There's a bar at the end where I can meet you and your friend...
These two items up for grabs today are the last of the Mick Rock prints from the MTR Bowie exhibition. These latest items will be posted live sometime later today and you can reach the BowieNet Auctions page by clicking on any of the images in this post.
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Mick Rock's shot of Cyrinda Foxe and David Bowie as Ziggy in a
Beverly Hills bar, October 1972. Approx. 17" X 12.5" in the frame.
The first item is this wonderfully atmospheric shot which was taken in a bar in Beverly Hills in October 1972. The girl in the picture is the late Cyrinda Foxe, a good friend of David's at the time, who lent him various items of her clothing during his short Ziggy Stardust tour of the US. In fact the jacket David is wearing in the picture above is the one that Cyrinda wore during the video shoot for The Jean Genie.
This shot was one in a series used as the basis for George Underwood's drawing that became a full page ad in the original press campaign for the release of the single The Jean Genie.
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Mick Rock's still of David Bowie during the Life On Mars? video
shoot, London, May 1973. Approx. 16.5" x 12.5" in the frame.
The second item is a print of a still from Mick Rock's Life On Mars? video shoot. Mick filmed and directed Life On Mars? backstage at Earls Court on the 12th May 1973 specifically to accompany the single's release on 22nd June 1973.
Mick Rock has said that Life On Mars? was produced for less than $350, shot in one day and edited in less than two. Here he talks a bit about Life On Mars? and he explains how shooting the early Bowie promos was not quite the big deal that video production is today
Life On Mars was the final in a quartet of 16mm promo films I produced and directed for Bowie. John I'm Only Dancing, The Jean Genie and Space Oddity were the other titles. In all cases I waived any fee for their promotional usage. Nobody had any idea at the time that people would one day pay money for such things.
In truth, if I had solicited compensation, these films would not have been made. Promos were not part of any regular budget and only David and I were enthusiastic. DeFries agreed to spring for the expenses to keep David happy and I got to further my interest in film.
The key for me was that, within the confines of tiny budgets, I had total creative control. David was happy to let me make all the shooting and editing decisions. What was important to him was that they got made. As in all aspects of his career, at this point, David exhibited uncannily prescient instincts.
It's important to note two special ingredients which made Life On Mars such a memorable promo. The dazzling turquoise suit made by long-time Bowie confidant and clothes designer Freddie Burretti, and the exquisite make up rendered by glammeister Pierre Laroche, the man who applied the lighting bolt motif on Aladdin Sane.
Though David never wore the suit again, it was recently brought out of storage for the Vogue/Kate Moss photo shoot that we told you about last month. (04/10/03 NEWS: BOWIE INTERVIEW AND CLOBBER SPECIAL IN VOGUE)
Both of these professionally framed prints were on display during the MTR Bowie exhibition last year, and you're unlikely to have the chance to get a framed Mick Rock print at the price they've been going for in these auctions, ever again.