I heard the news today*… Bowie anniversaries; Bowie in photos; Bowie as influence; some truly obscure Bowie connections to other news stories… and more!
This is my weekly summary of news about Bowie. The bolded titles link to the original stories I summarize below. There wasn’t one dominant Bowie story this week, though the 50th Anniversary of “Space Oddity” came close to achieving that distinction. I’ve included links to a few stories in which Bowie appears almost as a point of reference — how to understand a moment in time? Connect it to what Bowie was doing then. As usual, there were a variety of other stories.
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55th Anniversary of “Space Oddity.” Like me, David Bowie’s first hit was born in 1969. This article retells the story (which is familiar to Bowie fans). The image illustrating this post is the the version of the cover of the album, Space Oddity, that you are likely to get if you purchased it today. It is a revival of one of the album’s early cover variants, when it was known as David Bowie. The album title was changed because the lead-off song was such a hit and because Bowie confusingly had a more obscure album of the same name released two years earlier. None of that information is in this story, but hey— bonus material!
Bowie Word Fan Convention coming to Liverpool Not really new news to readers of this blog, but here’s a brief local story about the upcoming annual gathering of Bowie fans, former colleagues, musicians, authors and more.
Photographer Kevin Cummins on Bowie. Cummins has a new Bowie photo book — David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire — and he’s talking!
Bowie in another photo book. The book Nobody Waved Goodbye by Bobby Grossman features rare and previously unpublished photographs of the 1970s New York underground scene, including iconic figures like David Bowie, Andy Warhol, and Debbie Harry. Note the cover text is styled after that of the Station to Station album.
Sukita Bowie photos going up for auction. Photos of Bowie by Masayoshi Sukita are expected to command a high sales price when they go up for auction on July 17th.
50th Anniversary of David Live. Thought Bowie’s first live album wasn’t released until October of 1974, it was recorded 50 years ago this month. This article puts the album in the context of Bowie’s other albums and what else was happening in rock music at the time. Not a lot new here, but it’s a nice roundup.
The development of Ziggy. The occasion of this article is the release of the Rock and Roll Star box set, which came out a few weeks ago, but the article is different enough from an album review (the likes of which I’ve linked to before) to merrit its own inclusion in this news summary.
Why Bowie’s Top of the Pops performance changed the world. A reflection on Bowie’s notable 1972 television appearance. Though not really the point of the story here, I’ll add that anyone with access to YouTube can watch it whenever they want (and it surely is great).
Bowie’s appearance on VH1 Storytellers. This story, about another of Bowie’s notable television appearances (which also resulted in an album), asked the question of whether this one was Bowie’s most revealing.
Tim Farris on “China Girl.” This interview is barely Bowie related, but the guitarist (briefly) discusses how he asked Nile Rogers how about his technique in “China Girl.”
Adrian Belew’s Stratocaster. This is another one that’s barely about Bowie, but his sometime-guitarist discusses his guitar, including the context of playing for Bowie. If I read this correctly, it’s a reprint of a 1982 interview.
39th Anniversary of Live Aid. Expect more on this anniversary next year. This article is more an overview of the concert than Bowie’s role in it, but it mentions Bowie.
Russell Crowe influenced by Bowie. Did you know the Gladiator actor is also a musician? I didn’t, but it turns out he is, and he counts Bowie as an influence.
Bette Midler on Bowie. Midler discusses her friendship with Bowie and other stars in this article.
Green Man for sale. The British pub, “The Green Man” is for sale. What does this have to do with Bowie? Well, he went there. That’s enough for his face to appear in the art for this story.
Bowie related murder mystery? Perhaps the strangest connection made in a story to Bowie this week, this is about how the Irish police issued an update on a 37-year old unsolved murder of a woman killed after seeing a Bowie concert.
Far Out magazine’s Bowie stories: Bowie considered Lou Reed a god; Robert Smith on Bowie; Albums recorded at the Hansa studio in Berlin.
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And with that, “we’ve finished our news…”*
— “I’ve heard the news today” is Bowie’s adaptation of the Beatles lyric, which is heard in “Young Americans.” “We’ve finished our news” is a line from, “Oh You Pretty Things”.