Bowie Interview And Clobber Special In Vogue

Sees the pictures of herself, Every magazine on every shelf...

The May issue of VOGUE is a real treat for Bowie fans and fashion freaks alike. Not only does the front cover of this edition have a nicely-timed Aladdin Sane flash across the face of Kate Moss, but it also boasts a six page pictorial feature of Kate wearing a few of the more memorable items of clothing from David's seventies wardrobe.

These incredible shots of Ms Moss were taken by the quite brilliant Nick Knight, and the timeless look of the outfits on Kate belies the fact that they are around thirty years old. For reference purposes, the mag has an impressive spread of the clothes modelled by the original owner.

From left to right: Blue three piece by Freddie Burretti, 1973; Black waistcoat and trousers by Ola
Hudson and white shirt by Paul Smith, 1976; Knitted asymmetric costume and wrist/ankle bands by
Kansai Yamamoto, 1973. All pictures of Kate by Nick Knight. Dodgy PhotoShop montage by Blammo.

The pictures of Kate would be enough in themselves, but this issue doesn't stop there. The magazine also has a two-page spread reproducing an e-mail conversation/two-way interview between David and designer Hedi Slimane... Hedi designed the clothes for the Heathen shows. The correspondence took place back in February, and here's a bit of one of David's contributions:

Since I was a teenager, the city of Berlin stood for a kind of Europeanism that appealed, more than anything because of the association with both Dada and Expressionism. I was immensely influenced by both when I was younger and frequently tried to pull elements of both into my own work.

A good example of the Dada input would be the Saturday Night Live sequence, around 1980, in which I re-worked Tristan Tzara?s Cabaret Voltaire skits into song performances. So much fun? One sequence had me dressed as a pipe-smoking Chinese airline stewardess, dragging a huge fake pink poodle on a leash. The dog had a TV monitor inside its mouth on which the real-time performance was playing.

It's all quite fascinating stuff, and BowieNet members can read the whole thing by clicking here. You should be able to find a copy of VOGUE in all decent newsagents from Monday... if not earlier!

Flowers? ...we Have A Winner!

I found the secrets, I found gold...

Sorry for the delay on this one... those of you who took part know what it's about. (04/05/03 SNIPPET: BOWIENET NEWS ARCHIVE FOR MARCH IS LIVE) The BowieNetter, who will receive a signed four-track Heathen promo is...wait for it... wldjareth!

Send me your name and address Shannon, and we'll get your promo out to you. Well done, and thanx to those of you who did take part in this latest exercise in instant silliness. };-)

The Mow And Gallery Have Been Refreshed.

Bowienet/ebay Auction Of More Mick Rock/mtr Goodies

At least a picture on the wall...

As the current auction draws to a close, (04/01/03 NEWS: BOWIENET/EBAY AUCTION OF MTR GOODIES) we are offering two similar lots in a new auction. Two more Mick Rock framed photographs from the MTR Bowie exhibition are now live. You can reach each auction by clicking on the pictures below.

Ziggy and Ronno perform The Jean Genie in London, October 1973.

This exciting mono shot of David Bowie and Mick Ronson was taken by Mick Rock at London's Marquee Club in October 1973. This show was the very last performance David Bowie gave as the Ziggy Stardust character, and this particular shot was taken during filming of a performance of The Jean Genie. Here's David from an interview last year, talking about the controversial costume he's wearing in this shot:

I did one particular song, can't remember what it was now but I had a strange kind of string knitted costume made with three hands on. Two of them on my chest, looking like I was being gripped from the back...And a third one on my crotch. I nearly started a riot with the Americans. They said: "Oh we can't show that, that's subversive." We went through hell, so I had to take the hand of my crotch. And then of course they didn't like the black pouch piece that was down there, that the hand was stitched to...so I had to change all that. So, like the 'Diamond Dogs' thing that they airbrushed the dick off, I was having more erasure problems.

The print is professionally framed and measures 23" x 17" in the frame.

David Bowie photographed by Mick Rock for the Pin-Ups sleeve, London 1973.

This beautiful Mick Rock shot is from a session that was used as part of the campaign for David Bowie's Pin-Ups album. It was taken in London in the autumn of 1973, and here's a bit of what Mick Rock remembers about that session:

David was two hours late, but was totally prepared. The shoot only lasted an hour or so, then we went for tea. David loved teatime.

The print is professionally framed and measures 14" x 14" in the frame.

David Bowie: Live In New York - The Winners

There it is, the book, the winner you once talked of being...

This is what you've all been waiting for, but before I announce the winners, here's the percentage breakdown of the voting:

David Bowie: Live in New York = 45%
David Bowie: The New York Bowiethon = 30%
David Bowie: The New York Gigs = 25%

So, David Bowie: Live in New York it is. Above is an exclusive look at the Rex Ray designed cover with the title you voted for. If all of the winners below could please send their real name and addresses to me again, just to make sure we got it right. Also, please be sure to send from your BowieNet account so that we can check you are who you say you are... you'd be surprised what some folk would do to get their hands on one of these beauties!

Send to me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com with a subject line of "I'm a David Bowie: Live in New York winner".

Here are those lucky BowieNetters, five book winners first, followed by the five print winners:

SIGNED BOOK WINNERS

Chamomile
eden7
scattered_logic
maarten
Pretty_Thing

SIGNED PRINT WINNERS

Sweethead
kiarrith
CHAS
rmbods
thejeanjeanne

Well done to you lot, and thanx to Myriam, Rex and DB for their generosity in signing these items.

Last Chance To Win Signed Copy Of Mask's Bowie Book

Roseland Poster 2002. DB by Myriam Santos-Kayda.
Print designed by Rex Ray... signed by the lot of 'em.

Now you pick them on the screen...

OK, we're wrapping this one up now. You have until 8:00am (GMT) tomorrow morning to join in on this one if you haven't already. We told you all about Myriam Santos-Kayda's book in a news piece last week, (03/29/03 NEWS: WIN A COPY OF MASK'S BOWIE BOOK - WITH FOREWORD BY DB) but I can now confirm that not only will our five lucky winners receive a copy signed by Myriam, but it will also be signed by Rex Ray, who has designed the thing... AND David Bowie, who features pretty heavily in it!

As if that wasn't enough, five lucky runners-up will receive a copy of the above Roseland 2002 print signed by the same unholy trinity! So if you haven't voted yet... get voting now. For those that can't be bothered to scroll back to last week's story, here's what you need to know again:

The title of the book has been narrowed to the three listed below. All you have to do is e-mail us by clicking on your preferred choice and include your real name and address. We'll count up the votes and send out copies to five randomly selected winners as soon as the things are ready. If you need some inspiration while trying to decide on the title, go here to take you to a few more of Myriam's brilliant shots.

David Bowie: Live in New York

David Bowie: The New York Bowiethon

David Bowie: The New York Gigs

We'll announce the five signed book winners and the five signed print winners in tomorrow's news, when we'll also be revealing the book cover with the title you voted for!

Bowienet News Archive For March Is Live

March of flowers...*

BowieNetter Susans has put in a bit of hard graft to compile the BowieNet news archive for March. Click on the screen grab above to take you there.

* Admittedly there weren't many BowieNet news items in March relating to flowers... But you try and find a relevant lyric then smart arse! Anyway, there was a link to another item in one of the stories during March that does mention "Flowers". First person to tell me what it was gets a signed Heathen promo.

Rare Insight From Db In Latest Journal Entry

DB at the start of a typical day back in 1976. Picture by Andy Kent.

Day In Day Out...

Today's journal entry just goes to prove how David Bowie does in fact take note of some of the comments on the MBs. Enjoy! };-)

New Journal Entry From Db

Anxiety descending...

After a three week silence, David Bowie is back with a new journal entry, and, apart from the clues above, I'm giving nothing away about it.

If you're a fully-fledged BowieNet member, click on the power button on the TV above to take you to the very latest BowieNet exclusive.

Whistle In Luxembourg And Amsterdam

Something in our skies...

Back in June of last year, I had the privilege and good fortune to be invited to the premier of Duncan Z H Jones' short film, Whistle. I was enjoying a chat with Duncan before the intimate screening in London's West End, when we were joined by his father, fresh from a journey up from Portsmouth and in town for some TV stuff and a show...or something or other he was doing.

Time passed too quickly and we were ushered into the cinema for a brief pre-screening introduction by Duncan. I was forced to sit next to his proud father, who kept humming along to a soundtrack that included Grandaddy and even some instrumental track from an album called Low. Anyway, that's enough name-dropping for one news story. I'll be sensible for a moment....

Here's some great news about the film from Duncan himself:

Whistle is going to screen as part of the Luxembourg International Film Festival on Friday the 4th of April at 7pm. I'll be introducing it. It will also be showing at something called the 19th Festival Van de Fantastische Film in Amsterdam between the 10th and the 16th of April.

Click on the relevant links to find out more, and if you can get along tomorrow, I'm sure Duncan would be more than happy for any support from all of you BowieNetters in Luxembourg.

Whistle was written and directed by Duncan, and it's a great debut from a talent we're clearly going to hear a lot more of in the future. But don't take my word for it. Here's an excerpt from a review when the film was screened at last year's Frightfest:

...Far better was the aforementioned Whistle which we finally got to see when the digital projection system came back on line. Jones' confident and assured debut is a science fiction thriller about a hi-tech assassin who uses satellites to target his victims in London from his home in Switzerland. But when a mission goes tragically wrong, the assassin is so consumed by guilt that he abandons his family to travel to London only to find that he has become the next target...

One of the hallmarks of this year's Frightfest has been the generally high standard of the shorts on offer and Whistle proved to be the best so far, boasting a strong cast, an intriguing story and a fantastic closing shot. Jones is another director whose future could well be bright and rewarding - here's hoping that someone bankrolls his debut feature very soon.

Let us know if you do get along to see the film at either of these festivals, it really is worth the effort if you can make it. We'll hopefully be doing a more in-depth piece about Whistle and Duncan's burgeoning film career in the near future. Good luck Duncan, hope it goes well.

April Edition Of The Voyeur Out Now

Me, I'm fresh on your pages...

Peter Smit has written to tell me about the April 2003 edition of The Voyeur... take it away, Peter:

The International David Bowie fanclub 'The Voyeur' has created yet another beautiful fanclub magazine. The April issue of 'The Voyeur' contains reviews from the Tibet House Benefit concert, an Aladdin Sane 30th birthday special, beautiful photographs by Antoine Loogman and much, much more. In this issue:

Watch out for "The Voyeur"
Welcome to "The Voyeur"
DVD 15 (the latest dvd's reviewed)
Half awesome (Tibet House Benefit review by Antoine Loogman)
Easter eggs competition (searching for easter goodies)
2002 Heathen promo tour (the tv performances)
Happy 30th Anniversary Aladdin (by Antoine Loogman)
2002 Heathen promo tour, the final results (the songs)
'Up the hill backwards' (review of the Amsterdam exposition)
CD review (including promos, official and unofficial releases)
Number one Bowie websites (bowiefun.com)

Read more about International David Bowie fanclub 'The Voyeur' at http://go.to/bowiefanclub or email us for more information at thevoyeur@home.nl

So there you have it. April issue out now, good stuff, go get it! };-)

No Bowie Tribute To Anthony Newley After All

Say after me, I'm a fool, I'm a fool...

OK, OK... I guess it was all perfectly feasible. It could have happened. But I really thought I gave enough clues. It was April 1st, the lyric quote was: And I say to myself you're a fool, fool, fool... The song title was What Kind Of Fool Am I? I thought I was making it all a bit obvious.

It seems a few of you on the MBs did rumble me, but I still received over 300 e-mail requests for the 30-second snippet Mp3... All with a subject line of What Kind Of Fool Am I? I resisted the temptation to reply "An April one!".

Sorry to those of you that did fall for it, but after last year I expected you all to be on your guard. Ho, ho... what a wag I am! };-)

Bowie Records Tribute To Anthony Newley

And I say to myself you're a fool, fool, fool...

David Bowie has contributed a brand new recording to a tribute album in honour of the late Anthony Newley. The song, What Kind Of Fool Am I?, was recorded during sessions for David's next album, and was produced by Tony Visconti, who had this to say about the recording of the track:

It really was quite a touching session. David clearly has a genuine affection for the song, and it's an emotional rendition which boasts one of his very best vocal performances, ever.

Of course, DB is no stranger to the song, he used to perform it live back in the sixties with The Buzz. Neither has he made any secret of his love for the work of Anthony Newley. His first album, David Bowie, released by Deram in 1967 received many comparisons to Newley, and David has spoken of his love for Newley's bizarre TV production, The Strange World Of Gurney Slade, on this very site.

The 16-track album, POP GOES THE WEASEL - A Tribute To Anthony Newley, is due on April 14th, the anniversary of Newley's death on the same day in 1999. All of the songs have been recorded exclusively for the CD, and initial copies will include a competition to spend a day going up and down the City Road in London's Islington.

I don't yet have a full tracklisting, but here are the songs mentioned in the press release:

DAVID BOWIE - What Kind Of Fool Am I?
BLUR - Pop Goes The Weasel
RAY DAVIES - I Guess It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy
McALMONT & BUTLER - I Get Along Without You Very Well
THE PRODIGY - I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire
SUEDE - The Candy Man
PAUL WELLER - Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)
THE WHO - Gonna Build A Mountain

Copyright issues mean that we can't stream the song online just yet, but those of you who would like to hear a 30-second snippet can e-mail me at TotalBlamBlam@davidbowie.com for an Mp3. };-)

The Site Of The Month Has Been Updated

Bowienet/ebay Auction Of Mtr Goodies

Should've took a picture, Something I could keep...

Time for another auction kidz...This time we are making available several of the beautiful items that adorned the walls of the quite brilliant MTR Bowie exhibition last year. (04/26/02 NEWS: BOWIE CAREER RETROSPECTIVE AT MTR, 05/27/02 NEWS: SEE 1969 PERFORMANCE OF SPACE ODDITY, HERE, NOW!, 06/04/02 NEWS: MTR MEMBERS-ONLY PREMIER REMINDER, 06/05/02 NEWS: MICK ROCK AT NY MTR EVENT TOMORROW, 06/10/02 NEWS: WHAT TO DO IN NEW YORK TODAY)

We're starting with two stunning Mick Rock framed photographs, pictured below. Spend a moment gasping at their beauty, then read the descriptions below.

David Bowie photographed by Mick Rock at Haddon Hall, Beckenham, England. March 1972.

This first shot is an outtake from a session at David's home, Haddon Hall in Beckenham. Famous for being used on the reverse of the RCA reissue of the Space Oddity album, this classic image was apparently taken in young Zowie's bedroom. The session was described by Mick Rock thus:

It turned out to be a magical session for both of us, the results cementing our friendship and guaranteeing my role in the great scheme of things.

Ziggy photographed by Mick Rock at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles, USA. October 1972.

This second rather moody shot was taken on October 16th 1972 within the grounds of the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Mick Rock again:

We did the shoot just before going to see the premier of Andy Warhol's Heat. David's clothes were a tryout for the Jean Genie promo (we didn't call them videos then) that I shot and directed in San Francisco.

These pictures are classic Mick Rock Ziggy shots, both perfect examples of how far ahead of the game David was. The hair in the first shot, and the clothes in the second, greatly influenced the look of Punk Rock in the UK four years later.

Both pictures come professionally mounted and framed, and are approximately 16"x22". Click on each of the images to be taken to the relevant auction. Good luck if you do decide to go for them.