Letter #7
MUSIC NEWS
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- As part of the promotion for Bowienet, Bowie is organising a contest
whereby one lucky fan will get to cowrite a song with him. From
Rolling Stone:
"Cyberspace Oddity
The man who sold the world.
Thousands of would-be poets, hack reporters and wannabe rock stars
will likely rummage through crumpled notebooks of amateur prose next
month, seeking out that perfect verse for David Bowie's current
single-in-progress.
After swapping lyrics over the years with rock & roll stalwarts like
Mick Jagger, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, the illustrious Ziggy Stardust is
now courting a new, unsuspecting collaborator. To commemorate the
launch of his personal Internet Service Provider, www.davidbowie.com,
Bowie will pen the first verse and chorus of a never-before-heard
song, then post the words and upload the music on his site to help
inspire the masses to complete his musings.
Beginning next month, anyone with a computer mouse and modicum of
imagination can contribute three additional verses to the yet-unnamed
song during the five-week contest. Internet users will vote on the
contributions each week, and Bowie will ultimately choose the winner
from a pool of twenty to twenty-five finalists, according to Ron Roy,
a spokesman for UltraStar Internet Services.
After selecting his partner in rhyme, Bowie will fly the winner to New
York, where the Thin White Duke will rehearse, record, mix and encode
his or her new song live on the Web. Bowie will then post the song
immediately onto davidbowie.com, where subscribers can access it free
of charge. So much for sharing a chunk of actual royalties.
ANNI LAYNE"
- The new Dario G single, "Sunmachine", based on a vocal sample from
Bowie's "Memory Of A Free Festival" goes on release to shops in Europe
this week. It's already getting excellent airplay from MTV and radio,
so it's expected to be a big hit.
- Bonnie reports that one of her industry sources tells her that
Virgin (Bowie's US record label) is tentatively not planning to
release a new Bowie CD until 1999 and that 1999 CD will likely be a
new studio effort! This suggests that Virgin do not plan to release
Earthling Live after all. No word as to whether BMG/RCA intend to
release it in Europe.
- "Best Of 69/74" and "Best Of 74/79" were both finally released in
the US on August 25. Track listings were identical to the European
releases, but a multimedia teaser for Bowienet is also included.
- Bowie has recorded a track for the Rugrats Soundtrack due out in
November. The track is called "Skylife", written by Bowie and Reeves
Gabrels, and was demoed in London with The Cure's drummer, and
re-recorded in New York with Tony Visconti. Bowie, Gabrels and
Visconti are also working together on a version of "Mother" for the
Lennon Tribute CD.
- Four new all-star CDs celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sept.
26 birth of composer George Gershwin...... The Red Hot Organization
offers two sets for the anniversary, both of which are due Oct. 6 from
Verve imprint Antilles. "Red Hot + Rhapsody" features such pop artists
as David Bowie, Natalie Merchant, Sinéad O'Connor, Baaba Maal, Money
Mark, and the Roots covering works by George and Ira Gershwin.
Companion album "By George (And Ira): Red Hot On Gershwin" contains
legendary instrumental and vocal performances by Holiday, Miles Davis,
Ella Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, Sarah Vaughan, and Charlie Parker,
among others. Proceeds from both discs will benefit AIDS research and
charities.
FILM NEWS
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- There will be a special screening of EVERYBODY LOVES SUNSHINE on 1st
September 1998 in the East End of London soley for the actors, crew,
staff and buyers. The official premiere will be held at the Leicester
Square Odeon, London later on in the year. The movie is also entered
in the Toronto Film Festival where it is hotly tipped to win. The
script written by director/actor Andrew Goth has already won two
prestigious awards: the 1995 European Script Fund Award and the 1996
Carl Foreman/BAFTA Award.
- Advertisements for Il Mio West have been playing on Italian
television announcing that the film will be in cinema there by
Christmas.
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, out, out, 182, 116
Ireland: 27, 27, out of top 30
New Zealand: 26, 17, 26, 24, 24, 34, out of top 50.
"Best Of Bowie 69/74" continues its excellent run on the UK charts,
climbing 66 places this week to #116. It will be interesting to see if
EMI puts an effort into promoting it for this year's Xmas market.
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
Canada (Soundscan): 100, 47, 15, 15, 13, 12, 18, 23, 38, 45, 50, out,
147, 148, 53, 36
(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
Australia: X, X, X, X, 13, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 10, 7, 8, 10, 15,
19, 24, 23
New Zealand: 25, 29, 16, 8, 3, 5, 2, 2, 5, 5, 6, 10, 10, 10, 10, 12,
19, 20
UK (Compilations chart): X, 15, 18, 18, 23, 22, 24, 23, 35
Ireland: 12, 5, 6, 9, 8, 11
CDWorld: 17, 27, 2, 5, 5, 14, 27, out
(Soundtrack chart): 7, 9, out, 9, out
Internet voting chart: 94, 91, 61, 65, 89, 71, 73, out
This soundtrack continues to climb dramatically on the US and Canadian
charts, primarily as a result of the movie being released on video. In
Australia and New Zealand, it has remained approximately steady the
last few weeks.
Multi-artist compilation albums are ineligible for the normal UK
Albums chart. On the special chart for such albums in the UK, it drops
twelve to #35 this week. In Ireland, it drops three to #11 in its
sixth week on the chart.
SUNMACHINE (Dario G album with two Bowie-sung and cowritten tracks)
UK: (93), (150), (130), 27, 26, 35, 45, 46, 79, 118, out
Hungary (Mahasz Top 40): 23, 25, 13, 23, 28, 20, 26, 38, 36, out
The second UK dance album this year to feature Bowie's vocals has now
dropped off the only two national charts it made. It remains to be
seen whether the anticipated success of the single will revive the
album's fortunes.
SUNMACHINE (Dario G single)
Ireland (FM104 Dublin Top 40): 11, 10
Lithuania (M1 Top 40): 38
Moldova International Top 50: 48
This single featuring Bowie on vocals goes on release to shops in
Europe this week, and is already picking up good airplay in the UK
(BBC A-list), Ireland (#10 on Dublin airplay chart), Lithuania and
Moldova.
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, 18, 26,
out
(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, out
(Ottawa Bear Top 20): 15, 11, 8, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 14,
11, 12, 17
(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, 73, 81
UK (London FM96 Top 30): 30, 16, 14, 9, 5, 6, 7, 7, 7, 9, 24, 27
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, out
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): X, X, 20, 16, 3, 1, 2, 3
Argentina (FM88 Top 20): 10, 7, 6, out
Australia: 61, 50, 41, 38, 38, 41, 43, out of top 50, 49, 54, 55
Internet Voting chart: 82, 66, 47, 36, 38, 39, 46, 56
Worldwide airplay Top 2500: 13 (June), 73 (July)
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.
GODZILLA Soundtrack
US: 4, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 22, 33, 38, 53, 69, 78
Canada: 2, 3, 5, 5, 4, 2, 2, 5, 9, 10, 12, 12, 16
(Alternative Top 50): 1, 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 4, 5
Australia: X, X, 20, 9, 8, 10, 8, 14, 17, 18, 20
New Zealand: 9, 9, 7, 10, 9, 6, 4, 9, 7, 11, 12, 26, 40, out
UK (multi-artist compilations chart): 48, 48, 36, 19, 13, 16, 20, 27
Austria: X, 35, 28, 25, 14, 12
Finland: 37
Ireland: 27, 17, 17, 17, 18, 27
Belgium (TipTop): 24, 23
Hungary (Ambro Top 20): 4
CD World (soundtrack chart): 1, 2, 2, 3, 7, 8, 7
CD Outpost Top 50: 22
Internet Voting chart: 80, 75, 62, 89, 91, 84, 91, 85, 89
Tjis soundtrack continues to drop on most charts it's on. Countries
where it has recently debuted include Finland, Belgium and Hungary.
OTHER SNIPPETS
- Marilyn Manson's cover of "Golden Years" seems to be sinking without
trace everywhere except in Japan and Slovakia:
Japan (J-Wave Top 100): 65, 57
Slovakia (Ragtime Top 15): 10
- Two other albums with a Bowie connection on the UK Top 200 in the
last few weeks:
Transformer (Lou Reed): 115, 156, out
Unplugged In New York (Nirvana): 200, 187, 175, out
- According to official figures, Bowie is the 88th best-selling albums
act in the UK in the 90s, having sold 1,402,000 albums so far this
decade. For anyone who is interested, Oasis are #1 (7,537,000 albums),
the Spice Girls are #11 (4,454,000 albums), and Prodigy are #45
(2,218,000 albums).
- Russ reports that "I'm Afraid Of Americans" has been a fixture on
Billboard's Maxi Dance Sales Top 50 for over 30 weeks now, and climbs
eight places this week to #41.
- 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) is at #37
this week on the Canadian Top 50.
- There are no Bowie albums 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, out
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, 79, 38
Great Expectations: 15, 21, 21, 21, 53, 96, 108, 120, 222, 245, 254,
246, 252, 276, 640, 563, 577, 799, 783, 640, 653, 555
Grosse Pointe Blanke: 281, 316, 339, 335, 325, 340, 418, 405, 490,
411, 423, 415, 424, 393, 506, 600, 615, 631, 618, 781, 773
Trainspotting: 699, 758, 808, 804, 528, 706, 899, 874, 872, 797, 810,
799, 805, 914, out, 981, out
Trainspotting #2: 889, 851, 902, 896, out, 837, out
Godzilla: 3, 12, 16, 16, 27, 27, 130, 124, 206
Dead Man On Campus: 514, out
- 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
OTHER NEWS
----------
- Bonnie reports that the countdown to BowieNet continues with over 3
hours of webcast performances from Ani DiFranco, The Specials, The
Jayhawks, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Spacehog plus surprise performance
by special guest and then never before seen highlights from David
Bowie's 50th Birthday Show from Madison Square Garden featuring David
and band with Billy Corgan and Lou Reed.
Don't worry if you havent signed up yet, the concert is free! In
addition to two video/audio tracks on the signup CD (Under Pressure
and Space Oddity, both from the 50th Birthday Bash), available only to
full subscribers in North America currently (UK/Europe access later),
a new previously unheard audio track will also be made available. This
is said to be "Fun". As you might remember, this track was reported to
be based on the drum and base version of Fame was thought originally
to be going on the Earthling Live CD. All three tracks will only be
available while you are online (they are encrypted and can't be
downloaded for offline use).
People who live outside North America will be able to subscribe to
BowieNet while keeping their existing ISP for $5.95 a month as soon as
BowieNet launches.
- Following the recent controversy over Bowie's supposed support for
Austraian artist Hermann Nitsch's Six Day Play (as reported in the
British press), Bowie issued the following press release via his UK
based public relations firm The Outside Organization.
BOWIE DENIES ANY INVOLVEMENT WITH HERMAN NITSCH
STATEMENT FROM DAVID BOWIE ON THE HERMAN NITSCH EXHIBITION
David Bowie has not had any involvement with the artist Herman Nitsch.
Bowie was not involved in any capacity in Nitsch's exhibition, and has
never had any dealings with Nitsch.
For further information, please contact Alan Edwards or Jonathan
Wingate at
The Outside Organisation Tel:0171 436 3633, Fax:0171 436 3632 "
- Two unconfirmed rumours from Teenage Wildlife:
-- A rumour going around the Berklee College of Music, of which Reeves
Gabrels is an alumnus, is that Bowie will be the guest presenter at
the class of 1999 graduation ceremony, where he will also be presented
with a honorary doctorate.
-- To do with the Eidos Interactive visit, Bowie and Reeves Gabrels
are rumoured to be working on the music for a video game which will be
released in the autumn of 1999.
- The director of the Salzburg Festival, Gerard Mortier, was quoted
in the Austrian press recently as saying that the work with David
Bowie and Robert Wilson for the planned rock opera adaptation of the
Outside album concept is "stagnating". Mortier said he wouldn't be
willing to have the Festival finance Bowie's proposed stage design,
and as a consequence progress on the development of the play has
reached somewhat of an impasse.
- Bowie's entry into this year's International Who's Who lists his
hobbies as "listening to Polish and Chinese Communist music."
- Bowie sold his luxury Beverly Hills apartment to rapper Heavy D.
- Some voting sites:
-- http://www.wallofmusic.com/ are taking votes for the best albums of
the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. "The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And
The Spiders From Mars" are both nominees for the 70s, and "Scary
Monsters" for the 80s, but none are showing up in the Top 20 of their
respective decades yet. The voting mechanism also allows you to vote
for other Bowie albums as write-ins.
-- Bowie is faring considerably better at a Top 100 poll at the
website of UK trade mag, Music Week. Bowie has 7 albums on the chart
(more than anyone else) this week, as follows:
Ziggy 21 (up 1)
Low 44 (down 2)
Hunky Dory 49 (same as last week)
Station To Station 59 (down 2)
Diamond Dogs 73 (down 1)
Young Americans 84 (up 3)
Earthling 93 (up 1)
Go to http://www.dotmusic.com/ to vote.
- Following two spectacular sell-out shows at the Institute of
Contemporary Arts (ICA, London) on 2nd and 3rd July this year, plans
are now underway for a UK and European tour of A ROCK 'N ROLL SUICIDE
later this year and / or early 1999. The two ICA shows celebrating the
25th anniversary of Bowie's legendary final performance as Ziggy
Stardust were a huge success - with extensive publicity and an
audience that included Boy George, Ian McCulloch from Echo & The
Bunnymen, The Big Breakfast's Wayne Hemingway and Mick Ronson's
sister, Maggie Ronson. Press coverage to date has included Mojo,
Record Collector, Select, Xfm Radio, The Sunday Times, Sunday Express,
The Big Breakfast, The Independent, The Guardian, The Evening
Standard, Attitude, ABC Radio News Network USA, The Big Issue, BBC GLR
Radio and World Entertainment News.
- Upcoming Bowie events to watch out for:
-- August 30, 22:00, Basquiat, Sky Movies 1, UK
-- August 31, 21:00 EDT, BowieNet Webcast launch, BowieNet
-- September 2, 05:00 EDT, Yellowbeard, STARZ, USA
-- September 2, 08:00 EDT, Yellowbeard, STARZP, USA
-- September 10, 20:00 EDT, MTV Video Awards (Bowie is nominated for
Best Male Rock Video, but is not expected to attend in person)
-- September 26, 21:30, Main Stage: A Very Special Birthday Concert,
Channel V, Australia
-- September 27, 22:00, Legends, VH-1, USA
-- September 27, 19:30, Main Stage: A Very Special Birthday Concert,
Channel V, Australia
END CREDITS
-----------
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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 has moved to
http://welcome.to/aladdinsane, where you can read about the new TBB
Web-Ring (The Best Of Bowie Web-Ring) at
http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/ayers/18/index3.html
- 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 has an excellent new
feature on his News page for Bowie trivia.
- 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.
- Mike Harvey's excellent Ziggy Stardust Companion site has moved to
http://www.5years.com/. Lots of new images, layout and material.
- Paul Kinder has the first worldwide 'exclusive' full interview with
one of the major stars of the forthcoming movie EVERYBODY LOVES
SUNSHINE starring David Bowie and Goldie. Also includes unseen
photographs at http://freespace.virgin.net/paul.kinder/BowieWonder.htm
- Some other recommendations this month: Mookid Loves Bowie at
http://www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Club/3619/, the TBB Web-Ring at
http://www.angelfire.com/al/tbbwebring/ and Larelle Read has added
some Bowie stuff to his site at
http://www.zip.com.au/~elread/music.html
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