NOVEMBER & OCTOBER 1997 - DAVID BOWIE WONDERWORLD NEWS
'WE WILL FALL' - AIDS BENEFIT ALBUM
22nd November 1997
An amazing IGGY POP tribute album entitled 'We Will Fall' is now available. It is an 21 artist salute to the original punk. With over 72 minutes of music featuring: Jayne County, Joey Ramone, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adolph's Dog, Misfits, Monster Magnet, NY Loose, Pansy Division, Superdrag, Nada Surf, Blanks 77, Sugar Ray, Extra Fancy, 7 Year Bitch, Bush Tetras, Holy Bulls, Nine Lives, Lenny Kaye, Joan Jett, Lunachicks and D-Generation. The net proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit 'LIFEbeat', the music industry's response to the AIDS crisis. A double CD for a price of a single CD - (Cat. No. REV XD 221) - You can order direct on Tel: 0800 16 34 70.
SOME LATIN-AMERICAN ART COMING UP!
17th November 1997
Channel 4 Teletext...
DAVID BOWIE has vowed to take a year off from the music business to indulge in his passion for painting. The man who was recently estimated to be Britain's richest rockstar plans to take his paintbrushes to Latin America after travelling there recently for the very first time.
Says a Bowie spokeswoman: "David has been on the road for nearly two years and he's ready to sit back and relax. He won't be recording for a year."
SAVE THE CHILDREN AUCTION
14th November 1997
Billboard...
CLICK FOR CAUSE is an online auction for charity benefits. The auction which is online for 8 weeks can be found at Boston Radio WCBN. This week included in the auction is a BOWIE autographed FENDER guitar. All proceeds will go to 'Save The Children' charity. At present the top bid is $1,000 for the Fender and the auction finishes at 5pm EST.
U.S. CHRISTMAS SHOW
12th November 1997
DAVID is headlining The 7th Annual Live 105 Green Christmas Show on 7th December 1997. Tickets are available 15th November, priced at $25.
The acts so far announced include The Verve, Björk and Everclear, with other acts to be announced very shortly.
'I CAN'T READ' - ACOUSTIC VERSION
10th November 1997
A newer version of 'I Can't Read' is due for release, backed with 'This Is Not America'. The release is taken from the 'Ice Storm' soundtrack.
JUST A PERFECT DAY
7th November 1997
Next week sees the release of the acclaimed new version of the LOU REED classic 'Perfect Day', re-recorded by a galaxy of pop-stars and put out to raise cash for Children In Need. There are actually 29 of pop's premier performers on the song featuring, among others, David Bowie, Bono, Tom Jones, Boyzone, Elton John and Lou Reed himself. For those of you who've been trying to guess which star sings which line - it's all explained concisely on the CD's sleeve notes. All artists, the BBC and Chrysalis Records have agreed to waive royalties and profits which go to the Children In Need Appeal which is staged on November 21. The track is available in shops from November 17th.
THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL SHOW
7th November 1997
Warrington Museum and Art Gallery has been overwhelmed by trolls and goblins. 'The Weird And Wonderful Show' is a retrospective of the work of premier fantasy artists BRIAN and WENDY FROUD.
Brian and Wendy met when both were working on The Dark Crystal, Muppet creator Jim Henson's foray into film. Brian was the designer, and Wendy, originally a native of Detroit, had been recruited to make the puppets.
The same team next embarked on LABYRINTH, which combined puppets with flesh-and-blood actors. David Bowie was cast as The King of the Goblins along with another real-life participant TOBY FROUD, Brian and Wendy's son.
Henson's starting point for the film was the image of a baby surrounded by goblins. Brian drafted out a storyboard. Months later, shooting was ready to commence. The newly-born Toby was just the right age to play the part. Uncannily, he bore a striking resemblance to the baby in Brian's drawings, though he hadn't even been conceived when Brian was sketching them. Toby, now aged 13, is on half-term holiday, and is helping his parents hang the show. The exhibition runs until January 10th 1998.
REEVES FINDS THE CURE!
6th November 1997
The brilliant REEVES GABRELS joined up with THE CURE for an one-off concert in Los Angeles on 28th October. He also appears on the single release 'Wrong Number', taken from their recent new album 'Galore'. It is issued on CD single, 12" vinyl and cassette (fiction).
BILLBOARD DB INTERVIEW
3rd November 1997
The thought of TRENT REZNOR as a menacing taxi driver would be enough to strike terror in the hearts of the calmest of men. All the more reason he's the absolutely perfect villain for David Bowie's new video, "I'm Afraid Of Americans," which premiered at 1 a.m. Oct. 28 on MTV's "120 Minutes" and went into heavy rotation on the channel that day.
"Trent is the personification of the foreigners' idea of paranoia in America," says Bowie, with a charming laugh. "The cipher is the (Robert) De Niro character in 'Taxi Driver.' Trent offered to do it; he got quite off on the idea."
The video was directed by the hot British team of Dom&Nick. Bowie played the paranoid foreigner in the clip, which features a few nice inside jokes for those familiar with the music video community and New York taxis....
Bowie and Gabrels are also planning an acoustic album of all-new material. "We played a lot of acoustic songs while promoting 'Earthling' on radio shows, and we got excited about writing just for acoustic guitars," says Bowie. But first, there's what Bowie delightfully dubs "my second 50th-birthday celebration." As you may recall, in January, Bowie hosted his 50th-birthday party at New York's Madison Square Garden. The concert, which benefited Save the Children, featured Bowie and a number of guests, including the Foo Fighters and Robert Smith, performing Bowie material. The event was so well received that Bowie would like to make it an annual event. The location for the 1998 celebration has yet to be determined....
As if that weren't enough, Bowie is planning an art show in March/April 1998 in Milan. Small wonder that following Bowie's South American tour, which ends 10th November, the artist says not to expect to see him on the road for some time. "I'll probably not be working on the road for a couple of years because I have so many things I want to do."
LEND US A QUID!
28th October 1997
Apparently David is now officially the richest musician in Britain, overtaking PAUL McCARTNEY and ELTON JOHN. Reportedly worth £68 million, or £64 million, or £55 million depending on which newspaper article you read.
HELLO IMAN
25th October 1997
IMAN features in this weeks HELLO! magazine with a four page spread of photographs and interview.
SELECT COVER CD
October 1997
The November edition SELECT magazine features a free CD which includes 'Velvet Goldmine' by DB.
EARTHLING IN THE CITY CD
October 1997
The November issue of GQ Magazine (US only) includes a free cover CD with six Bowie tracks entitled 'EARTHLING IN THE CITY'.
Little Wonder - (50th Birthday Show).
Seven Years In Tibet - (Edit).
Pallas Athena - (Live Amsterdam 6th June 97).
The Hearts Filthy Lesson - (50th Birthday Show).
Telling Lies - (Paradox Mix).
Seven Years In Tibet - (Mandarin version).
GOLDIE/BOWIE TRACK
15th October 1997
Apparently GOLDIE is still fine-tuning is new album due for release 26th January 1998 and it is still not certain whether the unnamed track he completed with DAVID will be included.
DAVID COMES TO THE RESCUE!
14th October 1997
DAVID BOWIE stepped in to replace THE STONES at a concert broadcast live on MTV 'Tenspot' after MICK JAGGER fell ill.
PERFECT DAY RELEASE
6th October 1997
LOU REED is having talks with the BBC to finalise plans to release 'Perfect Day' in time for the Christmas market. The probable date being 17th November. TV bosses are hoping the single will raise millions of pounds for the BBC charity 'Children In Need'. As the track was recorded as a promotional theme for the BBC, they have to gain clearance from Reed to give the song a commercial release on Chrysalis Records.
DAVID OPENS SUPERMARKET?
4th October 1997
DAVID was so impressed with the response to his live Internet concert broadcast this week that he plans to use the web to sell his music.
Bowie spokeswoman Gaby Sorpington says:
"David is very up on all the computer technology involving himself. The highlight was the cybernet, but now fans can buy his music and also tour merchandise which would normally only be available to concert-goers, via his own web site."
THE NEW VIDEO... WATCH THOSE MEN
2nd October 1997
Nine Inch Nails frontman TRENT REZNOR and rap star ICE CUBE are to make appearances in the video for the DAVID BOWIE track 'I'm Afraid Of Americans'.
Reznor, who remixed the single, says: "I've been a fan of Bowie's for years and he's also a friend.
"I'd been planning to work with Ice Cube on some NIN's material, so I asked him if he'd like to be involved too."
Bowie himself enthuses: "NINs input has created something fantastic."
You can exclusively watch live images from their video shoot on Monday October 6th on Bowie's official web site.
IMAN ON TOUR!
1st October 1997
IMAN appeared on Channel 4's 'Big Breakfast' show and Channel 5's 'Exclusive' show.
On Wednesday 2nd October, she will be appearing at Selfridge's Oxford Road store in London between 6.00pm and 7.30pm to promote her new range of cosmetics. She will be signing autographs and helping in make-overs.
Visit Iman's web site to obtain info. on her cosmetic range.