and has been signed and numbered in pencil by both David Bowie and Terry Pastor of Main Artery, (seen signing the prints below) the original artist who hand-tinted Brian Ward's famous photograph for the sleeve.

This beautiful edition was painstakingly reproduced from the original artwork and has been screen printed with the Ziggy Stardust type omitted, as the examples shown here.

The actual image area size is 19" x 19", within an overall paper size of 28" x 27", (as the scaled down version below) and the paper it's printed on is 330 gsm Somerset Velvet enhanced.

Update: When I posted this news item on Wednesday evening, we were still working on getting a discount for BowieNetters. The print is retailing at £750 GBP (approx. $1,393 USD) to other folk, but BowieNetters will now receive a very generous 15 per cent discount, a reduction of £112.50! (approx. $210 USD)

You can order your print now by clicking on any of the above images and entering the code: BOWIENET1. This discount will be available for a limited time, and as the edition sells the price will steadily increase. This discount will not be available elsewhere.

As I'm sure you know, these kind of art prints are always a valuable investment. Anybody who purchased the lithograph of David's 1977 painting, Child In Berlin, will have no doubt been delighted by the steady rise in its value.

Stay tuned for that contest to win an Artist's Proof of Ziggy Stardust.

Major Tom And His Missus Not Getting Spaced Out

The article from The Observer, October 8th. Penned by Oliver Marre, pooh-poohed by David Bowie.

Rumours and lies, and stories they made up...Part 386

When I spied the above story in the Observer on Sunday, it didn't seem quite right to me, so I ran it past DB and he confirmed my suspicions thus:

"This must be Branson going for some cheap PR. And how cheap can you get. It's Total Tosh, of course."

It seems that there were very few MB posters who believed a word of the story either, but just to make sure, DB reiterated there too: "What bollox, not true of course."

I thought it worth posting his denial here, as I have already had a couple of people outside of BowieNet asking me if it's true that David and Iman are spending £230,000 on this trip into space.

As David says, it's not true ...and so it gives me great pleasure to be able to declare the Observer piece, Officially "Total Tosh"!

Pre-order Bowie Peace Thru Art Mug Now

While I eat my scones and drink my cup of tea...

Speaking of charity (see yesterday's news) it seems you all voted in strong enough numbers to persuade the Whatever It Takes charity to put the above mug into production. (06.22.06 NEWS: VOTE FOR NEW BOWIE-DESIGNED CHARITY ITEMS NOW)

Stock isn't actually expected for a month or so, but if you want to get your Christmas orders in (for those that celebrate, etc.) best get ordering now.

The reverse of the mug features David's stick figure drawings of him and Lexi based on the work of the late British sculptor Lynn Chadwick. (06.18.2005 NEWS: DB EXPLAINS INSPIRATION FOR CHARITY ARTWORK)

Each mug comes in a gift-box with a photograph of David and a message from him.

The Mugs are priced at £9.99 (approx. ?14.82) and don't forget it's all for most deserving causes. David's chosen charities, are Trade plus Aid & Save the Children.

Click on the image above to get to the ordering page. Thanx to BowieNetter msimmo for the pointer.

Support Bowienetter Staff In Charity Race

A relaxed Kurt psyches himself up for another hard session as Staff on the BowieNet MBs!

Like the ragged boy who races with the wind...

UltraStar staff member, erm...Staff (aka Kurt), who visitors to the BowieNet MBs all know and love dearly, is due to embark on a 109 mile charity bicycle race next month.

The race is the El Tour de Tucson and Staff will be racing as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training on November 18th.

Here's an excerpt from a piece he's written on his sponsor page...

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I am training to participate in El Tour de Tucson XXIV as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma.

I'm completing this 100 mile race in honor of all individuals who are battling blood cancers.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance the Society's mission.

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Staff has so far managed to raise almost a fifth of his $5,000 goal, and judging by similar appeals in the past I'm pretty sure there will be a few more of you out there willing to donate a little something to help him reach his target.

In the past, BowieNetter's generosity has never ceased to amaze when it comes to appeals of this nature. Please go here if you wish to make a donation of your own.

You can read a whole lot more regarding this event in Staff's BowieNet Blog, here.

Ziggy At The Vanguard In Sydney Next Weekend

Friday On My Mind...

Mad as a box of frogs Oz singer, Jeff Duff, (aka Duffo) has been in touch with the news that he'll be performing the songs of David Bowie at two sold out shows next weekend, in Sydney, Australia.

I asked Jeff what he had in store for Friday and Saturday, and here's what he said:

I will be joined by a few other like minded oz singers including a couple of great female vovalists. We'll be backed by my rock combo the 'Alien Sex Gods' who are similar in style to the 'Spiders from Mars'. We'll be concentrating on most of the Ziggy Stardust album but will be performing many of the big guns from Bowie's other 70's, 80's albums...I may even throw in an Iggy song or a tune from the Bowie produced Transformer album by Lou Reed.

It will be loud, stylish and very cheeky...both nites are sold out! I've designed a new costume especially for the show...there isn't much to it but it looks very groovy. It's always a great nite when I do the Bowie shows...the audience gets into the whole glam thing with outageous dress-ups...and I usually end up making a spectacle of myself getting down to skimpy leotard or worse! Ha.

Knowing how big a fan of Bowie and his music Jeff has been since way back, I asked him exactly what DB has meant to him over the years:

I think any self-respecting music loving mortal would be in denial if they suggested they hadn't been touched or influenced by the music and style of David Bowie. I'm happy to say I'm one of the many billion who has been caught up in his spell.

In Australia in the early seventies, straight out of art school I began creating my own stage costumes a few of which led to me being arrested on stage. I guess on a smaller scale some of my early attempts to outrage were reminincent of early Bowie. He gave me courage to outrage!

I can pin point specific times or events in my life to particular Bowie songs...he has been my barometer for life. Yow. Jeff Duff.

Jeff's last two albums, Ground Control To Frank Sinatra and Lost In The Stars, have been toungue-in-cheeck hybrids of David Bowie and Frank Sinatra with a kind of rock/swing thing going on. You can decide for yourself what you think of them by listening to some two minute snippets here.

A good starting point is the beautifully sparce arrangement of a down tempo Rebel Rebel from Ground Control To Frank Sinatra. To these ears the arrangement could almost have come straight from a 1974 Philly Dogs show. Great stuff.

And who would have guessed how esilly the likes of Changes, Space Oddity and Suffragette City would lend themselves to a pretty convicing swing arrangement?

Anyway, the upcoming shows on Friday 13th and Saturday 14th are more faithful rock arrangements in the spirit of the originals...but, as Jeff says, they're sold out. So if you don't yet have a ticket perhaps you'd better case the joint before Friday, to see if you're likely to squeeze comfortably through the ladies' powder room window!

Footnote: Sometime in the early 90s, Xfm radio in the UK put out a request for the 1979 Duffo hit, Give Me Back Me Brain, above. I dutifully trundled down to the London based radio station with my collection of Duffo records. There I was met by an upcoming DJ who remarked how some of the covers were very Bowie-esque, and he admitted to being a huge Bowie fan himself. They borrowed the single from me and broadcast it a few moments later.

You can see that DJ as he looks now, in yesterday's news (10.06.2006 NEWS: EXTRAS ON HBO FROM JANUARY), in a picture with David Bowie that I took a few months bach at the Extras shoot.

Extras On Hbo From January

See his pug-nosed face...

For those of you within the broadcast catchment area (whatever that means) of HBO, you will no doubt be pleased to learn that series two of Extras will be aired on HBO on Sunday nights at 10:00pm starting from 14 January 2007.

Hopefully that's good news for those of you that couldn't access the BBC 2 or online screenings of the second episode that featured David Bowie and his genius composition, The Little Fat Man (With The Pug-Nosed Face). (09.22.2006 SNIPPET: LITTLE FAT MAN...THE WORDS)

Spongebob Squarepants In New Bowie Journal

Patrick Star and SpongeBob SquarePants utilise their Go-faster
stripes to get to David Bowie's latest journal entry all the quicker.

Somewhere there's an ocean, Innocent and wild...

SpongeBob SquarePants has to be one of the more original animations produced in recent years, if not one of the most damn right surreal!

I have no idea how popular the crazy little cartoon is in most BowieNetter's homes, but him and his gang of unlikely misfits are priority viewing in chez Blam Blam.

Anyway, who would have thought the show could get any more ridiculous, not me! Until I read David Bowie's latest journal entry that is!

You can always count on DB to do just exactly that which you wouldn't have expected, which I guess makes him kind of dependably different.

Exclusive Shot From The Set Of The Prestige

"I'm putting on my top hat..." The handsome and debonair Nikola Tesla.

And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor...

Due in US cinemas in just over two weeks (October 20) publicity for The Prestige is stepping up a gear. We'd like to contribute to that effort by reproducing the exclusive shot above of David Bowie as Nikola Tesla in-between takes on the set of the film.

BowieNetters can view an exclusive full length version of the shot by clicking on Mr Tesla's top hat.

Meanwhile, the publicity drive continues with lots of extra footage on the official site of The Prestige, including a scene which demonstrates further the unusual but intriguing voice that DB has adopted for the part of Tesla.

Go take a look around, it's a fun site, but it's also frustrating if you're in a hurry to find the Bowie clip...Don't look at me for help though, I spent an age trawling around, so why shouldn't you? };-)

While you're there, you can play the missing fragments search, which, as you can see from the above animation, I successfully completed. Do stick with it, it's really worth the time and effort.

As soon as we have more release dates, other than the US, we'll let you have them.

The Rather Nasty Maltazard Writes New Journal Entry

Who got out on the wrong side this morning then? Maltazard made more sinister by the voice of DB.

Scary monsters, super creeps, Keep me running, running scared...

Formally Arthur And The Minimoys, Luc Besson's animation, Arthur And The Invisibles, is due later this year.

The first trailer with evidence of David Bowie's speaking part as the little bit horrid Maltazard has surfaced, and you can view it here.

More importantly, David has made a new journal entry regarding the film, which BowieNet members can read exclusively here.

Arthur And The Invisibles also has Snoop Dogg doing Max's voice and Madonna's as Princess Selenia.

Signed Official 2007 Bowie/rock Calendar Contest

All you've got to do is win...

Most BowieNet members have probably already ordered a copy of the above limited edition official 2007 David Bowie/Mick Rock calendar which went on sale yesterday. (10.01.2006 NEWS: OFFICIAL 2007 BOWIE/ROCK CALENDAR ON SALE NOW!)

And so, here now is the contest where you, dear member, could win one of ten copies of the above calendar signed by Mr David Bowie and Ms Michael Rock. This will be a true collectable, particularly as Bowie 2006 autographs haven't been so prolific thus far.

It would be cruel to make winning something as nice as this particularly hard, so all you have to do to enter is click here to send me an e-mail...indeed, that seems a hard enough task in itself for some of you at least. Hi Tony Day! };-)

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. (Believe it or not, some entrants still don't bother with either and are immediately disqualified.)

The contest will be open for two weeks and we'll announce the winners on Monday October 16th. Good luck kidz!

BOWIENET MEMBERS LIMITED CALENDAR ORDERING UPDATE

As promised yesterday, here is your contact at Slow Dazzle for any enquiries you may have regarding your order: amita@slowdazzle.com

If anybody has yet to order, be sure to be signed in and see yesterday's news or simply go here to order now.

Slow Dazzle are now advising you to enter your BowieNet name after your real name when you register. There are still plenty of the limited calendars left and we have the exclusive on this for the whole of October, so you still have plenty of time to place an order.

Black Ball Tickets On Sale Now!

African Plight Fight...

We broke the exclusive news back in August that David would be performing a couple of songs for Keep A Child Alive's (KCA) Annual Black Ball On November 9th, 2006, at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom. (08.14.2006 NEWS: DB TO GUEST AT KCA EVENT IN NYC IN NOVEMBER)

Well, now that it seems the majority of BowieNetters who plan on going bought their tickets earlier today, I think it's safe to let the rest of the world know that tickets are still available through TicketMaster.

Please do try and remember the intention behind this event, which is to raise money for that most worthy of causes, Keep A Child Alive. Take a moment to go and read Iman's thought-provoking piece on the KCA site.

Official 2007 Bowie/rock Calendar On Sale Now!

It's happening now...

The official 2007 David Bowie/Mick Rock calendar is on sale now.

Please note that Slow Dazzle's programmer has forgotten to add the "Note to seller" box on the payment page, so you won't be able to enter your BowieNet user name there as requested.

However, where possible, please use your BowieNet e-mail address when setting up your account at the start of the ordering process. Don't forget that the limited edition is limited to two copies per member.

For those of you that are concerned about your order, I'll be posting the Slow Dazzle customer care contact information tomorrow.

OK, take a deep breath, make sure you are logged in to BowieNet and go here to order now.

Stay tuned for the contest for ten copies of the limited calendar tomorrow, which both David and Mick Rock have kindly agreed to sign.