Bowie guitar and lyrics fetch almost $50,000 USD at auction

“He played it left hand” *

Just two of the David Bowie items auctioned at Bonhams on Wednesday (July 3rd) exceeded all expectations when they sold for a remarkable £32,500 GBP (approx. $49,000 USD).

Of the various Bowie items up for grabs, the following were the two particular lots that created a bit of a stir.

Lot # 239

David Bowie: A Vox Mk.XII twelve-string electric guitar, late 1960s, with Vox-style 'teardrop' body finished in red, three pickups and three volume/tone controls, three-way selector switch, aluminium scratchplate, fingerboard with dot markers, in case, with stand.

Sold for £13,750 inc. premium

Footnotes

The vendor began his career in the music business as a production assistant for the Gem Group (co-founded by Tony Defries in 1966) and later worked for Mainman Limited from 1970 to 1973. He purchased the guitar in 1971 from a well-known music shop in Richmond, Surrey, on a brief to find a suitable replacement while Bowie's 12-string acoustic was being given a new, blue finish.

This is the guitar that is shown in the photograph of David, taken in August 1972 by Japanese photographer Masayoshi Sukita. This same photograph is featured on p.13 of the exhibition catalogue, 'David Bowie Is', Victoria & Albert Museum, March-August 2013. It is also reproduced in 'Uncut' magazine, April 2012, a copy of which is included in this lot. Another photograph from the 1972 session, featuring this guitar, was used on a concert poster for David Bowie and Roxy Music at the Rainbow Theatre, London, 19th-20th August 1972.

The lack of any maker's name or other identifying detail on the scratchplate and headstock, the absence of a serial number and snap-on circular pad on the rear of the body, and the usage of plastic-head Van Ghent machine heads rather than metal Vox-branded Van Ghents all indicate that this guitar was made circa 1968/69, after the demise of Jennings Musical Instruments, maker of Vox amplification and guitars. Much of JMI's guitar stock was purchased by Arbiter, who then produced Vox models, incorporating Vox's original parts, under their own name. This model appears in Arbiter's 1969 catalogue as the '4520'. 

Lot # 240

David Bowie: A rare set of handwritten lyrics for The Jean Genie, signed Bowie dated 1972, from the album 'Aladdin Sane', each verse and the chorus written across 18 lines in black ballpoint pen on cream lined notebook paper, framed, accompanied by documents concerning the provenance, 11 x 8½ inches (28 x 21.5cm).

Sold for £18,750 inc. premium

Footnotes

David Bowie gave these lyrics to Neal Peters, the then President of the Original David Bowie Fan Club in the USA. The authorised fan club was established in 1973 and Peters was appointed by Bowie himself.

The accompanying paperwork includes a letter from the Neal Peters Collection, on headed paper, confirming the lyrics were a gift from David Bowie and copy documents relating to Peter's and the work he did with the fan club, during its infancy.

* Actually he didn't play it at all. The guitar was used as a prop for all of ten minutes during a photo session with Sukita in London, August, 1972.

Ziggy killed off forty years ago tonight

 

“Not only is it the last show of the tour”

 

 

Today marks the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s final Ziggy and The Spiders show at Hammersmith Odeon on July 3rd, 1973.

 

And around about now a sold out Riverside in Hammersmith (a stone's throw from the original venue) is just closing its doors following the screening of D.A. Pennebaker’s Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture that we told you about recently. http://smarturl.it/BNetZSMOPI40

 

And that’s around the time exactly 40 years ago that a largely stunned and generally bewildered throng were making their way home, having witnessed Ziggy’s final show to a paying audience, complete with a farewell speech that many weren't sure if they had heard correctly.

 

Of course, the WE of “the last show that we’ll ever do...” referred to Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars collectively, as Bowie himself was back on the road in North America less than a year later with Diamond Dogs.

 

Nevertheless, that farewell speech followed by one of the more emotional performances of Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide is now the stuff of legend, and we’re going to be commemorating that most theatrical of rock ’n’ roll moments with a new contest in the next couple of days.

 

Above is a teaser of the first prize that will be up for grabs, an acetate of the following impossibly rare single-sided disc.

 

 

David Bowie

Farewell Speech/Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (4.57)

 

Cat No.: DB 3773

Matrix No.: DB 3773A

 

 

Stay tuned for more.

 

Richard Young Bowie Exhibition in London

“Because You’re Young”

Photographer Richard Young has an exhibition of a small selection of his huge Bowie archive that he has amassed since he first started photographing The Thin White Duke in 1976.

Here’s the blurb from the Richard Young Gallery. 

Richard Young Gallery is excited to announce the opening of DAVID BOWIE, an exhibition featuring striking photography of the legendary musician. Spanning nearly 40 years and taken by Britain’s foremost celebrity photographer Richard Young, this exhibition will showcase 16 photographs, including 6 new, never-before-seen images recently discovered from Richard’s ever expanding, 2 million+ archive. The exhibition will comprise of both black & white and colour images of Bowie performing and socialising out on the town.

Richard Young first met David Bowie as a teenager before Bowie became famous. He recalls:

In 1964 when I was sixteen, I used to hang out in the Bataclan Club in Princes Street near Oxford Circus it was a very cool place to hang out in the day. It was there I met a guy called Geoff, we became friends through our love of music and French girls. Very often on Sunday afternoons a group of us would make our way to Geoff's place in South London where we would listen to soul music till the early hours. Occasionally a guy called David Jones would come over and hang out. Little was I to know who David would become! Sadly as it was over forty years ago and we were all in a psychedelic haze, I don't remember much else of what went on. I recently chatted with David about the old days and he couldn't remember much either! Geoff MacCormack went on to become David's back-up singer and it wasn't until 1974 that I became a photographer.

Richard has been photographing David Bowie since 1976. He has covered all of Bowie’s concerts, photocalls, premieres and parties. Richard never misses a chance to see him perform. According to Richard:

David Bowie is the most stylish man in music, his taste in clothes is impeccable, and not only that, he is one of the nicest men in the business also.

12th July – 25th October 2013

Richard Young Gallery

4 Holland Street

London

W8 4LT

Tel: 0207 937 8911

gallery@richardyoungonline.com

www.richardyounggallery.co.uk

TND in Quietus and Rolling Stone mid-year reports

“Halfway gladness, dazzled by the new”

David Bowie’s triumphant return to the fray, The Next Day, has been placed in the mid-year favourite albums list of both The Quietus and Rolling Stone magazine.

The 27th Bowie studio album is #2 in the very impressive Quietus list, illustrating how the excellent online review site still stands by the words written by Chris Roberts for their original review of the album.

Here are the concluding words from that review:

David Bowie, then. History, but still happening. And the next day, and the next. Greatness. It can’t go on. It goes on.

Rolling Stone has shown similar appreciation in their “unranked list of the year's best so far”.

Again, here’s the concluding paragraph from their original review by Rob Sheffield:

There are loads of musical and lyrical references to his past, as Bowie broods over the places he's gone and the faces he's seen. But he's resolutely aimed at the future. And when he hits the delirious heights of "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)," he makes the future sound irresistible. 

Bowie’s DJ has been spinning discs for 34 years

“I am a D.J., and I've got believers”

Taken from the brilliant Lodger album, David Bowie’s DJ was released as a 45 on this day in 1979.

The single was issued on green vinyl in the UK and is a very desirable collectors’ item for which you’re unlikely to get much change from fifty quid these days. Copies have actually sold for twice that on eBay in recent years.

DJ was accompanied by another delightfully mad David Mallet directed video, with Bowie rubbing shoulders and getting friendly with some of the wonderful people of Earl's Court in London.

Watch the film here.

Watch That Man with the Film Society of Lincoln Center (PR)

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER presents

WATCH THAT MAN: DAVID BOWIE, MOVIE STAR

August 2-8

The week-long series will focus on the enigmatic musician’s work in front of the camera includes THE HUNGER, MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and rarely seen films from the BBC archives!

New York, NY (June 2013) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today a weeklong series focusing on David Bowie, the actor. 2013 has seen the re-emergence of the always fascinating musician, performer and artist with the release of a new album (“The Next Day”) and a sold-out museum exhibition in London (David Bowie Is). In honor of his genius for shape shifting, the Film Society will present Watch That Man: David Bowie, Movie Star (August 2-8),a retrospective of what is arguably his finest work on the big screen—plus two special rarities from the BBC archives, one of which has never been seen in the U.S.

Film Comment Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Gavin Smith, said, "David Bowie's move into film acting was inevitable given his charismatic presence and keen sense of how to constantly reinvent himself in iconographic terms. His film roles set up an intriguing and unique dialogue with his shape-shifting image as a musical performer. Some roles intersect with phases of his musical career as in THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and JUST A GIGOLO. Others take off in bold new directions that had captured the pop culture zeitgeist as in THE HUNGER and ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS. And of course he was also one of the first music artists to harness the potential of the music video in the pre-MTV era." 

Bowie’s turn as Catherine Deneuve’s vampiric partner in Tony Scott’s THE HUNGER (1983) opens the series with a special midnight screening on Friday, August 2, followed the next day with his collaboration with Muppet master Jim Henson in a Family Films presentation of LABYRINTH (1986) and a screening of his risk-taking performance in Nagisa Oshima’s homoerotic drama set in a Japanese POW camp in MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (1982). 

Two special highlights of the series are rarities culled from the BBC’s archives including the U.S. Premiere of Alan Clarke’s musical adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s BAAL with Bowie in the title role, and a rare screening of Alan Yentob’s BBC documentary CRACKED ACTOR (1975) which will be paired with D.A. Pennebaker’sconcert film ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS – THE MOTION PICTURE (1973).

Additional screenings include a very rare showing of CHRISTIANE F (1981),Ulrich Edel’s harrowing drama about a 13-year old girl’s heroin addiction featuring a Bowie concert performance of “Station to Station” (as well as an after party at Film Society following the screening), and David Hemmings’ JUST A GIGOLO (1978), in which Bowie shared the screen with both Marlene Dietrich (in her last appearance on the big screen) and Kim Novak. The screening of JUST A GIGOLO will be attended by Joshua Sinclair, the film’s Executive Producer. Other films include Julian Temple’s love letter to the bohemian scene of late 1950s London, ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (1986), Julian Schnabel’s BASQUIAT (1996) featuring Bowie’s portrayal of Andy Warhol, and Christopher Nolan’s THE PRESTIGE (2006), in which Bowie portrayed inventor Nicola Tesla.

All screenings will take place at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65^th Street. Tickets will go on sale on Thursday, June 27. Single screening tickets are $13; $9 for students and seniors (62+); and $8 for Film Society members. A three-film package is $30; $24 for students and seniors (62+); and $21 for Film Society members. Discount prices apply with the purchase of tickets to three films or more.  Please note: Special $6 ticket price for the Family Films screening of LABYRINTH. The screenings of BAAL are free-to-the-public! Visit www.FilmLinc.com for complete film festival information.

Films, Descriptions & Schedule

ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (1986) 108min

Director: Julian Temple

Country: U.K.

A cameo-packed kaleidoscopic musical pastiche in which a teenage photographer pursues his elusive dream girl through the bohemian scene of late 1950s London, with Bowie as the smooth-talking advertising exec who offers to get him into the big time.

BAAL (1982) 113min

Director:Alan Clarke

Country: U.K.

The U.S. Premiere of BBC-TV’s adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s first play, directed by the legendary Alan Clarke and featuring five musical performances. Bowie is debauched artist-poet Baal, who defies bourgeois society and roams the countryside womanizing, brawling and, finally, committing murder. With the great Zoë Wanamaker as Baal’s eventually devastated mistress Sophie.

BASQUIAT (1996) 106min

Director: Julian Schnabel

Country: U.S.

Bowie costars in this biopic about painter Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright), playing the artist’s friend and collaborator Andy Warhol, in a performance widely hailed as the definitive onscreen incarnation of Warhol. Bowie even wore Andy’s actual wig, glasses, and jacket for the role.

Special event! Afterparty with DJ: a co-presentation with Viva Radio

CHRISTIANE F (1981) 131min

Director: Ulrich Edel

Country: West Germany

A rare screening of the harrowing true story of a 13-year-old Berlin girl’s heroin-addiction hell, featuring a soundtrack of songs from Bowie’s 1977-79 Berlin phase—plus, when Christiane (Natja Brunckhorst) attends a Bowie concert, a stunning live performance of “Station to Station.”

CRACKED ACTOR (1975) 53min

Director: Alan Yentob

Country: U.K.

A candid, haunting and ultra-rare documentary portrait shot during the 1974 Diamond Dogs tour featuring much behind the scenes footage that reveal Bowie’s fragile mental state as well as live performances of nine songs. In 1987 Bowie commented “I was so blocked ... so stoned ... I'm amazed I came out of that period. When I see that now I cannot believe I survived it. I was so close to really throwing myself away physically, completely.”

THE HUNGER (1983) 99min

Director: Tony Scott

Country: U.S.

Perfectly cast as vampire lovers who’ve been together since the 18th century, Catherine Denueve and David Bowie stalk New York’s downtown club scene in search of fresh blood (blink and you’ll miss Willem Dafoe). An ultra-stylish time capsule of early Eighties filmmaking.

JUST A GIGOLO (1978) 105min

Director: David Hemmings

Country: West Germany

A rare screening of the film that would briefly unite Bowie with one of cinema’s greatest icons—Marlene Dietrich. An ironic picaraesque tale set amidst the decadent demimonde and political ferment of Weimar Germany, the film details the misfortunes of a Prussian officer (Bowie) reduced to working as a paid escort to make ends meet. With Kim Novak.

Executive Producer Joshua Sinclair will attend the screening.

LABRYRINTH(1986) 101min

Director: Jim Henson

Country: U.K.

Add villainous Jareth, the treacherous Goblin King, to the array of Bowie personae in this live-action and puppet fairytale fantasy, tempting and tormenting Jennifer Connolly, who must negotiate an otherworldly labyrinth to rescue her baby brother.

THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (1976) 138min

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Country: U.K.

Bowie’s indelible screen debut as an extraterrestrial who builds a billion-dollar corporate empire and creates a private space program to save his dying home world but is undone by earthly emotional attachments and the machinations of a shadowy syndicate.

MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (1982) 124min

Director: Nagisa Oshima

Country: U.K.

The conflicting cultural imperatives and repressions of East and West collide with tragic consequences in a Japanese POW camp as an unspoken fatal attraction develops between British officer Bowie and camp commander Ryuichi Sakamoto while brutal sergeant Takeshi Kitano looks on disapprovingly.

David Bowie: The Music Videos 1979-201353min

Boys Keep Swinging(David Mallet, 1979, 3:17); Fashion (David Mallet, 1980, 3:30)

Ashes to Ashes(David Mallet & David Bowie, 1980, 3:38); Let's Dance (David Mallet, 1983, 4:00); China Girl (David Mallet, 1983, 4:02); Jazzin for Blue Jean (long version) (Julian Temple, 1984, 20m); Jump They Say (Mark Romanek, 1993, 4:02); The Hearts Filthy Lesson (Samuel Bayer, 1995, 5:10; The Stars Are Out Tonight (Floria Sigismondi, 2013, 5:54).

THE PRESTIGE (2006) 130min

Director: Christopher Nolan

Country: U.S.

Director Nolan insisted that only Bowie could play the pivotal part of legendary real-life inventor Nicola Tesla in this fantasy thriller about two rival 19th-century magicians (played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) who compete over an astounding magic trick made possible by the scientist’s invention.

ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS – THE MOTION PICTURE (1973) 90min

Director: D.A. Pennebaker

Country: U.S./U.K.

Capturing 16 numbers from the 1973 Ziggy StardustU.K. tour, rock doc vet Pennebaker shoots straight with minimal behind-the-scenes action, and he only has eyes for Bowie (and guitarist Mick Ronson). Not even the band knew that this was to be not only the tour’s final date, but also the official retirement of Ziggy Stardust.

Public Screening Schedule

Screening Venue:

The Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

144 West 65 Street, between Broadway & Amsterdam

Friday, August 2

12:00AM Midnight   THE HUNGER (99min)

Saturday, August 3

1:00PM                   LABYRINTH (Family Films Screening!) (101min)

3.15PM                   MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (124min)

6:15PM                   THE PRESTIGE (130min)

9:00PM                   BAAL (113min) **Free-to-the-public

Sunday, August 4

1.00PM                   BASQUIAT (106min)

3.15PM                   ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (108min)

5.45PM                   THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (138min)

8.30PM                   ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS – THE MOTION PICTURE (90min) + CRACKED ACTOR (53min)

Monday, August 5

1:00PM                   THE HUNGER (99min)

3:00PM                   THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (138min)

Tuesday, August 6

5.15PM                   JUST A GIGOLO (105min)

7:30PM                   CHRISTIANE F (Viva Radio Afterparty!) (131min)

Wednesday, August 7

1:00PM                   MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE (124min)

3.45PM                   BASQUIAT (106min)

6.15PM                   JUST A GIGOLO (105min)

8.45PM                   CHRISTIANE F (131min)

Thursday, August 8

4.00PM                   David Bowie: The Music Videos 1979-2013 (53min) + CRACKED ACTOR (53min)

6:30PM                   BAAL (113min) **Free-to-the-public

FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

Founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center works to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Among its yearly programming of film festivals, film series and special events, the Film Society presents two film festivals in particular that annually attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, which just celebrated its 50th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award—now named “The Chaplin Award”—to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sidney Poitier, and most recently – Barbra Streisand. FSLC presents its year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational and transmedia programs and specialty film releases at the famous Walter Reade Theater and the state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.

The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, Jaeger-LeCoultre, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stonehenge Partners, Stella Artois, the Kobal Collection, the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com and follow @filmlinc on Twitter.

Ziggy Stardust film at Riverside for 40th anniversary

“I had to break up the band”

Next week sees the 40th anniversary of David Bowie’s final Ziggy and The Spiders show at Hammersmith Odeon on July 3rd, 1973.

To celebrate that fact, Riverside Studios in Hammersmith (scene of the 2003 Reality live satellite broadcast), will be screening D.A. Pennebaker’s Ziggy Stardust Motion Picture at the same time as the original show was played live just down the road in 1973.

Check out this piece regarding the event on QtheMusic.com and book tickets here. 

Life On Mars? Picture disc out now

“'Cos LOM is on sale again”

David Bowie's classic Life On Mars? single celebrated the 40th anniversary of its release a couple of days ago and to mark the occasion it's released again today as a strictly limited edition 7" picture disc.

This 40th anniversary release features a rare Ken Scott mix and a live recording of Life On Mars? taken from a recording at The Music Hall, Boston on 1st October, 1972.

Both sides of the disc feature photos from legendary photographer Mick Rock as does the advert illustrated here used to promote the original release.

Go here for more.

#lifeonmarsis40

V&A Announces David Bowie is happening now, a Live Cinema Event

V&A Announces David Bowie is happening now, a Live Cinema Event

Facebook: Victoriaandalbertmuseum

Twitter: @V_and_A  #DavidBowieis

Today the V&A announces that on Tuesday 13 August audiences across the country will be able to join the Museum for a live cinema event screened from David Bowie is as the finale to the enormously successful exhibition.

The V&A’s exhibition David Bowie is opened to great acclaim in March, selling more than 67,000 advance tickets, far surpassing pre-sales for any other V&A exhibition in its 150 year history. It has already been seen by nearly 200,000 visitors and in response to the incredible demand for tickets the Museum will take David Bowie is live to cinemas across the UK.

Martin Roth, V&A Director, said:

“Visitors have gone to great lengths for a chance to see our exhibition so we wanted to give everyone across the country one last opportunity to experience it for themselves. This is the first time the V&A has taken part in a live broadcast event of this magnitude and we are extremely excited to be working with such a talented production team to present the phenomenon that is David Bowie to the widest possible audience.”

The unique cinema event will be introduced by exhibition curators, Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh, and will feature special guests offering an insight into the stories behind some of the 300 objects on display from the David Bowie Archive. It will be the last opportunity to experience the exhibition before it goes on international tour, starting at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada (25 September – 27 November 2013) followed by the Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo (28 January – 21 April 2014).

David Bowie is happening now will be directed by BAFTA winning director, Hamish Hamilton and produced by Done & Dusted Productions Ltd. Hamilton directed the live TV coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The event will be distributed to cinemas by Picturehouse Entertainment Ltd, who have been pioneers in bringing alternative content to the big screen. It will be shown at 19.00 on Tuesday 13 August in over 200 cinemas nationwide from Inverness to Jersey and Belfast to Norwich.

Marc Allenby, Head of Commercial Development at Picturehouse Entertainment Ltd said:

“We are delighted to be distributing this amazing exhibition and working with the V&A to bring David Bowie is to cinema audiences around the UK.”

This innovative project has been made possible with support from the David Bowie Archive, who have also given unprecedented access to the V&A to create the exhibition and show many items never before displayed in public.

Tickets will be on sale from Friday 28 June, for details of participating cinemas and to book visit www.vam.ac.uk/davidbowieis.

- Ends –

Notes to Editors

· Tickets on sale from Friday 28 June 2013

· The event will be broadcast to over 200 cinemas throughout the UK. Visit www.vam.ac.uk/davidbowieis for all participating venues, booking links and pricing information

· David Bowie is happening now will be screened at all participating cinemas onTuesday 13 August 2013, doors open 18.45 screening at 19.00

· For Picturehouse Cinemas visit www.picturehouses.co.uk/DavidBowieis

About the David Bowie is exhibition at the V&A:

23 March – 11 August 2013

The V&A has been given unprecedented access to the David Bowie Archive to curate the first international retrospective of David Bowie’s extraordinary career. Bowie is one of the most pioneering and influential performers of modern times and the exhibition brings together more than 300 objects including handwritten lyrics, original costumes, photography, set designs, album artwork and rare performance material from the past five decades. Bowie’s work has both influenced and been influenced by wider movements in art, design, theatre and contemporary culture and the exhibition focuses on his creative processes, shifting style and collaborative work with diverse designers in the fields of fashion, sound, graphics, theatre and film.

In partnership with Gucci; Sound experience by Sennheiser. Runs until 11 August 2013.

www.vam.ac.uk/davidbowieis

About Picturehouse Entertainment Ltd

Picturehouse Entertainment is the distribution arm of Picturehouse Cinemas, the owner and operator of 21 Picturehouse Cinemas and programming agent for a further 49 venues around the country. Formed in 1989 to challenge the multiplex model, Picturehouse Cinemas are Britain¹s largest circuit of independent cinemas, located in city centres and offering diverse programmes that encompass quality mainstream, family, art-house,

independent, foreign-language and documentary films. Sister company Picturehouse Entertainment launched in 2010. Its theatrical releases to date include the record-breaking Werner Herzog 3D documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams; BAFTA winner The Imposter and Shane Meadows' The Stone Roses: Made of Stone. Forthcoming releases in 2013 include Ben Wheatley's A Field in England (5 July) and The Pervert's Guide To Ideology.

Picturehouse Entertainment also distributes a wide variety of non-film content to cinemas around the country. These include live satellite transmissions of seasons from world-class arts organisations such as the Bolshoi Ballet and the National Theatre, and special one-off events such as Leonardo Live from the National Gallery, Stephen Fry's talk, The Fry Chronicles, and Jamie Cullum live at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.

Bowie spotted in Manhattan

“At least a picture on the wall”

Artist Erik den Breejen has been working on a mural portrait of David Bowie on the side wall of Rag & Bone’s Nolita boutique on the corner of Elizabeth and Houston Streets in Manhattan.

He finished the blue, red and pink, 10x13-foot mural portrait of David Bowie (commissioned by aforementioned clothing manufacturer), earlier today (Wednesday).

Based on a live photo from the 1978 World Tour, the image is composed of approximately 900 words from the Bowie songs Fashion and "Heroes".

The mural, Fashionheroesbowie, is on view on the Elizabeth Street side of the Rag & Bone boutique at 73 East Houston St. for about a month, according to the store.

Go to businessweek.com for pictures of Erik den Breejen working on the mural, where you can also read a longer piece regarding the work.

The picture here was taken by Jimmy King, scroll across for a closer detail of Fashionheroesbowie, also taken by Mr King.

Limited Edition Heathen Orange vinyl back in the V&A shop

“’Cos Heathen’s on sale again”

We know many of you were disappointed by the quick sell out of the V&A’s Exclusive Limited Edition on Orange 180 gram audiophile vinyl last week.

However, we are very happy to be able to tell you that it transpires that was only half of the stock and the remaining 250 copies of the limited pressing of 500 are now on sale.

Best be quick though as it seems these limited edition vinyl pressings are possibly more popular than anticipated.

Go here to order your copy now.

TND white vinyl square 45 out Monday

“They can’t get enough of that doomsday song”

The last few months have been a veritable bonanza for the David Bowie vinyl collectors out there: Three different 7" 45 releases for RSD 2013 in April, Paul Smith red vinyl TND in May, V&A orange vinyl Heathen selling out on pre-orders this past week and Life On Mars? limited edition picture disc 45 due on June 24th.

And, as we reported back in May, The Next Day will be issued as a limited edition white vinyl square 7" 45 in the UK tomorrow. (It’s already on sale in some territories.)

While you’re waiting to get your hands on a copy, why not take another look at the deliciously insane TND video on vevo and on YouTube.

#thenextday 

Check out the David Bowie is Facebook app

 

 

“Stand on platforms, blank looks and guestbooks” 

 

 

For those of you that haven’t noticed the David Bowie is here tab posted on the David Bowie (Official) Facebook page earlier today, it’s a great app that gives you the chance to let others know what you thought of the David Bowie is experience at the V&A.

 

Go here to view the GALLERY, vote for your favourite BOWIE ISMS and sign the GUESTBOOK.

The Many Faces of David Bowie exhibition

“Put you all inside my show”

Opera Gallery London has announced The Many Faces of David Bowie exhibition which will run from June 21st to August 31st, 2013. Here’s a bit from the press release:

Parallel to the major exhibition "David Bowie is" at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Opera Gallery London will unveil a collection of David Bowie-inspired art for their summer exhibition. The highly anticipated group show will offer a contemporary vision of ‘Bowie Mania’ with one-off masterpieces including tributes from some of today’s leading contemporary and street artists, including; Mr. Brainwash, Joe Black, Eduardo Guelfenbein, Nick Gentry, Marco Lodola and The London Police.

Jean-David Malat, Director of Opera Gallery London, had this to say about Bowie:

“David Bowie is an incredible ‘icon’; a term to be understood as an idol but also in the ancient Greek notion of eikōn meaning "image" or even religious work of art. It is clear to see that he has influenced many lives, and every artist involved was proud to create a piece in his honour”

Check out the Many Faces of David Bowie exhibition page here, where you can view some of the images and download the full exhibition catalogue.

Pictured here is Juan Barletta’s I am a World Champion, 2013.

Happy Birthday Heathen

“But I I I and my heathen heart”

David Bowie’s Heathen album was released on this day in 2002.

The advertising campaign utilised the legend: CLASSIC DAVID BOWIE CIRCA 2002.

Remind yourself of just how accurate that statement is here.

NHS enlists Aladdin Sane to encourage new blood donors

“Blood, blood, blood”

The National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, needs around 200,000 new registered blood donors every year to keep donor levels stable and research shows that a lack of knowledge about the process could be holding people back from donating.

During National Blood Week (10-16 June 2013), the NHS are hoping to get 10,000 new and returning donors to register to donate and they've enlisted Aladdin Sane to help reach that target. Here’s the blurb...

Blood Donors Can Be Heroes, For More Than One Day

Bowie-inspired poster appeals for donors to ‘come back’ during National Blood Week (10-16 June 2013)

To help halt a decline in regular blood donors NHS Blood and Transplant is appealing for people to ‘come back’ and register to donate during this year’s National Blood Week, with a

new celebrity poster campaign inspired by this year’s come-back king David Bowie.

Actresses Claire Sweeney, Dawn Steele, Wendi Peters and Pooja Shah have all re-created Bowie’s iconic Aladdin Sane album shot to encourage people to ‘come back’ and register.

Read the full press release here. 

David Bowie is in Toronto in September and Sao Paulo in 2014

UPDATE: Along with the run in Toronto outlined below, it has been announced that the Sao Paulo Museum of Image and Sound in Brazil will be the third hosts of the exhibition from 28 January to 21 April, 2014.

DAVID BOWIE IS coming to the AGO this fall

Straight from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, North America’s debut of hit exhibition includes culture icon’s original stage costumes, instruments, album art and music videos

TORONTO—This fall the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) offers North America its first chance to take an exciting odyssey through the world of pioneering artist David Bowie—musician, performer and style icon—in the acclaimed exhibition David Bowie is, direct from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London, England. Spanning five decades and featuring more than 300 objects from Bowie’s personal archive, the multi-media show exposes the groundbreaking artist’s collaborations in the fields of fashion, sound, theatre, art and film.David Bowie isopens on Sept. 25, 2013 and runs to Nov. 27,2013, giving Toronto two full months to live the experience. The AGO is the exhibition’s first stop on its world tour.

Acclaimed by the New York Times as “united in sound and vision in a way rarely seen in a museum,” David Bowie is marks the first international exhibition devoted to the British-born musician and performer (born David Robert Jones in 1947), who has sold more than 140 million albums to date throughout his genre-defying career. Organized thematically, the show immerses visitors in a spectacular and interactive trip through Bowie’s numerous personae and legendary performances, with particular attention paid to his artistic influences. His experiments with Surrealism, German Expressionism, Music Hall, mime and Japanese Kabuki performance are all explored in an explosion of colour, light and sound.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate a living artist whose radical artfulness of identity has had an enormous influence on art, design and contemporary culture as we know it,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, director and CEO of the AGO. “We are thrilled to work with the world-class V&A in bringing the provocative genius and vision of David Bowie to Toronto.”

Maintained by the artist himself, the David Bowie Archive is home to more than 75,000 objects. Working with Sandy Hirskowitz, the collection’s archivist, Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh (curators of theatre and performance at the V&A) were granted unprecedented access to explore and hand-pick the costumes, footage and objects for the exhibition. This marked the first time a museum has been allowed to display items from the collection.

David Bowie iswill be on view on the fourth and fifth floors of the AGO’s contemporary tower. In addition to Bowie’s own handwritten set lists, lyrics, diary entries, instruments and sketches, the show highlights the many artists who have collaborated with the culture chameleon over the years. The collection includes:

·        more than 50 stage costumes including Ziggy Stardust bodysuits (1972) designed by Freddie Burretti;

·        music videos by David Mallet includingBoys Keep Swinging (1979) and Let’s Dance (1983);

·        set designs created for the Diamond Dogs tour (1974);

·        Kansai Yamamoto’s flamboyant creations for the Aladdin Sane tour (1973);

·        photographs by Helmut Newton, Brian Duffy and John Rowlands;

·        album sleeve artwork by Guy Peellaert and Edward Bell; and

·        excerpts from films and live performances including Top of the Pops (1972),The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) and Saturday Night Live (1979).

David Bowie iswas organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Costumes, materials and objects courtesy of the David Bowie Archive, with thanks to Archivist Sandy Hirshkowitz.

Sound experience by Sennheiser.

ABOUT THE V&A
The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections, which span over 2000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform. www.vam.ac.uk

AboutSennheiser

To ensure the best audio experience for visitors, the AGO is working in partnership with audio specialist Sennheiser. “We are extremely pleased to work with the renowned Art Gallery of Ontario on this outstanding exhibition,” said Paul Whiting, President of Global Sales at Sennheiser. “We will not only bring equipment to this exhibition but also our audio expertise offering visitors an immersive 3DAudio experience.” The Sennheiser Group, with its headquarters in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of microphones, headphones and wireless transmission systems. The family-owned company, which was established in 1945, employs more than 2,100 people worldwide, and has manufacturing plants in Germany, Ireland and the USA. Sennheiser is represented by subsidiaries and partners worldwide. Also part of the Sennheiser Group are Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin (studio microphones and monitor loudspeakers), and the joint venture Sennheiser Communications A/S (headsets for PCs, offices and call centres).

ABOUT THE AGO

With a collection of more than 80,000 works of art, the Art Gallery of Ontario is among the most distinguished art museums in North America. From the vast body of Group of Seven and signature Canadian works to the African art gallery, from the cutting-edge contemporary art to Peter Paul Rubens’ masterpiece The Massacre of The Innocents, the AGO offers an incredible art experience with each visit. In 2002 Kenneth Thomson’s generous gift of 2,000 remarkable works of Canadian and European art inspired Transformation AGO, an innovative architectural expansion by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry that in 2008 resulted in one of the most critically acclaimed architectural achievements in North America. Highlights include Galleria Italia, a gleaming showcase of wood and glass running the length of an entire city block, and the often-photographed spiral staircase, beckoning visitors to explore. The AGO has an active membership program offering great value, and the AGO’s Weston Family

Learning Centre offers engaging art and creative programs for children, families, youth and adults. Visit ago.netto find out more about upcoming special exhibitions, to learn about eating and shopping at the AGO, to register for programs and to buy tickets or memberships.

Mar. 16 – June 16, 2013:Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art

Aug. 17, 2013 – Oct. 27, 2013: Ai Weiwei: According to What?

Nov. 30, 2013 – Mar. 2, 2014: The Great Upheaval: Modern Masterpieces from the Guggenheim Collection

Contemporary programming at the AGO is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

The Art Gallery of Ontario is funded in part by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport. Additional operating support is received from the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts and generous contributions from AGO members, donors and private-sector partners. 

Simon Armitage on Oblique Strategies on BBC R4

“Then I got the small black box, and I did know what to do...”

Anybody who has a keen interest in the collaborations of Bowie/Eno, will be well aware of the pair’s fondness for the Eno/Schmidt-conceived Oblique Strategies (subtitled Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas).

Indeed, Bowie's original set of cards is pictured here, looking like they have been consulted on more than one occasion. 

Anyway, on Thursday June 13th at 11:30am, BBC Radio 4 sets out to tell the story of the Oblique Strategies cards with the help of British poet Simon Armitage.

Here’s the Radio 4 blurb:

'Infinitesimal gradations', 'Repetition is a form of change', 'Bridges-build-burn' - just three of the gnomic aphorisms contained in the Oblique Strategies cards devised in the early 1970s by artists Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno. The cards were aimed at providing a creative jolt to artists who were either stuck or searching for new directions for their work. Most famously, Eno and David Bowie used the cards during the making of the now infamous set of albums known as the Berlin trilogy.

Simon Armitage first came across them as a student, but has never actually owned or used a pack himself. Now he sets out to tell the story of the cards, talk to some of those who've used them (across the fields of music, writing, cooking, business and more) and also find out whether the cards will take his own writing in a new direction. Among those he'll speak with are Carlos Alomar (the guitarist on those Bowie albums), user Paul Morley, chef Ian Knauer and creativity guru Professor Tudor Rickards. He'll also use the cards to try and help him track down the elusive Brian Eno himself.

Oblique Strategies is well represented online, not least of all via this site where you can peruse the cards and this one which covers the history of the set.

Thanks to Karen Banwell for the pointer to the Radio 4 broadcast.

Jeremy Deller's Bowie cover on English Magic EP

“Here are we, one magical moment, such is the stuff, From where dreams are woven”

You no doubt saw television previews and news reports from Jeremy Deller's acclaimed exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale last week. The exhibition opened to the public on June 1st and runs through to November 24th 2013.

Jeremy has taken over the British Pavilion for his English Magic project, wherein images from David Bowie’s 1973 UK tour are displayed alongside images of civil unrest in 1970s Britain.

The British Pavilion has two large banners either side of the entrance displaying the lyrics: “I searched for form and land” and “For years and years I roamed”.

The launch party included instrumental music from the Melodians Steel Orchestra including a version of the Bowie song those lyrics originally appeared in, The Man Who Sold The World.

In celebration of the exhibition, The Vinyl Factory has announced a collaboration with Deller on the musical soundtrack to a new film work to be exhibited in the British Pavilion.

The soundtrack is a composition of three classic British pieces of music; Symphony in D Minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Voodoo Ray by A Guy Called Gerald and The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie - all covered by the Melodians Steel Orchestra, an English/Trinidadian steel band, based in South London.

Released and produced by The Vinyl Factory, the English Magic EP will be released on vinyl and digital tomorrow, June 10th.

There will also be a limited triple vinyl edition of 300 copies, hand signed and numbered by Deller with record sleeve artwork created by the artist, including a 10x10” photographic print hand tipped on the front cover. Order here. 

The soundtrack was recorded at Abbey Road, in keeping with the British theme. The Melodians Steel Orchestra played live at both the Pavilion’s official inauguration on May 29th and later that evening at The Vinyl Factory & British Council party on the Isla Vignole, Venice.

    English Magic EP Details

 * English Magic EP consisting of 3 cover versions produced by Jeremy Deller in collaboration with The Vinyl Factory and performed by Melodians Steel Orchestra

 * Vaughan Williams 'Symphony in D minor', David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold The World' and A Guy Called Gerald's 'Voodoo Ray'

 * Recorded at Studio 2, Abbey Road, London

 * Direct to metal mastering at Abbey Road

 * Pressed on 180-gram black vinyl

 * Full colour sleeve with artwork by Jeremy Deller

 Go here to order the EP and to listen to all three tracks. While you’re there, check out the three minute promo film: The Vinyl Factory Presents Jeremy Deller English Magic EP.

Bowie and Mercury Under Pressure vocal

“This is ourselves, under pressure”

You’ve no doubt already noticed online items regarding this in recent days, even though it was originally posted on YouTube almost two years ago in July 2011.

We’re talking about the isolated vocal track from Under Pressure sung by David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, which has now been picked up by various online sites after it was rediscovered by openculture.com.

You can listen to the unaccompanied, incredible vocal gymnastics of the pair here.