Geraldine Quinn, chanteuse extraordinaire, plays The Butterfly Affair - an idea loosely based on the idea of getting different folk to pay loving tribute to well-known musical acts such as Beck, The Smiths, AC/DC, T.Rex and Kraftwerk.

Next Saturday is the last of these shows, and is billed as the Grand Finale - The David Bowie Extravaganza. Guests include Scott Brennan, Mark Woodward and Karlis Zaid. Definitely worth a look.

The Butterfly Club,
Saturday Nov 11, 10:30 PM
204 Bank St, South Melbourne
Tickets $22/18
Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com
or 9690 2000

A very interesting live event this year - and a great opportunity to meet with fellow Bowie fans - is a special tribute show happening this October in Sydney:

With The Alien Sex Gods featuring Peter Northcote, the glittering songbook of David Bowie will be posed, pouted and strutted with raunchy glam attitude! The Show will also include Jeff Duff, Iota, Steve Balbi & special guests.

Two nights from Sydney's best paying homage:

Fri 13 Oct - The Vanguard Newtown, Sydney, NSW

Sat 14 Oct - The Vanguard Newtown, Sydney, NSW

Click the flyer on the right to enlarge.

A few more dates have been announced for Adrian Belew's first solo tour of Australia including a couple of "Road Tales and Guitar Theatre" evenings.

Also, listen out for Adrian on Triple J with Richard Kingsmill and all over the radio waves and in the news in the next three weeks!

Philip Auslander - the Professor of Literature, Communication and Culture who lectured on David Bowie at Latrobe Uni last year has released a book titled Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music.

The book is published by the University of Michigan Press and Bowie is, of course, one of the major subjects.

More information here including some introduction chapters.

On Foxtel World Movies this month you can catch the support act to Bowie's 1976 world tour - Un Chien Andalou - a short film by Luis Bunuel co-written with the great Salvador Dali.

The 1929 surrealist film was later canonised by The Pixies in their song Debaser and of course covered by Bowie and Tin Machine.

The movie will screen on Sunday March 26 at 1:30am and then in the afternoon at 12:40pm

- Info from David

Today marks the Australian release of the 540 minute triple DVD set Dick Cavett Rock Icons

Among the 9 episodes is one of the most legendary and talked about TV appearances by David Bowie.

Corresponding is a short article in today's The Age (read it here). In reference to the DVDs, Jason Blake mentions that "the thin sound quality is variable and very much a product of the times but the visuals look surprisingly crisp."

According to a track listing at Shout Factory, both 'Young Americans' and '1984' are included (although 'Footstompin' is sadly omitted).

Rock Icons Trailer
	Windows Media Player		Apple Quicktime

95.3 VEGA FM Sydney and 91.5 VEGA FM Melbourne are having an exclusive special on David Bowie:

Time:
Wed evening, March 15, Vega FM - 8:00 PM
Sun morning, March 19, Vega FM - 9:00 AM (Repeat)

- Info from Stu / 96dbFreak

Sydney Morning Herald recently had an exclusive interview with photographer Mick Rock.

The interview includes considerable discussion of David Bowie, the infamous Ziggy guitar-fellatio photograph and the book Moonage Daydream which is now available in most major book stores.

Read the article here.

Released this week in Europe is the CD single of THE CYNIC by Kashmir featuring David Bowie. Given the unlikehood of an Australian release, you may wish to scoot over to Amazon Germany to pick up a copy.

"The Cynic" comes from the album No Balance Palace which was produced by Tony Visconti and released last October. Currently, the album is import only but it can be attained from Sanity Online and JB Hifi Online.

As a taster for the single, you can watch the video featuring Bowie:

Fast connection Medium connection Slow connection

A brand new Bowie E.P. titled Serious Moonlight appears this week on Australian I-Tunes.

The E.P. consists of four songs taken from Bowie's 1983 Serious Moonlight Tour (Space Oddity, China Girl, Breaking Glass and Young Americans) and is a precursor to the special edition DVD that is released overseas later in the week (however it remains to be seen when it will hit Australian stores).

If you have I-Tunes on your computer, click here to view the EP. If not, try downloading the software from here (it's free).

Following their 2003 cover of 'Ashes to Ashes' and support appearance on Bowie's 2004 Downunder Tour, Australia's Something for Kate have completed work on their 5th studio album......with a certain keyboardist that will be familiar to virtually all Bowie fans.

Stephanie Ashworth reports in their studio diary:

In similar news, Mike has also been working on the new album by The Polyphonic Spree who supported Bowie on North American dates and toured Australia early last year. You can read more about that at their own blog.

A couple items coming up on Australian TV:

Classic Parkinson: 1:00 PM, Friday Feb 10, ABC Victoria.

A repeat of the Parkinson episode featuring David Bowie, Clive James and Victoria Beckham. In addition to an extensive interview, Bowie performs Ziggy Stardust and The Loneliest Guy.

Grammy Awards: 8:30 PM, Friday Feb 10, Channel Ten.

David Bowie will be recognised in accordance with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards from the Staples Centre, Los Angeles. Unfortunately, this will only be a short presentation and there is no appearance by Bowie.

The EMI compilation Legends III (featuring Bowie's 'Starman' and Reed's 'Walk on the Wildside') has come in at number 17 on ARIA's best selling compilations of 2005.

Released last April, Legends III positions Bowie and a host of international artists side by side with local acts such as Crowded House, INXS, Stevie Wright and John Farnham.

Meanwhile, the soundtrack to the film Labyrinth (which intersperses 6 Bowie songs with Terry Jones' incidental score) gains local release today on EMI GOLD - a subsidary of the EMI label specialising in low price CDs.

The film and soundtrack were originally released just on 20 years ago and provided a lasting impression. One example of the continuing cult in Australia was a 1999 theatre version produced by Shepparton Kids in Theatre. In June 2005, the original film gained local DVD release with special features.

HMV Online has a list price of $12.95 for the newly re-released album.

It is confirmed. Adrian Belew, the visionary guitarist responsible for Bowie's LODGER album, the STAGE album, the LOW/HEROES tour and the SOUND AND VISION tour will descend upon Australian shores this April.

This will be a potentially once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for fans to get up close and personal with one of Bowie's great side men.

In addition to his work with Bowie, Adrian Belew has amassed 17 solo albums (an 18th is due in April) and has worked with such luminaries as Frank Zappa, Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails and Talking Heads among others. Belew has also led - for more than two decades - the legendary prog rock band King Crimson with Robert Fripp and Tony Levin.

As the new moon beckoned the Chinese New Year, Iggy and The Stooges took to the main stage of Princess Park, Melbourne.

Playing to a crowd of 50 000, The Stooges interchanged songs between their first two albums as young Melbournians, danced, moshed and crowd surfed to the raw intonation of punk songs invented almost 40 years ago.

The year of the dog was greeted with the classic 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'. Discerning Bowie fans will recall this number being played in the encore of Glass Spider concerts. Tonight, Iggy played the song twice - four songs in and then again at the very end.

Then during 'Real Cool Time', Iggy announced: "I can't stand a boring set. Come on stage. Get up here and fuck this shit up.....KILL ME!!!" About 40 kids rushed the stage and Iggy disappeared into a mass of bodies. People stayed on stage and danced for a couple more numbers as Iggy powered on.

The current Big Day Out tour reunites Iggy Pop with his former band members Scott Asheton (drums), Ron Asheton (guitar) and then adds new member Mike Watt (bass). Watt has been quoted as saying:

"Last time [in Australia] I was with J. Mascis at Cherry Bar in AC/DC Lane, and outside someone had written 'F---en Stooges' in the cement. Little did I know back then that I would actually be playing with them."

On his previous trips to Oz, Iggy recently said:

"I've been to Australia many times and have lots of great memories from my visits, although the highlight would have to be the time that guy Ian Meldrum got me to go on his television program, Countdown."

"Do you still remember Molly Meldrum down there? Is he still on television?"

"The problem was I had too much free time on my hands and I went on his show well and truly tanked, and just mimed a version of my song, I'm Bored."

"All these little kids in the studio started crying and yelling at me, 'You are not a pop star.....You're not nice - go away'.

"I think I terrified them."

In last weekend's Sunday Times, Iggy was quoted as saying:

"Bowie and I are still firm friends, but we are both obviously very busy. If he came to me offering to do the next Stooges album or write us a song, I'd have to check it out with the rest of the band. I just get a vote like the other guys."

On Friday evening, David Bowie will be narrating a two hour documentary called "Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s".

The program will be shown on Channel 7 at 12:30 AM after the coverage of the Australian Open (providing it finishes on time!).

Among the musical films represented are Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Saturday Night Fever, Gimme Shelter, The Last Waltz, and even the classic "mockumentary" This Is Spinal Tap.

Thanks to Geoffrey Schuck for the info.