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Bowie General > Images Vol. 15

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homebrewPosted at 2025-02-22 14:00:37(4 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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These articles appear just as they were posted in the Usenet group alt.fan.david-bowie by group member Jamie Soule aka aladInsaNE. I have made no attempt to alter the formatting, spelling, grammar or edit in any way.

--Personal Update: I am undergoing open heart surgery this coming Wednesday. There will be a pause in these postings for several weeks.--

Images: Part 15


Station To Station was released on January 23 and it told a painfully
familiar story. Bowie was well known, very well known as a matter of
fact to be labelled as a major recording artist. He was an influential
force that had taken the field of modern music and helped to shape it by
taking it in new directions never before attempted by other artists. He
was recognized as the first artist who successfully incorporated theatre
into live stage performances, ushering in a whole new concept that is
still with us today. Bowie was truly a pioneer. All of this recognition
however did not translate into record sales. Golden Years made it into
the top ten. Station To Station sold 552,791 copies.  That was roughly
370,000 copies less than his previous album, Young Americans The tour
opened in Vancouver on February 3rd, 1976 to a less than sell out crowd.
This would be common in most stops along the tour, and at some venues in
Europe Bowie played to audiences as small as three thousand. Many of
those who attended the performances in 76 got quite a shock, in terms of
not getting what one would expect at a Bowie concert. By now, because of
MainMan and the grand ideas of Tony Defries people expected something
extravagant and bordering on the bizarre. They expected an "event." It
was an event but an event in its own right.

There are always clones at Bowie concerts, Ziggy clones. These are the
fans who spare no expense when it comes to glitter, makeup and hair dye
in their attempts to emulate the transgendered pop icons of what the
media dubbed, Glam. This was a media brain dead enough to suggest that
Bowie belonged lumped in with this bunch. Bowie's presence on stage was
derived from far more "intellectual" sources that "sex." I guess the
media didn't want to go to the trouble of relating how Bowie got many of
his ideas for costumes and make up from the study of Japanese Kabuki
Theatre. That would make much to drab reading for the rock n' roll
"tabloids" which rely on stories about sex, scandal and parties to sell.
The clones looked horribly out of place. The real world kept
progressing,  yet the world they inhabit came to a grinding halt in 1973
and they were frozen in time.  Bowie had thrown away the glitter and
along with it went the hideously expensive stage sets. No more four
hundred thousand dollar municipalities, Hunger City had met the wrecking
ball. What replaced it was much more intriguing.

Bigger. Even bigger. As big as you can fucking build it, that's how big
most bands wanted their stages to be. Lasers, elevators, one ton mirror
balls, an inflatable confetti shooting penis, exploding aircraft, pink
pigs that fly, six story high projection screens,  one hundred piece
orchestras and the most daring pyrotechnics were all the order of the
day for bands on tour. Each one was intent on out doing the others, and
it was all started by Bowie and Defries with the debut of the Diamond
Dogs tour.  So, this time it was naturally expected that Bowie would
certainly have concocted something even greater than Diamond Dogs, so as
not to be out done.  Surely he would have something that would make the
Diamond Dogs set look trivial.  He didn't disappoint either, he brought
along something that would grab everyone's attention. This was truly
another first, a stage design so innovative that one could not help but
wonder.

Bowie had nothing. That's right nothing. There were no lasers, mirror
balls or pyrotechnics. There were no props except for a small winding
staircase, and the elaborate backdrops and screen projections had given
way to a plain black curtain. Gone too were coloured lights.  The stage
overhead  and on both sides were banks of white fluorescent tubes. The
two spotlights which followed Bowie's movements on stage were also
white. You could have built this stage from items purchased at a local
hardware store. The lack of anything proved to be absolutely brilliant.
Those who attended the show would soon understand when the lights went
out that this was to be one of the most phenomenal  visual experiences
that they would ever encounter in their lives. The experience would be
one so surreal that words would fail in an attempt to describe it.
Something would happen to those who saw this show and it would stay with
them a lifetime. This was far from a rock concert, it was an event,
something much deeper. This would be Bowie's finest tour and nothing
again would even come close to matching it.

Okay, stop. Yes the above statements on the 76 tour are biased. They are
as biased as you could ever hope to read and I am not attempting to
disguise that fact. On the contrary, I am flaunting it. You can satisfy
yourselves by regarding what I say as my personal "opinion" and
therefore which tours are better than others is a matter of personal
taste. I do not expect anyone to understand this but that is not the
truth in this case. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, sorry about
this, my "opinion" is correct. Now, my high regard for this period. Huh?
what am I trying to do by being evasive? I can hear the voices now, "Cut
the fucking bullshit. Regards, eh? Sure." Okay, I will try this again. I
am an insane when it comes to this period of Bowie's career. I live it,
breathe it and it has kept me mesmerized in a state of infatuated bliss
since I saw this tour from the fourth row on February 25, 1976 at The
Forum in Montreal.  I also collect this period and have done so since
February, 26, 1975 when I realized that in my usual brilliant state of
mind I did not purchase a tour program. I did get one soon after though,
soon being a period of some twenty three years. I have seen every Bowie
tour since, and usually numerous shows on each tour and I still stand by
my statement. If it is of any help I do have some that will come to my
aid and assist me should I require a defense. I will say in all
seriousness that you will find that the overwhelming majority of Bowie
listeners who saw this tour will tell you that it was an experience like
no other. Many will readily agree that it had a profound effect on them,
and one that lasted. I go by the old standard line, "You had to be
there."   I am, according to many,  unqualified as a critic when it
comes to anything which I write.  If  anyone who is reading this is a
Bowie fan who is interested in the 76 tour I wanted to let you know that
I did write an article some time ago about the show I saw in Montreal.
Now, in order to save myself from the embarrassment of having to rate
any of my articles I will just say this.  The Bowie fans who read it and
saw the 76 tour said that the article was a very accurate description of
what the show was like. Those fans who read it and had not seen the tour
expressed the opinion that they were left with a much deeper
understanding of what a performance was like in 1976.  If anyone is
interested in reading it then just email me and I will forward it along
to you, or if there are a few people then I will post it on this group.

The idea came from the stark contrasts of black and white photographs
and the effects that were able to be generated from the use of white
lights on a black background were spectacular. The stage was extremely
dark due to the backdrops and it was difficult to see anything on it
when the house lights went out. This allowed the band to walk out
virtually unnoticed. When Stacy Heydon hit the opening note, which was a
wail reminiscent of a train whistle, he was hit with a white spotlight.
It looked as though he materialized out of thin air, poof. The same for
each musician as they started their piece and joined in. Poof, one at a
time. It was magic to witness. What was really awesome was the way in
which the same technique was used slightly differently to create a much
more spectacular effect, one I will never forget. They reversed it. They
could make Bowie disappear by turning off the spotlight which was done
many times only to have him re appear on a different part of the stage.
The most bizarre effect was when they would illuminate his upper body
only so his legs could not be seen. This would make it seem as though he
was floating across the stage. This was the most visually surreal
performance that I have ever seen. Bowie appearing, disappearing into
thin air, floating and then vanishing again only to materialize
elsewhere. The band is there, then gone, then back again.. WOW!!!!!!!!
FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!

Concerts are fun.  This was not "fun." Bowie was not "fun." This was
serious. Bowie made sure the mood was set by opening each performance
with what is recognized as the most surreal film ever made, Un Chien
Andalou by Luis Brunnel, and the great painter in the style of Dada,
Salvador Dali. The pre concert music was hand picked by Bowie, and was
to set the stage for the audience to witness a razor blade slitting
open a human eye as the film played. This set the tone, the ambience and
mood, for which was to follow. Heydon starts as the film ends and the
concert seems to be a continuation of the black and white film. The
performance by Bowie was "played out" in front of you. Just like the
movie. The Thin White Duke descended a set of stairs, cape over one
shoulder and clothed in black and white. Flashing no colour except the
blue package of Gitanes cigarettes in his vest pocket and the gold
bracelet and cufflinks. The hair did not flash, it hypnotized. You
followed it. "The return of the Thin White Duke." announcing his own
arrival. This character on the stage was not real, it wasn't real. IT
WAS NOT REAL. NOT REAL!!!! No smile, no emotion. Serious, so serious.
The audience sat. Spellbound by the force. Sat and stared in wonder and
amazement at what was unfolding before them. This was a once in a
lifetime experience. They absorbed every second.

Vancouver saw it first, and on February 4th, 1976 the morning paper had
this as the header leading into a review of the show," Who David Bowie
looked like last night at The Coliseum: Sinatra Having A Bad Dream."
Now, to further defend my claim that this was the best tour ever the
review went on to say this about the show: "Bowie performances are-have
been-legendary for being massively orchestrated orgies of visual and
musical sensationalism. Which makes the current offering the biggest
no-show of his career. And possibly the best. The thing was absolutely
brilliant, maybe for its sheer audacity than anything else, but
brilliant nonetheless." It went on to say, " Now he gets to act the part
of a rock star acting the part of Frank Sinatra having a bad rock dream,
and a performance nobody else could pull off. Assuming that anyone else
would want to try." It ended with this observation," If you want
Bowie, you get him on his terms only. And understanding was never much a
part of it anyway."

So true. Agreed?


AladInsANE

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


""I don't begrudge any artist for finding an audience"
- David Bowie abt. 1987
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professormouseDonatedPosted at 2025-02-26 22:47:55(4 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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google techmoan
and his 'show' about albums
RCA was behind everything
@one time

reddit is full of chillblains who claim to 'like Bowie'

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stuartreedPosted at 2025-03-04 18:29:15(3 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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Hope all goes well Homebrew

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professormouseDonatedPosted at 2025-03-05 00:22:49(3 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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no it's not Grace Jones
:-@

do you know who has been borrowed on this version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwCSRfRdNYI

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neilwilkesPosted at 2025-03-07 10:56:46(2 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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Fingers crossed and special things being done to help with the surgery.

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SteveboyDonatedPosted at 2025-03-07 20:25:49(2 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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Good luck Homebrew on a personal note myself - I have just been diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Steveboy


NO DISCUSSION I JUST WANT TO LISTEN TO THE MUSIC
WANTED
FRANKFURT 1976
1978 REHEARSALS
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DavesolarDonatedPosted at 2025-03-08 11:13:02(2 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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I wish both of you " Good Luck" and stay strong, please.  :love

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CarmenDonatedPosted at 2025-03-12 10:24:59(2 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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Absolutely agree. The very, very best to you both.  :love

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MoonyDonatedPosted at 2025-03-12 18:50:54(2 wks ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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dang.. i wish you both the best...

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professormouseDonatedPosted at 2025-03-15 22:22:11(1 wk ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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the Scary Monsters sketch
writes itself
but
if you'd like some help
:-@

Fame
at last

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHLWVtoojJf/?igsh=c2wyZW1ua3NmMXRr&fbclid=IwY2xjawJC2xhleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVb2r3bm_42QD1BoDuI9ikQQDHS7Y3IlgkzpqaQ_t5Va9qKIUrZ6k3C-_g_aem_U3Zyr1JR0WZKqAvduMtEpg

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homebrewPosted at 2025-03-16 18:48:01(1 wk ago) (Bowie General / Images Vol. 15)


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Best wishes to you Steveboy. At the same time I was diagnosed with 4 heart blockages they also discovered a stage 2 lymphoma in my abdomen. The heart issue was more serious so they dealt with that first but after I heal up a bit I will probably have to undergo chemo and/or radiation treatments for the cancer.


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