The BBC last night repeated highlights of The Millennium Party concert held in Greenwich, London, last year. Whilefor some the event may have indeed been a god-awful small affair with the likes of Martine McCutcheon, EltonJohn, Lesley Garrett and the Spice Girls for entertainment, any Bowie fans in the audience would have beendelighted by the inclusion of 'Life On Mars?' in the Eurythmics set. Go here for more.
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
Live and Kicking is a Saturday morning show aimed primarily at young persons here in the UK, while still managingto attract great hulking brutes such as myself. Of interest to most of you however, is the bit where an assembledcast of celebs view videos of new releases, and vote on the likely chart performance of said recording. Click on theabove image to see the outcome.
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
Click here to go to DB's Birthday Celebration! Remember to hunt through those eggs!
While we are on the subject of 'Survive', it would seem that the release of this single has been put back a week in theUK to January 24th. This date also affects Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.
But, if you really must have the recording on the 17th, then a quick flight to Austria, Greece, Switzerland or Portugalshould secure you a copy, as the release date in those countries remains unchanged. Not sure about the Europeancountries I have not mentioned, (sorry Bianca and co) suffice it to say, it will be worth the wait!
Small consolation to those who can't have the single on the 17th will be the posting on that day, finally, of mybehind-the-scenes report from the shooting of the video...(shouts of: "Well that definitely won't be worth thewait!")
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
It was 53 years ago this very day that a seconds old David Robert Jones first exercised the lungs that would make him a Globe-Straddling Rock God, and while that particular moment was not recorded for posterity, (as far as we know at least) the event was reported by CELEBRATION! magazine here in the UK.
We have reproduced the front of this priceless publication from the only copy known to survive, stumbled upon in a dusty old junk shop in South London by our super-sleuth Total Blam Blam. What do you mean it's most likely a fake then?
Click on the above image for a link to a much larger version of this incredible piece of Rock 'n' Rollhistory. From there find the hidden hotspots for further links, to other areas of varying relevance.Check back over the next few days for added hotspots to new links.
I'm sure every single member of BowieNet will join us in wishing David a very special birthday and wewould like to take this opportunity to show our gratitude to the man for letting us share in his work overthe last 35 years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID and much love from everybody at BowieNet.
Mike Garson has just composed "Requiem for the 20th Century" a moderntribute to the death of the 20th Century. Using a Yamaha Midi GrandPiano, Mike composed, performed and produced the entire track himself.Completed New Year's Day 2000, this inspiring track celebrates the passage oftime in Mike's unique Now! Music style. Click the link below starting January8th to listen. (RealPlayer Required)
In a flagrant abuse of my position I would like to wish my long-suffering wife a happy birthday. We have beentogether since 1989, when I met the lovely lady in an all-night queue for Tin Machine tickets! Happy Birthday darling - have fun - all my love - Mark xxx(Blammo)
Normal service will resume in a moment...
VH1 today, released their 100 Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Songs, as determined by a panel of 700 voters assembled by the music network. Our fearless leader and rock hero only had one entry in the list of the top 100 songs (they must have asked the wrong 700 people). regardless, here is the top 10, and Bowie's spot on the list:
1. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," The Rolling Stones.
2. "Respect," Aretha Franklin.
3. "Stairway to Heaven," Led Zeppelin.
4. "Like a Rolling Stone," Bob Dylan.
5. "Born to Run," Bruce Springsteen.
6. "Hotel California," the Eagles.
7. "Light My Fire," the Doors.
8. "Good Vibrations," the Beach Boys.
9. "Hey Jude," the Beatles.
10. "Imagine," John Lennon.
60. "Space Oddity," David Bowie
VH1 is airing a show which covers these Top 100 songs, and the artists who made them, starting Monday, January 17th at 10pm EST. The show runs until the 21st of January.
Go to VH1's 100 Greatest Songs
Go to VH1.com
David Bowie will be the headline of the Oporto International Film Festival - FANTASPORTO 2000 (25th February/4th March 2000).There will be lots of films starring David Bowie from "The Man Who Fell to Earth" to "Exhuming Mr. Rice", this film is in competition, and also promo music videos and other stuff.
Fantasporto is a festival cinema that occurs every year in the city of Oporto in Portugal. Now going to its 20th edition, this festival is specialised in fantasy and science-fiction films.
Go to Fantasporto Online
There is a whisper in the chat rooms that it is somebody else's birthday tomorrow. Some mysterious old tart who will have reached an impressive 53-years-of-age by tomorrow. Well whoever it is, you can send individual greetings of your own that we will forward to the birthday boy. Please post your submissions to:
...with a subject field of Birthday Boy.
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
DAVID BOWIE back up singer HOLLY PALMER is taking to the stage again for some special low-key shows in New York City this month, with special guest Robin Macatangay on guitar. You can go see her at the: Dark Star Lounge on 158 West 72nd, New York City. Tel: 212-799-4599. Two shows on January 20th and 21st, showtime is 8.30 p.m. and admission is $5.
information from Jason
'Q' Magazine is going Bowie-Crazy! Here are 3 seperate stories that have run recently:
Every month, 'Q' conduct an exit poll at three live gigs and ask four punters '...May we stop you a moment and ask, What did you think of tonight's show?'
This month, they feature The LONDON ASTORIA, DAVIDBOWIE gig. All four opinions were ecstatic, which isunusual.....I guess they couldn't find anyone to say abad word....
Here is what 'Q' had to say about Diamond Dogs:
"In which DAVID came over all George Orwell, whileresembling a glam-rock whippet on the album sleeve. Despite its literary conceit, has aged extraordinarilywell."
Featured early in the selection is this great blackand white shot taken in PARIS in 1976, on the last dayof the STATION TO STATION tour, by the famousphotographer ANDY KENT.
"I was working for BOWIE on the whole tour and weneeded some more personal shots for press... He was just putting his make-up on before the last show. I never really posedhim - he was a master of that. I just let him behimself... I did my best work with DAVID BOWIE - he brought it out of me."
All info courtesy Spaceface
Millennium 2000 db Birthday Party in Tokyo
A Happy new year! Happy New Millennium!
A popular Japanese weekly entertainment information magazine, 'Tokyo Ishukan (Tokyo One-Week)' published on 4th January is featuring this event with an article and a db photo.On the page 112 of the issue, there is information on "Millennium 2000 db Birthday Party" which will be held on on 8th January in Tokyo.
Click HERE for some information about the party in English.
Click HERE for some information about the party in Japanese.
January 8th in Hamburg, Böckelweg 21, all are invited to party in the name of DB. Entrance fee is 20 DM including drinks and the possibility to sleep in the hall after the party if you bring a sleeping bag and a mat. Among other activities, there will be a Bowie-Quiz, a showing of some rare Bowie-Stuff and possibly a Bowie-Auction of sorts! Mainly it should be a party to get to know each other and celebrate the music from the man who was formerly known as Ziggy, Thin White Duke, the one and only David Bowie!
for more info, e-mail Bianca
The Sunday Times produced a special Millenium Souvenir Issue with Full 24-hour coverage of the event from around the world. As well as national celebrations, there were stories about personal experiences of the big day.
Chosen as 'THE SINGER AND THE MODEL' were DAVID and IMAN.
View the story
info courtesy Spaceface
Rolling Stone ran an article recently (12/20/99) about the popularity (or lack thereof) of EMDs (or Electronic Media devices). Part of the problem, they say, is the quality of music avaliable for download. Most artists stick to traditional album sales, but who knows what the future of downloadable music is?
"When the major labels start allowing their best-selling recordings to be downloaded, like Virgin did with David Bowie's 'hours...', that's when consumers will likely make the move to EMDs. 'That will accelerate the growth,' says the analyst, 'because it's going to be driven by content.'"
Throwing Our Weight Around
Leading off an article on the future of ISP's is this impressive piece in USA TODAY.
Both the Yankee's site and BowieNet are managed by UlraStar, co-founded by Bowie himself.
Read the article
Here is an interesting snippet from Dublins largest selling evening news paper, The Evening Herald.
'Diary Review of the
Highlights of 1999'
by Dermott Hayes.
"David Bowie performed the most spectacular show of the year inDublin's HQ in Abbey Street, the MTV awards not withstanding.Five hundred lucky punters gained admission to the exclusive show.The mezzanine balcony of the Hall of Fame was jammed packed withcelebrities, local and international, including: the Corrs, Michael Flatley, Gerry Ryan, Dave Fanning, joe Elliot, Brian Kennedy and Andrew Lloyd Webber.... Legend has its own place in social history and David Bowie is one very real and very vital musical legend."
Hayes goes on to say that the Diary's first review was even quoted on international superstar's own website www.davidbowie.com.
info courtesy Chris
David Bowie, friendly on The O Zone - BBC2 - 4th Jan 2000
It was short and sweet and fractured with snippets from various videos across the years,including a tantalising glimpse of the rarely seen 'Stage' footage from 1978. The interviewsituation was identical to the Newsnight Jeremy Paxman 'Interview of the Millennium', andboth were filmed on the same day early last month.
David was his usual relaxed, humorous and irritatingly great-looking self. How come he looks younger and far fitter than me and I'm not even 40 yet? Must be the drugs, his not mine! Oh well, click here for a link to some highlights from the interview and here for some screen grabs from same.
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
'I had to phone someone, so I picked on Rodney'
Should old acquaintance be forgot, DB phoned an old acquaintance, champion of all things Bowie, and host of LosAngeles radio station KROQ, Rodney Biggenheimer. The interview last Sunday night (Jan 2nd), was a fairly lengthy affair, in which David revealed some of his upcoming plans, none of which were particularly newsworthy to those of you who read these pages on a regular basis.
Among the projects discussed were his one European festival appearance this summer, the next studio album withTony Visconti and the fact that he intends to re-record an album of some of his sixties songs that he feels didn'tperhaps receive the treatment they deserved at the time. But then again you knew that!
You can read a slightly more detailed account of the event here
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
"Those In The Know, Know"
In another move by film-makers that recognise the value of a Bowie track in the closing credits, (just look at thesuccess of 'Seven' which used 'The Heart's Filthy Lesson' if you don't believe me!) the album version of 'Survive' is tobe used on the end credits of the film 'Rancid Aluminium' which has a release date of January 21st here in the UK.Described as "A slick, edgy crime thriller" the film was directed by Ed Thomas based on the novel by James Hawes.
The film's cast includes, among others, Joseph Fiennes (a guest at the Astoria after show), Rhys Ifans, TaraFitzgerald, Sadie Frost and star of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', Nick Moran. At the moment there is no planfor a soundtrack release to accompany the film.
Total Blam Blam - (European Correspondent)
Go here for a Synopsis of 'Rancid Aluminium' generously supplied by the lovely Electric Blue.