Letter 3

MAJOR NEWS IN BRIEF - *SCOOP* Bowie has written new material with Reeves Gabrels for the soundtrack of the forthcoming "Rugrats" film - Bowie has announced his major plans for online fans. MUSIC NEWS - A record company source has confirmed that Bowie and Reeves have written and recorded new material for the soundtrack of the forthcoming "Rugrats" film. This appeared as a rumour a few months ago (and it sounded to me too outlandish to be true), and my record company source confirms that it's true. Just goes to prove you never can tell what rumours are true and what one's aren't with Bowie. - Some recent Bowie-related releases: -- The soundtrack to "Whatever", which contains Bowie's "Janine" -- "SunMachine", the debut album by UK dance band Dario G, has two tracks with Bowie on vocals (and credited as a co-writer). The title track (slated to be the third single from the album in August) features a sample from "Memory Of A Free Festival", and the same song forms part of the basic of the album's final track ("End Of The Beginning") -- "Best Of Bowie 74/79" finally got a North American release (in Canada). It is identical to the earlier European release, except it contains a computer movie file announcing the Bowie.net plans. - The forthcoming live album features one new track, "Fun", which is a reworking of the Paradiso version of "Is It Any Wonder?" FILM NEWS - Bowie has completed shooting on "Il Mio West", the spaghetti Western featuring Harvey Keitel, Leonardo Pieraccioni and (as a bad cowboy) Bowie. Speculation on the set is that Bowie was paid $2 million for his role (not bad for three week's work). - Various fan sites are speculating on a rumour that Bowie will be in Vancouver for one week between July 14 and August 14 to film a children's feature film for The Family Channel. OTHER NEWS - Bowie has announced his major online plans at the prelaunch site for BowieNet, which completely replaces the existing www.davidbowie.com official site. From there: "Join David Bowie and experience the internet as you've never done before. BowieNet gives you an exclusive virtual backstage pass to David, the world of music, and full, uncensored access to the internet customized for the music fan. An all access pass to David Bowie and the internet - all for the price of regular internet access. BowieNet gives you: Full internet access customized for the Bowie fan davidbowie.com e-mail address (your.name@davidbowie.com) Local dial-in numbers throughout North America and soon throughout the World Highly rated live technical support provided by Concentric Networks when you need it Uncensored access to the entire internet, including email, newsgroups, and the web Exclusive Bowie content updated constantly Exclusive music content from the best online services Featured links recommended by David Internet browser customized exclusively for davidbowie.com users with Bowie images, sounds, and graphics Wide assortment of daily content, such as breaking news, sports, weather, financial information, and more... Exclusive access to Bowie products and materials: Unreleased audio tracks Never before seen video and photos Backstage footage B-sides and rarities Special access to new materials & recordings Desktop themes such as Bowie screensavers, wallpaper, and icons for your desktop Special access to David, his world, his friends, his fans Chats with David and guests Live video feeds Chat rooms and bulletin boards Plus special events such as: Live video cameras in the studio while David is recording Text, audio and video messages from David Webcasts of performances from David and other featured artists New artist area for bands, the arts, and literature All for the price of regular internet access! There will be two ways to join BowieNet: 1. Get full access to BowieNet, the world of music and the internet for only $19.95 per month (US and Canada). You will receive all the benefits of BowieNet PLUS get unsurpassed uncensored internet access with the most local dial-in numbers and great technical support from Concentric Networks, one of the top internet providers in the world. 2. Become a Premium Subscriber to Bowienet and receive access to all the content of davidbowie.com while remaining with your current internet provider. All the special events and members privileges are yours for just $5.95/month. You can get all of these features at BowieNet and nowhere else! As a special bonus for a limited time, join now and receive your first month free courtesy of BowieNet. This is a limited time offer, check back at www.davidbowie.com for upcoming details. In the meantime, sign up for updates and a chance to win some great prizes by entering the BowieNet prelaunch trivia contest!" Go check out www.davidbowie.com for the full details (and to give them your email address and enter the trivia competition). Paul Kinder is also taking email addresses at Paul.Kinder@virgin.net - Thanks to Cora who got confirmation from VH-1 that they are producing "Behind the Music" on Bowie. No premiere date has not been set yet. - The July edition of Record Collector has a two page feature on Bowie's online presence. In time-honoured online fashion, it was pretty much out of date by the time it hit the street, containing as it did no reference to Bowie's new online service. - The same edition of Record Collector reports on a list of the 200 most popular albums in the UK in the last 40 years. This isn't based on sales figures (which are not as reliably available in the UK as they are in the US, and which fluctuate with general economic conditions) but on chart performance. Bowie has two entries in the top 200, "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars" at #89, and "Aladdin Sane" at #128. No "Let's Dance" and no compilations. CHART NEWS Latest Chartwatch courtesy of Dara O'Kearney: UK CHARTS 1969/1974: 13, 20, 25, 34, 37, 45, 51, 52, 52, 69, 82, 80, 136, 193, out of top 200, 137, 116, 96, 108, 112, 122, 131, 114, 116, 115, 91, 95, 120, 134, 173, 170, 191, out 1974/1979: 39, 47, 81, 132, out (Internet voting chart): 45, 45, 45, 82, out 69/74 finally drops off the UK Top 200 this week after over seven months on the chart. 74/79 was released this week in Canada. 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 Canada (Soundscan): 100, 47, 15, 15, 13, 12, 18, 23, 38, 45, 50, out (alternative Top 50): 28, 12, 2, 2, 1, 1, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17, 21, 22, 21, 23, 24, 26 Australia: X, X, X, X, 13, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6 New Zealand: 25, 29, 16, 8, 3, 5, 2, 2 CDWorld: 17, 27, 2, 5, 5, 14, 27, out (Soundtrack chart): 7, 9, out Internet voting chart: 94, 91, 61, 65, 89, 71, 73, out This soundtrack continues to drop slowly on the US and Australian charts (it has already gone platinum in both countries). HEROES (Wallflowers): US: (Billboard Hot 100 airplay): 43, 33, 27 (Billboard Modern Rock airplay): 17, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10 (BillBoard Rock Album tracks): 14, 12, 8, 5, 5, 4 (Billboard Adult Top 40): 34, 32, 25 (FMQB Top 40): 21, 21, 22, 27 (MTV Top 20 Video countdown): 20, 17, 15, 14 (Alternative airplay): 13, 9, 8, 9 (Tunes rock airplay): 6, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2 (Tunes Active Rock airplay): 22, 21, 17, 18, 18, 19, 22 (Tunes alternative airplay): 16, 9, 10, 10, 9, 10, 9, 9 (Tunes Adult alternative airplay): 16, 13, 10, 8, 7, 4, 3, 3 (Tunes Adult Contemporary airplay): 29, 28, 23, 21, 20, 19, 17, 18 (Tunes Pop airplay): 26, 23, 21, 22, 23, 27 (Alternative Rock World Modern Rock airplay): 12, 9, 8, out of top 20 (ARC Top 40): 39, 35, 31, 26, 22, 18 (Rick Dees Top 40): 40, 33, 25, 23, 22 (Casey Kasem Top 40): 23, 21, 22, 23 (Gavin Top 40): 18, 20, 20, 20 (Gavin alternative): 10, 8, 7 Canada: (MuchMusic Countdown): 24, 21, 19, 16, 12, 11, 8 (Ottawa Bear Top 20): 15, 11, 8, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1 (Edge Top 30): 29, 26, 22, 17, 14 Japan: (Osakan Top 100): 88, 65, 41, 31, 33, 45, 40 UK (London FM96 Top 30): 30, 16, 14, 9, 5, 6 Turkey (Capital Radio Top 40): 33, 25, 21, 17, 16, 18, 20 Macedonia (Radio airplay chart): 16, 15, 15, out Isle of Man: 23, 24, 6, 3, 3, 6, 13, 15, 18 Austria( 88.6 airplay): 25, 24, 24, 19, 16 Portugal (Commercial Radio airplay): 8 Spain (Cadena Top 100): 38, 31 Latvia (Radio Top 20): 18, out Singapore (Power 98FM Top 20): 20 Australia: 61, 50, 41 This high profile cover version of a Bowie song for the Godzilla soundtrack continues to pick up good airplay in the US. In Japan, it is climbing again, so it may yet reach a new peak. In Australia where it has neen released to stores, it climbs nine on the sales chart to #41. OTHER SNIPPETS - Thanks to Edie for the most recent Soundscan data indicating how many copies of Earthling and Best Of 69/74 have been Soundscanned to date in the US. Earthling sold 605 copies last week (up from 557 the previous week) for a cumulative total to date of 191,675. So it looks like the album is slowly dribbling towards the 200,000 mark in the US (in fact, it probably has already sold over 200,000 in the US, as not all stores are covered by Soundscan). "Best Of 69/74", despite not making the Billboard Top 250 at any point, has managed to sell 33,881 copies in the US to date. Last week it sold 909, up from 703 the previous week. - In Germany in something called the Hessischer Rundfunk HR-3 International Hit Parade, "Under Pressure" is a new entry at #7. What makes it all the more bizarre is that the other 19 songs in the chart are all current singles. - According to Atlantic Satellite Marketing which publishes a Top 2500 worldwide airplay chart, "I Can't Read" was #2345 for the month of May. The Wallflower's "Heroes" is #185 in the same chart. - Continuing the recent trend of soundtracks with Bowie songs on them faring well, the "Godzilla" soundtrack is selling very well on the back of the success of "Heroes". Some key charts: US: 4, 2, 4, 4 Canada: 2, 3, 5, 5 (Alternative Top 50): 1, 1, 2, 2 Australia: X, X, 20, 10 New Zealand: 9, 9, 7 CD World (soundtrack chart): 1, 2 Internet Voting chart: 80, 75, 62 In Australia, it has gone gold. - Nirvana's "Unplugged" (which of course features their cover of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World") has been re-issued midprice in Ireland and the UK and this week makes the Irish chart at #29. - Puff Daddy's "Been Around The World" (on which Bowie is the first credited co-writer) is on some key charts: US MTV Top 20: 9, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 5, 5, out US Billboard Hot 100: X, X, X, X, X, X, X, X, 5, 5, 5, 5, 10, 14, 16, 23, 33, 35, 42, 46, out of top 50. Canada: X, X, X, X, X, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 2, 4, 6, 6, 8, 9, 7, 16, 13, 20, 26, 20, 24, 31, 26, 27 New Zealand: 16, 13, 17, 23, 29, 33, 39, 48, out, 49, 50, out - Bowie has no albums this week on the Tower Records Top 1000 weekly chart. Bowie entries in recent months: The Best Of Bowie 1969/1974: 960, out, 757, out, 986, 999, 1000, out ChangesBowie: 402, 487, 549, 587, 585, 742, 943, 858, out Earthling: 553, 580, 735, 780, 776, 875, 806, out The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars: 967, out The Singles Collection: 972, out Diamond Dogs: 915, 922, out There are also five soundtracks featuring Bowie contributions on the chart: Wedding Singer: 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 17, 19, 29, 58, 73, 72, 69, 73, 81 Great Expectations: 15, 21, 21, 21, 53, 96, 108, 120, 222, 245, 254, 246, 252, 276 Grosse Pointe Blanke: 281, 316, 339, 335, 325, 340, 418, 405, 490, 411, 423, 415, 424, 393 Trainspotting: 699, 758, 808, 804, 528, 706, 899, 874, 872, 797, 810, 799, 805, 914 Trainspotting #2: 889, 851, 902, 896, out, 837, out Godzilla: 3 - You can vote for Bowie on the Internet charts by going to http://www.worldcharts.com and filling out the voting form. Reinhold has also simplified the process at his Web page at http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Stage/9696/dbvotes.html. Alternatively, cut and paste the following: 5 David Bowie - Earthling [1471] 5 David Bowie - The Best Of 1974/1979 [2092] 5 Goldie - Saturnz Return [2005] 5 Various Artists - The Wedding Singer (Soundtrack) [2008] and email it to albums@worldcharts.nl You can also vote on the singles chart by cutting and pasting the following: 5 David Bowie - I'm Afraid Of Americans [2157] 5 David Bowie - I Can't Read [2257] 5 Iggy Pop - The Passenger [2422] 5 Various - Perfect Day [2225] and emailing it to singles@worldcharts.nl

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