Letter #6

MUSIC NEWS 

- *SCOOP* A record company source has confirmed that Bowie is working
with Tony Visconti again. Bowie's contribution to the Rugrats
soundtrack will be the first recorded collaboration between the two
men since 1981's "Baal" EP. For newer fans who may not be aware of who
Visconti is, he is the legendary producer who produced "The Man Who
Sold The World", "Young Americans", "Low", "Heroes", "Lodger" and
"Scary Monsters", as well as many other classic albums (T-Rex, Thin
Lizzy, Stranglers). Old fans with long memories may remember the two
quarreled in the 80s, and didn't speak to each other for 15 years,
until Bowie reportedly phoned Visconti last year and effected a
reconciliation.

There are no indications yet whether this will just be the start of
the next phase in one of rock's most productive and innovative
collaborations, but if Bowie is serious about doing "Ziggy The Movie"
complete with soundtrack album of new material, Visconti could be just
the man to produce it.

- The Dario G album featuring Bowie on vocals on two tracks,
"Sunmachine", was released in the US on July 14.

- "The Best Of Bowie 69/74" and "Best Of Bowie 74/79" will be released
in the US on August 25. Both these are now available for pre-order at
the Teenage Wildlife store at
http://www.etete.com/Bowie/Store/Musicstore.html

- The U.S. sitcom "Aliens" soundtrack album, with contributions from
David Bowie and Germany's No. 1 punk rock band DIE TOTEN HOSEN, will
be released later this year. No word on what the Bowie track is.


MOVIE NEWS

- Various North American media sources such as the Vancouver Province
and MTV News have given some details of the kid's film Bowie is
currently filming in Vancouver called "Exhuming Mr. Rice":
-- The film opens with the funeral of Mr. Rice (Bowie), a mysterious
old man who had been very close to Owen Walters, his cancer-stricken
neighbor (played by 14-year-old Bill Switzer). Mr. Rice leaves young
Owen the fixings of a scavenger hunt that will eventually lead to a
potion that will extend his life. As it turns out, Mr. Rice had lived
for 400-years by using such potions. 
-- The film has a $3.2 million budget
-- Bowie was accepted for the role without any audition 
-- Apart from Bowie, all the cast are Canadian 

I bet this is the first ever kid's film with the word "Exhuming" in
the title ;-)

- "The Man Who Fell To Earth" is being made available again in the USA
with the upcoming NTSC VHS release of a wide-screen edition expected
August 25. In addition, Amazon.com is listing a DVD version expected
October 6, although no details on whether it will include different
angles or extra footage as is customary on DVD discs. Both are
available for pre-order now. The widescreen version was already
released in Europe a couple of months ago.


OTHER NEWS 

- The second annual Philadelphia Fringe Festival is planning an
"Evening of David Bowie Music" for September 16 from 9 p.m. to
midnight. Dance to, listen to and discuss the music of David Bowie at
Jake & Olivers, 22 South 3rd street, Philadelphia. For more
information, contact Joshua at GasHeart@aol.com. Cover charge is $7
per person.

Apart from the Bowie music night, the fringe festival has other
interesting events planned, including a production "The Gas Heart",
the first surreal play, written in 1920, by Tristan Tzara, co-founder
of Dadaism (Bowie would approve!), directed by Joshua, a Dr. Seuss
marathon, a Teletubbies marathon, an evening of Eno music, a Robert
Fripp evening, and some jam sessions.

- Dotmusic (http://www.dotmusic.com), the online site for UK trade mag
Music Week has a weekly poll for the Top 100 Albums Of All Time.

Currently there are 7 Bowie albums on the chart (more than for any
other act):

Ziggy 21 (same as last week)
Low 40 (same as last week)
Hunky Dory 48 (same as last week)
Station To Station 52 (same as last week)
Diamond Dogs 68 (down 2)
Young Americans 85 (up 2)
Earthling 90 (up 4)

Go to http://www.dotmusic.com/premier/others/index.shtml if you want
to vote.

- The Nitsch controversy rolls on. Latest word is that former sex
kitten and now extreme Right National Front supporter Brigitte Bardot
has jumped on the anti-Nitsch bandwagon, Yoko One has released a
statement saying she has no intention of attending the 6-day play, and
Nitsch himself says that neither Ono or Bowie are expected to attend.

- A couple of news items in the past week report that the domain name
bowienet.com is currently owned by a Mr Bill Bowie who runs a harness
horse racing page. Bill reports that he has not been approached about
the possible purchase of bowienet.com, but he 
would be willing to entertain offers from the more famous Bowie. Evan
Torrie points out 
that domain names are a valuable commodity. Compaq has reportedly
offered $3.3 million dollars to the owner of the www.altavista.com
domain name for the Altavista search engine. The Bowie camp does own
the www.bowienet.net domain, but confusion between bowienet.net and
bowienet.com is likely. As Evan also points out, there is also a large
brand-name awareness of www.davidbowie.com having been printed on CDs
and promotional 
material for a while now, so it would not make a lot of sense to
change the domain name. 

- Some upcoming Bowie TV events to watch out for:

August 4, 13:00 EDT, Flashback, Cher Show, VH1, USA
August 10, 22:00, Greatest Hits - David Bowie, VH1, UK
August 20, 20:40 EDT, Labyrinth, Disney Channel, USA
August 30, 22:00, Basquiat, Sky Movies 1, UK

- Some recent Bowie media.
The latest Raygun has a piece by Bowie written in cut-up style on the
French designer Philippe Starck. There's also a piece on Bowie by
Trent Reznor. Entertainment Weekly, People Magazine and Allure all had
tiny pieces on Bowie in the past couple of weeks. Allure's back page
tidbit asked Bowie his about his most painful beauty experience which
Bowie related as his "Yakuza tattoo" on the back of his calf. Finally
the most recent UK Sunday Times had an article on the Ziggy revival
which had no new Bowie quotes to report, but did interview Mike Harvey
of The Ziggy Stardust Companion
(http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mbh/). 

- Paul Kinder is speculating that Bowie is the basis of an interactive
video game character, "Hawk Manson". Check out
http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.kinder/news.htm for more details,
linking Bowie's recent visit to EIDos to this. My information
indicates that Bowie and Reeves Gabrels have been asked to write music
for the soundtrack of an EIDos game, and this was the reason for the
meeting.

- This edition's amusing Bowie anecdote:
Bowie was spotted in a number of airports and airplanes over the
weekend as he made a trip across the US to Vancouver from Bermuda. The
funniest story came from a correspondent's coworker who was stopped
over in the Bermuda airport for several hours: 
"During her wait, she noticed a guy sitting directly opposite from
her. Several "young girls" (as she describes them - she's a very
youthful 50 years old herself) approached this guy and were quite
excited to meet him. She stared at this guy for several minutes before
recognizing him as David Bowie. 

He was entirely alone - no visible bodyguard or security, no
companions, no Iman. He was wearing Timberland-style shoes, a full
(yet very closely trimmed) beard (no goatee), chinos, and a light
sweater. 

There was another guy sitting right near them. He was a bit older and
didn't appear to know who Bowie was. After a couple of hours, he gets
up and says, "I'd love to get a cup of coffee but I'm alone and I
don't want to leave all my bags." So David Bowie says, "Oh, it's OK,
I'll watch them," and he watched all this guy's stuff until he came
back." 

CHART NEWS (Courtesy of Dara O'Kearney)

BEST OF BOWIE 69/74
UK: 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 for 3 weeks, 147, 187
Ireland: 27, 27, out of top 30
New Zealand: 26, 17, 26, 24, 24, 34, out of top 50.

After re-appearing in the UK chart last week, "Best Of Bowie 69/74"
drops forty places this week to #187. This is its 33rd week in total
on the UK chart.

Ireland and New Zealand remain the only other countries where this
compilation charted. It will be re-released in the US at the end of
this month, along with "Best Of Bowie 74/79".


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
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, 25, 33, 35, 35, 40
Australia: X, X, X, X, 13, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 10, 7, 8, 10, 15,
19, 24
New Zealand: 25, 29, 16, 8, 3, 5, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 10, 10, 10
UK (Compilations chart): X, 15, 18, 18, 23
Ireland: 12
CDWorld: 17, 27, 2, 5, 5, 14, 27, out
  (Soundtrack chart): 7, 9, out, 9
Internet voting chart: 94, 91, 61, 65, 89, 71, 73, out

This soundtrack continues to drop slowly on the US, Australian and New
Zealand charts. 
Multi-artist compilation albums are ineligible for the normal UK
Albums chart. On the special chart for such albums in the UK, "The
Wedding Singer" drops five to #23 in its fifth week. It debuts this
week in Ireland at a very high #12.

The Presidents Of The USA remake of "Video Killed The Radio Star" was
released as a single to promote the album in the UK but failed to
crack the top 40, debuting at #52.



SUNMACHINE (Dario G album with two Bowie-sung and cowritten tracks)

UK: (93), (150), (130), 27, 26, 35, 45
Hungary (Mahasz Top 40): 23, 25, 13, 23, 28, 20

The second UK dance album this year to feature Bowie's vocals (the
first was Goldie's "Saturnz Rising" for those with short memories)
drops ten to #45 this week in the UK. So far, its chart performance
has been disappointing because with two smash singles on the album
already and heavy promotion (including TV ads), it must have been
expected to go much higher.

Bowie's contribution to the album is a sampled vocal from "Memory Of A
Free Festival" which is used as the basis of one track (the title
track, "SunMachine", confirmed as the next single - the video has
started picking up some airplay already) and reprised in another ("The
End Of The Beginning"). The album was released in the US on July 14,
but has received little or no promotion there and you may have to hunt
in the DJ section to find it. 



HEROES (Wallflowers):
US:
 (Billboard Hot 100 airplay): 43, 33, 27, out of top 40
 (Billboard Modern Rock airplay): 17, 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 10, out of
top 10
 (BillBoard Rock Album tracks): 14, 12, 8, 5, 5, 4, 5, out
 (Billboard Adult Top 40): 34, 32, 25, out of top 40
 (FMQB Top 40): 21, 21, 22, 27, 37, out
 (MTV Top 20 Video countdown): 20, 17, 15, 14, 9, out
 (Alternative airplay): 13, 9, 8, 9
 (Tunes rock airplay): 6, 4, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 6, 6, 11, 14
 (Tunes Active Rock airplay): 22, 21, 17, 18, 18, 19, 22, 26, out
 (Tunes alternative airplay): 16, 9, 10, 10, 9, 10, 9, 9, 11, 14, 25,
out
 (Tunes Adult alternative airplay): 16, 13, 10, 8, 7, 4, 3, 3, 5, 12,
15, 18, out
 (Tunes Adult Contemporary airplay): 29, 28, 23, 21, 20, 19, 17, 18,
22, out
 (Tunes Pop airplay): 26, 23, 21, 22, 23, 27, out
 (Alternative Rock World Modern Rock airplay): 12, 9, 8, out of top 20
  (ARC Top 40): 39, 35, 31, 26, 22, 18, 28
 (Rick Dees Top 40): 40, 33, 25, 23, 22, 24, 27, 38, out
 (Casey Kasem Top 40): 23, 21, 22, 23, 27, 38, out
 (Gavin Top 40): 18, 20, 20, 20, out
 (Gavin alternative): 10, 8, 7, 10, 15, out
Canada:
  (MuchMusic Countdown): 24, 21, 19, 16, 12, 11, 8, 6, 5, 6, 10, 16,
27
  (Ottawa Bear Top 20): 15, 11, 8, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 7
  (Edge Top 30): 29, 26, 22, 17, 14, 8, 10, 19, out
Japan:
  (Osakan Top 100): 88, 65, 41, 31, 33, 45, 40, 48, 49, 44, 58, 51, 57
UK (London FM96 Top 30): 30, 16, 14, 9, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7
Turkey (Capital Radio Top 40): 33, 25, 21, 17, 16, 18, 20, 27, 35, 39,
out
Macedonia (Radio airplay chart): 16, 15, 15, out
Isle of Man: 23, 24, 6, 3, 3, 6, 13, 15, 18, 30, out
Austria( 88.6 airplay): 25, 24, 24, 19, 16, 15, 13, out, 17, 17, 16,
30
Portugal (Commercial Radio airplay): 8
Spain (Cadena Top 100): 38, 31, 28, 25, 24, 24
Latvia (Radio Top 20): 18, out
Singapore (Power 98FM Top 20): 20, 7, 9, 15, 20
Hong Kong (Hit Radio Foreign Top 10): 5, 3, 2
Colombia (Rock 20 Airplay): 20, 16, 3, 1
Argentina (FM88 Top 20): 10, 7, 6
Australia: 61, 50, 41, 38, 38, 41, 43, out of top 50, 49, 54
Internet Voting chart: 82, 66, 47, 36

This high profile cover version of a Bowie song for the Godzilla
soundtrack seems to have peaked and is now dropping on US airplay
charts.

Despite having picked up some airplay in Europe (I even saw a bit of
the video on Irish TV this morning), it's not being used as one of the
main selling points of the Godzilla CD in this part of the world (the
"Featuring the following artists:" sticker on the CD makes no mention
of it).


GODZILLA Soundtrack
US: 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 33
Canada: 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 5, 9, 10
 (Alternative Top 50): 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4
Australia: X, X, 20, 9, 8, 10, 8, 14, 17, 18
New Zealand: 9, 9, 7, 10, 9, 6, 4, 9, 7, 11
UK (multi-artist compilations chart): 48, 48, 36, 19
Austria: X, 35, 28
Ireland: 27
Hungary (Ambro Top 20): 4
CD World (soundtrack chart): 1, 2, 2, 3, 7, 8, 7
Internet Voting chart: 80, 75, 62, 89, 91, 84, 91, 85, 89

Continuing the recent trend of soundtracks with Bowie songs on them
faring well, the "Godzilla" soundtrack is selling very well in the US
on the back of the success of "Heroes".

The album has also started to sell well in some European countries,
boosted by the arrival of the movie and two big hit singles
(Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground" made #1 in the UK, and the Puff
Daddy/Jimmy Page single debuts this week at #2).


OTHER SNIPPETS

- In Germany in the Hessischer Rundfunk HR-3 International Hit Parade:
"Under Pressure": 7, 2, 1, 1, 1
Bengt reports that it is not unusual for HR-3 to play old songs, and
for their listeners to drive them up the charts.

- The Bowie co-penned "Been Around The World" (Puff Daddy) drops three
places to #49 in its 34th week on the Canadian Top 50.

- "Labyrinth" makes a surprising (to me, at any rate) re-appearance in
the Tower Records Top 1000 weekly chart this week. 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
Labyrinth: 908

There are also four soundtracks featuring Bowie contributions on the
chart:

Wedding Singer: 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 17, 19, 29, 58, 73, 72, 69, 73, 81,
159, 134, 137, 222, 214
Great Expectations: 15, 21, 21, 21, 53, 96, 108, 120, 222, 245, 254,
246, 252, 276, 640, 563, 577, 799, 783
Grosse Pointe Blanke: 281, 316, 339, 335, 325, 340, 418, 405, 490,
411, 423, 415, 424, 393, 506, 600, 615, 631, 618
Trainspotting: 699, 758, 808, 804, 528, 706, 899, 874, 872, 797, 810,
799, 805, 914, out
Trainspotting #2: 889, 851, 902, 896, out, 837, out
Godzilla: 3, 12, 16, 16, 27, 27

- 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 1969/1974 []
5 Dario G - Sunmachine []
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 Dario G - Sunmachine []
5 Various - Perfect Day [2225]

and emailing it to singles@worldcharts.nl


END CREDITS 

- 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://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Backstage/9100 and contains all
sorts of goodies, like news, chat and a quiz.

- 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). Teenage Wildlife just
became the first Bowie fan site to pass 1 million hits, and to
celebrate the landmark, Evan has organised a contest for registered
users, who stand to win their choice of some Bowie art, CDNow vouchers
or BowieNet access.

- Bonnie Powell runs the other more frequent Bowie newsletter
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.

- Check out Mike Harvey's "The Ziggy Stardust Companion" at
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mbh/ which has been given a
major overhaul recently. Also worth checking out is Eiichi's
Unofficial Discography site at http://www.campus.ne.jp/~eiiti/

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