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January 30:
EMD, taking over the distribution from Rykodisc in the U.S. has been sending out flyers to announce the upcoming release of the following four albums (Pin Ups,
Diamond Dogs,
Young Americans,
David Live) on February 24. They are listed as "Price Busters", although
CD Universe lists them at the same price as the existing Rykodisc releases. These releases have the same bonus tracks as those on Rykodisc.
As an indicator of the popularity of Bowie's back catalogue, sales figures for Bowie in the UK indicate he sold 240,000 albums there last year. Earthling sold around 80,000, Best of David Bowie 1969-74 90,000 and the rest of the back catalogue around 70,000.
Information from Brit, Bonster, Dara and John Sellars
January 30:
Following up on the Golden Years story, Olivier writes that in the December Alternative Press, Marilyn Manson was quoted as saying that his 1998 album was going to be a cross between The Beatles' White Album and Bowie's
Diamond Dogs/
Young Americans.
After some fancy web-surfing and quick cut and paste,
Aki sent in this separated at birth picture.
Information from Olivier and Aki
January 29:
Readers from Iceland and Italy wrote to say that they had received their art promptly, so it appears to just be a delay in getting drafts cleared that has held up delivery in North America. You may want to email to double check though.
In other news, there will be an Italian Bowie convention held in Bologna, Italy on February 22. The event will start at 2:30 p.m. For more information email g.magri@bo.nettuno.it or stefnarfe@onent.it.
January 29:
Philippe Auliac, a French journalist and film director has graciously provided Teenage Wildlife with selections from his Bowie collection of over 5,000 pictures taken since 1976. Philippe plans to send more pictures over time, so keep coming back to see the selection.
January 28:
My plea for email from people who had received their artwork from bowieart.com was answered by a couple of readers in the UK
who have received the artwork they ordered. Another reader from Canada reported that there had been some trouble with his bank draft clearing,
and he had still not received the piece he ordered around New Year's. If you're from outside the UK, and
have received your order, please let me know.
Information from Martyn, Celine and Charles
January 28:
According to a report in the LA Times, Marilyn Manson is set to perform a cover
of Golden Years as part of a soundtrack to an upcoming
film called Dead Man On Campus
which is set for release sometime in 1998. This film is being produced by
MTV's film division, and will likely be heavily promoted
with MTV airplay. Other artists included on the soundtrack are Blur, Supergrass, Eels and the Chemical Brothers.
Information from Bonster and LA Times
January 27:
A few people have reported billing problems when buying art from Bowie's new
art site, www.bowieart.com.
One person was billed for the cost of a signed piece, when they had ordered an unsigned piece,
and it appears that the unsigned works have now disappeared from the site.
So far, nobody (in the US, at least) seems to have received the work which they have ordered. If you have received your order from www.bowieart.com, please contact me.
January 26:
Here is the news:
Information from Dara, Helen and Brent
January 25:
Two new stores have sprung up online offering Bowie collectibles for sale.
Information from Dave Priest, John & Matt
January 23:
In a strange twist which unites two recent news items,
WBCN in Boston
has just announced that Bowie will be one of the guests at Howard Stern's
birthday part in New York next Thursday, January 29. Also scheduled to appear
are Fiona Apple and Van Halen. WBCN is reporting that you can win tickets via the station
this coming weekend, but apart from that, there is no word on whether tickets
will be generally available. More information as it comes to hand.
January 22:
In addition to the previously mentioned EMI reissues in the UK/Ireland, EMI is also reissuing the first
Tin Machine album. No word on whether these reissues feature any changes in the packaging/mastering process...
For Italian Bowie fans, a Bowie convention is on the cards to be held in Bologna
on February 22. In addition, Daniele of Planet Rock invites all
Italian fans who wish to be listed in a cyberfan group, to visit the
Planet Rock website where you will find more information...
According to a Bjork web site, Bowie will be contributing to a project called
Man On The Moon, which will feature favourite stories of musicians (Ed: Hmmm... another Peter and the Wolf)...
Further information on the live album indicates that this will likely be released within the next 3 months (probably in April)....
A Sundance press release describes the film
Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart which premiered at Sundance this past week, and includes a look at Bowie and Reed's relationship.
Information from Doug, Stefano, Dara and Bonster
January 21:
Ground fresh from the rumour mill is news that the next Bowie album
is "likely" to be a live version featuring tracks from the recent
Earthling tour.
Given that Bowie has repeatedly said this band is one of his best, it would
stand to reason that a live album would make sense.
Incidentally, when a vote was held on this last year, a live album was the
second most popular choice for the next release (trailing a follow-on album to Outside).
January 20:
Seven of Bowie's old albums are being reissued as mid-price CDs in the UK and Ireland by EMI. The seven which were reissued yesterday
are Pin Ups,
David Live,
Diamond Dogs,
Young Americans,
Let's Dance,
Tonight and Never Let Me Down...
Bowie and Mick Rock are currently talking about doing a book solely with pictures from the
Ziggy Stardust era...
Word from a New York real-estate agent is that Bowie and Iman were going loft-hunting
in the East Village last week; but the more interesting news is that the source says Iman is pregnant... this could just be yet another
in the long line of new baby rumours, so don't start knitting baby clothes just yet...
Muzic.com reports on a couple of Bowie rumours; one, that Bowie and Iggy Pop
will record a new song together, and secondly, that Bowie is trying to stage a concert in Tibet this year, and still has his plans
to spend New Year's Eve 1999 in New Zealand (one of the first countries in the world to see 2000).
The deluxe version of Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopaedia has
a section on Bowie, including two WWW links. One link is to
the the official site,
and the other one to Teenage Wildlife.
Information from Dara, Mike, Dean Genie, Helen, Kristi
January 19:
Recent callers to Isolar (Bowie's management company) report that Isolar has been denying any knowledge of a concert
at the end of January. Unless something is announced in the next week, it looks like this will turn out to be a
false rumour.
However, Cybersleaze (an online gossip page) is
reporting that Bowie will stage a
summer concert in Madison Square Garden, with proceeds going to Save The Children charity .
Information from Helen and Dara
January 14:
NME confirms what has been rumoured for a couple of months:
that Bowie has forbidden any use of his songs in the upcoming film
Velvet Goldmine which portrays
a rock star during the glam rock period of the early 70's. The report states that a spokesperson for Bowie
denied that the ban was due to Bowie being upset at the portrayal of the 70's rock lifestyle (supposedly heavily
based on Bowie's own life), but instead was due to "business decisions"
.
Information from Brian, Helen and Steve
January 14:
The Times (London) has an
article and interview
with Bowie about how he sees and uses the Internet.
Included are hints about the future of the
www.bowieart.com site (e.g. newsletters, downloadable freebies, interactive art games),
and Bowie's own use of the Internet while on tour (he uses an Apple Powerbook and "mostly sticks to
site that relate to what the band and I are doing"
Ed: hmmmm... could that be Teenage Wildlife?).
Note: You need to be a registered user (which is free) to
access the Times web-site.
January 14:
Famed rock photographer, Mick Rock has launched an official
web site, at appropriately enough
www.mickrock.com. Plans are for the site to show some of
Rock's most famous images, sell some of his work (for example, his difficult to obtain "Mick Rock: A Photographic Record"
book imported from England), as well as including unseen outtakes and stories about some of his favourite
shoots.
Information from Patricia Quinn
January 13:
The BRIT Awards (British Music Awards) have selected Bowie as a nominee
in the Best British Video category for 1998. Competition is strong with nine other nominees in that
category. (Ed: You can see the other nominees by visiting the
BRIT Awards website, and clicking on
"All the nominees" at the top right hand side of the screen).
January 12:
You either love him or you hate him, but one thing you can't deny is his
popularity... so it comes as good news for Bowie-watchers that
Howard Stern chose
I'm Afraid Of Americans as his favourite song of
1997 on his radio show this morning.
In addition, the single moved up to #12 on Billboard's
"dance maxi-singles" chart.
Information from Bradley (via Dara)
January 10:
Lori sent in a scan of the recent picture which appeared in Rolling Stone
of Bowie at the LA KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show on
December 6 last year.
The next night, in San Francisco, Bowie
had shaved off all but a front tuft.
January 10:
As well as Bowie's vocal appearance on Goldie's new album,
Saturnz Return, Cybersleaze is running a story that they will star
together in a new movie called Everybody Loves Sunshine.
According to the gossip,
they will portray bisexual gangsters, and the script calls for the two musicians to portray an
"sexually charged" office encounter.
Information from Gilly and Kristi
January 10:
Ton sent in the latest issue of The Voyeur, the
Dutch fanzine which is published four times per year.
Information from Ton van der Horst
January 8:
After collating all results for 1997, the
Internet World Charts site has
Dead Man Walking as #35 on its list of the most popular singles
for the year, even though it only reached as high as #8 in its best week.
The single spent a total of 35 weeks on the chart.
I'm Afraid Of Americans and
I Can't Read are the two singles currently on the
chart; you can vote for them here!
Information from Jim and Helen2
January 6:
The 40th annual Grammy Awards nominations list released this morning lists Bowie in
two categories:
January 5:
Email from a usually reliable source informs me that Bowie is planning on staging a one-off concert in
New York at the end of January (either the 29th or 30th). More information as it comes to hand...
January 4:
Respected online music magazine Addicted To Noise is running an end-of-year reader's poll.
They have a number of categories, including Best Artist, Best Album, Best Video. You can vote here.
January 4:
Bowie continues to receive accolades from the press in year-end roundups: The NY Post and NY Daily News list Bowie in their Best of '97 concerts, and The Daily News lists
Earthling as his #7 album of the year... Perfect Day has returned to #1 in the UK charts, displacing the latest Spice Girls number... Rumours on an AOL Tolkien list speculate that a film of
Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings will be made; what's the Bowie link? The rumour-mongers say that Bowie will act as Elrond (Ed: the veracity of this rumour is highly questionable)...
Velvet Goldmine, the in-production film based on the glam-rock scene of the early 70's (and featuring a character supposedly based on Bowie), is currently in production and is on track for release
in 1998. Ewan McGregor is slated to play the Bowiesque character...
The December 97 Record Collector shows the original PYE ad for
Can't Help Thinking About Me
from the front cover of NME, 1966...
Tony Martin gleaned this tidbit from his uncle in the UK, "Lenny the Lion was a famous glove puppet who used to appear on TV and in
theatres in the sixties. So famous was he that the Beatles worked as his
support act in 1962. His fan club used to be run by a small boy called David Jones who grew up
and changed his name to David Bowie.". If you can verify, please send email.
Information from Bonster, Dara, David Phipps, dag, Tony Martin
January 2:
With the pre Xmas fire sale promotions kicking in, I'm Afraid of Americans moved to
#18 on the Billboard "dance maxi-singles" chart in the coming week (Ed: Given the fecundity of Billboard charts, I wouldn't be surprised if
there's a chart for best selling singles by 50 year Englishmen with paralysed pupils)
Information from Bonster
