Letter #15




Back after our longest absence yet. The absence was down to there being nothing major to report, but after a recent surge........ __________________________________________________________________ MAIN NEWS - Bowie and Gabrels announce details of EIDOS game - SonicNet report new "Hunky Dory" sounding album for release in September - Bowie to contribute to BBC Millenium concert? - Bowie single with Placebo coming soon? - Bowie designs Coppola magazine __________________________________________________________ MUSIC NEWS - Well, they laughed at ole Andy and said he was losing his marbles with his wild tales of Eidos games and soundtracks, but at a press conference in Los Angeles this week, Bowie and Reeves Gabrels finally announced their involvement in the forthcoming futuristic 3D action-adventure game from Eidos, "Omikron: The Nomad Soul". Bowie said that he and Gabrels approached the project like a film soundtrack. One of the songs written for "Omikron," called "New Angels of Promise," was previewed in a demonstration of the game (a RealAudio can be accessed from the free portion of BowieNet at http://www.davidbowie.com/freebowie/bowie/bowienews.html). Bowie said he wasn't sure whether he would release the game's songs on an album (Does this mean that old timers like myself are going to have to start hiring games whizkids just to hear the songs?;-)). The game concept is described in the press release as: "The player's soul is one day projected into this universe, in a body he does not know and for a reason he cannot fathom. From that point on, the player will have to talk, investigate, fight drive, shoot, ride and explore his way to the conclusion of the game: deliverance from this strange dimension." Bowie allowed his countenance to be rendered in the three dimensional computer game world and contributed his voice to the character. A band playing in various corners of the fantasy world includes 3D depictions of Bowie, Reeves Gabrels and Gail-Ann Dorsey. Iman is also included in the game - lending her visage and body for the character of Iman 1631, a "virtually reincarnatable" bodyguard. The game is scheduled for release in October. - At the same press conference, Bowie said that he and Reeves had written over 100 songs last year. SonicNet report that Bowie's next album is due in September, and that an inside source close described the material for the as-yet-untitled project as reminiscent of Bowie's 1971 album Hunky Dory, calling it "lush," "beautiful" and "song-driven." The expected first single will be a rocker called "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell," according to the source, who did not want to be named. The tune, written with Gabrels, also will be featured on the soundtrack to the forthcoming film "Stigmata." (This last part has been confirmed by the news page at BowieNet). - Bowie appeared as special guest of Placebo at their March 29 concert in New York. Together they performed T-Rex's "20th Century Boy" and Placebo's "Without You I'm Nothing". Further proof that the recent drought in new Bowie music output is about to give way to a glut came in an online chat where Bowie indicated he had been in the studio with Placebo, and the fruits of that session should be released soon. - The current issue of Uncut comes with a free CD that includes Bowie's "Can't Help Thinking About Me". Castle have just reissued "I Dig Everything - 1966" on CD in the UK with this track and five other early Bowie ones. __________________________________________ CONCERT NEWS - Teenage Wildlife reports from one its contributors that a (usually) reliable Austrian newspaper News Magazin published an article on the Gisborne 2000 millennium concert, and indicated that the remaining members of Queen together with George Michael will be among the "special guests" slated for the all night concert. If the UK's Heat magazine is correct, Bowie could be a busy boy as the millenium turns: "THE BIGGEST GIG OF THE MILLENNIUM: OFFICIAL BBC line up a supershow at Greenwich Maritime Museum. Some of the world's biggest artists are to perform their favourite songs from the past 70 years at a globally televised millennium concert, to be staged at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. David Bowie, Janet Jackson, Paul McCartney and Tina Turner are among artists believed to have been approached for the one-hour BBC1 show, As Time Goes By. Many of the world's biggest acts are already committed to play millennium gigs elsewhere, so they are now pre-recording songs for the Greenwich broadcast. David Bowie is apparently particularly keen to get involved, though he's playing a show in New Zealand on the actual night. A two-hour version of the show will be repeated within two weeks of the initial broadcast." __________________________________________ CHART NEWS - Dara has temporarily suspended his Chartwatch until the next major release. In the meantime, John reports that Bowie's appearance at the Brits stimulated a bit of UK chart activity for the compilations. The Best Of 1969/1974 reappeared on the UK Top 200 for 5 weeks (140, 130, 134, 135, 190) and The Singles Collection had one week at 147. - "I'm Afraid Of Americans", which was eventually released as a single in Japan, flopped there, failing to make any impression on the charts. __________________________________________ MOVIE NEWS - Sky TV Digital (pay per view UK TV) are currently running a trailer/commercial campaign for the screening of EVERYBODY LOVES SUNSHINE for transmission next month (June). __________________________________________ BOWIENET NEWS - The recording of the "What's Really Happening" song will be webcast live on BowieNet on May 24, when the winner of the Internet songwriting contest will join Bowie in the studio. - Forthcoming chats: Melissa Auf der Maur: Wednesday, May 19th at 2:00pm E.S.T. 7:00pm G.M.T. Roger O'Donnell: Friday, May 21st at 6:00pm E.S.T. 11:00pm G.M.T. __________________________________________ OTHER NEWS - Teenage Wildlife reports that Dr. Bowie regaled Berklee graduates at Saturday's commencement speech with amusing episodes from his life story, ranging from his lavatory options in the early Ziggy Stardust days to his long friendship with John Lennon. A few hardcore Bowie fans were in attendance (including one who flew in from England just for the graduation), and managed to get autographs and pictures. Teenage Wildlife has some pictures and RealVideo from the event, which included a tribute concert to Bowie by students. - Zoetrope: All Story, a magazine founded by Francis Ford Coppola has enlisted the help of Bowie for their latest summer issue (Vol. 3, #2), due in all good bookstores from May 1. The magazine concentrates on short stories, and features a "guest designer" for each issue (Bowie on this occasion). - Shawn Mullins' single release of Shimmer in Australia also includes his cover of Changes on the B-side. - On a recent episode of the US sitcom Friends last week, Chandler was shown on videotape giving a rousing rendition of Space Oddity. - The 1999 readers poll to find the 'Top 500 Collectable Artists' conducted by RECORD COLLECTOR magazine sees the following top ten results: 1. The Beatles (1) 2. The Rolling Stones (2) 3. Queen (4) 4. Elvis Presley (3) 5. Pink Floyd (5) 6. Bob Dylan (8) 7. DAVID BOWIE (6) 8. John Lennon (15) 9. The Who (10) 10. Led Zeppelin (9) Figures in brackets denote last year's placings. - THE 1999 UK DAVID BOWIE CONVENTIONBOWICON99 The 1999 UK David Bowie Convention, a two-day Bowiefest is planned for Saturday and Sunday 21st / 22nd August 1999. Attractions include the screening of never before seen Ziggy Stardust footage from Aylesbury and Dunstable 1972, rare audio material, videos, live bands, Bowie disco, auction, trading stalls, special guests and lots lots more. More information at www.bowiewonderworld.com - Other forthcoming Bowie TV and radio: May 16, 10:10, Buddha of Suburbia, Arena, UK May 19, 24:00, Basquiat, Showtime 2, USA May 23, 10:20, Buddha of Suburbia, Arena, UK May 24, 00:00, The Hunger, Showcase Network, USA May 27, 18:00, The Linguini Incident, TNT, Brazil __________________________________________ END CREDITS - Still Bowie central for the online fan and proving that fan sites can and do beat official sites (even pay-per-view ones), Teenage Wildlife is at http://www.teenagewildlife.com/). Another great fan site has a new look - check out Bassman's at http://www.algonet.se/~bassman/BOWIE.html. - 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. The Bowie_News Web-site is http://come.to/bowienews, so if you want to read old editions of the newsletter, or leave an abusive note on the guestbook, get yourself along there. The main Aladdin Sane website is at http://welcome.to/aladdinsane. If you like your newsletters a lot more frequent and detailed than this one, Bonnie Powell runs just the Bowie newsletter for you. It is usually weekly and cover, in her own words "things only a fan would want to know". Send her a mail at Dbfan@aol.com if you want in. - If you're looking for an easy and effortless way to raise the $20 a month for Bowienet (or you just want some extra cash for no work), check out the new Web company that pays you to browse rather than the other way round at http://www.alladvantage.com/go.asp?refid=BMX577 Love on ya, Andy


Back to latest News
Back to old news
Back Home