Nz Rock Opera Featuring The Songs Of David Bowie

Let's turn on with me and you're not alone...

No, that's not Doctor Who's TARDIS about to move to another space-time continuum above...it's the Ziggy phone box, as seen on the back of the Ziggy Stardust album and used in the 1974 press adverts for the UK Rock 'N Roll Suicide 45, appropriately enough.

This news item is about a rock opera called ROCK AND ROLL SUICIDE taking place in Arrowtown, New Zealand from Wednesday the 27th through to Friday the 29th...and there is a link to the Time Lord's machine.

The thing is, even though I'm posting this during the afternoon of Tuesday the 26th, these NZ guys are from the future and they'll shortly be getting up on the morning of the 27th, the day of the first show. Bloody weirdoes.

Anyway, over to the details of what's about to go down...

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Rock and Roll Suicide stars (from left) Shaun Vining, as Idol, Max Gunn (17), as Joe Rockstar,
and Pearly McGrath, as Susie Diva, Joe's girlfriend, pose during the company's first dress rehearsal
with the band, in the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall, on Wednesday night. The rock opera debuts
in the hall on Wednesday and plays until Friday. Photograph by James Beech.

London 1972.

JOE ROCKSTAR, is a young man who dreams of becoming a rock star. He takes his guitar and heads to London, where he is jostled and confronted, but eventually joins the groove. He finds himself in a local nightclub, where he sees IDOL on the stage for the first time. He is amazed by IDOL, and inspired. He decides this is who he wants to be.

JOE also notices SUZY DIVA and they quickly fall in love with each other and their mutual desire for fame. They dance together and are spotted by JUPITER, the record executive and his evil side-kick VEX, who quickly makes them a ?deal?. JOE seizes the opportunity for fortune and fame and SUZI reluctantly agrees. JUPITER starts to favour JOE over IDOL and the public loses their love of IDOL, and embraces JOE. His fall from Grace pushes IDOL over the edge and he succumbs to madness.

Meanwhile JOE is eating up the hype. He swears to SUZI that he will not forget her as his fame climbs and hers stays the same. But this is not to be, as he begins to upstage her, neglect her, and indulge too far, too fast into his new found world of drugs and fame. Eventually, his drinking and drug taking over step the boundary, and SUZI leaves. He is left with his empty glamorous world and becomes self-destructive. JUPITER pushes him to keep going, regardless of his obvious decline. When JUPITER sees that JOE is blowing it on-stage, he drops JOE and embraces a new face, DJ.

JOE tries to commit suicide and his body loses life. However, he chooses life, and when SUZY finally lets go of his lifeless hand, he miraculously regains consciousness and reaches out for her. He escapes total destruction and reclaims himself, his music, and his love for SUZY regardless of fame.

Then everybody sings ?Ziggy Stardust?.

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You can read more regarding the show over at the Otago Daily Times, where director and co-producer, Margaret O'Hanlon, also talks about the production.

I'll leave you with a list of the songs performed during ROCK AND ROLL SUICIDE with the performer in each case....

ROCK AND ROLL SUICIDE - A ROCK OPERA FEATURING THE MUSIC OF DAVID BOWIE

ACT 1

STATION TO STATION​​​ - COMPANY
LADY STARDUST - ​​​​IDOL, COMPANY
LIFE ON MARS? - ​​​​​SUZY, COMPANY
STARMAN - ​​​​​​JOE, COMPANY
JOHN, I?M ONLY DANCING​​​ - COMPANY
THE PRETTIEST STAR - ​​​JOE, SUZY
SWEET THING/CANDIDATE​​ - JUPITER, VEX, IDOL
CHANGES - ​​​​​JOE, COMPANY
FAME - ​​​​​​COMPANY
THE BEWLAY BROTHERS - ​​​IDOL, COMPANY
SUFFRAGETTE CITY - ​​​​JOE, COMPANY
WHEN I LIVE MY DREAM​​​ - JOE, SUZY
1984 - ​​​​​​​COMPANY

ACT 2

TIME - ​​​​​​JUPITER, IDOL, VEX
ROCK AND ROLL WITH ME​​​ - JOE, SUZY, COMPANY
"HEROES" - ​​​​​​SUZY, COMPANY
LADY GRINNING SOUL - ​​​MEDUSA
GOLDEN YEARS - ​​​​JUPITER, COMPANY
DJ​​​​​​​ - DJ, COMPANY
ALWAYS CRASHING IN THE SAME CAR​​​ - JOE
"HEROES"/WHEN I LIVE MY DREAM/​STARMAN REPRISE​​​ - SUZY, COMPANY
TONIGHT - ​​​​​​SUZY, COMPANY
ROCK-N-ROLL SUICIDE​​​JUPITER, JOE, IDOL
ZIGGY STARDUST - ​​​​COMPANY

Japanese Bowie Tribute Narrenschiff Debut Sunday

Some cat from Japan...

BowieNetter Burton has been in touch with details of his debut Bowie tribute in Osaka, Japan, on Sunday evening (Oct 24th).

The band is called Narrenschiff and I think this is the first Japanese Bowie tribute I ever heard about...there must be others, but I'm not familiar with them.

Anyway, you can read all you need to know about the show here where you can also view a couple of videos of Narrenschiff in action.

Good luck with it Burton and please let us know how it went.

Tons Of Bowie In All Time Best 1000 Songs Books

I'll stick with you baby for a thousand songs...

Two newly-published books (or soon to be) have more than a smattering of Bowie recommendations among the selected best songs of all time.

First up, 1001 SONGS YOU MUST HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE (Edited by Robert Dimery and published by Cassell Illustrated) has the following, not too predictable selection of twenty five Bowie tracks...

Great to see the likes of Everyone Says "Hi" in there alongside more obvious choices such as Life On Mars?

Bowie is among the handful of artists with more than twenty tracks in the list and that's not taking in to account co-writes mentioned under other artists' lists, such as Under Pressure, Lust For Life, Dum Dum Boys and Funtime.

Neither does this take in to account Bowie songs recorded by others, such as All The Young Dudes and collaborations like Without You I'm Nothing....and while we're about it, co-productions such as Walk On The Wild Side. All are present here bringing the Bowie count up to 3% of the 1001 SONGS YOU MUST HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE...which I think gives you lot a bit of a head start!

Each of the Bowie entries in bold text above has a page regarding the recording given over to it, sometimes accompanied by a full-page picture.

The book also has a lengthy and informative preface by Tony Visconti, who was involved in the recording of a good slice of the above list. However, he's not talking about the music he had a hand in creating, more the recordings which helped inform his own tastes. Here's the conclusion from that preface...

Well I never knew that about black vinyl. Surely a good eco reason why the practice should stop. Who's bothered by clear vinyl if it's cheaper and has just the same imperfections as black vinyl anyway?

The other book available about now is THE XFM TOP 1000 SONGS OF ALL TIME, published by E & T. Again, David Bowie is represented by a healthy selection of recordings which might be closer to the ones you would expect.

There are five pages in the Bowie section with appraisals of the following fourteen songs and the songs performed by aforementioned artists in the other book...

Space Oddity
The Man Who Sold The World
Changes
Life On Mars?
Starman
Ziggy Stardust
Suffragette City
The Jean Genie
Rebel Rebel
Diamond Dogs
Golden Years
Sound And Vision
"Heroes"
Ashes To Ashes

If you're a newcomer to the music of David Bowie, then this list is as good a place to start as any.

In fact, your very best VFM would be to purchase EMI's 3CD The Platinum Collection set as it contains all of the songs on the XFM list and forty three other tracks too, all chosen from the years 1969 to 1987...and you can still find it for under a tenner.

Actually, doing the maths on the amount of tracks on it, perhaps they should have called it 57 Varieties instead of The Platinum Collection!

However, you will have to delve a little deeper into the Bowie back catalogue to hear all of the Bowie-related tracks listed in 1001 SONGS YOU MUST HEAR BEFORE YOU DIE.

New York Invaded By Station To Station Yellow Cabs

And I'm phoning a cab...

Following on from the Station To Station advert looking out over Times Square at the start of the month, (10.01.2010 NEWS: DID YOU SEE STATION TO STATION IN TIMES SQUARE?) New Yorkers continue to be reminded to pick up the Deluxe Edition of Station To Station via adverts atop NYC taxis.

We've spotted eight of them around town so far (he says from the comfort of his Middlesex office) and here are their numbers...

1B10
1E60
1F11 (pictured above)
1K92
3K60
3M52
8J38
8N21

A prize to those of you that send in snaps of any others aside from those we've listed.

In fact, prizes to any snaps that we use on these pages of anything Bowie-related in your local area or anywhere around the globe.

Kids Of Today Know What They Want...and How To Get It

They're quite aware of what they're going through...

The young lady in the car seat above is going places and she definitely knows what she wants.

That look on the face of the just-turned-three girl is one of total contentment.

But it wasn't always that way, as you will discover if you follow this link.

Bowie Tribute Bands Busy, Busy, Busy!

Dear tribute band, you're playing my tune right in tune...

It seems to be a particularly busy time for Bowie tribute bands right now. So we thought we'd list those that seem active at the moment in time, to save you the job. We've started with bands working in the UK and having sifted through them there seems to be ten who have shows lined up or who have played very recently.

We've left out those that don't seem to have been doing anything or don't have any upcoming gigs...of which there are just about as many bands as there are active ones. Here's the current list...

UK DAVID BOWIE TRIBUTE ACTS

Absolute Bowie
Aladdin Sane
Bootleg Bowie
Bowiesque
David Bowee
Let's Bowie
The Bowie Experience
The Thin White Duke
Tigers On Vaseline
Ultimate Bowie

If you're in a UK Bowie tribute band and you believe you should receive a mention here, please send in your details with a link to a current gig list and we'll give you a plug.

We will be highliting all the Bowie tribute acts still performing outside of the UK too...so if you fit that bill, drop us a line.

I'm hoping to work my way through this list one by one...saw Absolute Bowie in Ruislip on Friday October 8th...and very good it was too. (That's the flyer above)

Great band of very tight players with Halloween Jack giving it his all up front (superb vocal range, even attempted Life On Mars?) and Mick Ransom pulling a blistering solo out of the bag for Moonage Daydream.

The audience absolutely loved it and I think I may have spotted a couple of BowieNetters there too. In fact, I believe I was standing behind you Julie...Sorry I didn't introduce myself, but I'm evasive and shy, as someone around here once said.

Bowie Song Title Used For The Field Magazine Cover

But I'll slip out again tonight, Cause they haven't taken back my rifle...

I'm not a subscriber, as you probably guessed, but the magazine above caught my eye in Waitrose as I was stocking up on my Seafood Gumbo and Cullen Skink.

I have to admit, The Field is among the very last magazines I would expect to use a Bowie song title...and as for that saucy line underneath it, well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs...whatever that means.

What's next for these toff mags? Roxy Music album titles?

X Factor Finalists Cover Heroes For Charity

And the guns, shot above our heads...

The Sun newspaper in the UK has broken news of this year's X Factor charity single.

The show's sixteen finalists are covering David Bowie's classic 1977 anthem, "Heroes" for the Help4Heroes organisation.

The UK charity raises money to aid members of the Armed Forces who have been injured in the line of duty and money raised from the release will go towards the cost of recovery centres.

The song and accompanying video will be recorded over the next week in time for a November 7th release.

However, charity aside, it's clear that not everybody is looking forward to the idea of the X Factor treatment of "Heroes".

Bowie S2s And Wwsto Celebration In Paris Tonight

Come to the show tonight...

OK, if you're a Bowie fan kicking around Paris today (October 14th) you will want to be at this. I'll hand you over to one of the organisers, Jerome Soligny, to tell you more about it...

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THE NIIGHT WE SOLD THE WORLD

I was approached in early September by people who were planning to organize a Bowie night in Paris. To cut a long story short, I managed to turn this event at legendary venue Le Bus Palladium (it already existed when young David Jones and his band played le Gold Drouot in the 60?s) into an evening based upon "We Were So Turned On" and the reissue of "Station To Station".

Naïve and EMI are kindly helping us for that matter and are offering a few copies of the tribute and "S2S" that people will be able to win (I?m writing the quiz!). All details of the event are on its facebook page and people can enter freely as long as they put their name on the website list.

A rare interview of David will be shown, Bowie songs will be heard, I will talk a bit (not too long, I swear?) and a few bands will also play. Good thing, I understand the drinks shouldn?t be too expensive ;-)

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Click on the flyer above for more info or visit the facebook page Jerome mentioned....Hmmm Paris? A couple of hours on EuroStar...it's doable.

Ziggy - The Songs Of David Bowie Down Under Next Month

It's an invitation across the nation...

If you're in Australia, you probably already know about this one...It's the latest Bowie production by Jeff 'Duffo' Duff and friends and it's a little more ambitious than usual.

Here's a bit of explanation from the blurb...

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Ziggy, The Songs of David Bowie pays homage to Bowie, the pop phenomenon ? the influential individualist with the uncanny ability to push boundaries and transform himself and the world around him.

Performed by four of Australia?s leading contemporary musicians and performers - iOTA, Jeff Duff, Steve Balbi and Brydon Stace - Ziggy, The Songs of David Bowie is as multi-dimensional as the man himself.

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Ziggy, The Songs of David Bowie will hit three little Australian towns in November, in the shape of Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.

The show dips into the Bowie back catalogue from 1969 up to 1983 as far as I can tell and I think there are a couple more dates to be added too.

You can read more, book tickets and watch out for updates on the Ziggy, The Songs of David Bowie official site... check out a video interview with the artists involved while you're about it.

Also, keep an eye on Adam Dean's superb BowieDownUnder.com (The David Bowie Community of Australia and New Zealand) for updates on this and all things Bowie in the land where everything is apparently upside down...not sure I believe that theory myself though. However, I am open-minded enough to be swayed by visual evidence if anybody down there wants to send some in.

Tetealler's Db Influenced Space Oddity Collection

Hallo Spacegirl...

Speaking of other-worldly goings on, (see Saturday's news item) I stumbled upon this one while searching for something else. It passed me by last year but I think it's still worth a mention.

Back in March of 2009, Spanish designer Esther Aller Fernández, (who works as TetëAller) had a show at the tenth annual New Designers show at Castilla y León.

Her new range was called Space Oddity and it took it's inspiration from Ziggy Stardust, Kubrick's 2001 and Warhol's silver-lined Factory.

The Bowie influence is most apparent on the girl above with the Rock 'N Roll Suicide top, space helmet, Aladdin Sane flash and fabric bangles on one arm.

Also, the girls above had less obvious references with an embroidered silver Space Oddity logo on the girl on the left's cape and a fabric reminiscent of something Ziggy would have worn on the other girl, who also sports the Aladdin Sane brooch.

You can watch a short video from the show here and visit the TetëAller MySpace page here.

Why There Will Never Be Another David Bowie

Well, I couldn't find another you...

Caspar Llewellyn Smith gives evidence in today's Observer newspaper to back up his theory of why there will never be another David Bowie.

Of course, it's something we've all known for a long, long time and who among us was ever convinced by many of today's clothes horse pretenders.

You can read the article online here while rejoicing in the knowledge that you lived in the Age of Bowie and that whatever the future holds, the past we witnessed will never be equalled again.

That told 'em!

Snazzy Japanese Moon/tmwfte Dvd Box Set Out Now

The Man Who Fell To Earth's MOON...

As we never tire of reminding you, don't forget to regularly check out the quite splendid Man Made Movies site if you want to stay informed about the many movements of Duncan Jones. (Calm down Gillian McKeith fans, it's not about that.)

There have been a fair few interesting new posts since our last reminder, (08.17.2010 NEWS: DUNCAN JONES INTERVIEW AND UPDATES ON MAN MADE MOVIES) and they are all definitely worth a look.

Also, this gives us a chance to use the rather tasty image of the above recently released Japanese MOON/The Man Who Fell To Earth DVD box set. It includes a special booklet and is generally snazzy.

Thanx as ever to Uncle Rupert over at Man Made for the pointer.

The Return Of Ziggy Stardust In Nyc For Halloween

Come on, come on, we've really got a good thing going...

Usually a night for Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, and Jack...New York Halloweeners can instead celebrate the beauty of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album, (in a one-off performance on October 31st) via the more than capable hands and voice boxes of Space Oddity. (Not David Brighton's bunch, who are as busy as ever.)

Here's the lowdown, as Wire used to say...

WHAT IS IT? Musical event/party
FULL NAME OF PRODUCTION: Space Oddity: Halloween 2010
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOW: A space-themed, Halloween event. Sarah Mucho (pictured below) with System Noise perform their acclaimed Ziggy Stardust show, featuring Michael Isaacs, Clare Cooper and Liz Lark Brown. With additional performance from The Lounge-O-Leers and the Brooklyn-based rock band Wounded Buffalo Theory.
WHERE'S IT AT? 45 BLEECKER: The Green Room
WHEN'S IT ON? One show only: Oct. 31, 2010 at 10:30 pm.
RUNNING TIME: 4 1/2 hours
TICKET PRICE: General seating $25.00 (includes $1.50 facility fee) - On sale online here or by phone at the box office now 212.260.8250
RECOMMENDED: All ages (16 and up)

Check out the Facebook page for more details of this event and footage from the band's performances of Star and Suffragette City in 2005.

Station To Station Reissue Enters Swedish Top 20

The return of the Thin White Duke...

When we announced David Bowie's return to the Official UK Top 30 Album Chart, (10.03.2010 NEWS: DAVID BOWIE BACK IN THE OFFICIAL UK ALBUM CHART TOP 30) we also asked you to let us know if you hear about any similar chart action in your country.

Well BowieNetter Zig Dust rose to the challenge and sent in the above good news...Cheers Zig.

Bowie In Myspace Top Ten Best Male Singers Poll

Hallo MySpaceboy...

Though this story hasn't really been clearly reported as such, it seems it was something that only applied to MySpace Australia...particularly as Myspace got together with five of Australia's most respected music writers for the poll.

Those writers were Mathew Coyte (Rolling Stone), Kathy McCabe (The Daily Telegraph), Patrick Donovan (Music Victoria), George Palathingal (Sydney Morning Herald) and Nicole Fossati (The Music Network).

Either way, it's a good result for David Bowie who ended up in the top ten best male singers of all time...here's the result...

Top Ten Male Artists
1 Michael Jackson
2 Justin Timberlake
3 Bob Marley
4 Kanye West
5 Jay-Z
6 Elvis Presley
7 2Pac
8 Johnny Cash
9 David Bowie
10 Bob Dylan

Further clues that this was an Australian-centric poll lay in the result of the top ten best band section, which saw AC/DC in the #1 spot. Not saying they wouldn't have won otherwise...but, you know, just sayin'. ;-)

You can view all the results here.

Bowie & Bing Out Again On Dvd, Cd And Red Vinyl 45

Peace on Earth, can it be?

It's not hard to track down audio or visual recordings of David Bowie and Bing Crosby's wonderful 1977 performance of Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy.

However, next month (November 9th) sees the release of the song as a limited edition red vinyl 7" 45 single, albeit with a slight title change to: The Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth. The single will be backed with a 1953 Bing Crosby/Ella Fitzgerald duet of White Christmas.

As if that wasn't enough, a restored version of the original Bing Crosby?s Merrie Olde Christmas TV broadcast, (which the Bowie/Bing performance first aired on) is also being made available on DVD at the same time: BING CROSBY: THE TELEVISION SPECIALS ? Volume Two: The Christmas Specials.

And, just to complete the set, the duet will also be part of the up-coming CD release: BING CROSBY: THE CROSBY CHRISTMAS SESSIONS.

Read all about it over at bingcrosby.com and pop over to ccmusic.com where you can snaffle the lot up in one fell swoop.

Under Pressure With Kermit And Kermit And Sky Soleil

Pressure on people, people on streets...

Had a handful of e-mails regarding this. It was picked up by New York magazine originally and posted here on their site.

The first impression was made by the guy's yellow sign next to him and I know a few of you found it a poignant and moving creation, with stellar performances from Bowie and Mercury, portrayed by clones of the greenest of The Muppets, with just the right injection of humour.

However, New York magazine followed up the story and it transpires that Sky Soleil (that's the puppeteer's real name) is not actually homeless himself, but was using the platform to highlight the ongoing plight of the homeless.

As NY mag quite rightly says: "Don't feel duped! Or, do, but then move past that feeling." Check out this interview with Sky where you can also reward his efforts by helping the homeless for free if you are able and willing.

Bowieball Nyc 2010 On Sunday

New York's In Love...

Deryck Todd has been in touch with details of the annual BowieBall in NYC on Sunday, October 10th.

Click on the flyer above for a more legible version and click on the montage below to remind yourself of just how the word Bowie brings out all of the beautiful people of New York for this event.

Please do feel free to send in a report and/or pictures if you attend this year.

Vote From Nme Shortlist For Bowie's Greatest Song

Just about the best you can hear...

Well it's pretty clear what this is about. You can join in the voting fun here, though I should point out that NME has selected the shortlist, so don't expect to find Win, Teenage Wildlife, Sweet Thing, etc., etc., but do expect Magic Dance and The Laughing Gnome!

This is the current top 20 from the limited choices available.

1. Life On Mars?
Current Rating: 9.44

2. Ashes To Ashes
Current Rating: 9.12

3. Starman
Current Rating: 8.96

4. Space Oddity
Current Rating: 8.95

5. Ziggy Stardust
Current Rating: 8.95

6. Heroes
Current Rating: 8.78

7. Changes
Current Rating: 8.77

8. Rebel Rebel
Current Rating: 8.72

9. The Man Who Sold The World
Current Rating: 8.44

10. Suffragette City
Current Rating: 8.33

11. Sound And Vision
Current Rating: 8.19

12. The Jean Genie
Current Rating: 7.98

13. Drive-In Saturday
Current Rating: 7.78

14. Under Pressure
Current Rating: 7.74

15. Golden Years
Current Rating: 7.72

16. Young Americans
Current Rating: 7.69

17. Time
Current Rating: 7.64

18. Hang On To Yourself
Current Rating: 7.54

19. Fame
Current Rating: 7.48

20. Diamond Dogs
Current Rating: 7.26