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Bowie at The Palladium fifty years ago tonight
“And the magic in the stare, Of the Wild Eyed Boy”
On 30th November, 1969, David Bowie performed solo versions of Space Oddity and Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud at the ‘Save Rave ‘69’ charity concert at the London Palladium.
Performing in front of a backdrop featuring a NASA astronaut, David agreed to the appearance which was a benefit concert for the Invalid Children’s Aid Association.
The president of the association was lucky enough to meet the young new chart star afterwards (see inset pic), and coincidentally, David had already met the president’s sister, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as a young boy...but that’s a whole other story.
Others in the line-up with David presented to Princess Margaret included Dusty Springfield (whose rehearsal for the event had apparently impressed DB greatly), and Tiny Tim who seemed to be struggling to present something to Margaret from a carrier bag.
Tiny Tim had recorded the Williams/Rose composition, Fill Your Heart, on the B-side of his Tip-Toe Thru' The Tulips With Me 45 in 1968. Bowie would later release his own version of the song on Hunky Dory in 1971.
FOOTNOTE: Apologies to whoever took the pictures in today's montage. Ray Stevenson did take the superb shots used for the recent Space Oddity double 45 box, but not sure any of these are his.
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019
Survive video shot twenty years ago today
“And I’m floating in a most peculiar way”
Twenty years ago today (26th November 1999), the second and final day of filming for the Survive video at Tower Bridge Studio in London, wrapped.
Survive was the follow up single to Thursday's Child and the videos for both were directed by Walter Stern.
Both tracks were taken from the 'hours...' album, though the video features an edit of the Marius de Vries Mix of Survive.
For twenty years, the mystery of how David Bowie managed his remarkable feat of levitation in the video has left (some) viewers scratching their heads.
SPOILER ALERT: It's all done with wires, as you can see from our montage.
If you’re a member of the BOWIE KOOKS Facebook page, you can view a few more behind-the-scenes snaps here.
#BowieHours
Join the silver and gold Space Oddity world map
“Mustn't grumble at silver and gold”
Have you been lucky enough to pick up a silver or gold vinyl copy of Tony Visconti's 2019 Mix of the Space Oddity album?
If so, you might want to declare your treasure on the specially created Space Oddity 2019 World Map and win yourself a tote bag while you're about it.
Take a picture of yourself holding your copy and go here to join in.
All should be clear once you've watched the short How It Works video.
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019 #SpaceOddity2019TVmix
Bowie on The Southbank Fifty years ago tonight
“I can work the scene babe”
David Bowie’s concert at the Purcell Room on London’s Southbank on 20th November, 1969, was a real ‘sliding doors’ moment for him.
By all accounts his performance was astonishing, but sadly there was no press aside from a solitary reporter from The Observer to spread the word.
Here’s a small excerpt from manager Kenneth Pitt’s Bowie – The Pitt Report.
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The concert at the Purcell Room was a personal triumph for David. It started promptly at 7.30 and every seat was occupied by an invited audience and others who had paid either ten, eight or five shillings for their ticket. Juniors Eyes were on the bill, also a band from David's neighbourhood named Comus, in which he was showing an interest. David performed superbly, faultlessly.
There were a few people who were disappointed that he should accompany Space Oddity acoustically when he had all the musicians necessary for a sound more akin to the record. Gus Dudgeon thought to himself “Oh no, you can't do this David.”
Perhaps this was part of David’s determination to resist the pressure from a hit record: his way of saying that Space Oddity, to him, was not the most important of his songs he was singing that night.
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We’ll leave you with the setlist…consider for one minute just how good it must have been to hear.
Buzz The Fuzz
Port Of Amsterdam
Space Oddity
Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud
London Bye Ta Ta
Karma Man
Cygnet Committee
Unwashed And Somewhat Slightly Dazed
Janine
Occasional Dream
The Width Of The Circle
Letter To Hermione
Conversation Piece
Memory Of A Free Festival
God Knows I’m Good
FOOTNOTE: Titles listed as presented on the PRS form.
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019
Bowie at the Kit Kat Klub 20 years ago tonight
“And there's something in the air”
On 19th November 1999, David Bowie played to an invited audience of fans and contest winners for a gig promoting 'hours...' at the Kit Kat Klub in New York.
The show was recorded and filmed for a webcast the following month via Liveonline.net. If this wasn't the first broadcast of a live show on the web, then it was certainly among the very first. However, it seems the web wasn't quite ready yet as the viewing experience wasn't particularly smooth.
A 12-track bootleg of the show was enjoyed by fans in the absence of any official release, though the source was most likely the official 12-track promotional CD pictured in our montage.
Compare that against the 17-track setlist to identify the five missing tracks.
At the time, cub reporter Andrew Barding wrote a review for Paul Kinder’s brilliant BowieWonderWorld, accompanied by pictures taken by BowieNetters and BowieWonderWorlders at the show.
Andy has revisited the evening and has sent us a new review that captures the moment beautifully.
Over to you, Andy.
#BowieKitKatKlub #BowieHours
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David Bowie Kit Kat Klub 19th November, 1999, by Andy Barding
Take it from someone old enough to remember – the end of the 20th century was a mad old time.
The technological breakthroughs we witnessed in the 1990s were spectacular, but they sent us all a bit loopy. Life was exciting, for sure, but we were struggling to grasp all the new concepts that our inventions were offering us. Remember the “Millennium Bug”? Remember wondering if it would suck planes from the sky, or cause a rift in space-time?
David Bowie, ever the curious little alien, had already thoroughly explored the paranoia of these ultimately anti-climatic non-end times through the pagan savagery of 1.Outside and the techno-fear of EART HL I NG... the first in a trio of albums to be perpetually misnamed by his audience.
Concerts around those releases had been agreeably stark and mysterious – both artful and confrontational. Classic Bowie, you could say.
But by 1999, Bowie had changed (again). He had become readier than ever to reflect on what had happened and on what might come to be in his life. He released a new album full of uncharacteristically pensive, emotional reminiscences and called it ‘hours...’ Everybody else called it Hours.
Meanwhile, the internet was his new obsession. Bowienet, launched in 1998, had been steadily growing over the year but it was nothing like as huge as it would become. There were one or two rudimentary fan sites, too. By today’s scale, this was all very small fry. But it must have been a big enough buzz in 1999 to spark a light-bulb moment for Bowie: “Let’s play a gig! And let’s make it free! And let’s open it up to these kids on the internet!”
And so we emerged, blinking, out of the chilly Autumnal night into a warm little Manhattan nightclub. We, the faithful and true of the internet, had been summoned by fan-site contests, via newsgroup invitations, by promotional emails and other electronic tittle-tattle. We were brought to this place by bits and bytes, a virtual global community united for the first time. We had been handed identical laminate passes to hang around our necks, but we were strangers when we met. We had come from all over the (real) world for this. And it’s very easy to underestimate, two decades on, the importance of that moment.
And so we sat, or stood – either around or in front of little cocktail tables lit by little lamps. When Bowie and Mike Garson stepped silently onstage to open the show with a stripped-back ‘Life On Mars?’ It couldn’t have felt more intimate. This was a supper date for no more than a cool couple of hundred of us.
As the tiny stage filled with musicians, the gig seemed no less informal. ‘Thursday’s Child’, fleshed out by a full band, sounded big and bold, and ‘Always Crashing In The Same Car’ gathered enough swing to get the crowd bouncing.
Somewhere in the set, ‘Something In The Air’ crept in to mash my head. I could only stand agog as I bore witness to what I truly consider to be Bowie’s finest vocal performance, ever. With his eyes snapped shut, and his throat visibly rippling, I saw his breath fly like a jet of steam from his mouth into the smoky air of the Kit Kat. Such power! He sang like his flight home to London depended on it. A remarkable performance and one which I will never forget. As you can probably tell.
There were no lame ducks in the set. ‘Can’t Help Thinking About Me’ rocked like it probably did in the 60s, and a dusted-down ‘Ashes To Ashes (complete with Mark Plati funky bass parts – he and near-birthday girl Gail Ann Dorsey had swopped instruments for the song) was a genuine and welcome surprise.
David was witty and wicked: “I told you it should have been the single,” he muttered very obviously to Page ‘Helmet’ Hamilton after the rousing reception for ‘Drive-In Saturday’. Then to the first few rows: “Industry joke”. And to the record label freeloaders on the balcony: “Or maybe not.”
So it went on. David picked up a harmonica to rock like a bastard through ‘Cracked Actor’, took the vibe back down for a sublime ‘Survive’, then brought it back to business with a guitar-heavy ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’.
Bowie would go on to pull plenty more rabbits out of his hat for us in future years, of course. But this night in the Kit Kat Klub was the time that felt most special to us fans who were lucky enough to be there. The division lines between his characters are easy to draw – Ziggy is as different from the Thin White Duke as the Soul Tour is to Tin Machine – but this little show is a line in the sand, too. It marked the beginning of a new relationship between Bowie and his audience.
And it was a cracking good way to see out the century.
FOOTNOTE: The photos here are by Alison Hale. I met her at a Bowie gig in Birmingham in 1990 and we became partners in life as well as partners on future Bowie adventures. The pictures she got with a smuggled camera over so many Bowie shows were truly amazing, and her Kit Kat Klub photos – snatched under the glare of security personnel – are among her best. Sadly, Alison passed away in 2012.
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Goodbye Terry O’Neill
“To be right in that photograph”
As you will know, this morning, Iconic Images announced the sad passing of Terry O’Neill, who has died at the age of 81.
Bowie fans will be familiar with his work, not only through the recent Bowie by O’Neill book and the many times we have focused on his pictures here, but also through the myriad newspaper and music weekly spreads. For UK fans at least, these publications were always a very welcome first glimpse of each new Bowie project, particularly during the years from 1973 to 1976.
It's hard to imagine the impact of picture-led Bowie features once Bowie left the UK. Hungry for news and pictures of David's latest activities, fans would be particularly grateful for Terry’s beautiful pictures, and as David himself once said: “The great thing about Terry was that I was always guaranteed a centrespread in the papers after a photo session with him.”
One such item was the Melody Maker exclusive published in October 1974, partially pictured here. Sadly, this is among the sessions for which the original negatives have been lost…which is why we featured it. The picture of Terry bottom right in our montage was taken during that very session, captured for posterity by the BBC while filming Alan Yentob’s Cracked Actor.
David’s gratitude was reciprocated by Terry, as highlighted when he compiled the images for Bowie by O'Neill: “When I first started to collect all my images and contact sheets of David Bowie, I didn’t realize how many I had! That first phone call I received to work with Bowie resulted in a real partnership between us; I was lucky enough to get that call and smart enough to say yes. He was a one-of-a kind, always changing and a true genius. It gives me great pleasure to be able to share with the world the images I captured and my memories of working with this extraordinary artist. He has the most loyal fans I’ve ever come across and I truly hope this book brings them a lot of joy.”
We'll leave you with this morning's announcement.
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Terry O’Neill CBE, 30th July 1938 – 16th November 2019
It is with a heavy heart that Iconic Images announces the passing of Terry O’Neill, CBE.
Terry was a class act, quick witted and filled with charm. Anyone who was lucky enough to know or work with him can attest to his generosity and modesty. As one of the most iconic photographers of the last 60 years, his legendary pictures will forever remain imprinted in our memories as well as in our hearts and minds.
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#BOWIEbyONEILL #BowieAtTheMarquee #BowieDiamondDogs
Stream Space Oddity 2019 now – coloured vinyl out Friday
“I found the secrets I found the gold”
As you know, today (14th November) is the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s 1969 album which became better known as Space Oddity.
To mark the occasion, Tony Visconti's 2019 Mix of Space Oddity is available to stream now, if it’s past midnight of Wednesday into Thursday where you are.
Tomorrow (Friday 15th November) sees the physical release of Tony Visconti's 2019 Mix of Space Oddity. This vinyl version of the album has been randomly distributed worldwide with a mix of hand-numbered labels.
Of these, numbers 1 - 1969 will be on silver-coloured vinyl and 1970 - 2019 will be on gold-coloured vinyl. The remainder will be black. The two coloured versions of the vinyl are pictured in the video here.
Pre-order here.
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019 #SpaceOddity2019TVmix
Tony Visconti’s Space Oddity liner notes on Apple Music
“And I can't see the water, For the tears in my eyes”
You've possibly noticed by now that 14th November marked the 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s 1969 album, David Bowie (aka Space Oddity).
As you also probably know, Tony Visconti's 2019 mix of the album has been released on streaming services in celebration.
His extended liner notes also feature on Apple Music, from where this excerpt regarding his memories of Conversation Piece, which never made the original cut of the album.
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Conversation Piece (2019 Mix)
“This was really hard to leave off [the original vinyl]. That was a tragedy. We had three very long tracks ‘Cygnet Committee’ ate up the space of three songs and on vinyl, you only had 20 minutes before you hit the out groove. If you went over the 20-minute mark, you would get one dB lower, for every minute over.
This is a very, very sad song. Only years later, I realised that the person in the song who tells the story jumped off a bridge and drowned. That made me make a more sad mix. I was in a space like, ‘This has got to come off with a lot of gravity in the mix,’ even though it’s kind of bouncy. There’s a way of mixing a bouncy song a little sadder. Not make it so bright. It’s one of my favourite, favourite songs. I loved playing it live.”
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Listen now on Apple Music
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019 #SpaceOddity2019TVmix #AppleMusicBowie
Space Oddity is 1st Bowie release in Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format
“Love all around”
To celebrate today’s 50th anniversary of the release of David Bowie’s 1969 album, Space Oddity, long-time Bowie producer/collaborator Tony Visconti has remixed the title track in 360 Reality Audio music format, a new 3D audio from Sony . With 360 Reality Audio.
Keep reading for the full press release and watch Tony Visconti talking about the project here on YouTube.
#SpaceOddity50 #SpaceOddity2019TVmix #SpaceOddity360 #Sony360RealityAudio #DBCP2019
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DAVID BOWIE ‘SPACE ODDITY’ 360 REALITY AUDIO
A VERY SPECIAL NEW MIX BY TONY VISCONTI RELEASED TO CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ‘DAVID BOWIE’ ALBUM.
FIRST DAVID BOWIE RELEASE IN SONY’S NEW IMMERSIVE 360 REALITY AUDIO FORMAT
CONVERSATION PIECE 5-CD/DIGITAL BOX SET FEATURING 12 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS TO BE RELEASED 15 NOVEMBER
14th November 2019 – Fifty years ago today David Bowie released his self-titled album, which featured his first trans-Atlantic hit ‘SPACE ODDITY’.
To celebrate this milestone, long-time Bowie producer/collaborator Tony Visconti has remixed the track in 360 Reality Audio music format, a new 3D audio from Sony . With 360 Reality Audio, the listener experiences the vocals and instruments placed within a spherical space, creating an immersive sound that closely mimics the omni-directional soundscape of a live musical performance.
Tony Visconti describes this new version of the track as “When I first heard Sony 360 I was quite amazed, in the headphones it was remarkable how you could hear things behind you and above you. I think it will be a treat to hear things you thought you knew very well, it will bring out hidden detail. You might have heard Space Oddity 200 times, when you hear this I guarantee you will listen another 200 times. It’s a new way of hearing the song.” The new immersive mix will be available via Amazon HD using Amazon Echo Studio, and via Deezer and TIDAL using headphones, more news to follow.
This nascent period of Bowie’s career has been curated into five-CD boxset ‘CONVERSATION PIECE’ which is released on 15th November and features a dozen unheard songs as well as alternate takes, radio sessions, new mixes and demos.
www.davidbowie.com
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For additional details about 360 Reality Audio, visit the following website: 360 Reality Audio official website
ABOUT DAVID BOWIE - SPACE ODDITY
Over the past 50 years Space Oddity has been on a journey as endless as that of its main character, Major Tom. Originally written and demoed in November 1968, the song has gone through many guises from appearing in the filmed for television special Love You Til Tuesday in an earlier incarnation with John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson, to being recorded in Italian ("Ragazzo solo, Ragazza sola”), winning an Ivor Novello Special Award for Originality in May 1970. The song was Bowie’s first hit on both sides of the Atlantic (#5 in the U.K. in 1969, #1 in the U.K. in 1975 and #15 in the U.S. in 1973), and in 2013 became the first music video shot in space, when performed by Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield aboard the International Space Station. Major Tom remained a motif for Bowie throughout his career, revisiting the character in the songs "Ashes to Ashes", "Hallo Spaceboy" and in the music video for "★”.
ABOUT DAVID BOWIE CONVERSATION PIECE
5 CD AND DIGITAL BOX SET RELEASED ON 15TH NOVEMBER 2019
Parlophone Records’ DAVID BOWIE CONVERSATION PIECE is a five-CD box set and digital equivalent tracking David’s early development throughout 1968 and 1969, via his home demos, BBC radio sessions, studio recordings with guitarist John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson and the experimental music and mime group, Feathers. The collection also celebrates the 50th anniversaries of the release of the ‘Space Oddity’ single and David’s second album, David Bowie (aka Space Oddity).
DAVID BOWIE CONVERSATION PIECE contains twelve previously unreleased tracks/demos from the period as well as a brand new mix of the Space Oddity (aka David Bowie) album by long-time Bowie producer/collaborator Tony Visconti.
The stunning 120 page hardback book accompanying the box features exclusive memorabilia from the personal collection of David’s former manager, the late Ken Pitt, as well as from the David Bowie Archive®, and includes photos by Ray Stevenson, Vernon Dewhurst, David Bebbington, Ken Pitt, Alec Byrne, Tony Visconti and Jojanneke Claasen.
The sleeve notes have been written for the release by Bowie experts Mark Adams, Tris Penna and Kevin Cann along with contributions from David’s lifelong friend George Underwood, Tony Visconti, Vernon Dewhurst, Dana Gillespie and John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson.
The 2019 mix of the Space Oddity album will also be released separately and individually on CD, standard digital, 96/24 digital and vinyl.
The various vinyl configurations will be randomly distributed worldwide with a mixture of hand-numbered labels; numbers 1 to 1969 on silver vinyl numbers and 1970 to 2019 on gold vinyl, with the remainder being black vinyl.
ABOUT SONY CORPORATION
Sony Corporation is a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology. From game and network services to music, pictures, electronics, semiconductors and financial services - Sony's purpose is to fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology. For more information, visit: www.sony.net
Explore artist stories about 360 Reality Audio on music storytelling platform Music.com
Nine-page 1969 Bowie feature in January Uncut
“And so the story goes”
The January 2020 issue of Uncut magazine (Uncut Take 272) comes in a printed presentation bag and celebrates 50 years of Bowie's Space Oddity album and the release next week of Conversation Piece 5CD set.
The bag contains a special Collector's Cover and Uncut’s bespoke Bowie Bulletin - a double-sided fanzine documenting Bowie’s 1969 lift off, bringing together archival pieces from the pages of Melody Maker, NME, Disc And Music Echo and the lesser-spotted Fab 208 on one side, folding out to a beautiful A1 poster on the reverse.
The Bowie Bulletin accompanies a 9-page cover feature, wherein Tony Visconti recalls the full story of Bowie’s stellar breakthrough year in close-up – even down to the type of sandwiches he and Bowie enjoyed for lunch during recording sessions at Trident Studios.
The presentation bag, Collector's Cover and Bowie Bulletin are only available on UK newsstands, though a limited number of copies are available to buy online here.
The January 2020 issue of Uncut is out on November 14th.
#BowieUNCUT #SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019
Wild Eyed Boy (Single Version) [2019 Mix] out now
“You'll lose me though I'm always really free”
On the 50th anniversary of the very day that Space Oddity peaked on the UK single chart at #5 (1st November 1969), we are celebrating with the release of a new streaming single in the shape of Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Single Version) [2019 Mix], the song that was the b-side of that original 45.
Go here to listen to the full thing on the platform of your choice.
#SpaceOddity50 #WEBFF2019SingleMix
David Live released 45 years ago today, probably
“And he was alright, the band was altogether”
According to the flyer reproduced here, David Live was released in the UK on 29th October, 1974. October 29 was a Tuesday back in 1974, a highly unusual day to release an LP in the 70s as the great majority were issued on a Friday. Given the other information available, we can deduce that the true release date would normally have been Friday November 1.
Whatever the truth, the date didn't hinder its success as David Live entered the official UK album chart at #2 on 16th November, 1974, and remained in the Top 20 for another six weeks till the end of the year.
David Live was Bowie’s first officially released live album, and it was compiled from performances during a run of shows in July 1974, at the Tower Theatre in Philadelphia during The Diamond Dogs Tour. It’s a magnificent recording capturing the energy and excitement of a completely new band that had started the tour a month earlier in Canada.
Incredible to think that Bowie had only arrived in New York three months earlier, but within two months had learnt and rehearsed a whole new set and embarked upon his most ambitious stage show to date.
The album really does stand the test of the past forty five years and sounds as exciting now as it did when it was released in 1974. Listen to the 2005 mix (remastered in 2016), the most complete version, here.
#BowieDavidLive
Stylophone capitalises on Bowie success 50 years ago today
“And I think my spaceship knows which way to go”
The week before Space Oddity reached its final destination of #5 on the UK singles chart (it was at #6 fifty years ago today), Dubreq made the most of the record’s success by placing Stylophone adverts featuring Bowie in the music weeklies and trade magazines.
Bowie himself was keen enough on the handy little ‘pocket synthesizer’ to resurrect it for Slip Away on 2002’s Heathen album, and he even played it live right up until his final tour in 2004. The live picture here was taken during Slip Away by Total Blam Blam in Dublin on 3rd November, 2003.
#SpaceOddity50 #BowieDubreqStylophone
Jim Reeve reviews Amsterdam Lazarus premiere
“I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen”
Jim Reeve is currently researching for a book about Lazarus, which will also cover Blackstar and elements of The Next Day. The project has taken him all over the world to see productions of Lazarus, including to Australia, Brazil, Israel, Germany, Austria, Norway, Denmark and, most recently, the Netherlands. As far as we know he is the only person to have seen all of the productions.
A lifelong Bowie fan, Jim has spoken with numerous actors, directors, musicians and production staff to understand their approaches to the play and the themes that they have found within it. He has also extensively researched the rich background of Lazarus, its antecedents, its diverse and often surprising inspirations and, of course, the influence of both Walter Tevis’ novel and Nicolas Roeg’s movie of The Man Who Fell To Earth.
The recent Dutch-language production of Lazarus at the DeLaMar theater in Amsterdam is the first chance for two and a half years for audiences to see Ivo van Hove’s original staging, as previously mounted in New York and London. At our invitation Jim attended the premiere, read his review below.
#LazarusNL #LazarusMusical
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Lazarus premiere at the DeLaMar Theater by Jim Reeve
Last Sunday Lazarus premiered at the DeLaMar Theater in Amsterdam. In many ways it was like visiting an old friend, as Ivo van Hove’s meticulous production closely mirrors his London staging. Jan Versweyveld’s elegant set appears unchanged, Tal Yarden’s immersive video work displays only minimal modifications, the band has again been expertly marshalled by Henry Hey and even costuming and movement are familiar. The Dutch script, I was assured by the charming Chiel Roovers (a veteran of the New York and London shows, amongst others) is an excellent translation which adheres to the English text. But for all its similarities, this is much more than a mere recreation of the original production. There may have been no revolution but there has certainly been evolution, with a number of elements subtly sharpened. De Volkskrant headed its review ‘The Dutch Lazarus is better than the original” and on balance that’s probably true.
The major changes lie in the details of the performances, all of which are strong both dramatically and vocally throughout. Dragan Bakema is outstanding as Newton, a role which he took over at short notice after Gijs Naber withdrew. Whilst Michael C Hall presented a masterclass in semi-anaesthetised delivery through which his inner pain only surfaced occasionally, Bakema is much more openly tormented and, perhaps ironically, more human. By turns he’s nervous, fearful, hopeful, confused; but capable too of exploding with anger and maniacal energy. There’s a moment when he sits alone on his bed, wracked with anguish and giving way to heartrending sobs; but during When I Met You he briefly lunges at Valentine with the knife, with such intent that just for a moment I thought that we might be in for a very different ending. It’s a fresh interpretation of Newton, and it’s very, very good.
The other major roles are similarly reworked. Noortje Herlaar’s Elly lacks the unhinged manic energy of Cristin Milioti or Amy Lennox, instead conveying a quieter and more profound sense of inner sadness and frustration. As a result you feel her tragedy more deeply: you’re watching an intelligent, sensitive woman driven slowly to the edge, then rapidly over it. She sings Changes and Always Crashing in the Same Car with real depth.
Pieter Embrechts is a much more physically imposing presence than Michael Esper, and is a more dominant, commanding and sardonic Valentine. Whilst Ben is telling his taxi story Embrechts is shown in disturbing close-up on the screen, his mouth twisting in irritation and, as his fragile self-control erodes, his hands beginning to violently squeeze his own throat as if they had a life of their own. It’s a chillingly psychotic moment, although one can’t help having some sympathy for his feelings (if not his later actions) as Ben and Maemi are presented throughout as wholly self-absorbed: an alpha couple who know it and want you to know it too.
As the Girl, Juliana Zijlstra most closely mirrors the New York/London original, though she discards Sophia Anne Caruso’s New York sparkiness in favour of a more understated – and possibly more European – teenage truculence. Vocally she’s magnificent, bringing beautiful clarity to her songs and taking on Life On Mars? seemingly effortlessly.
Audience members to whom I spoke at the after-premiere party were uniformly enthusiastic, with the word “moving” cropping up frequently – pleasing to hear about a play which has sometimes been criticised for not sufficiently engaging its audience emotionally. The production is set to run for six months at the DeLaMar, with some 75,000 tickets reportedly already sold. It’s great news that so many people will finally get the chance to see a production that brings Bowie’s vision to the stage so accurately and well.
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Great stuff. Thanks Jim and good luck with the book.
David and Duncan donate UNICEF dove doodles
“Rise together, Through these clouds, As on wings”
This story started with David Bowie twenty years ago and has gone full circle in that time to reach its conclusion tonight.
Doves for Peace was established in 1999 by Dorothy Claxton in response to the plight of innocent children caught up in violent conflicts and fleeing from war torn countries around the world. High profile personalities were invited to make a spontaneous drawing of a dove.
On Thursday 17th October, 2019, from 7:00pm BST, 107 drawings donated to Doves For Peace over the past twenty years will go under the hammer in aid of UNICEF.
The first of those pieces was created by David Bowie (Lot 75) on the 25th October, 1999, and the last was donated just a few days ago by Duncan Jones (Lot 107).
View both lots here.
Register to auction and see the full catalogue of all 107 doves here.
While you're waiting for the auction to start, read the full history of how David Bowie kick-started Doves For Peace below.
#DavidAndDuncan #DovesForPeace #Unicef
How Dorothy Claxton created Doves For Peace by David Launchbury
As a huge David Bowie fan I was lucky enough to be a winner on a competition Mark & Lard ran on their Radio One afternoon show back in October 1999. The prize was to visit the Maida Vale studios on the 25th October as part of a select audience to see David’s session throughout the show. My very talented artist and now retired art teacher neighbour (Dorothy Claxton) so kindly painted a beautiful portrait of David (see montage) for me to hopefully get signed.
She also had a wonderful idea to try and raise awareness for children whose lives have been devastated by war and wanted to do something to help, she thought that by asking famous people to draw a picture of a dove that maybe someday when she had enough she could raise some money for UNICEF.
I was incredibly lucky to meet David and not only did he sign her artwork he also drew a picture of a dove...see montage.
When I got back home I couldn't wait to show Dot the signed artwork and also gave her the dove picture David had drawn. She was so excited, and said that it was the first picture she had received. Fast forward twenty years and Dot feels she now has enough pieces of art from famous people to be able to auction them off in the hope of raising a substantial amount for UNICEF. The auction takes place on the 17th October.
I think it’s an incredible achievement that Dot has accomplished and the link between the first and last dove sketch is remarkable.
First Bowie magazine cover is fifty today
“I can work the scene babe, I can see the magazines”
In the week that David Bowie entered the UK Top 20 at #13 with Space Oddity, DISC and MUSIC ECHO magazine rewarded him with his first ever front cover. *
The pictures was taken by @AlecByrneArchive at Paddington Street Gardens, London, in September 1969.
Inside was an interview feature by Penny Valentine who had long been a champion of David’s. Her love of Space Oddity only cemented her belief that Bowie would amount to something special. Here’s the concluding paragraph:
““Space Oddity” is the first tenuous link in a long chain that will make David Bowie one of the biggest assets, and one of the most important people British music has produced in a long long time.”
The front cover also featured new skinhead band, Slade. Ironic that both these newcomers would have to wait for the emergence of the glam rock movement before they found lasting success.
Skinheads themselves had dampened David’s enthusiasm for performing live, as he recounted to Timothy White for Musician magazine in 1983:
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MUSICIAN: When Space Oddity hit England in 1969, weren't you suddenly faced with a weird juxtaposition in live performance - something that later Bowie might have conjured up - where you'd be doing Dylanesque shows in front of pissed-off skinheads?
BOWIE: It was odd. I was not prepared for that at all. It was, unfortunately, a very good song that possibly I wrote a bit too early, because I hadn't anything else substantial at the time. What I was involved in to a lesser or greater extent at that point was what were known in England as the "Arts Labs". The idea was to encourage people to locally congregate at this meeting house in Beckenham and become involved in all aspects of arts in society. To come and watch strange performances by longhaired, strange people. They started out with altruistic aims. We'd all contribute to the funding, but those things were always broke, owing money left, right and center. You'd hire Bunuel films like Un Chien Andalou for people to see and not be able to pay for rental. Then you'd have poets who'd come down from Cumberland in their transit vans to read, and so on.
In the midst of all this, I'd written this little thing about Major Tom and gotten it recorded, and I was told I had a concert tour if I wanted it! I thought haughtily, "I'll go out and sing my songs!" not knowing what audiences were like in those days. Sure enough, it was the revival of the mod thing which had since turned into skinheads. They couldn't abide me. (laughter) No! No way! The whole spitting, cigarette-flicking abuse thing by audiences started long before the punks of 1977 in my own frame of reference.
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Thankfully, the fast-moving music scene of the early 70s was more prepared for David Bowie when he returned as a “Cosmic Yob” in 1972.
You will have noticed that the beautiful painting we have posted with the magazine cover is a piece by @saracaptainart (based on another of Alec’s shots taken on the same day), called AN OCCASIONAL DREAM.
* The cover of NME in January 1966 doesn't count as it was a paid for advert for Can’t Help Thinking About Me.
#BowieAlecByrne #SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019 #SaraCaptainArt
VH1 Storytellers vinyl released tomorrow
“With the hymns of night, Singing come to me”
As mentioned previously, David Bowie’s 23rd of August 1999 performance to an intimate crowd at The Manhattan Center’s Grand Ballroom in New York, will be released by Parlophone as a limited edition double vinyl LP tomorrow (11th October), with four bonus recordings not included on the original 2009 CD version.
Recorded for the VH1 Storytellers series, Bowie used the opportunity to promote his forthcoming album, 'hours...'. And he had a right laugh while he was about it.
Order here
Further details here
#BowieStorytellers
NetAid at Wembley 20 years ago tonight
“What to wear, What to say, What to do on a sunny day, Who to phone, Who to fight, Who to dance with on a Saturday night” *
Thirty years to the day after Bowie’s first appearance on Top Of The Pops with Space Oddity, David chose to celebrate the occasion with a short set and a few folk at Wembley Stadium for NetAid.
NetAid was an anti-poverty initiative to raise awareness for the challenges in developing countries, and to allow people to volunteer online, donating their skills to help people in the developing world. NetAid's goal was to make global philanthropy to support developing countries more efficient.
Following a press launch that included Bowie, Bono and Wyclef Jean, NetAid was globally launched with concerts on October 9, 1999 at Wembley Stadium in London, Giants Stadium in New Jersey and the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
Performers at Wembley Stadium included: Eurythmics, The Corrs, Catatonia, Bush, Bryan Adams, George Michael, David Bowie, Stereophonics and Robbie Williams. Proceedings were kicked off by Iman and footballer David Ginola.
The duo of Bowie and Mike Garson opened the six-song set with Life On Mars? They were then joined alphabetically by Sterling Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Page Hamilton and Mark Plati, to perform a set which included two songs from the new release, 'hours...', for which David thanked the audience for the success of.
01 - Life On Mars?
02 - Survive
03 - China Girl
04 - The Pretty Things Are Going To Hell
05 - Drive-In Saturday
06 - Rebel Rebel
Emm Gryner and Holly Palmer joined the band from China Girl onwards.
For the occasion, Bowie wore a customised-by-sharpie shirt with braces (suspenders to some of you) and grey trousers.
Watch the full thing here.
* Correct, the original lyric says “Sunday night”. But the NetAid show was on a Saturday. It all makes sense now.
#BowieHours #BowieNetAid
Bowie’s first TOTPs broadcast 50 years ago tonight
“Do you remember a guy that's been, In such an early song?”
Taped the previous week, David Bowie’s appearance on Top Of The Pops with Space Oddity was broadcast fifty years ago tonight on 9th October, 1969.
The single had reached #13 and it would continue its ascent of the UK chart till it peaked at #5.
Sadly, the tape was wiped by the BBC, but were you lucky enough to catch this historic performance?
The mono pic in our montage is another exclusive and previously unpublished shot by BBC photographer Harry Goodwin taken from the Conversation Piece book.
#SpaceOddity50 #DBCP2019