Letter #12

MUSIC NEWS - The Serious Moonlight tour video will be released by Pioneer in the US. It will have a suggested list price of just $24.98, and is due for release on March 2, 1999. David Bowie: Serious Moonlight 1983 · Not rated Concert/Pop/Rock · Release Date: 3/2/99 · SRP: 24.98 · UPC #0-13023-01549-4 David Bowie: Serious Moonlight was taped during the 1983 tour which shattered box office records in every city and includes such hits as 'Let's Dance', 'China Girl', 'Heroes', 'Rebel Rebel', 'Young Americans', 'Space Oddity', 'Golden Years' and others. __________________________________________ CONCERT NEWS - Evan at Teenage Wildlife (courtesy of information supplied by Aaron) reports that a front page article in New Zealand's Sunday Star Times reports David Bowie has been asked to appear at a special millennium concert on December 31, 1999 in Gisborne, New Zealand. Gisborne is the first city in the world to greet the new millennium, being the eastern-most city in New Zealand. The newspaper report claims that an official announcement will be forthcoming in the next few days (by December 31). The same article also reports that New Zealand's rock group Split Enz will reform for the one-off concert, and that media personality Larry King has confirmed that he will host the celebrations live from Gisborne as the next millennium is ushered in. More on this breaking news as it develops... (Ed: Note that Bowie has said in a recent interview that he is not planning anything special for New Year's Eve, 1999. However, this rumour of Bowie giving a concert in New Zealand for the new millennium has also been around for well over a year. Side-note: Evan's great-great-grandparents emigrated from England in the 1870s to pursue their insatiable (some would say unhealthy) interest in sheep and made their first settlement in Gisborne, New Zealand.) So far, Bowienet has declined to comment on this. This may indicate that the idea is being at least considered - in the past, Bowie has been fast to use Bowienet to dismiss rumours appearing at the fan sites that had no substance. __________________________________________ CHART NEWS (Dara's ChartWatch) PEACE ON EARTH/LITTLE DRUMMER BOY (with Bing Crosby) Canada: 46, 19, 9, 8, 8 Latvia Radio SWH Top 40: 30 This perennial favourite was a Top 50 hit single in Canada for the third consecutive year, climbing even higher on this occasion than previously. This week, it spends its third week in the Canadian Top 10 at #8. The duet also showed up on a Latvian airplay chart, and as the B-side to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" single, which made #27 in the UK when reissued for Christmas this year. It is also included on a top 3 Christmas album in the UK. WEDDING SINGER SOUNDTRACK (featuring China Girl) US (Billboard): 90, 26, 9, 5, 9, 7, 11, 11, 19, 20, 25, 35, 52, 60, 70, 78, 65, 83, 86, 98, 103, 130, 127, 141, 151, 126, 72, 39, 36, 45, 50, 54, 62, 60, 73, 86, 89, 98, 106, 121, 125, 135, 114, 98, 104, 102, 99 Canada (Soundscan): 100, 47, 15, 15, 13, 12, 18, 23, 38, 45, 50, out, 147, 148, 53, 36, 34, 32, 31, 28, 27, 22, 22, 25, 27, 27, 35, 43, 60, 63, 75, out (alternative Top 50): 28, 12, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21, 22, 21, 23, 24, 26, 25, 33, 35, 35, 40, 38, 14, 10, 11, 11, 8, 9, 9, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 10, 17, 16, 15, 18, 15, 15, 14 Australia: X, X, X, X, 13, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 10, 7, 8, 10, 15, 19, 24, 23, 26, 38, 50, 49, 51, out, 70, 69, out for several weeks, 89, 52, 54, 48, 56 New Zealand: 25, 29, 16, 8, 3, 5, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 10, 10, 10, 10, 12, 19, 20, 24, 33, 45, 45, out, 39, out UK (Compilations chart): X, 15, 18, 18, 23, 22, 24, 23, 35, 50, out Ireland: 12, 5, 6, 9, 8, 11, 17, 18, 21, 29, out CDWorld: 17, 27, 2, 5, 5, 14, 27, out, 18, out (Soundtrack chart): 7, 9, out, 9, out, 9, 10, 10, 4, 7, 5, out, 9, out Compact Disc Connection (Soundtrack chart): 6 Internet voting chart: 94, 91, 61, 65, 89, 71, 73, out This soundtrack remains on the charts in the US and Australia where it went double platinum. It's also a long-term fixture on the Canadian alternative chart. GODZILLA Soundtrack (featuring Wallflowers "Heroes") US: 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 33, 38, 53, 69, 78, 87, 97, 113, 128, 160, 201, 232, out, 233, 170, 191, 208, 244, 249, out Canada (Top 75): 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 5, 9, 10, 12, 12, 16, 21, 27, 36, 50, 58, 69, out (Alternative Top 50): 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 19, 20, 24, 22, 22, 20, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24 This soundtrack has now left the charts in US and all other countries, and remains only on the Canadian alternative chart. OTHER SNIPPETS - "Best Of 74/79" has been certified silver in the UK (over 60,000 albums sold). - "I'm Afraid Of Americans" continues its remarkable tenure on the Canadian Top 200. This week, after over 60 weeks on the chart, the single climbs 14 to #127. - Another soundtrack featuring a Bowie cover, "The Faculty" (which includes Shawn Mullins' version of Changes), has failed to make the national charts anywhere to date. - So far the only charts where Red Hot And Rhapsody (containing the Bowie/Badamalenti collaboration) seems to have shown up are Music Boulevard's Online chart (one week at #84) and the Tower Records Top 1000, where it has so far gone 209, ?, 352, 384, 401, 515. Best Of 69/74 has enjoyed a resurgence on Tower Records Top 1000 over the seasonal period: Best Of 69/74: 167, 288, 438, 449, 587, 554, 730, 318, 351, 291 There are also three soundtracks featuring Bowie contributions on the chart. Recent Bowie-related soundtrack performances: Wedding Singer: 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 17, 19, 29, 58, 73, 72, 69, 73, 81, 159, 134, 137, 222, 214, 79, 38, 41, 53, 85, 99, 108, 118, 142, 199, 197, 158 Godzilla: 3, 12, 16, 16, 27, 27, 130, 124, 206, 208, 199, 262, 583, 616, 646, 677, 513, 734, 948, 672 The Faculty: 179 __________________________________________ MOVIE NEWS - "Il Mio West" has been released to mixed reviews and over 400 cinemas in Italy, and entered the Italian box office charts at #2. An English-language release is expected in early 19999. - Still no word of a release date for "Everybody Loves Sunshine", but you can read the first online review of this film which stars Bowie and Goldie (if you understand German, that is) at http://www.queer-view.com/01000er/1010everyblovessunshine/deutsch1010.htm __________________________________________ ART NEWS - Matthew Collings' follow up to 'Blimey', called 'IT HURTS' covers Warhol to Barney. It is the third publication from Bowie's 21 publishing house, the other being William Boyd's now-notorious 'Nat Tate.' 'IT HURTS' will be published in the USA in the Spring of 1999, but can currently be ordered through http://www.bowieart.com/. - The Winter issue of Modern Painters has a cover interview conducted by David Bowie with painter and film maker Julian Schnabel. If your bookshop doesn't have it, you can order it through http://www.bowieart.com/. __________________________________________ OTHER NEWS - The contest winners of the BowieNet song contest (lyrics for What's Really Happening) will be announced January 15th, according to BowieNet. - December 16 saw the launch of BowieNet UK. Now members in the UK can get their own @davidbowie.co.uk email address, full access to BowieNet and an ISP for Ł10 (+ VAT) per month. BowieNet's ISP partner in the UK is Global Internet who hold the honour of being named "best ISP on the planet" by the UK's Internet Magazine. In all other aspects, the service remains the same as the US version. For more information, contact BowieNet in the UK at sales@davidbowie.co.uk or call (0870) 909 8400. The www.davidbowie.com home page has had a change in design to reflect the arrival of BowieNet UK. BowieNet is expected to launch in other locations in the first half of 1999. - Mick Rock and Tony Visconti were the most recent celebrity guests on Bowienet chat (and Bowie dropped in during it). Some interesting points raised include: -- Tony Visconti on "Velvet Goldmine" "I think VG was grossly inaccurate about those times, I think it was unfair to borrow from Bowie's life and distort it so much, and create the illusion that it was Bowie, and not some fictional character. Basically, I thought it was a gay porn film disguised as a musical." -- Tony confirmed the existence of yet more unreleased out-takes: "There are several unreleased outtakes that I know of. I think David and I should sit down and compare notes about this." -- Bowie said that Freddie Mercury had asked him to produce Queen's first album, and that he and Mick Rock were working on something to do with Ziggy for 2002. Mick Rock indicated that this would include stuff like unreleased Ziggy footage from the Santa Monica concert, to coincide with a major new push for Ziggy in 2002. -- Tony confirmed that he will be working on a project in the very near future with Bowie: "We will be working on a project in the very near future. I will leave it up to David to tell you what the nature of that project is." Note that while these chats are only open to BowieNet subscribers, you can read transcripts after the event at Teenage Wildlife (and other fan sites). The Rock/Visconti chat is at http://www.teenagewildlife.com/Notes/appearances/online/1998/1217/glamchat.html - Upcoming BowieNet chatters include Boyzone singer Ronan Keating, Placebo's Brian Molko, Iman (on Jan. 8th - Bowie's 52nd Birthday), Frank Black (with Reeves Gabrels) and Eddie Izzard. - The Brazilian Fan Club Outside are planning their first annual meeting in Rio de Janeiro, January 15th and 17th, 1999. Events include a tour of Rio, parties and a studio session where fans will form a tribute band and play Bowie tunes till dawn. Full schedule and detailed information available via e-mail (bowie@dglnet.com.br). - Teenage Wildlife reports that as promised when they celebrated Ziggy's 25th anniversary earlier this year at the Institute for Contemporary Arts, the Ziggy and the Spiders from Mars lookalike band is set to perform four shows on the European continent. -- Thursday 14th.January '99 DEN ATELIER, Luxembourg Friday 15th. January '99 ELYSEE MONTMARTRE.Paris, France e-mail: k.rin@elyseemontmartre.com www.elyseemontmartre.com tel: +0033 1 44 9245455 **Tickets / F.N.A.C. -- Saturday 16th.January '99 VK THEATRE, Brussels, Belgium tel: +0032 2. 4142907 fax: +0032 2. 4105752 **Tickets / F.N.A.C. -- Sunday 17th.January '99 MELKWEG, Amsterdam, Holland e-mail: jacqueline@melkweg.nl www.melkweg.nl tel: +0031 20.6241777 fax: +0031.20 6201209 **Tickets / venue & usual outlets Endorsed by Mick Ronson's family, by Bowie, and using as many of the original backroom crew and cast of characters as possible. - Best Of 69/74 and 74/79 music books have been released in the Europe. These are available at HMV, Virgin Megastores, Tower Records and Books, Dillons, Waterstones, and other fine music and book shops. - Bowie's "Fame" is used in a new movie trailer for the upcoming Ron Howard movie "edTV". The new comedy stars Matthew McConnaughey, a video store clerk who aquires fame when he becomes the subject of a TV documentary broadcasting his every move. - In a new listing of the top 100 rock/pop "Must have albums of all time", 3 Bowie Albums made the list: Low, Rise and Fall, and Hunky Dory. The listing was put together by Alternative Melbourne online. __________________________________________ END CREDITS - To unsubscribe at any time, send an Unsubscribe message (or alternatively, "Your newsletter is a steaming pile of horse shit") to bowie_news@hotmail.com. If you want to read old editions of the newsletter, or leave an abusive note on the guestbook, get yourself along to http://www.angelfire.com/al/bowienews/. The main Aladdin Sane website is at http://welcome.to/aladdinsane. Bonnie Powell runs the other more frequent Bowie newsletter (usually weekly) covering, in her own words "things only a fan would want to know". Send her a mail at Dbfan@aol.com if you want in. - The two biggest Bowie fan sites on the Web are Evan Torrie's Teenage Wildlife (http://www.etete.com/Bowie/) and Bassman's site (http://www.algonet.se/~bassman/BOWIE.html). Evan's site has a new section, the Fan Registry. As an added incentive to register, the Teenage Wildlife CD giveaway has changed to be once per month (instead of every two months), but is restricted to those who have their profiles visible in the fan registry (rather than anyone who has ever entered a survey). Go along and register to become a part of the biggest Bowie online community. - The best site for serious critical analysis of all things Bowie is Repetition at http://www.oocities.org/SoHo/Cafe/4723/main.html. Regular columns, critical albums reviews and a wealth of intelligent essays.

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