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homebrew

Posted at 2025-01-11 17:20:46(1 wk ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 09)

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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* 9

In Atlanta on December 1, 1974 the curtain closes for the last time on
The Year Of The Diamond Dogs. It is over, now just a *part* of history. On
December 3 Bowie is in New York at The Record Plant where Dancin', the
new album, has gone through a transformation and has now become Young
Americans. The album is at the mixing stage and Bowie has been spending
a considerable amount of time in the company of John Lennon. Like the
new album Bowie was also being transformed. It is always a slow process
to change into another personality, but this time the process was
speeded up somewhat. The problem was that no one was prepared for what
emerged. The change started to take place in July just after Bowie
learned about his situation with Defries. This new personality was the
result of a combination of factors. The manifestation was partially the
work of Bowie reinventing himself and the other contributor was the
pressure from the circumstances he was in. Most of Bowie's reinventions
were developed slowly over periods that were in some cases years.
Although each personality was different there were only a few that were
radically different. Most shared some of the personality traits and
characteristics of the previous character, but this time it was
different. This time everything would change, nothing was spared and
history itself was about to be erased.

In many cases a person who experienced anything along the lines of the
revelation Bowie received about being used in the manner Defries used
him would more than likely feel quite helpless. It would be quite
natural to feel not only that but also one would judge themselves as
being rather unintelligent, okay downright stupid, for allowing
themselves to get into such a predicament. The insult would be deepened
by the fact that everyone around you knew the terms of the contracts you
signed and you did not. A great deal of embarrassment would certainly
be felt every time you were around any of the staff from MainMan. What
is worse is that David still has to work for a manager he could no
longer trust. The resentment Bowie must have harboured was probably
considerable for the fact that this manager whom he felt used him still
gets most of his money and ownership of all of his work. To top it all
off Bowie is also trapped. He has to work and take instructions from a
person he has little respect for and he has no choice. Normally a person
could walk away from a bad situation but in Bowie's case he is forced to
stay where he is due to the contracts. Remember that one contract that
Bowie signed gave Defries the right to manage Bowie for a considerable
amount of time. The personal management contract binds Bowie to Defries
FOREVER.

Bowie avoided confrontations. Bowie had most of his major decisions made
for him. Defries paid his living expenses while Coco looked after the
everyday tasks such as feeding him and keeping track of his appointment.
Bowie was totally dependent on others to look after him. This situation
was not new, it was the normal style Bowie was accustomed to. He never
had to be assertive as he was cared for and very rarely did without
anything. It is because Bowie avoided confrontation and never had to
resort to forcing his will on others that makes one trait in his new
persona quite unique. Bowie started to become the complete opposite, he
became assertive and was not afraid to talk to Defries in a way he
never could have in the past. Although at this time he knew that he had
to gain some control of his own life and his work, he was still not
ready to cope with controlling it all personally. This character was
developing what can best be described as a "power" which will be felt by
anyone who is around Bowie, and I am including those in an audience.
This power gave Bowie the strength to dispatch Tony Zanetta with a
message to take to Defries. This was the message telling Defries that
not all of on the elaborate set would be used on the last leg of the
Diamond Dogs tour due to expenses. The background which was a collage of
buildings representing Hunger City would be replaced by a screen and
using projections on a screen from a camera instead. This may not seem
like a big thing however you must remember that this lavish presentation
was "Defries baby" and it was the equivalent to a slap in his face to
take it away. Especially after an investment of $400,000.00 and all of
the promotional expenses invested. Plus, NOBODY said no to Defries.
After Defries had his tirade on Bowie at Sigma over Bowie's lifestyle,
drug use, change in musical style and his rebellion against Defries'
authority Bowie had the internal fortitude to look at Defries and say,
"Go screw yourself." Behaviour like that from Bowie was unheard of.

Officially the Diamond Dogs tour finished on December 1, however not for
Bowie. For him it ended much sooner. On November 1st, 2nd and 3rd Bowie
played Radio City Music Hall and by this time the transformation into
his new being had progressed to the point that it was noticeable. The
new character was different and not compatible with the surroundings, it
did not "fit" into the world of the Diamond Dogs. So out of place was
this this new persona that it drew the attention of the press and they
did not hold back in their subsequent reviews. Hit Parader said that,
"Bowie is not a rock n' roller anymore. The article went onto get
brutal enough to state that, "He's not worth seeing in concert." The New
York times called the show "empty" and "cardboard" ending with the
opinion that the overall performance as being "disappointing." Creem
magazine was the most descriptive calling David a, "Johnny Ray on
cocaine singing about 1984." Cocaine was mentioned more than once in the
review. The drug use by this time was getting to be on the side of
excessive and while most celebrities try at best to conceal their vices
Bowie almost flaunted in. Bowie would not usually do drugs necessarily
in front of people he did not know, frequent trips to the bathroom for
long periods of time was normal, but he had no concerns about being
visibly stoned. Bowie did not care who saw him at all when he was
high, and I mean nobody, even if it was millions.

On September third 1994 film maker Alan Yentob made a documentary about
David Bowie titled Cracked Actor. The documentary is well made and
unlike most documentaries where all you hear mostly is the commentator,
this film allows Bowie to speak at length uninterrupted. The documentary
opens with Bowie in the back of his limousine and within the first few
seconds a siren is heard from somewhere outside. "Is that for us," Bowie
asks who is visibly quite concerned and it is obvious why. You can tell
from almost the minute the film starts that he is high and remains so
throughout the entire the show. I am fortunate enough to have a video
copy of an interview with Bowie on The Cavett Show which was recorded on
December 4th, 1974. The interview is rather lengthy and the topics
Cavett covers with Bowie are quite diverse. Apart from the interview
being well done due to the subject matter it is also quite valuable due
to the fact that Bowie's condition is easily apparent. Bowie is wearing
the trademark blue long sleeve sweater, with the white dots, along with
the baggy pants and suspenders that were the "look" he had taken on for
this period. He also has with him a cane which was supposed to be left
off the set but grabbed at the last minute before he went on. The cane
seemed necessary as it appears to be a security blanket that he would be
lost without. By the look on Cavett's face he is aware that he has his
hands full. Bowie performs a few numbers that in my opinion they are far
from memorable. The most interesting *part* commences when Bowie takes his
seat for the interview. The very first thing one notices is the fact
that Bowie has lost a fair bit of weight, and by a "fair bit" I mean a
lot. He is about as round as a bean pole and his cheeks are sunken. The
"Bowie charm" is as smooth as ever and Bowie is quick to provide
interesting answers accompanied by his wit that is, as always. lightning
fast. One characteristic I have noticed about Bowie that is constant is
the fact that no matter how blasted he is he does not lose his
faculties. There have been instances, in 76, where the audience reported
that he was so drunk on stage he was staggering, yet if you listen to
the bootleg of the show the performance is flawless. This has happened
on more than a few isolated instances. He can't sit still on the Cavett
Show putting the cane behind his neck, twirling it around and generally
devoting an incredible amount of time to it while listening to
questions. The fact that Bowie has just done several lines of cocaine
before sitting down with Cavett is blatant. He holds the side of each
nostril while sniffing and his sniffs throughout the entire show loud
enough to be clearly audible. His voice is rough because his nostrils
are plugged up a though he has a cold, but his condition is not due to
illness, it is self inflicted. At one point Bowie is focused so much on
tweaking the tip of the cane along the carpet it prompts Cavett to say
to Bowie, "What are you drawing."

December was a busy month that saw Bowie change residences. He moved
into a rented house because until then he had been living in hotels that
were costing him an average of $20,000.00 per month. This was the start
of David, through his new character, taking control of hi own affairs.
Angie had been replaced by Eva Cherry who he was living with openly and
he did not care who knew or what they thought. RCA did not like Defries
and were delighted when Bowie appeared in the office one day asking to
see the books concerning the moneys paid out from the RCA account with
MainMan. Shocked would have been the only emotion that swept over him.
It was MILLIONS. MILLIONS. Advances, royalties, advertising expenses,
tour costs, hotel bills. The advances alone totalled five to seven
million dollars. It all sunk in now. Millions of dollars went to
MainMan and all from his work, yet he saw a mere pittance of it and was
reduced to begging and borrowing at times for cigarette money. The
beginning of the end comes on December 29 in the form of a telegram to
Defries from Bowie while he is on holiday with his girlfriend on the
island of Mustique. Bowie will one day reside on that island which he
could never envision at this time. The telegram is a simple one and
short. "Your services are no longer required" and "Legal action will
commence to terminate all contracts between the petitioner, MainMan and
Tony Defries." Defries holiday is ruined. This was sent after Bowie
mentioned his woes to John Lennon who then advised him to get a lawyer
and sue Defries. Bowie was being aggressive in taking back control of
his career. Lennon or Kenneth Pitt, who he also asked for advice , did
not make the decision regarding Defries and MainMan, Bowie did, and
rarely in the past did he make his own decisions, leaving that up to
others. Out of the taking of control came something else. There was a
quality that was developing that Bowie never displayed before and that
was arrogance. It would only grow as well, so much that it would be the
most noticeable trait of the character which was emerging. The character
would be know as The Thin White Duke.

RCA liked Young Americans, so much that an advance of 250,000 singles of
the title track were ordered and they would back the album with a
$200,000 advertising campaign. On February 21 Fame is released as a
single and becomes Bowies first ever number one hit in America. It goes
Gold selling over 500,000 copies. Young Americans will be the largest
selling album to date reaching a total of 975,000 copies. Almost, but
not quite enough to be certified Platinum, which is sales of one million
copies. That will not happen for another year and would be on an album
that was made with little co-operation from him, as he was against the
concept all together, but legally had no say in its release. Bowie
asked RCA to refrain from paying MainMan any future royalties and
instead pay them to him. The MainMan/RCA contract prevented this but
they found another avenue and that was to pay all the money that RCA was
obligated to pay into an escrow account instead pending the outcome of
the legal action against Defries. Withholding money is a powerful tool
if done legally, and one that can be used by either side as it was in
this case. Defries went and petitioned the court shortly after he
received the telegram to obtain an injunction to halt the distribution
of Young Americans due to Bowie's breach of the legal contracts he had
with Defries and MainMan and would no longer honour. The injunction was
rightfully granted by the court and in addition Defries suspended any
payments from MainMan to Bowie, including his salary. Bowie had no
income, at all. So, no money for MainMan and no money for Bowie.
Stalemate. If Defries had money he could have held his position
indefinitely, however he did not and neither did Bowie. This sufficed to
cause a relatively quick settlement between the two with negotiations
from March until June. It was all finally settled and these were the new
terms of his arrangement with Defries dated March 1, 1975.

Defries and Bowie would jointly own the two albums which MainMan
purchased the rights to from Mercury. In addition MainMan would jointly
own the six albums Bowie recorded on the RCA label when he was under
contract to MainMan. Namely these albums are Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust,
Aladinsane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs and David Live. The royalties were to
be divided equally between the two. This was a major victory for Bowie
as he got the royalties paid to him directly now as a lump sum, and not
after expenses were deducted by MainMan. Bowie's contract with MainMan
legally did not expire until the end of 1982. It was agreed that MainMan
would receive 16.66% royalties on Young Americans and any other material
recorded by Bowie until the expiration date of the original agreement.
As far as the income from publishing was concerned it was agreed that
MainMan would receive 25% and for live appearances they would receive
5%. RCA became very instrumental in helping to negotiate an end to this
settlement, and as far as I am concerned went above and beyond what any
other company would do for an artist and I feel that Bowie should be
indebted to them for their generosity. MainMan did not have enough money
to pay Bowie what he was owed and so RCA agreed to pay MainMan
$325,000.00 so Bowie would get paid. Not only that, RCA agreed to pay
all of MainMan's unpaid bills which amounted to around $590,000.00. This
money included 15,000 pounds a British court awarded Kenneth Pitt in a
management dispute with MainMan. In June Bowie heads to New Mexico to
star in his first feature film. Just prior to that he moves into the
house of lawyer Michael Lippman who becomes his new manager. Nothing
could have prepared Lippman for the character he let in his front door
and life was about to take a real turn. A turn towards the bizarre, that
is.

Lippman was under the impression, and who wouldn't be, that Bowie would
be easy to be around and by having him around would be an excellent way
to get to know his new client. What Lippman did not know was he invited
in something other than David Bowie. Michael Lippman had graciously
opened his home to a character he would find rather perplexing, and one
that was about to turn his residence, and his life, upside down. David
Bowie had become The Thin White Duke.

AladInsaNE

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

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

neilwilkes	Posted at 2025-01-18 13:33:29(6 days ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 09)
Uploaded: 761.83 GB Downloaded: 631.22 GB Posts: 751 Ratio: 1.21 Location: United Kingdom	Fascinating. Loving this occasional series!

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