Bowieball Previewed In The New York Times

We're painting our faces and dressing in thoughts from the skies...

If you're still deliberating whether to attend tonight's BOWIEBALL in NY after yesterday's news piece, (12.05.2008 REMINDER: BOWIEBALL IN NEW YORK CITY ON SATURDAY NIGHT) then don't take our word for it. Read this item from The New York Times by Melena Ryzik which includes a few words from BOWIEBALL organiser Deryck Todd, who is pictured far right in the montage of pictures from the January 2007 BOWIEBALL, above...

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THE NEW YORK TIMES - AROUND TOWN - BOWIEBALL

The economy is tanking, the winter doldrums are setting in, and the tourists and the family are descending, but don?t let that bring you down: pull yourself up by your skinny jeans and hit BowieBall, a glittery, wild-haired, wild-eyed party in honor of the Thin White Duke, in all his gender-bending glory.

Deryck Todd, an artist, fashion designer and David Bowie lover, came up with the idea a few years ago when he was casting about for a party theme. (?I?m a big fan of alliteration,? Mr. Todd, 28, said.) It was an instant hit: by the second ball, at Don Hill?s, there was a line around the block, and the event has been attracting the zip-up-jumpsuit crowd ever since. ?It?s gay, it?s straight, it?s bi, it?s hipster, it?s people who are trying to get in with a fake ID, and people who saw Bowie in 1968 in London,? Mr. Todd said. He added, ?Bowie gave a voice to so many people, to inspire them to be individuals, to challenge who they are, to pretend they are from other planets and get away with it.?

So far, there have been no actual Bowie sightings, but doppelgängers abound. This year?s ball, the sixth, has a half-dozen D.J.?s ? including the downtown mainstay Michael T. ? burlesque and drag performances, and appearances by people in the Ziggy Stardust orbit, like Earl Slick, Mr. Bowie?s original guitarist.

For the first time there will be a fashion installation, with mannequins decked out in Bowie-inspired garb by designers like Stephen Burrows and Richie Rich; Stella B. Zotis, a contestant on last season?s ?Project Runway,? will serve as a host. There is, of course, a dress code: the themes are Warholian superstar, young American heroes or Goblin Kings. Though the doorman can be fierce, there are options for the casual ?Space Oddity? fan ? the party offers a glam makeup station (think major applications of eye shadow and lightning bolts.) ?If you come and you?re not wearing any pleather, and for some reason you?re wearing pleated khakis? which I really hope they?re not ? they can get a makeover and fit in for one night,? Mr. Todd said. ?Fit in with the un-fitters.?

Saturday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., Santos Party House, 100 Lafayette Street, at Walker Street, Lower Manhattan.

Melena Ryzik

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Don't forget, if you do attend, please send us what you remember of the evening in the morning...if anything!

Bowieball In New York City On Saturday Night

Well, how come you only want tomorrow...

Deryck Todd has been in touch with details of the latest BOWIEBALL in New York, which is the third in less than a year. (06.12.2007 REMINDER: BOWIEBALL IN NYC ON FRIDAY...TV'S THERE, DB'S NOT & 01.15.2008 NEWS: TWO MORE BOWIE BASHES IN LONDON AND NY THIS WEEKEND)

This increasingly more popular event takes place tomorrow (Saturday 6th) at Santos Party House between 10pm and 4am.

I'm sure those of you likely to attend received your invites long ago and have conceived your wardrobe well in advance with the utmost care.

However, it's not too late to join in proceedings if this is the first you've heard of it and if you can't quite make out the details on the back of the flyer below, you will be able to at the official www.BOWIEBALLNYC.com site.

As you can see from past BOWIEBALLS via these pictures on Flickr.com, Santos Party House really is the place to be for any self-respecting Bowie fan tomorrow night.

If you're attending and can supply us with a brief report and a few pix of proceedings that we can use here on BowieNet, we'll show our appreciation with something nice.

Win Signed Official Ziggy Stardust Out-takes Calendar

It Ain't Easy...

I'm sure many of you have now seen The Ziggy Stardust Heddon Street Out-Takes calendar published by Slow Dazzle and hopefully you agree it's a pretty special thing.

Well now we have five copies to give-away in the first of five weekly contests that will take us into the new year. That's five different contests with five different types of prize...though all the prizes have one thing in common: They will all be signed by David Bowie!

This first contest is pretty simple, even if it's not the easiest we'll be running.

You may remember a news piece back in October regarding the above hitherto unreported diamante bird brooch that you can just make out in a couple of the Ziggy out-take shots. (10.15.2008 NEWS: DB REMEMBERS ZIGGY STARDUST BIRD BROOCH)

It has now come to light that this wasn't the only time Ziggy wore the brooch and in fact BowieNetter KarmaMan has provided photographic evidence to prove the fact.

Now all you have to do to be in with a chance of winning one of these signed calendars is the very same thing. In other words: You need to locate a picture of Ziggy Stardust (other than any from the Heddon Street session) or David Bowie at any point in his career sporting the brooch. No PhotoShop trickery, pictures must be genuine.

When you've found the required image, send it to me, or, if you don't want to e-mail an image, simply send me the URL of the file.

Send the file or URL to me here before midnight NY time on Wednesday December 10th.

The winners will be announced here the next day at the same time as the second contest goes live.

Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account per week, 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.

Good Luck, kidz.

Bowienetter Shammy Reports On Bowie At Moma

You can't afford the ticket...

It seems that Monday night's presentation of David Bowie's videos at MoMA by Thurston Moore was a huge success with the second batch of tickets selling out in minutes and queues of people hoping for last minute returns.

I have even heard whispers of some kind of touting with tickets selling for many times their face value as if the evening were actually a David Bowie concert.

Thurston gave a fairly lengthy introduction that was by turns humorous and heartfelt and had Bowie fans of a certain age nodding in agreement when he recalled how hard it was at first to get any sort of glimpse of this mysterious man David Bowie, let alone see films of him.

The evening was attended by some of the video's directors including: Mick Rock, Mark Romanek and Sam Bayer.

BowieNetter Shammy was one of our lucky winners and she kindly sent in her impressions of the evening which you can read below...

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Hey Blam...Thanks so much for the tickets. I had a great time. Got there nice and early and saw many many people waiting for tickets on a stand-by basis. (Hopefully they all got in).

Thurston talked quite a bit for his introduction. He spoke about how important magazines were back in the 70's as our link to all things rock 'n roll...he mentioned blasts from the past like "Circus" and "Cream" and how you could pick them up at your local grocery store...and at first you'd only get snippets in the backs of the pages on people like Bowie and Iggy and Bolan...but after the "hippy era" the magazines got on track with putting people that dared to be different on the covers. After all the long-hairs of The Allmans, ELP, etc...it was a shock to see an Alice Cooper with eye make-up running down his face...or a strangely dressed looking person with orange cropped hair on the covers...he felt it was the first time he had to hide magazines from his mother.

Thurston also spoke about living in rural Connecticut during the 70's - which was about an hour and a half away from NYC...so he still felt the "edge" and the enticement of it all. He said you NEEDED to get in there (the City)...go to the shows...check out Max's Kansas City or any of the other spots the rockers were frequenting (this I could definitely relate to having been living in rural long island during the mid 70's)...you felt the allure of it all...and you wanted to be a part of it.

He mentioned how Sonic Youth played with Bowie at his 50th birthday bash at Madison Square Garden and thought to himself... "damn...the man is 50 and how it must suck to be 50 but he still had such a passion for his music". Thurston said he now has turned 50 himself and is thinking.. "fuck! I'm 50...and the bad part is I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not 15".

Thurston talked about having children and how he "had to watch Labyrinth" over and over and over again with the kids. But after watching more than once or twice, he could realize just how great some of the stuff was in it.

As for the show itself... of course it's wonderful to see Bowie up on a big screen and get that infusion of music into your system. I think I might have chosen a few different videos and would have loved to see the full Blue Jean as opposed to the short one (but I realize there were time constraints). I personally find it very hard to even sit still when the music is going...at first everyone seemed unsure as to what to do when the first video ended...by the next one and subsequent others, you had people clapping at the end of each.

Those early videos are just plain sex to me! I mean?that face...That bone structure?androgyny to the hilt and I just absolutely love it to death! Thanks again for a great night BowieNet.

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Thanx Shammy, glad you had such a good time. Thanx also to Jimmy King for the pictures here, all of which he took on the night.

It seems the programme will be shown again at MoMA on Friday, December 19th at 6:00pm, though it's unlikely to be presented by Thurston Moore this time around.

I'll leave you with a reminder of the videos screened on Monday evening...

1972 JOHN I'M ONLY DANCING 2:49
Director: Mick Rock
1972 JEAN GENIE 4:02
Director: Mick Rock
1973 LIFE ON MARS? 3:55
Director: Mick Rock
1977 "HEROES" 3:27
Director: Stanley Dorfman
1979 DJ 3:58
Director: David Mallet
1980 ASHES TO ASHES 3:33
Director: David Mallet & David Bowie
1983 CHINA GIRL 4:03
Director: David Mallet & David Bowie
1984 BLUE JEAN 3:17
Director: Julien Temple
1986 AS THE WORLD FALLS DOWN 3:41
Director: Steve Barron
1990 FAME 90 3:33
Director: Gus Van Sant Edited By: Edouard Lock
1993 JUMP THEY SAY 4:00
Director: Mark Romanek
1995 THE HEARTS FILTHY LESSON 4:58
Director: Sam Bayer
1997 DEAD MAN WALKING 3:49
Director: Floria Sigismondi
1997 I'M AFRAID OF AMERICANS 4:25
Director: Dom + Nic
1999 SURVIVE 3:29
Director: Walter Stern

Is Bowie The Greatest Pop Star There Has Ever Been?

With your silicone hump and your ten inch stump, Dressed like a priest you was...

The January 2009 edition of The WORD magazine has a page on the best ever gimmicks in rock and roll.

Among the twenty or so entries are Hendrix's burning guitar, Alice Cooper's snake, Kraftwerk's robots, Cameo's codpieces, Pete Burns' scary eyepatch and Marilyn Manson's gammy eye...the latter three being 'gimmicks' David Bowie had already used along the way.

The piece concludes with the entry above which ends on a question with a pretty obvious answer...Yes!

Though the item is tongue-in-cheek, I have to say I never thought of Bowie's identity changes as pre-conceived gimmicks, but rather natural progressions triggered by a curious and easily bored imagination.

And don't even get me started on chameleon!

Thurston Moore Presents Bowie At Moma

Come to the show tonight...

If you're in the New York area you can't fail to have noticed the above poster advertising tonight's presentation of David Bowie's videos at MoMA by Thurston Moore.

Don't forget a number of tickets are available today from the Museum's Lobby Information Desk.

Ticket Admission prices: Adults $10; MoMA Members $8, Seniors (65 and above) $5; Students (with valid I.D.) $5.

The public may call 212/708-9400 for detailed Museum information.

If you are attending, please feel free to send in a report of how the evening goes...and that includes you lucky BowieNet winners who all have a plus one on the guest list.

Emi Release Classic John Peel Sessions Via Itunes

And me I'm on a radio show...

EMI is releasing several classic John Peel sessions via iTunes today. Here's the official blurb...

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EMI?s greatest artists meet the BBC?s greatest DJ on this series of digital bundles. Featuring original sessions taken from the legendary John Peel vault and performed by multi-platinum selling artists: David Bowie, Syd Barrett, Jethro Tull, The Specials and The Stranglers, the bundles feature a mixture of hits, live favourites and classic cover versions ? highlights include David Bowie?s rendition of the timeless Velvet Underground track, ?White Light/White Heat? and Syd Barrett?s album gem, ?Effervescing Elephant?.

Accompanying the audio bundles are five video collections of classic BBC Top Of The Pops performances from Blondie, Roxy Music, The Human League, The Stranglers and Marillion. Each video bundle presents a unique look at these artist?s biggest hits captured in the moment of their greatest success ? all in the nostalgic environment of the world renowned television programme.

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Sadly, there is no Bowie TOTPs bundle as of yet and I don't know at this stage if there are plans for one.

However, here are the details of the Bowie Peel Session that is available from today...

Artist: David Bowie
Title: Original John Peel Session: 23rd May 1972
Release Date: 01/12/2008

Digital Tracklist:

1 ~ White Light/White Heat
2 ~ Moonage Daydream
3 ~ Hang On To Yourself
4 ~ Suffragette City
5 ~ Ziggy Stardust

I feel duty bound to point out that this session is already widely available in it's entirety as part of the Bowie At The Beeb release.

This session remains one of my particular favourites on account of it being the first Bowie radio session I ever heard...albeit five years after the original broadcast.

I taped it from the radio with a hand-held mic onto a somewhat stretched C120 when John Peel aired it again along with a session by Chelsea in June 1977.

It remained the only source of a Bowie version of White Light/White Heat for me until the 1983 RCA issue of the Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture soundtrack release in 1983...ignoring a couple of unofficial releases along the way of course.

On a final self-indulgent note, you'll hopefully forgive me for boring you with the irrelevant tale that a John Peel session I did with my own band in 1980 turned out to be recorded in the very same Maida Vale 4 studio with the same engineer in Nick Gomm as this Bowie session. I thought I could feel the influence of special ghosts at the time.

Criterion Tmwfte Blu-ray Release Delayed?

Blu blu, electric blu...

Those of you hoping to gather the family around the TV for a Christmas viewing of The Man Who Fell To Earth on Blu-ray this year may be disappointed.

Despite previous reports on here (05.17.2008 NEWS: THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH DUE ON BLU RAY & 08.22.2008 NEWS: CRITERION TMWFTE BLU RAY RELEASE DETAILS) and the fact that the Criterion site and Amazon still have the disc listed for a December 16th release, it seems it has now been delayed until January 6th next year.

At least that's according to High-Def Digest who seem to know about these things. If their story ends up being inaccurate, you may want to vent your frustration on BowieNetter Zardoz who pointed me in the direction of this item. ;-)

STOP PRESS: It seems the Reality package we told you about last week (11.25.2008 NEWS: REALITY CD+DVD 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION) has been put back one week to December 8th in the UK, while it remains the 9th for the US.

Happy Thanksgiving

Ch ch ch ch changes...

Yesterday marked the 61st anniversary of the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation and Pardoning. The current ceremony dates back to the year of David Bowie's birth and this year's ceremony, above, will be the last time President George W. Bush pardons a turkey.

I think this may be one Thanksgiving that the rest of the world celebrates with you America. Happy thanksgiving to one and all!

Two Extra Moma Ticket Winners And More

Just watch me now...

Last month we posted a news piece regarding Thurston Moore's presentation of David Bowie's videos at MoMA on December 1st. (10.20.2008 NEWS: THURSTON MOORE TO PRESENT BOWIE VIDEOS AT MoMA) We followed that with a contest to win three pairs of tickets (10.23.2008 NEWS: WIN MoMA BOWIE VIDEO PRESENTATION TICKETS) and we announced the three winners of that contest a week later. (10.30.2008 NEWS: MoMA BOWIE VIDEO PRESENTATION TICKET WINNERS)

Well now MoMA has kindly given us two more pairs the winners of which The Random Generator selected from those original entries.

So now these five members have each won a pair of tickets.

chas
daligala
gmoney
MeetingVenus
shammy

If you could all please forward your real names to me, I will respond with further instructions on how to attend this coming Monday, December 1st.

If you've not been lucky with winning tickets here on BowieNet, don't forget that the remaining tickets will go on sale on Monday.

A limited number of tickets will be available on the day of the event beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Museum's Lobby Information Desk.

Ticket Admission prices: Adults $10; MoMA Members $8, Seniors (65 and above) $5; Students (with valid I.D.) $5.

The public may call 212/708-9400 for detailed Museum information.

See our previous news story (10.20.2008 NEWS: THURSTON MOORE TO PRESENT BOWIE VIDEOS AT MoMA) for further information and the press release section from the same day for more details.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a link to a preview of the event by Saul Austerlitz over at The Village Voice.

Bowie Track On Milk Ost

I know a Government man...

Speaking of gay San Franciscans, (see yesterday's news) out this week (no pun intended) is the soundtrack CD for Gus Van Sant's brilliant film, MILK. In the unlikely event that your unfamiliar with it, here's the synopsis from the official MILK site...

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From the acclaimed director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting and Elephant) comes the powerful and inspiring story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. With a powerhouse performance in the leading role, Sean Penn (Mystic River) and supporting cast Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men) and James Franco (Spider-Man 1, 2 and 3) bring this unforgettable story to the big screen.

Gay Rights Activist. Friend. Lover. Unifier. Politician. Fighter. Icon. Inspiration. Hero. His life changed history, and his courage changed lives.

In 1977, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum. From senior citizens to union workers, Harvey Milk changed the very nature of what it means to be a fighter for human rights and became, before his untimely death in 1978, a hero for all Americans.

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The soundtrack kicks off with David Bowie's Queen Bitch and it's available now through Decca.

Reality Cd+dvd 2 Disc Special Edition

Whoo hoo...

Released via Sony next Monday (December 1st, December 9th in the US) is the above 2 disc special edition CD + DVD of Reality.

As you've no doubt worked out, the set includs the Reality album and the Reality Tour DVD.

Bob Cd And Ziggy Mopi Dvd Giftpack Winners

He's so divine, his soul shines...

We posted this one a couple of weeks back and here's what we asked of you..."simply give us the name of the chap that designed the front cover at the top of this piece and include a tiebreaker of no more than three words that you think best describes him."

Of course, the answer was Rex Ray and here are the five winners accompanied by their splendid and well considered tiebreakers...

DEmerson ~ Yul Brynner Lookalike
Sinj3 ~ Mischievous Multifarious InkMonkey
subquetaneous ~ Perfumed Parlor Snake!
wldjareth ~ Innovative Brilliant Timeless
zardoz ~ Balding Piss Artist

Well done folx...I think that about covers it. Send me your shipping details and you should have your Bowie Giftpack in time to re-wrap it for your niece's Christmas gift.

Uncut Has Sm '72 As Fifth Best Reissue Of 2008

We've really got a good thing going...

The January 2009 issue of UNCUT magazine has a free supplement rounding-up the best releases of 2008.

David Bowie - Live Santa Monica '72 made it to the top five best reissues of 2008, see article above.

Elsewhere in the mag in the regular CH CH CH CH CHANGES feature, there's a pictorial retrospective of Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera with the following words from Phil accompanying the above picture...

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(2006 Bowie is far left, Manzanera is fourth from right)

This is on David Gilmour's On An Island tour. It was interesting for me: I'd known about Bowie from The Three Tuns in Beckenham. Gilmour was a friend of my brother's when I was 16. Robert [Wyatt] was a friend of Bill and Ian MacCormick's. Crosby, Rick Wright I knew...but it was the first time I'd been on a stage with Bowie, Gilmour and Robert. Bowie was incredible. Crosby was a delightful person. Graham Nash is not in the picture because he'd popped out to the loo!

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You weren't too bad yourself actually, Phil.

The Rainbow August 30th 1972...were You There?

Come see, come see, remember me?

Were you at David Bowie's show at The Rainbow in London's Finsbury on Wednesday August 30th 1972? If so, how good is your memory?

We're trying to collect some information together regarding this particular show and we need your help to fill in the blanks.

If you did attend, how much of the set can you remember? What do you recall regarding the stage show itself? Perhaps you still have your ticket stub, or other related memorabilia, or even some pictures you took on the night.

If you think you can help, (non-members are also very welcome to participate) please send your recollections to me here.

If we use anything you submit on these pages you will be rewarded with a print of the above advert signed by David Bowie.

Bowie Endorsed Ashes To Ashes Remix Due December

Funk to funky...

Our old friend Brigitte 'Schoki' Schokarth has been in touch with details of an Ashes To Ashes remix due next month as the lead track on Julian Hruza's 4-track SUPER SOUND EP.

Here's a bit regarding th erelease from Julian himself...

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"New years eve 2006: I work as DJ. I play Ashes To Ashes. People react in a strange way. They're telling me: We cannot dance to that. I don't understand. I love to dance to this song!

It still led to me remixing that song: 130 bpm, repeats of the voice, clicks and louder snare. Tried it out in Pudel in Hamburg. And yeah! This time people were dancing.

So I asked the guys in Mr. Bowie's camp if I could get the rights for it. A few days later came the answer: "David says he enjoyed the mix and it is okay to move ahead with this".

Perfect! I celebrated in front of my laptop with a glass of Welschriesling and after EMI also gave their permission, I pressed the remix on Vinyl.?

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The SUPER SOUND EP is released as a four track 12" vinyl EP on December 5th. You can go take a listen on Julian's MySpace page and you can order the vinyl here.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with the track listing...

Ashes To Ashes RMX
Stockholm City
So Me Core
Help Me

Bowie Tribute Bands' Upcoming Shows

Dear cover band, you're playing my tune...

We may not have been featuring the myriad Bowie tribute bands as frequently as we once did, but that doesn't mean they're any less active.

However, rather than listing all the shows, I thought it best to link to a relevant page for each of the bands. Click on each of the images here for details of that outfit's particular gigs.

They appear here in alphabetical order starting with The Bowie Contingent above and The Bowie Experience, Diamond Dogs, Duffo and Space Oddity below.

If you want your Bowie tribute band's details featured here, drop me a line.

Tv Produces Stephen Emmer's Recitement

Well I might take a train...

UNCUT magazine recently asked: ?Ever wondered how Bowie?s Low would have sounded if the art of noise had produced it and recruited Richard Burton to do the vocals??

The mag was talking about Dutch man Stephen Emmer's recently released Recitement album which was produced and mixed by Tony Visconti.

Among the many guest contributions there are a few Bowie connections including Mike Garson, Ken Nordine and Lou Reed.

As for UNCUT's suggestion, you can make up your own mind at the official Recitement site where you hear the whole album and watch the enchanting video for Lou Reed reciting Passengers from it. You can view the video in better quality, here.

Read more about Recitement in the press release section above.

Stephen Emmer?s Recitement Now Available

STEPHEN EMMER?S MUSIC-AND-SPOKEN WORD PROJECT, RECITEMENT, NOW AVAILABLE IN THE U.S. ON ALLEGRO MUSIC

 

Innovative Album Produced and Mixed by Tony Visconti Features Original Music Composed, Arranged and Performed by Emmer With Recordings, New and Appropriated, of Lou Reed, Kazu Makino (Blonde Redhead), Ken Nordine, Allen Ginsberg, Others.

 

Having already earned considerable international acclaim, Recitement, the literary-musical hybrid from Dutch avant-garde composer Stephen Emmer, is now available in the U.S. via Allegro Music.

 

Recitement is an unprecedented collection of recorded literary and poetic texts?some read by their authors, others interpreted by a diversity of contemporary artists. The music complementing the vocal and spoken tracks?music composed, arranged and, for the most part, performed by Emmer?is an equally diverse fusion of styles: modern classical chamber music, jazz noir, ambient electronics, melodic pop, experimental rock, rap and hip-hop, among others. To the credit of Emmer and producer-mixer Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex, Morrissey, Angelique Kidjo, etc.), Recitement coheres seamlessly and even displays that rare

kind of deliberate restraint that is the province of truly accomplished artists. Emmer began the Recitement project with the intention of scoring various fragments of literature and verse, and the compositions and performances indeed communicate sentiments and even narratives contained in the writings.

 

Conversely, Emmer finds so much music in the spoken word: the syncopated cadence of Lou Reed reading Paul Theroux; the rich baritones of Richard Burton and Ken Nordine; the subtly melodic way that Jorge Luis Borges seems to sing when his reading voice is surrounded by Emmer?s lush orchestration; the way that Carlos Drummond de Andrade?s voice sounds like another horn in ?O Enterado Vivo??albeit one that speaks Portuguese; the shimmering of Kuzu Makino?s (Blonde Redhead) voice when she interprets Yoko Ono and duets with Samuel Beckett in ?Snow Is Falling? and its reprise, which bookend the 17-composition album. Allen Ginsberg, who learned songwriting from nowlegendary downtown New York musicians and recorded his own songs with some of them as accompanists, sounds far more musical here.

 

The licensing work for Recitement was in itself a colossal task, with sources ranging from Charles Baudelaire and Samuel Beckett to Yoko Ono, Alessandro Baricco, Christopher Fry, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Paul Theroux, Victoria Ocampo, Remco Campert, Hugo Claus and Thomas Hardy.

 

Aside from composing and performing much of the music, Emmer recruited the vocalists listed above and others, including jazz bandleader and horn player Benjamin Herman; pianist Mike Garson (David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins); classical singer Maja Roodveldt, of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra; old-school Postman rapper Shyrock; drummer Joost Kroon, of New Cool Collective; and the Dutch pop duo Bauer (half of which is ex-Bettie Serveert member Berend Dubbe).

 

Recitement was recorded at Amsterdam?s Studio 150 with Paul Weller engineer Joeri Saal, and was mixed at Phillip Glass' Looking Glass Studios in New York by Tony Visconti, who describes Emmer as ?one of those musicians/composers who know the musical rules best and therefore also how to break them.?

 

Allegro Music released the album in the U.S. October 14. It has received praise from Pitchfork, KCRW, Magnet, Planet and others. The Supertracks label recently released Recitement in the UK to acclaim from the likes of Word Magazine, Record Collector, The Yorkshire Evening Post and many others. The Uncut review asks, ?Ever wondered how Bowie?s Low would have sounded if the art of noise had produced it and recruited Richard Burton to do the vocals??

R.i.p. Guy Peellaert

Future Legend...

BowieNetter Frank Deforche has been in touch with the sad news that Belgian artist Guy Peellaert has died in Paris at the age of 74.

The news appeared in this morning's DE STANDAARD (Belgian newspaper) and Frank has kindly translated it for us...

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The Belgian artist Guy Peellaert died in Paris at the age of 74.

He was born in Brussels on April 6 1934. In the sixties he gathered fame with psychedelic comics (like PRAVDA), after which he concentrated on painting.

In 1972 he made a series of 25 paintings under the title ROCK DREAMS. He also designed album covers for artists like David Bowie (Diamond Dogs) and The Rolling Stones (It's Only Rock And Roll).

Also with his billboards for movies like Paris Texas (Wim Wenders), Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese) and Short Cuts (Robert Altman) he became world-famous.

Together with rock journalist Nik Cohn he made a book (ROCK DREAMS) that sold over 1 million copies.

Since the beginning of 2000 his work has been exposed world-wide with exhibitions in Brazil, Cuba and Japan.

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I'm sure you're all aware of the various paintings Guy has done of DB over the years, from the original Rock Dreams paintings via the two Diamond Dogs paintings right up to the Bowie At The Beeb cover...all of which I'll post for your viewing pleasure in the not too distant future.