• 'Two Bad Days' appeared on the 'Healing of the Lunatic Owl' album by BRAINCHILD in 1970. Saxophonist Brian Wilshaw was in this band before touring with DAVID BOWIE in 1973. Just after the line: 'I think I'm going slightly mad' right towards the end. Can anyone hear what I'm hearing? - [Listen here]...

• The DAILY MAIL have a news article relating to a 'lost' recording that came to light for the first time in more than 40 years after Strawbs frontman DAVE COUSINS discovered the radio interview he did with Bowie in the back of a drawer. 'Revealed: DAVID BOWIE's first US tour was a disaster because he forgot to get a work visa and couldn't play gigs - [Read here]...

• The 'DAVID BOWIE Is Happening Now' movie documentary is to be shown in the Netherlands at 13 Pathe cinemas - [Read here]...

• Well worth checking out is a piece on DAVID BOWIE entitled: 'Notes on Bowie' by The DUBLIN REVIEW written by Brian Dillin - [Read here]...

On this day, 51 years ago, THE KONRADS record 'I Never Dreamed' demo at Decca Studios, West Hampstead in 1963, with 16-year-old DAVID JONES on backing vocals.

The song was written by David and Alan Dodds. Roger Ferris sang lead vocals, with David harmonising.

This is the first ever professional studio recording that David Bowie featured on. The master tape has long gone and the handful of acetates pressed have all been lost.

DAVID BOWIE graces the front cover of the NEW CITY magazine.

New City is a free pick up events listing for the Chicago area. As you know, the David Bowie Is exhibition is heading for Chicago, so there's lots of Bowie events happening.

Check out the newcity.com website for more details and information.

• Heads up... there's a DAVID BOWIE Tribute taking place at the Jerusalem Club in Valencia, Spain on 17th October - [View flyer]...

• Another Q&A with TONY VISCONTI and WOODY WOODMANSEY about The Man Who Sold The World album is taking place in Glasgow at the CCA on 19th September - [More details]...

• The rather wonderful BRIAN COX talks about DAVID BOWIE and he mentions something about Quantum Mechanical thingymebobs - [Read here]...

DAVID BOWIE Is exhibition in Chicago... Free webinar on 10th September there are spots remaining. Be quick - [Reserve here].

The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago welcomes David Bowie Is, the first international exhibition of the extraordinary career of David Bowie - one of the most pioneering and influential performers of our time. The exhibition sold out in London and is now on its world tour, opening at the MCA on September 23rd.

Hosted by the Media Relations Manager at the MCA Chicago, Elena Grotto, this free and public webinar will preview the exhibition, discuss the impact on Chicago, and answer any questions you may have in advance of the exhibit opening September 23, 2014 and running through January 4th, 2015.

v• More items have been donated to the MEMORY OF A FREE FESTIVAL 2014 event that takes place tomorrow in Beckenham. For the latest list check out davidbowie.com - For all the details you'll need if you are attending please visit their FB events page...

• Spider From Mars Drummer WOODY WOODMANSEY returns home to Hull for a gig with HOLY HOLY. Woody will be performing DAVID BOWIE songs from 1969-1973 at The Welly Club in Beverley Road, on Tuesday, 23rd December. Support at the gig will be JOHN 'HUTCH' HUTCHINSON. Tickets cost £12 plus booking fee via hullboxoffice.co.uk - [Read here]...

• More locations have been announced in the US for the DAVID BOWIE Is Happening Now documentary movie. The documentary was filmed on the closing night of the V&A exhibition in London and directed by Hamish Hamilton., the BAFTA winning director of the Academy Awards and the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. All showings take place next month on Tuesday 23rd September. For the updated listings of participating movie theatres, and to book your tickets please visit omniversevision.com website...

• MoMA in New York are to digitise hundreds of ANDY WARHOL films in partnership with the Andy Warhol Museum. Some of the footage has never been seen before. Expect the screen test footage shot at The Factory with DAVID BOWIE on 14th September 1971 to be included - [Read here]...

Before DAVID BOWIE Is opens in Melbourne, catch the ACMI exclusive Australian Premiere of the 'David Bowie Is Happening Now' documentary about the exhibition on 7th November 2014.

This documentary film of the David Bowie Is exhibition was created by the Victorian and Albert Museum, London. Filmed on the final night of the sell-out exhibition, this unique cinema experience will give Australian audiences a sneal peek into the ground-breaking exhibition that is about to land at ACMI.

Tickets are priced $13 - $17 AU Dollars. Member discounts available.

Exclusive: ACMI Members can enjoy priority ticketing to the David Bowie Is film between now and 11am tomorrow. After this time remaining tickets will be available to the general public.

For more information and ticket purchases, please visit the acmi.net.au website.

The V&A DAVID BOWIE Is exhibition is to visit Melbourne, Australia in July 2015 at the ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image).

The exhibition runs from 16th July until 1st November 2015.

General Release Tickets go on sale in November 2014.

Prepare for unprecedented access to objects from the David Bowie Archive, presented in an immersive exhibition telling the enthralling story of the boy from Brixton who became an international cultural icon.

The exhibition includes over 50 legendary costumes, original stage set designs, handwritten lyric sheets, album artwork, rare film, video and photographs, interviews with collaborators, and spectacular sections showcasing Bowie's impact as a live performer and screen star.

Visit acmi.net.au for more information and register for pre-sale tickets.

Further reading:
Herald Sun: 'David Bowie exhibition bound for Melbourne following London success'- [Read here].
Sydney Morning Herald: 'Major exhibition at ACMI to explore David Bowie's many lives' - [Read here].
The Guardian: '50 years of David Bowie: blockbuster retrospective heading to Australia' - [Read here].

BECOMING DAVID BOWIE is a new Special Edition 2-DVD Set scheduled for release on 1st September via Pride Studios.

Synopsis: When, in 1969, David Bowie had his first UK hit with Space Oddity, at the time it was largely viewed as a moon-landing novelty record and so it didn't take long for the populace at large to forget all about this one-hit-wonder when the event it was allegedly released to cash-in on had been and gone.

But when, a few years hence, this same performer appeared on prime time television looking like something that might have hijacked the very spaceship he had sung about almost three years before, the hipper viewers sat up and took notice.

And those with an enquiring mind would have discovered that David Bowie had been making records since 1964, had already been in more groups and had more images than just about any other performer since the dawn of rock, and following his debut hit, had released three quite remarkable albums.

This 2 DVD Set tells the complete, incredible story of the making of David Bowie. From his very first recordings made under his real name of David Jones (with his group of the time, The King Bees) up to the release of his enormously influential breakthrough record Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, the entire build-up to Bowie's enormous success is here dissected.

Disc One features a 90-minute documentary film which investigates the period in question and features archive footage, contributions from those who worked alongside Bowie through this era plus exclusive interviews, news clips and much more.

Disc Two features filmed interviews with David recorded at different stages of his career, during which the man himself relays this exciting time from his own perspective.

Finished in deluxe 6-panel digi-packaging, this double disc set is destined to become the standard work on this defining period in David Bowie's long and illustrious career.

       Title: Becoming David Bowie.
       Special Edition 2 DVD Set.
       Format: Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC.
       Language: English.
       Region: All Regions.
       Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1.
       Number of discs: 2.
       Studio: Pride.
       DVD Release Date: 1 Sep 2014.
       Run Time: 154 minutes.

Released next month, David Bowie - Becoming Bowie [DVD] [NTSC] is available to pre-order NOW.

Check out an exclusive interview with JOHN 'HUTCH' HUTCHINSON - The Early Days of David: Bowie and Hutch over on One & Another by Steve Jadd.

John says: "I sent David a copy of 'Bowie & Hutch' recently. Maybe he will want to talk to me. On the other hand, he might never speak to me again."

Bowie & Hutch is available for purchase NOW in both paperback and Kindle edition

You can read the whole interview HERE

The next DAVID BOWIE 40th Anniversary single 'Knock On Wood' is scheduled for release on Monday 22nd September, the eleventh in this limited edition series.

       Side A: Knock On Wood (David Live - 2005 Mix).
       (Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd).
       Produced and mixed by Tony Visconti.
       Recorded live at Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, July 1974.

       Side AA: Rock 'n' Roll With Me (David Live - 2005 Mix).
       Produced and mixed by Tony Visconti.
       Recorded live at Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, July 1974.
       Catalogue Number DBKOW40.

The photographs used for this release are both live shots from the 1974 'The Year of the Diamond Dogs' Tour. The A-side was used on the original French release and the AA-side features a rare live image.

Update: The Knock On Wood picture disc is available to pre-order NOW.

Artist/Illustrator ROB DE BANK has created a rather wonderful piece of DAVID BOWIE art.

Rob says: 'I painted a young David Bowie (the Hunky-Dory years) leaving his Bucolic English Country Side Home. He is going for a Minstrel walk with his pipe and acoustic guitar, dressed like a Pre-Raphaelite androgynous Dandy.'

Rob De Bank, aka Patrick James is an artist-illustrator whose artwork has graced the fashion, advertising and entertainment scene for over 25 years.

Be sure to check out his website at robdebank.com and his Facebook pages for more of his fabulous work.

If you want to purchase signed limited edition prints, please message him for more information on FB.

(Ed. Just in case you thought David never smoked a pipe, you'd be wrong. He used a Bewlay... hence the song-title 'The Bewlay Brothers').

History Trivia: Bewlay House was a chain of English pipe stores whose pipes were made by Barling, Charatan, and Loewe, so the English considered the Bewlay pipes a quality pipe in its own right. The English brand of Bewlay & Co. Ltd. (formerly Salmon & Gluckstein Ltd.), was in business from the early 20th century until the 1950's. The brand ended up being sold and taken over by Imperial Tobacco Co. There was 'The House of Bewlay' tobacco shop located in Bromley. The shop chain closed in the 1980's but there seems to be one shop still in business on Carr Lane in the city of Hull.

A brand new DAVID BOWIE book has just been published entitled: 'Kooks, Queen Bitches and Andy Warhol: The Making of David Bowie's Hunky Dory' by best-selling New York Times author KEN SHARP.

Over the past five decades, David Bowie's towering musical legacy is rightfully acclaimed as among the most inventive, groundbreaking and compelling in rock history. Bowie's 1971 long player, Hunky Dory, in particular has garnered lofty praise, voted by Time magazine as one of the top 100 albums of all-time.

A new book, 'Kooks, Queen Bitches and Andy Warhol: The Making of David Bowie's Hunky Dory' (Jetfighter/$10) chronicles the fascinating back story behind that celebrated album.

Written by New York Times best-selling author Ken Sharp, the 112-page pocket paperback book is constructed as an oral history and culls revelatory interviews with scores of the album's key participants for an all-encompassing look at this seminal release.

Among those interviewed include Bowie's band, producer Ken Scott, RCA Records personnel plus countless others along with archival commentary from David Bowie and the late Mick Ronson.

For more details and purchasing, please visit the ken-sharp.com website.

Update: Check out a video interview with Ken, where he talks about his book and recalls becoming a fan.

WANTED! A Female Singer for a DAVID BOWIE tribute band.

Four-piece tribute band Diamond Dogs are based in Carlisle, England. If anyone is interested in joining the group please call 0775 4445964.

For more details check out the news piece in the News and Star HERE.

The DAVID BOWIE SOUND+VISION Four CD Box Set is to be re-packaged and re-released next month on 22nd September.

Sound+Vision is a collection spanning four decades, covering the 21 albums from Space Oddity through to The Buddha Of Suburbia.

It's a rich survey of David Bowie's many musical lives offering a generous helping of hits, an intriguing dip into archives, classic album tracks and long lost B-sides, explosive live recordings, soundtrack recordings and remixes.

The full 4-CD tracklisting is as follows:

DISC: 1
   01. Space Oddity (Demo) [2003 Remastered Version].
   02. Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud (Rare B-Side Version) [2003 Remastered Version].
   03. The Prettiest Star (Single Version) [2003 Remastered Version].
   04. London, Bye, Ta-Ta.
   05. Black Country Rock (1999 Remastered Version).
   06. The Man Who Sold The World (1999 Remastered Version).
   07. The Bewlay Brothers (1999 Remastered Version).
   08. Changes (1999 Remastered Version).
   09. Round And Round (Alternate Vocal Take).
   10. Moonage Daydream (2002 Remastered Version).
   11. John, I'm Only Dancing (Sax Version) [2003 Remastered Version].
   12. Drive-In Saturday (2003 Remastered Version).
   13. Panic In Detroit (2003 Remastered Version).
   14. Ziggy Stardust (Live '73) [Stereo].
   15. White Light/White Heat (Live '73) [Stereo].
   16. Rock 'N' Roll Suicide (Live '73).
   17. Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere? (1999 Remastered Version).
   18. Sorrow (1999 Remastered Version).
   19. Don't Bring Me Down (1999 Remastered Version).

DISC: 2
   01. 1984/Dodo (2003 Remastered Version).
   02. Big Brother (1999 Remastered Version).
   03. Rebel Rebel (US Single Version) [2002 Remastered Version].
   04. Suffragette City (Live '74) [2003 Remastered Version].
   05. Watch That Man (Live '74) [2003 Remastered Version].
   06. Cracked Actor (Live '74) [2003 Remastered Version].
   07. Young Americans (1999 Remastered Version).
   08. Fascination (1999 Remastered Version).
   09. After Today (2003 Remastered Version).
   10. It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City.
   11. TVC15 (1999 Remastered Version).
   12. Wild Is The Wind (1999 Remastered Version).
   13. Sound And Vision (1999 Remastered Version).
   14. Be My Wife (1999 Remastered Version).
   15. Speed Of Life (1999 Remastered Version).
   16. "Helden" (German Version 1989 Remix) [2002 Remastered Version].
   17. Joe The Lion (1999 Remastered Version).
   18. Sons Of The Silent Age (1999 Remastered Version).

DISC: 3
   01. Station To Station (Live '78) [2003 Remastered Version].
   02. Warszawa (Live '78) [2003 Remastered Version].
   03. Breaking Glass (Live '78) [2003 Remastered Version].
   04. Red Sails (1999 Remastered Version).
   05. Look Back In Anger (1999 Remastered Version).
   06. Boys Keep Swinging (1999 Remastered Version).
   07. Up The Hill Backwards (1999 Remastered Version).
   08. Kingdom Come (1999 Remastered Version).
   09. Ashes To Ashes.
   10. Baal's Hymn.
   11. The Drowned Girl.
   12. Cat People (Putting Out Fire).
   13. China Girl (1999 Remastered Version).
   14. Ricochet (1999 Remastered Version).
   15. Modern Love (Live; 2003 Remastered Version).
   16. Loving The Alien (1999 Remastered Version).
   17. Dancing With The Big Boys (1999 Remastered Version).

DISC: 4
   01. Blue Jean (1999 Remastered Version).
   02. Time Will Crawl (1999 Remastered Version).
   03. Baby Can Dance (1999 Remastered Version) - Tin Machine.
   04. Amazing (1999 Remastered Version) - Tin Machine.
   05. I Can't Read (1999 Remastered Version) - Tin Machine.
   06. Shopping For Girls - Tin Machine.
   07. Goodbye Mr. Ed - Tin Machine.
   08. Amlapura - Tin Machine.
   09. You've Been Around (2003 Remastered Version).
   10. Nite Flights (Moodswings Back To Basics Remix) [Radio Edit].
   11. Pallas Athena (Gone Midnight Mix) [2003 Remastered Version].
   12. Jump They Say (2003 Remastered Version).
   13. Buddha Of Suburbia (2003 Remastered Version).
   14. Dead Against It (2003 Remastered Version).
   15. South Horizon (2003 Remastered Version).
   16. Pallas Athena (Live As 'Tao Jones Index').

The Sound+Vision 4-CD Box Set is available for pre-order NOW

DAVID BOWIE DOES IT AGAIN! - More support for the Beckenham bandstand.

Rock mega star David Bowie is making a second generous contribution to the restoration fund for the bandstand where he performed 45 years ago.

Bowie and the Beckenham Arts Lab organised Britain's first ever Free Festival at the Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenham on Saturday 16th August 1969. The event is celebrated as a cultural milestone, immortalised by Bowie with his anthem Memory of a Free Festival.

Last year Memory of a Free Festival morphed from a song into a contemporary event - organised by fashion designer Natasha Ryzhova Lau as a fundraiser for the iconic Victorian bandstand, which is urgently in need of repair. David Bowie donated signed memorabilia which raised £600 at auction. In total £7,000 was collected for the restoration fund.

The first Memory of a Free Festival was a great success. It returns by popular request and looks set to become an annual event. The second edition this year kicks off at 1.00pm on Saturday 16th August - in the same place, on the same day 45 years after the Bowie original. Once again David is donating signed items for the bandstand fund - including Love Is Lost - a 12" white vinyl double A side single - described by fans as "very desirable".

The lineup this year includes three musicians who played in 1969. There's a return visit by American folk/blues legend Amory Kane who made a special trip from California last year. He's joined by guitar maestro Bill Liesegang, who was a 16 year-old prodigy in 1969.

This year the festival welcomes singer/songwriter Roger Wotton, leader of the avant garde band Comus who were resident at the Arts Lab Sunday night gigs and a star attraction at the Free Festival.

"It's like a strange dream where my life is starting over again" says Roger, "Comus have reformed, I'm playing the Beckenham Festival and meeting up with all the people I used to know. It is as if the wheel has turned full circle and I'm going into a repeat pattern."

Also on the bandstand this year are return visits from Raf and O, Low Rent Tractors and the Bowie tribute band Thin White Duke. Newcomers include Joey Herzfeld and his So Called Friends and Julia Gray.

As well as non stop live music there's a Gingham Goose craft market, food, drinks and a beer tent.

An innovation this year is an art-in-action feature, with visual artists at work and with their creations on display.

"We want to encourage artists to take part" says organiser Natasha Ryzhova Lau, "this can include all sorts of artistic expression - poetry, storytelling, painting and sculpture."

Times have changed and it is no longer possible to present a free festival. There's a £5 entry fee to cover expenses, payable at the gate. Donations to the bandstand fund will be gratefully received. The auction will happen just before the festival ends at 7.00pm.

More details, information and updates can be found at facebook.com/beckenham.bowie

Next month, the Victoria and Albert Museum documentary film DAVID BOWIE IS HAPPENING NOW is to be screened across the US on 23rd September.

In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition at MCA Chicago, other US States get a chance to see the documentary of this ground-breaking exhibition directed by Hamish Hamilton.

The movie documentary was filmed on the final evening of the V&A exhibition in London with invited audience guests.

For listings of participating movie theatres, and to book your tickets please visit omniversevision.com website.

PUBLIC tickets are on sale NOW for the MCA CHICAGO - DAVID BOWIE IS Exhibition.

Individual tickets are priced at $25 for adults and teens, $10 youth aged 7-12, and FREE for children 6 and under. Price includes museum admission.

Full details are available on the mcachicago.org website.

davidbowie.com have announced that the DAVID BOWIE SOUND+VISION Four CD Box Set is to be re-released next month on 22nd September.

Sound+Vision is a collection spanning four decades, covering the 21 albums from Space Oddity through to The Buddha Of Suburbia.

It's a rich survey of David Bowie's many musical lives offering a generous helping of hits, an intriguing dip into archives, classic album tracks and long lost B-sides, explosive live recordings, soundtrack recordings and remixes.

Check out the press release here via davidbowie.com

Finally! The Missing Pieces!..

Released now is the brand new TWIN PEAKS - THE ENTIRE MYSTERY DVD Blu-ray 10-disc box set, and it includes nearly 90 minutes of never-before-seen deleted and alternate scenes from the prequel film 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me'.

This is the footage that fans have been craving for years, and finally this box set that was personally supervised by Twin Peaks mastermind David Lynch sees the light of day.

And yes... previously unseen footage of DAVID BOWIE starring as Agent Phillip Jefferies appears.

Twenty-five years after the shocking murder of Laura Palmer in the acclaimed series from legendary filmmaker David Lynch and writer/producer Mark Frost, CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution will release Twin Peaks - The Entire Mystery.

Arriving for the first time on stunning High Definition Blu-ray with English 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio on July 29th, this comprehensive collection contains every episode from the complete television series; both the U.S. and international versions of the series' Pilot; the North American Blu-ray debut of Lynch's follow-up feature Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me; and nearly 90 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes from the film. The set also features newly transferred Log Lady introductions for each episode; picture upgrades to many shots in the TV series; a new featurette with Lynch and the actors who portrayed the Palmer family which includes a mesmerising return to the lives of their characters today; and hours of never-before-released material that dives into the fascinating story behind the celebrated pop culture classic.

Along with a newly transferred version of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, created from a 4K scan of the original negative, TWIN PEAKS - THE ENTIRE MYSTERY Blu-ray box set boasts the long-awaited missing pieces from the original version of the film - nearly an hour-and-a-half of deleted/alternate scenes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me - often referred to as the "holy grail" of Twin Peaks fandom. This feature-length experience has been directed and edited by Lynch exclusively for this release. Capping off more than 30 deleted/alternate scenes is an epilogue providing a fascinating glimpse beyond the cliffhanger finale of the TV series.

Twin Peaks - The Entire Mystery [Blu-ray] is available to purchase NOW.

We're gonna need a bigger bookcase!

Yes there's yet another DAVID BOWIE publication in the pipeline.

Scheduled for publication next month on 23rd September is BOWIE: THE BIOGRAPHY by 'New York Times' bestselling author WENDY LEIGH.

This new publication is released to coincide with the upcoming David Bowie Is exhibition at MCA Chicago which begins it run on the very same day.

Published by Gallery Books in hardcover and Kindle formats, containing 320 pages.

You can pre-order Bowie: The Biography NOW.

DAVID BOWIE WONDERWORLD REMINDERS The DAVID BOWIE - SOUND+VISION 4-CD BOX SET is to be repackaged and re-released on 22nd September via PLG UK - available for pre-order NOW New Special Edition 2-DVD Set BECOMING DAVID BOWIE scheduled for release on 1st September via Pride Studios - you can pre-order NOW Next David Bowie 40th Anniversary Release KNOCK ON WOOD 7 inch Picture Disc to be released on 22nd September - you can pre-order NOW New book BOWIE & HUTCH autobiography by John 'Hutch' Hutchinson - you can now purchase both the Paperback and the Kindle edition NOW. TWIN PEAKS - THE ENTIRE MYSTERY Blu-ray 10-Disc Box Set, featuring previously unseen DAVID BOWIE scenes released on 29th July - you can purchase NOW New book DUFFY / DAVID BOWIE: FIVE SESSIONS 204-page hardcover book by Chris Duffy and Kevin Cann, published by ACC Editions on 30th June - purchase NOW New book BOWIE: THE BIOGRAPHY by Wendy Leigh to be published by Gallery Books on 23rd September - you can pre-order NOW New book HEROES: DAVID BOWIE AND BERLIN by journalist Tobias Ruther to be published by Reverb on 15th October - you can pre-order NOW                  [Close]