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homebrew

Posted at 2024-11-30 15:01:28(4 days ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 03)

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In the Usenet group alt.fan.david-bowie you would have run into a user named Jamie Soule aka aladInsaNE. Jamie wrote a series of articles that he called "Images" about our hero, David Bowie. I found them fascinating, sometimes infuriating, occasionally confusing and ultimately interesting enough to have saved them all (at least all that I could track down). I have made no attempt to alter the formatting, spelling, grammar or edit in any way.

----

Images Part Three

If you live long enough in an illusion it will eventually become real.
If you are told something enough times by enough people you will believe
it. If you live the life of another you will soon become that person.
This is how Bowie came to believe that he really was Ziggy Stardust.
Ziggy was already a star.

Ziggy Stardust was released in March of 72 and by this time Defries had
created the perfect set for a colossal performance, a performance to
make the world believe Ziggy was a star. The illusion was created by
the seemingly endless amounts of money Defries had in his pockets, which
later became Bowie's pockets, unknown to him. Bowie's starving
musician poverty was now replaced by the luxuries afforded those who are
rich and famous. Celebrity living. Limousines replaced the tour van,
there were clothes from personal designers, a hairstylist, makeup
artist, bodyguards and personal assistants. No more cheap hotels. There
was new equipment as well, to the tune of fifty thousand dollars, along
with roadies to assemble it. Ziggy was given everything and it was all
delivered on a platter of gold.

A small problem still remained however and that was that the world did
not know that it had been given a new star to behold. Now, rather than
wait for the public to discover Ziggy Defries brought the public to
Ziggy. He arranged for RCA to pay for several influential writers to be
flown to England to be shown music's newest star. They could see first
hand just how important Ziggy was. They would see a show and be given a
private audience and after flown back home to report that Ziggy, the
hottest new sensation, would soon be coming to America and he was not to
be missed. The writers believed exactly what they were shown, the
performances by the players in Defries play were impeccable. It worked.

If you build a house of cards you would be well advised not to open a
window, because with even the slightest breeze, your work will be in
ruins. It was during this period that Defries built his house of cards,
and it was to be called MainMan the greatest entertainment conglomerate
in the world. The conglomerate was financed on forty thousand borrowed
dollars from Defries partner in Gem which was the publishing subsidiary
of MainMan. In addition there was also another subsidiary, Chrysalis,
which owned the master recordings which were sold to RCA. Defries
seemed quite serious about giving MainMan the appearance of a word wide
entertainment corporation and this was achieved by adding on a few more
"companies" to the roster. In addition to the British registered
MainMan Defries also incorporated another MainMan in the United States.
He then registered two additional companies in the States, one to
operate on the West Coast and the other on the East Coast. They were
given the appropriate names of MainMan East and MainMan West. He opened
yet another company in Britain called MainMan Artistes Ltd. which was
subsequently followed by MainMan Tokyo. At this time MainMan was really
just another illusion scripted by Defries, and what better way to make
it appear legitimate than to staff it with actors. That is exactly what
he did. They staff at MainMan were all mostly acting out their roles as
very few of the employees at this entertainment conglomerate had any
real qualifications for their positions. You got a job at MainMan if you
were "bizarre" enough. For now anyway, there were no ill breezes blowing
at MainMan. The look of success impressed those on the outside, and
nobody on the inside was aware that although they were all being rather
well taken care of, it was all on borrowed money. This illusion would
eventually cost Ziggy tremendously. It was the price one pays when they
become too naive. Defries had not only fooled those on the outside, but
he had equally managed to convince even those close to him that this
fantasy world he scripted was in fact a reality. No one was more
convinced than David Bowie.

Bowie bought in to the whole sham, and who could blame him. He was
being treated like royalty now so there was no reason to believe that he
wasn't. How could you expect him to rationalize the fact that he was not
a rich celebrity when he is riding in limousines, staying at the finest
hotels and having people fawning over him catering to his every whim. In
retrospect he should have been paying more attention to the actual
business but he was inexperienced and all through his career up until
now others always took care of him. He was very trusting and thought
Defries was another Kenneth Pitt who would look after his best
interests. In reality Defries was more interested in "interest rates"
and soon he would start making a small fortune as a currency trader,
buying and selling foreign currency with his new found wealth. There was
eventually money being made but it sifted through the companies and
found its way right into the pockets of Tony Defries. Bowie, in addition
to believing that all was what it seemed, also believed that fifty
percent of this new "world wide entertainment corporation" was also his.
Defries told Bowie that it was all a fifty fifty split between himself
and MainMan. That was the truth. Bowie split all of his earnings with
MainMan, however MainMan and all of the other companies were one hundred
percent owned by Defries. This Bowie did not realize. Another thing
which escaped his attention was that he only received fifty percent of
the profits after all of the expenses were paid and it was Bowie who
paid all of the expenses. Defries of course also drew a salary, or what
he termed a "management fee" for running each company. MainMan was
responsible for supporting the artist and their family and providing any
staff that would be required to take care of the artists needs as well
as office personnel. These costs of course fell under the category of
expenses which were paid by Bowie and so did his salary of seventy five
dollars ($75.00) a week. Should the revenue not cover the expenses, then
the loss would be carried by the artist. Ziggy Stardust by all outward
appearances was a rich rock n' roll star but in the real world by the
middle of 1972 David Bowie owed MainMan around sixty thousand dollars.

Ziggy Stardust was a character in isolation. Bowie through most of his
life had always had someone around to take care of him, his father,
Pitt, Angie and now Defries. There were certain things that Bowie was
unable to do for himself because he never learned due to the fact that
these things were taken care of by others. Things were taken care of for
him so he really did not bother to question much. He had what he needed
so what else mattered, and this type of thinking most certainly led to a
false sense of security. This false security and the fact that Bowie
never questioned much was perfect for Defries, by keeping Bowie isolated
from what was really going on with MainMan Defries had free reign to do
whatever he wished with Bowie and Bowie's money. Defries had built the
perfect illusion and he sold it so well that the actors in it started
to become the characters they were playing. The line between what was
real and what was not became a gigantic blur. Bowie believed that he
really was Ziggy Stardust and he had got to the point that he told those
who interviewed him to address him as such. It would soon be reported
that Ziggy Stardust was coming to America.

Homosexual. You are labelled probably for life if people think you are
one, and in early seventy two it was not the best label to have attached
to your name. Bowie did not like it. He was however delighted when
Defries came up with the idea of Ronson announcing he was gay as well.
Apparently at the live shows Ronson was getting a bit too much attention
from the girls because he was straight. A gay announcement would fix
this. Ronson was playing a character as well, the costumes, makeup and
platinum hair were not his idea but he did not mind playing along. He
understood Defries' marketing but he now felt that things were getting a
wee bit out of control. The picture of Bowie performing simulated
fellatio on Ronson's guitar had already been snapped by Mick Rock and
Ronson was not very impressed. He regretted it being taken. THe problem
was that this picture caused quite a bit of embarrassment for him when
his mother and friends who lived in Hull saw it. Mick, as a person, was
not at all like his "character" was. The character was outlandish and
Mick was not, he was actually quite conservative and ended up doing a
lot of explaining to his family to convince them that the Ronno they saw
on stage was all an act. Just before going to America Defries wanted
Mick to add a new dimension to his character. He told Ronson that they
would hold a press conference at which time he can announce that he is
also a homosexual. Ronson refused, there was no way that he would cause
any further problems at home by doing this. Defries was not one to take
no for an answer and pressed Ronson further. Ronson's response was to
quit the band and that is exactly what he did. There would be no further
discussion. It was a relatively short period of time and prior to the
upcoming tour that Defries promised that Ronson could remain straight if
he would rejoin the band. This Ronson accepted.

"I'm bisexual. not homosexual," Bowie told the press on his arrival for
the first America tour. The British are more forgiving it seems when it
comes to the eccentricities of others. Ziggy received several death
threats. The homosexual label was not one that a person should want to
carry in America at this period of time and Bowie was trying to either
downplay it, or shake it off. Ziggy, who was to be perceived as a star
could very well become Ziggy The Freak. If his image became
"unacceptable" it was quite likely he would fade into obscurity. This
"Star" could become more of a side show attraction that people would
stare at for awhile out of curiosity and then probably get bored with
the whole thing. Defries limited media access to David allowing only the
writers he believed would comment more on the talents of Bowie and less
on the sexual controversy. In case anyone needed further convincing that
Ziggy was indeed a star, then Defries had a plan to prove Ziggy's worth.

Ziggy's worth, as seen by Defries anyway, could be added up in dollars.
Now, these are not dollars made, but dollars spent and it was soon
apparent to everyone just how much of a star Ziggy was. As it turned
out, no one knew more about how much Ziggy was worth than RCA and the
value of Ziggy hit them like a ton of bricks. The advance promotional
work done by RCA and MainMan worked well for the most part. The 3,500
seat Cleveland Music Hall was sold out, hopefully a good indication of
what was to follow this opening night. Having the first few shows of
the tour do well was not just a wish that Defries had, it was a
necessity. This is because Defries had a rather ingenious method of of
financing the your because, as it turns out, the whole thing was being
funded by cash advances from ticket sales. If sales were poor the result
would have been that the tour could not continue, because once again,
unlike appearances, there was very little money. As the tour continued
it was met along the way with mostly decent reviews although there were
some which were less than flattering. The New York Post reported that
Bowie lacked "stage presence," which I personally find impossible to
believe. The show in Boston was by all accounts spectacular, so
spectacular that the papers named Bowie the Judy Garland of rock n'
roll. To insure that Ziggy kept believing in the hype, Defries made
sure that any reviews which were critical never reached him. Everything
was fine.

Tickets for a David Bowie performance were rare, and this was not the
news Defries wanted to hear. You see, unfortunately what this really
meant was that it was rare if anyone bought one. In St. Louis less than
one thousand tickets had sold for a venue with a capacity for an
audience of ten thousand. Two hundred and fifty seats were sold in
Kansas City. There were two shows scheduled in San Francisco and eight
hundred seats for the first show were gone. By the the time they got to
Los Angeles there was virtually no money left, and even though tickets
had sold extremely well for the shows it did not help matters at all. It
was now time for Defries to execute his plan and it would be now that
RCA would truly learn exactly how much Ziggy was worth.

The rich and famous stay at The Beverly Hills Hotel when they are in Los
Angeles. This is also where forty six artists and employees of MainMan
stay when they are broke. Tony Defries checked forty six people into The
Beverly Hills Hotel for two weeks with himself and Bowie staying in
private bungalows These were the settings befitting the head of an
international entertainment conglomerate and a star as big as Ziggy
Stardust. Defries promptly issued instructions that large meals were to
be ordered and washed down with ample bottles of champagne. There was a
little matter that needed to be dealt with when it was time to check out
concerning the hotel bill. As it turned out the hotel bill for the two
week stay was just slightly over one hundred thousand dollars
($100,000.00). Since Defries did not have any money he simply signed the
bill, "RCA Records And Tapes." RCA had money so they could pay, which
they did, and I don't believe that they too happy about it at all. In
total RCA spent $400,000.00 for Bowie to perform 21 concerts. The total
revenue brought in from ticket sales was $114,000.00. What this meant
was that every time Bowie performed RCA lost $20,000.00. Defries
handled this by explaining to RCA that it was time for a world tour and
said that they could be ready to go in about ten weeks. Defries
recommended that the tour should start in America. He was serious too.

AladInsane

To be continued...........

""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987

Moony	Posted at 2024-11-30 23:44:13(4 days ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 03)
Uploaded: 193.45 GB Downloaded: 153.19 GB Posts: 98 Ratio: 1.26 Location: Netherlands	thnxx

Stranger09	Posted at 2024-12-03 11:51:07(2 days ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 03)
Uploaded: 272.55 GB Downloaded: 175.03 GB Posts: 204 Ratio: 1.56 Location: United Kingdom	I didn't have time to read it properly the other day, and want to come back at this at a less hectic time - but I would be interested in the further instalment when I do

homebrew	Posted at 2024-12-03 17:55:25(1 day ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 03)
Uploaded: 152.13 GB Downloaded: 374.86 GB Posts: 87 Ratio: 0.41 Location: United States of America	I have nearly 60 of them and plan to post one a week. ""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience" - David Bowie abt. 1987

dag97	Posted at 2024-12-04 00:31:55(1 day ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 03)
Uploaded: 5.30 TB Downloaded: 2.68 TB Posts: 18 Ratio: 1.98 Location: United Kingdom	Thank you.

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