A group of DAVID BOWIE fans have joined forces with the Friends of Croydon Road Recreation Ground to reprise the legendary Free Festival organised to raise funds for the Beckenham Arts Lab. The Free Festival was held at the Recreation Ground on August 16th 1969.

The 2013 festival will kick off at 2.00pm on Sunday 15th September, with music from the bandstand from 3 to 6 pm. This time around the aim is to raise funds to renovate the iconic Victorian bandstand where Bowie and friends performed 44 years ago. After the Arts Lab festival David wrote one of his best loved songs, Memory of a Free Festival, which features on his second album.

2013 organiser Natasha Ryzhova Lau says:

"We want to celebrate David Bowie's time in Beckenham and his spectacular career that followed, but our most important objective is to rescue the bandstand which is part of Beckenham's heritage and urgently needs repairs, but cannot be restored with funding from the public purse".

In 1969 David Bowie lived in Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, sharing a flat with the journalist Mary Finnigan. They launched a Folk Club at the Three Tuns pub (now a Zizzi pizza restaurant) which attracted a huge following from all over south London and beyond - and later morphed into The Beckenham Arts Lab.

The 2013 festival aims to recreate the magic of the original event, with performances by The Thin White Duke Bowie tribute band, Bill Liesegang (who played in 1969), Keval, Raf and O, Low Rent Tractors and Scott Fuller and John Aldington. There will be stalls provided by Gingham Goose Craft Markets, face painting, refreshments, a raffle and other attractions.

In 1969 the festival was free. Thanks to generous donations by various individuals including Angie Bowie, Calvin Mark Lee and DJ Tim Goffe, it raised £200 (approx. £800 today) for the Arts Lab. Contemporary regulations make it impossible to replicate free entry, so there will be a charge of £5.00 to cover expenses, with voluntary contributions towards the bandstand restoration fund.

If you would like to make a donation towards the of the bandstand repair please VISIT HERE where you can donate via PayPal.

For information updates go to: facebook.com/beckenham.bowie and becrec.net

From Natasha Lau.

DAVID BOWIE's next single 'Valentine's Day' gets released on Monday 19th August.

Released on 7 inch vinyl picture disc, the single is backed with 'Plan' (catalogue number 88883756667).

Available at your local record store or if you prefer there are plenty available on eBay.

Thanks to Ian at crashrecords.co.uk for the image.

DAVIDBOWIE.COM report that the 2013 remix of 'Sound And Vision' created for the Sony Xperia Z smartphone campaign is to get a digital release via Parlophone Records on 7th October.

This stripped back version reworked by Sonjay Prabhakar leaves Roy Young's piano, David's lead vocal and backing vocal from Mary Hopkin.

Further reading:
Rolling Stone: David Bowie's 'Sound And Vision' Remix gets extended release - [Read here]...

NME: David Bowie's 'Sound And Vision 2013' remix set for digital release - [Read here]...

• Continuing the series.... the next DAVID BOWIE 40th Anniversary 7 inch single picture disc release is 'Sorrow' on 14th October. The double A-side features a live version of the song recorded at the PNC in Vancouver during the Serious Moonlight World Tour - [from davidbowie.com]...

• Tribute Night tonight in Charlottesville: The Man Who Sold The World: A C-ville Tribute to DAVID BOWIE with the Astronomers, The Fire Tapes, Tom Dean and The Jean Genies, 8.15p.m., doors open at 7.30 p.m., Jefferson Theater on Downtown Mall, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. 1-800-594-8499, $12, $10 advance, all ages - [More details]...

• The DAVID BOWIE IS exhibition visits Paris in 2015 - [Read here]...

• PHARRELL WILLIAMS namedropped DAVID BOWIE stating that db could have sung on DAFT PUNK's single 'Lose Yourself To Dance'. Pharrell says the hit single reminds him of 'walking down the street in the middle of the night in London' - [Read here]...

It's is being reported that there is to be a DAVID BOWIE biopic due for release in 2015, directed by ROBERT REDFORD.

Entitled 'Starman', the lead role will be played by... wait for it... JESSICA CHASTAIN.

Redford states that: 'Starman has been in the works since the eighties, but the script was never quite right. I've always been fascinated by Bowie and especially his androgyny, his drug taking and his willingness to push the boundaries to often dangerous degrees. In those respects I think we're very very similar.'

When asked about Tilda Swinton's project 'Moonlight Daydream Oh Yeah' he says: 'I can't really comment on that, except to say that Bowie is a big enough player for there to be many films about the man.'

You can read the full exclusive interview with director Robert Redford over at thestudioexec.com

OCCUPY BOWIE is taking place this coming Sunday in London.

What it is: A participatory event for visual extremists of all stripes. Don't call us a flash mob.

Description: Calling all misfits, androgynes, glam rockers, goblin kings, scary monsters and super creeps: you are invited to a gathering on the steps of the V&A on 11.08.13. Together we will create a tableau vivant - a living picture - in honour of music, art and DAVID BOWIE. Cut String Theatre will direct us. Laurence Bowie of The Bowie Experience will sing for us. It will be a spectacle. You will be photographed. Don't forget the glitter.

Details: Sunday, 11th August at 3pm on the steps of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

More details over at twitter.com/occupybowie and occupybowie.tumblr.com

From Jessica Gallucci.

More countries and venues have been announced for the DAVID BOWIE Is exhibition world tour...

Below are the confirmed venues so far... with more to follow...

       Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada.
       From 25th September to 27th November 2013.
       Visit ago.net

       Museum of Image and Sound, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
       From 28th January to 21st April 2014.
       Visit mis-op.org.br

       Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, USA.
       From September 2014 to January 2015.
       Visit mcachiago.org

       Philharmonie de Paris / Cite de la Musique, Paris, France.
       From 2nd March to 31st May 2015.
       Visit citedelamusique.fr

       Groninger Museum, Groningen, The Netherlands.
       From 15th December 2015 to 15th March 2016.
       Visit groningermuseum.nl

You can read the official press release at vam.ac.uk

• Taking place this month on August 2nd-8th in New York, USA the FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER presents 'Watch That Man: David Bowie, Movie Star' - featuring various movies, documentaries and promo videos and a BBC drama. Included are: Absolute Beginners, Baal, Basquiat, Christiane F., Cracked Actor, The Hunger, Just A Gigolo, Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, David Bowie: The Music Videos 1979-2013, The Prestige, Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (The Motion Picture). Tickets are on sale NOW. Visit filmlinc.com for the full low-down on all the movies and documentaries being shown...

• Special V&A FREE event taking place is 'DAVID BOWIE: Strange Fascination' by author DR. DAVID BUCKLEY which is a lunchtime lecture taking place on 7th August at The Lydia and Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre, V&A, London at 13.00 - [More details]...

• Tickets for the V&A VIP screening of DAVID BOWIE is happening now are on sale now. Join a VIP screening of this live cinema event at the V&A followed by an after-show drinks reception with the exhibition curators, film producers and special guests in the V&A John Madejski Garden. All VIP ticket holders will also receive a free deluxe hardback copy of David Bowie Is, and the best selling exhibition tote bag - [More details]...

• The ATOMIC SUNRISE footage of DAVID BOWIE is returning to The Roundhouse in London. There are two screenings on Saturday 10th August - [More details] - from sweetythang...

Just published by Wise Publications is the album songbook for DAVID BOWIE's 'The Next Day'.

Synopsis: Released to the surprise of fans, pundits and even Columbia Records' own PR department, 'The Next Day' is David Bowie's twenty-fourth studio album, announced on his sixty-sixth birthday.

Containing Bowie's first collection of all-new material for over ten years, The Next Day debuted at number 1 and number 2 on charts across the world. A critical as well as commercial success, the album garnered five star reviews from Q, The Independent and The Telegraph, while the Guardian, Mojo, Rolling Stone and The Times gave it four stars.

This matching songbook contains sheet music for all the tracks from The Next Day, including the singles Where Are We Now?, The Stars (Are Out Tonight), The Next Day and Valentine's Day. It also contains the songs from the deluxe version of the album: So She, Plan and I'll Take You There.

All the songs have been expertly arranged for Piano, Vocal and Guitar.

Containing eighty-eight pages - you can purchase David Bowie: The Next Day. Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal and Guitar NOW.

Check out the brand new promotional video from DAVID BOWIE for his latest single release 'Valentine's Day'.

Directed by Markus Klinko and Indrani Pal-Chaudhuri - the picture single is released on 7 inch vinyl on 19th August in the UK and the following day in the US.

Trivia: The promotional video was shot at The Port of New York Authority Grain Terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn, NYC.

Now abandoned, this massive concrete silo, built in 1922, was once the processing centre for grains used for breweries and distilleries shipped down from upstate and the western USA via the Erie Canal. The terminal closed as shipping in Red Hook gave way to New Jersey containerisation beginning in the 1950s. With its 54 joined concrete silos, it has been described as looking like 'concrete ladyfingers'.

There is a wonderful set of photographs of the abandoned building here taken by Charles Le Brigand.

After the unprecedented success at the V&A in London, the DAVID BOWIE IS exhibition heads next to Canada this coming Fall.

The exhibition will be held at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) it opens on Wednesday 25th September and runs through until Wednesday 27th November.

Venue: Art Gallery of Ontario (Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario).
Address: 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 1G4.
Telephone: 416 979 6648 / 1 877 225 4246 (toll-free).
Website: ago.net

Opening Times:
       Monday CLOSED.
       Tuesday 10 am - 5:30 pm
       Wednesday 10 am - 8:30 pm
       Thursday 10 am - 5:30 pm
       Friday 10 am - 5:30 pm
       Saturday 10 am - 5:30 pm
       Sunday 10 am - 5:30 pm

Check out ago.net for more details and information.

This is the first stop on a world tour for the show. The only other 100% confirmed date known so far is in Brazil at The São Paulo Museum of Image and Sound which takes place on 28th January through to 21st April 2014.

DAVID BOWIE WONDERWORLD REMINDERS THE NEXT DAY SONGBOOK Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal and Guitar published by Wise Publications on 11th July contains 88-pages - purchase NOW New DAVID BOWIE studio album THE NEXT DAY released by ISO/Columbia in 3 different formats. Release dates varied starting from 8th March through to 15th March - you can now purchase the Audio CD Deluxe Edition and Audio CD and the Vinyl 2LP Edition plus CD DAVID BOWIE new album THE NEXT DAY exclusive JAPANESE ONLY Blu-spec CD2 released on 13th March contains FOURTH bonus track 'God Bless The Girl'. Available to purchase NOW. The JAPANESE ONLY DAVID BOWIE BLU-SPEC CD2 SERIES five albums released on 13th March are: Reality / Heathen / 'hours...' / Earthling and 1. Outside. New book DAVID BOWIE IS by Victoria Broakes and Geoffrey Marsh from V&A published 23rd March - you can purchase the Deluxe Hardback and receive a massive 45% discount! Two disc DVD and Interview Set DAVID BOWIE - LOWDOWN released by Sexy Intellectual on 8th July - you can pre-order NOW.                     [Close]