So where were the spiders?
Today's Obsever newspaper has a few Bowie-related bits. First up there's a review of the Michael Clark Company's latest, Come, Been and Gone at Edinburgh Playhouse by Luke Jennings.
It's a great review, here's a snippet: "And this is more fun than Clark's allowed himself for years. "Aladdin Sane", in particular, is an outrageously gorgeous piece of modern dance, with the company costumed in bright vermilion, slippery as goldfish, against a radiant tangerine cyclorama. The number segues into "The Jean Genie", where the dancers reappear in sharp, stripy, matelot jackets, answering Bowie's pumping R&B riff with fast, disciplined port de bras."
You can read the full thing
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Next up is a story that first surfaced in the German press a few months ago, but it's now caught the imagination of the media in the UK. Here's a bit of background...
German spider specialist Peter Jäger has discovered a new Malaysian spider and he has named it Heteropoda davidbowie in an attempt to raise public awareness of endangered arachnids.
Peter has found 200 new species in the past 10 years and the above close-up makes it easier to see why he decided to name this particular one Heteropoda davidbowie.
If you can't read the clipping at the top of this item you can read the full Observer piece
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I had intended to run a piece about Lady Gaga back in January when she seemed to be name-checking David Bowie as an influence in almost every interview...and in fact, she often still does.
But for some reason I felt a little uncomfortable posting a piece on here in much the same way as I've not mentioned American Idol runner-up, Adam Lambert, on these pages until now. Somehow it just seemed wrong.
Anyway, the Lady has forced my hand now as she has listed Aladdin Sane as one of her favourite albums in the regular Observer Monthly Music magazine column: Soundtrack Of My Life.
Read the Bowie bit above and the whole thing online