1974 January February March April MAY June July August September October November December

MY WORLD by David Bowie A WEEKLY DIARY EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN FOR MIRABELLE MAGAZINE

4th May 1974

   As I promised last week I am going to tell you about the wonderful time I had when I went to see 'The Monty Python Flying Circus Show' at the Drury Lane Theatre recently.

   One of the sketches I (and the audience, too) really seemed to enjoy was 'The Election' one. After all the seriousness of the past few weeks, it was great to have a good laugh at politics. In the sketch there are three parties running The Sensible Party, The Silly Party and The Very Silly Party. The Silly and The Very Silly Parties candidates all had the most way-out names and their voices were quite something else!

   Another part of the show I really enjoyed was a kind of false interval when John Cleese suddenly appears in the aisle dressed up as an ice cream salesgirl with a difference. Instead of selling ices and soft drinks he's offering albatrosses!

   Another speciality offered to the enthusiastic audience was a visit to the Ministry of Silly Walks. In case you missed seeing this on your television screens I'll try to explain what it's all about - but it is a little difficult. Michael Palin goes to see John Cleese who works at The Ministry of Silly Walks to try to get a grant so that he can develop his own silly walk. But John Cleese insists it isn't really silly enough and shows his special silly walk. But as he can tell Michael Palin is really interested he says that he'll run a film to show silly walks of the past. The cinema screen at the back of the stage suddenly shows the most crazy, outrageous walks you can imagine. These are all speeded up to create a very fast effect.

   The screen was used a lot during sketches and in between sketches while the small cast hurriedly changed themselves and the scenery.

   The whole audience were clearly devotees of this talented team, because on leaving and entering the beautiful old theatre they were imitating the cast.

   I think I should add that some parts of the show are just a little bit shocking and obviously on the stage the cast can get away with more than they can on the BBC. But all in all that was really a night to remember.

11th May 1974

   Trust good old Mirabelle to find a duplicate me! I was knocked out when they told me about Henry, the guy they found at my ex-Spider, Mick Ronson's Rainbow concert.

   When I used to do concerts around the country I always saw fans who tried hard to look like me, and as I've said before, I really consider it as some kind of compliment. I don't think I've ever seen anyone who looks so much like me as Henry does. Henry and I haven't met yet, but I really would like to meet him and chat about why he wants to look like me. Unlike many of the Bowie doubles that are roaming around, I think that Henry really has the basic Bowie look and what he's doing is just making the most of it. Both Angie and I get most flattered when we see fans who try to look like us.

   From what I hear, Henry and his girlfriend, Lesley, are quite friendly with Mick Ronson - and Mick had said that after a couple of drinks he could quite happily call him David. Henry takes it all as a tremendous compliment, I hear, and he gets a great kick out of looking like me.

   I suppose talking about Henry leads me on to the obvious questions about my looks. I know I wrote to you a few months back about how I cultivate the Bowie look and I explained to you all about my make-up (which I wear both on and off stage) and also my hair. Well, after all this time my look has become second nature to me now. Some guys get up in the morning and get dressed all smart for work. Well, my routine is just as important for me. I don't wear make-up every day, but I am finding that it's becoming more of a habit as time goes by.

   I've taken to wearing hats, too. You've probably seen photos of me in a big black Spanish-type hat recently. Well, that's my favourite one at the present time, and I wear it during the day and sometimes at night.

   Looks like I'm starting to run out of space now, so I'll love you and leave you for another week. Henry - just one quick message before I go... keep up the Bowie look... it suits you!

18th May 1974

   Hello again!

   Everything surrounding me has been in its usual state of turmoil and again it seems that I haven't had a lot of time to really get out and about socially as it were. Angie has once again gone back to the States, to finalise some projects that she has become very involved with. I hope to be able to tell you about these very soon now - but she has made me promise not to give away anything yet until she is quite ready.

   Before Angie went back to the States we did manage to get out to have a look at an exhibition of rock paintings by a very original Belgian artist called Guy Peellaert. These paintings are all studies of important rock/pop artistes who have made contributions to pop music over the last decade. They have already been published in a book called 'Rock Dreams' and are highly individual and colourful portrayals of the artistes. If you have not already seen this book then it is very difficult for me to explain to you just how beautiful and effective a lot of these drawings are. They certainly fired my imagination and include portraits of such stars as The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Marc Bolan, Elvis Presley, The Jackson Five, The Who, Rod Stewart - and yours truly, David Bowie!

   Angie and I had both seen the book and when we learned that the drawings were to be displayed at Biba's in London, we decided that we just had to get along and look at them. Biba's itself seemed to me an excellent place to show off the pictures as it also has an up-to-the-minute appearance combined with a lovely, nostalgic feel of the '30s. The building is enormous, and quite palatial, in fact it is really grand and the paintings had attracted an enormous crowd.

   Guy Peellaert was there himself to show people around.

   A lot of drawings were up for sale so, of course, Angie and I couldn't resist picking out some of our favourites and buying them.

   We got quite excited planning where we were going to hang our purchases when we got them home.

   Time seems to have run out for me again, so it's goodbye until next week.

25th May 1974

   Hello again,

   Well, it seems that quite a lot's been happening to me again just recently, and I think I'd better take this opportunity to sit down and let you in on the news a bit.

   Firstly, as some of you probably already know by now I've had to leave England for a while and come over here to the United States to concentrate on what really amounts to a lot of work. I'd been meaning to come over for some time, but was rather anxious to get a lot of my recordings finished first - as followers of this column will already know - before undertaking all the things that I have to do here. Before I mention any of those I must just explain to you that I'm going to find it slightly more difficult to keep you right up to date every week as I've got to send these columns over from where ever I am in the States, and I think that your Editor is a little worried that I might start confusing deadlines and things - never mind, have faith in your old friend Bowie I say.

   I expect by now you will have heard that I'm about to release a new album, and naturally I'm hoping that you're all going to enjoy it. While I'm over here I hope to have the time to mix some of the other material I was recording, and finalise plans to present some of the musical shows that I was telling you about a little while ago. One of the main reasons for my coming here, however, is to undertake some concert appearances throughout America. Having had the time free of stage work, to concentrate on recording and writing, I now feel really ready to make the occasional stage appearance when I'd like to. I haven't really done very much live work in America, so it's become a bit of a challenge to me, and that's what I really like. Naturally I'll be keeping you well informed from concert to concert, so if you care to make a regular date with me I'll let you know all the little things that happen to me while I'm here, and I guess just knowing that I'm still in regular contact with you is going to make me feel a lot less homesick.

   Anyway, I think it's time to close for now.

Created: July 1997 © Paul Kinder

Last Updated: 3/1/99