When the competition to win a call from David himself was announced on Bowienet www.davidbowie.com, I had already begun to send in press cuttings and stories, enjoyed every minute of it and was very very happy to see them posted in the news. But a call.....WHAT A PRIZE!!!
As the months passed, I had one or two hints, that maybe I would be lucky enough to win the call, but was delighted to see it announced in the news that I was the winner!!!
Then came a week or two of anticipation, which I very much enjoyed actually! There was a sense that once the call came it would be over, and there was definitely pleasure in the waiting.
I was online at about 9.30pm GMT on 19.1.00, when my email messenger flashed. ‘Probably ‘xoom’ selling something’ I thought.
It was Howard!! (Bowienet webmaster). A lovely, polite message too.
“GET OFF THE LINE, DAVID IS TRYING TO CALL YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!”
Teehee....... I love you too, Howard..........Of course, I logged off straight away, rushed to tell my husband, heart pounding, knees trembling etc. The phone rang almost immediately.
HJ : Karen?
KD: Yes it is.
HJ : This is Howard calling.
KD : Hi Howard! Hi! How are you?
HJ : I’m good. Hold on one second, OK?
pause
HJ : David Bowie is gonna call you momentarily so hang up, and if anybody calls, tell them to... erm... ‘Get lost’ . (laughs)
KD : (laughs) All right. It’s lovely to talk to you Howard!
HJ : Nice to talk to you, and Ron says Hi. Hang tough! Here he comes!!
We hang up, and Robin (husband) and I giggle to ourselves with anticipation! Phone rings again!!!!
A female voice, American accent : Hi, Is this Karen Dawson?
KD : Yes it is
? : Hi, can you hold a second for David Bowie?
KD : Yes , I think SO (irony)
? : OK, thank you. ( she is smiling too, she knows how lucky I am)
pause
DB : (using phoney American accent) Hello?
KD : ( I am fooled, I think its another intermediary) Hi
DB : Is that Karen?
KD : Yes it is
DB : (still got the accent) Totally cool, I’ll just get , like, David for you.
KD : Great!
DB : (his own voice) No, I’m fooling, its David, Hello!
we both explode with laughter
KD : You are kidding! (I am amazed, because the accent was really good! But I know its really him now, as you couldn’t mistake that distinctive voice)
DB : Hello Karen (still laughing)
KD : Hi, how are you!!!! (very very excited voice)
DB : I am very well indeed. (still laughing ). May I commend you on your news gathering! (now his voice is sort of false pompous - he is still fooling around
KD : Oh, thank you SO much (I am ecstatic)
DB : This is the time of year we have to give thanks for harvesting the news.
KD : Well, you are very welcome. I want to thank you for the opportunity to do it. I have loved every second of it , David.
DB : Thats very cool ( he’s touched), very cool
KD : Its been wonderful, every minute, and I hope it goes on.
DB : Are you enjoying Bowienet?
KD : Oh, very much so
DB : You’re liking it. You know we’re really moving up quite a few levels this year. Should be super dooper.
KD : Well, its super dooper for me now, I love it
DB : We’re doing three phases through the course of the year. I think you are gonna love it.
KD : Can I ask you a few questions, David?
DB : Absolutely
KD : I am really looking forward to the writing work you are going to be doing this year, and I was wondering how you are going to be using the internet for that? You did say you might involve us, somehow.
DB : One project that might be fun to involve users, is on the second ‘Outside’ album. At the moment the working title is ‘2 . Contamination’. I think that we might put up quite a few samples of the pieces we are working on, and bring what seem to be the most popular choices onto the album. Also, Tom Dolby has come up with a way of actually jamming. So a bunch of musicians all in different cities, can jam together at the same time.
KD : A lot of the musicians in the chat room are very excited about that.
DB : Mike Garson, over in LA, can stay there, and we can be jamming in New York, and he can join us. The whole thing can go out on MP format and you can download it at home like a jazz improvisation
KD : Sounds wonderful!
DB : Very exciting , yeah
KD : A few of the musicians in the chat room would like to get together and do something?
DB : That would be great if we could make that available. Maybe we can do some stuff where we can join them, you know?
KD : Of course, we are all looking forward to you coming back to England. That’s next year, isn’t it? ( I mean the story about him coming back to England to live)
DB : That’s been rumoured. This year actually. The guy who originally started the Glastonbury festival (its Michael Eavis) came to the Astoria and just decided on the spot that he wanted me to close the festival this year. We are very close ( he means close to a deal), we are still talking about it, but it may be that I’ll be doing the Glastonbury festival this year, the last night.
KD : Well, I will be there, with bells on!
DB : Thats probably gonna be about the only show we are going to be doing this year.
DB : Where do you live, by the way?
KD : I am in Sunderland, England. I am sure you can tell by the accent.
KD : You were here a lot when you were a young lad.
DB : Absolutely. We used to do Newcastle a lot actually.
KD : And Sunderland. You did Sunderland Locarno.
DB : You know something, I think I did a mime show with Lindsay Kemp. Does old erm..... well he’s dead now of course......Nicholas Seckers, of Seckers Silks. Didn’t he run a house up in Sunderland?
KD : (I am panicking a bit, cos I have never heard of any of this. The thoughtdid occur to me that it was another little wind up. I mean, Sunderland is not exactly known for being at the cutting edge of culture) Oh, gosh, I think you are going back a bit too far for me now. (** see Note 1)
DB : Well, the industry would still be quite well known, if it was still going. Doesn’t ring any bells?
KD : Not for me no. But you certainly appeared at the Locarno, because I’ve got the press cuttings. (laughing)
DB : (affects ‘Geordie’ accent. actually it sounds like Yorkshire...lol) Aye, we did t’Locarno. ( I am laughing out loud now).
KD : I notice that you have stayed away from the Ziggy Stardust material, lately?
DB : Thats because we are going to be doing quite a bit of it in 2002. Giving it a bit of a breather until we get there. That will be 30 years you know?
KD : You know how to keep us all revved up!
DB : I am quite excited about that too! ( he sounds like he means it)
DB : Two things we are doing this year. The Tony Visconti album. I am working with him right at this moment in fact. We started talking the other day. The third thing would be this album of ‘60’s covers, covering my songs, kind of pre anything to do with RCA really. Well pre the well known albums, you know? Covering all those strange little singles that I put out. Umpteen of em. From about ‘66 till about ‘70
KD : ‘ Can’t Help Thinkin About Me’ was great at the Astoria!DB : Oh yeah, that was what kinda triggered it off. You know, and now I have definitely settled on London Boy, Let me Sleep Beside You, maybe Silly Boy Blue. All these are pretty obscure songs, but we are going to try them out again.
KD : God, this is gonna make a GREAT article for me.! ( I am THRILLED with all the scoops he is giving me)
we both burst out laughing at my enthusiasm.
DB : As long as you promise to post it up
KD : Oh, hey...you will get it first!
DB : Don’t forget the photographs of the two of us talking to each other. Oh no, we haven’t got those. (He knows we haven’t...he is kidding again)
KD : (regretful) No never mind. Next time eh?
DB : (winding it up) Well, well done, you know?
KD : Thanks! Just a couple more things ( I am gonna make the very most of this!) The SFX company have bought part of Ultrastar haven’t they?
DB : Yes, we are now in partnership with each other. Its a very co-operative deal.
KD : We are going to see some more sites similar to yours for other bands?
DB : Yes, but you know, I will always be hands-on with my site. I won’t be dispersing my abilities or whatever, round the other sites. I am staying very much with my site.
DB : What’s your last question? I have to move on now.
KD : I wanted to say that Iman was lovely when she came into chat. Warm, and witty and funny, totally different to how I expected her to be. I expected this sort of haughty, foreign.........and she’s not at all!
DB : awwr.....( he is pleased) She’s very straightforward actually.
KD : Finally, Through all the years you have been in the public eye, there is still an enigma about you. Do you have any comment to make about that? ( I am laughing apologetically, cos I know its a bit of a fatuous question)
DB : I am going to the doctor’s to have it taken out.
KD : (I am delighted with this answer) Thats why its still there isnt it? ...laughing( I mean because he doesn’t answer questions like that)
KD : Thank you SO much for this
DB : Absolute pleasure, Karen
KD : The whole thing has been ( a pleasure I mean), and this (I mean the call) just tops the lot!.
DB : You keep in touch then........
KD : Thanks David
DB : All right my love
KD : Thanks
DB : Bye
KD : Bye
Cue for much ecstatic leaping around the house and hugging of my husband!! My knees are still a bit shaky! ( its the next day now).. It will be a very long time before my permanent grin wears off!
I was COMPLETELY delighted with the way the whole conversation went, but of course there were one or two things I didn’t say, so David, if you are reading this........
I want to thank you, first of all for 30+ years of first class music making. You have been a very large part of the soundtrack to my life, and that is irreplaceable. Your music has supported me in the bad times, and joined me in the good times. Your live work has given me perfect moments, which I look back on with enormous pleasure.
Bowienet has been a most unexpected, and unprecedented treat!!! You are so extraordinarily kind to let us into your life as you do, and to share your good times with us.
To have spoken to you has been my ‘15 minutes’, of which I am extremely proud.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
spaceface (Karen Dawson) 20.1.00
****************************************** (I have added a short audio clip - click here to hear it.)
****************************************** Note 1 : I thought and thought about David's mention of Nicholas Seckers, and searched everywhere to discover who he was. Eventually I did discover something, and Blamm was kind enough to pass on an email for me. I have pasted the email and db's reply below:-
spfc to db :
Hi David!!
Mega congratulations on the baby!! You must be SOOOO excited!
Do you remember mentioning Sir Nicholas Sekers when we spoke on the phone? You said that he used to run a house in Sunderland which is my home town, and I am afraid I was totally blank....lol
Well, I was determined to find out something about him, and tortured the computer search engines, the local history people, the leading national arts and theatre bodies, Blamm , Paul Kinder and The Guru without success.
Last night I hit on the old fashioned idea of looking in some books I have about your life, and bingo!, there he was in the index of the first one I tried!
He was the owner of the Rosehill Theatre in Whitehaven, Cumbria (top of the Lake District). You can see a picture of it here
http://wcti.hypermart.net/attractions/attractions26.htm
The book says "The theatre was the personal indulgence of the silk manufacturer Sir Nicholas Sekers, who had converted a barn in the grounds of his eighteenth-century mansion. It held barely 100 people, and its interior walls were lined with pure silk. Seker's powers of patronage enabled him to lure artists of international standing to Whitehaven, where they played before audiences who had often been imported on special trains from London. Such lavishness was a natural lure to Kemp, and he had persuaded Sekers to stage 'Pierrot in Turquoise' on three successive nights, January 3rd to 5th 1968."
Seven of you went up there (270 miles) in a rented transit van. You, Lindsay Kemp, Great Orlando, Michael Garrett, Craig San Roque and his wife, and Natasha Kornilof. You stayed in a freezing cold farmhouse, the weather was terrible, and the book says there were lots of love troubles that weekend. Kemp recalls you greeting these troubles by looking 'a bit like Stan Laurel'.....'very pale and slightly puzzled, with knitted eyebrows'...awwr. You will have been nearly 21...
I wonder if this farmhouse was in 'Sunderland', a small village near Whitehaven?
The 'Sunderland' where I live is on the opposite coast about 100 miles away, and is a large re-generating industrial city.
Anyway, mystery solved!! The theatre is still going strong, and stages a wide variety of arts events. I will visit, next time I am in the area.
Hoping to come and see you in New York!!
Thanks once again for the phone call (I am still grinning idiotically, one month later) and the chances to write for your website!!
:))
spaceface
db to spfc :
AWWW!! Ta! what a sweet story. Right silk, wrong Sunderland. Never mind. db