BDU is now home to an exclusive set of pictures from the film set of Let's Dance and China Girl.

From the Ausrock forums, the user named Stranded has the following to say:

"These photo's I took during the filming of the "Let's Dance" and "China Girl" video clips shot here in Australia back in 1981 or 1982. David Bowie was one of nicest musician's I have ever met. He was so down to earth, he liked to share a joke or two, wasn't up himself at all. He just liked being one of the boys. I caught up with him again about a year or so later on the "Glass Spider Tour". He came up and said hello, and he remembered my name......now that was cool! I will never forget the feeling being in this pub.....what a buzz that was." - Stranded.

The pictures have been added to BDU's Let's Dance video page. Thanks to 96dbfreak (Stu) for the tip about this.

Look out for the November issue of Classic Rock magazine which features none other than David Bowie and Mick Ronson on the cover.

Included in the magazine is:

* a 9 page Bowie article titled The Golden Years;

* a Jean Genealogy (Glam Timeline); and

* a 13 track CD titled "Trash: Glam 2.0 - The New Breed of Electric Warriors".

Collected over 10 CD's and released on December 7 in Australia is David Bowie's output with Sony/BMG.

The CDs are all housed in vinyl replica digipaks and feature many rare promo single remixes and non album tracks!

Order from JB Hifi or Sanity.

New Zealand actress Geeling Ng (the "China Girl" from Bowie's 1983 video) will join a celibrity lineup of showbiz and sports stars for the fourth season of Dancing With The Stars.

In recent times, Geeling has been manager of an Auckland restauarant, appeared in Shortland Street and the telly series Gloss.

DWTS has proved a massive ratings success since launching in 2005, turning dancers like Nerida Lister, Hayley Holt, Krystal Stuart and Jonny Williams into household names.

DWTS will screen on Tuesday nights on NZ's TV One from the end of February.

The November issue of Record Collector (now in newsagents) features a 17 page Bowie Bonanza titled Rarities and Oddities Uncovered.

Released Saturday Nov 17 is Craig David's sample of David Bowie's Let's Dance titled Hot Stuff (Let's Dance). The song is already a top 10 hit in the UK and can be heard on myspace here.

Meanwhile touring the country is The Last Town Chorus who will undoubtedly be playing their unique cover of Bowie's Modern Love as featured on the TV Show "Grey's Anatomy". Listen to the song on myspace here

It is time to start scheduling in some Bowie flix for this summer!

Labyrinth - starring David Bowie - will be returning to Melbourne's Rooftop Cinema.

Dogs in Space - another Bowie related film - will also be screened at the Rooftop Cinema.

Zoolander - the film with a Bowie cameo - returns to Moonlight Cinemas around the country this January:

Long time Bowie pianist Mike Garson appears on three tracks on Don't Panic - the debut album of Brisbane artist God's Girlfriend .

Listen to some of the collaboration on their myspace page.

Sydney Dance Company is proud to present Berlin - an enigmatic work exploring the city of Berlin as a symbol of decline and resurrection. The innovative score blends original composition from Iva Davies and Max Lambert with an astonishing variety of covers of songs made famous by David Bowie (Loving The Alien, "Heroes") , Lou Reed, Frank Sinatra and more.

Sydney: Theatre Royal,
9 Oct - 25 Oct - Tickets

Brisbane: Playhouse, QPAC
29 Nov - 8 Dec - Tickets

Returning to Sydney stage this December is Jeff Duff and the Alien Sex God's glamtastic homage to the great David Bowie.

Sydney: The Vanguard, Newtown
Friday 7 Dec - Tickets

Sydney: The Vanguard, Newtown
Sat 8 Dec - Tickets

A string-led interpretation of David Bowie's "The Prettiest Star" is one of the featured songs on the new album from Melbourne based band Andrew McCubbin and the Hope Addicts.

The album titled Blue was launched at the Northcote Social Club on September 6 and further live dates in Sydney and Brisbane are soon to follow.

The track "The Prettiest Star" is also being featured on the Australian jukebox at the ABC website or click the following buttons to listen.

One of David Bowie's lesser known albums 'The Buddha of Suburbia' is about to be reissued.

According to an article by Paul Cashmere at Undercover News, the reissue is due on October 2

Featuring David Bowie on two tracks ('Arnold Layne' and 'Comfortably Numb'), Remember That Night: Live at the Royal Albert Hall is a DVD of Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's solo concert at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2006.

To be released in Australia on Monday September 17, the DVD - directed by David Mallet - features other special guests including Robert Wyatt, David Crosby and Graham Nash.

A second disc contains 2 hours and 40+ minutes of extras and a 20-page booklet accompanies the DVD. More information here.

Pre-order at ezydvd.

Available now at Booktopia and Angus & Robertson is the brand new autobiography of David Bowie's long term producer, Tony Visconti titled Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy.

"A name synonymous with ground-breaking music, Tony Visconti has worked with the most dynamic and influential names in pop, from T Rex and Iggy Pop to David Bowie and U2. This memoir tells the life story of the man who helped shape music history, and gives an insight into life in London during the late 1960s and '70s."

Often touted as the first real music promo, The Jean Genie is cited in The Age this week by Juliana Chin, curator of the Melbourne International Film Festival's first ever session devoted to local music videos:

"[The Jean Genie] includes all the features that later came to be known as the MTV look: fast edits, flashing lights, plenty of colour and random moments that make little sense. It was shot in a day for $350."

"People who don't have the budget push the boundaries a bit more, and they don't follow that generic music video pattern," says Chin.

Fans of UK crime series Life on Mars can look forward to its sequel, which has a title continuing the David Bowie theme, Ashes to Ashes.

The bad news is that the new series will unlikely air here this year.

As part of the Sydney and Melbourne International Film Festivals, the David Bowie produced documentary Scott Walker: 30th Century Man will finally screen in Australian cinemas. The doco includes appearances from Bowie himself as well as Radiohead, Jarvis Cocker, Sting, Johnny Marr, Ute Lemper, Lulu, Damon Albarn, Allison Goldfrapp and Brian Eno.

In 1997, on hearing a birthday greeting from Scott Walker, Bowie famously remarked: “Wow. That’s... that’s amazing. I’ve seen God in the window. I’m... I’m speechless really.”

Be a part of this Australian premiere event:

Appearing just two weeks after the overseas release, the concert film of David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour will gain local release on Saturday July 7.

The DVD/video was filmed at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on November 7 and 9, 1987. As a strictly limited edition, it is accompained by 2 CDs of music from the tour.

The release is now available for pre-order through Easydvd and Herald Sun Hit (follow these links for full tracklisting and pricing).

If we required any further proof of the increasing cult of Labyrinth in this country, Australia is now to gain it's very first Labyrinth Masquerade Ball.

Come Saturday July 7, the Ball is set to take place at The Bull and Bear Tavern in Melbourne.

Visit the website for details .

Featuring such modern classics as "Life on Mars" (Bowie), "Rock n Roll Suicide" (Bowie), "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (Joy Division) and "Our House" (Madness), a new play titled Sleeping Beauty will grace the Melbourne stage this July 6 - 28.

Starring soul diva Renee Geyer, Sleeping Beauty promises to deliver us "the power and the passion of the great songwriters of our time, including Nick Cave, Elvis Costello and David Bowie."

More details here.

BDU members who witnessed 2001's Life On Mars rock opera might be interested to learn that keyboard extraordinaire Aidan Roberts and guitarist Liam Judson have formed a band called Belles Will Ring. Their debut album Mood Patterns has been released to a rave review in The Age.

Meanwhile the British TV Series Life On Mars kicked off on Australian screens on Sunday May 20. As described by the Sydney Morning Herald, the opening minutes featured the classic David Bowie song as Detective Chief Inspector Sam Tyler (John Simm) stood up after being dramatically hit by a speeding car. When Tyler climbs up and looks inside the old car by which he now stands, the same song is booming tinnily from an 8-track cassette player. As he reels from the realisation and all the blood appears to run from his face, the lyric rings out, "Take a look at the lawman/Beating up the wrong guy/Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know/He's in the best selling show/Is there life on Mars?". The Sydney Morning Herald described the scene as a 'stunning catapult' and with 'so many layers, it defies the viewer to look away'.

In other news, Arthur and the Invisibles (with character voice of Maltazard by David Bowie) is to be released locally on DVD. According to JB Hifi expect to see it in stores around July 4.

ARIA award winner Kate Ceberano sings David Bowie's "Heroes" on her brand new album of 1970s and 80s covers.

As the opening track of the album, Kate's interpretation has been described as having found "an eerie calm" in a "jagged" song. The title of the album - Nine Lime Avenue - describes the address of her childhood home in North Balwyn, Melbourne.

Tracklisting and details here. Thanks to Stevee for the info.

"Sweet as a nut".

B.U.S.T.E.D. (aka Everybody Loves Sunshine) - the 1999 gangster movie starring David Bowie and Goldie - has finally gained it's first local release.

According to JB Hifi, the film was released on Flashback on Friday April 13 and will be available for the bargain price of $4.95.

Further details are here.

Several site updates have occurred in the past week. These have been marked with the icon in the right column.

Included in the updates are:

* Chart information for David Bowie in Australia and NZ

* A page on filming Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence in the Cook Islands and NZ and

* A page on Bowie's connections to some Australian and NZ artists.

The excellent Bowie tribute show featuring Jeff Duff with The Alien Sex Gods, Peter Northcote, Steve Balbi, Damien Lovelock and Natasha Stuart will be returning to the Sydney stage this April.

Click on the flyer on the right to enlarge.

Saturday April 14 sees the local release of:

Young Americans 30th Anniversary Edition (CD/DVD) and

The Best of David Bowie 1980/97 (CD/DVD)

Wednesday May 2 sees the local release of:

Extras Season 2 (featuring episode 2 with David Bowie).

I was sitting in my bath, submerged in bubbles, when I heard David Bowie for the first time... writes superfan Kate Bush...

The latest MOJO Classic Special Edition magazine is a month-by-month, year-by-year celebration of one of rock music's greatest icons. Containing eyewitness stories, previously unpublished photographs, classic interviews, album reappraisals, the best Bowie songs from each era, plus a specially written Foreword by Kate Bush.

On sale 24 January 2007. Available in all good newsagents or by ordering online from here

David Bowie cohorts Nine Inch Nails, The Pet Shop Boys and The Pixies are all to tour Australia in the coming months.

Both the Pet Shop Boys and The Pixies are performing as part of the V Festival for which dates have been announced in the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. Tickets are available through ticketmaster here.

Nine Inch Nails are performing smaller venues in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Tickets are available either through ticketek or ticketmaster.

Former Bowie guitarist Page Hamilton will be touring Australia next month with his band HELMET. Recognised as forefathers of the post-hardcore/punk genre, Helmet's sound sparked a new brand of metal, crossing traditional music boundaries. Page Hamilton relocated to LA in the late 1990s and was involved in many projects including playing guitar for David Bowie. Now Hamilton, Thompson, Stevenson and Fuller return as the power force of Helmet to play shows around Australia in March 2007.

Concert Schedule:

The Prestige - the Christopher Nolan film featuring David Bowie as Nikola Tesla - will gain local DVD release on Wednesday March 21.

The film is being distributed by Warner Bros and can be purchased now from JB Hifi and EasyDVD.

Labyrinth - the Jim Henson / George Lucas fantasy featuring David Bowie as Jareth and Jennifer Connelly as Sarah - will be screening at Melbourne's Rooftop Cinema on Thursday March 15 .

For details on the rooftop cinema click here and for the full program click here. Tickets to this event are available from Moshtix here.

David Bowie will be appearing in the Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant comedy series Extras.

The second series kicks off on 14th February, with Bowie appearing in the second episode which airs on Wednesday 21st February on ABC Channel 2 at 9:00 PM.

After a very long wait, Bowie Downunder is finally home to pages on Bowie's 2004 visit to Melbourne. Included in the updates are pages for:

* ROVE LIVE

* Spooky Ghost Melbourne

* Melbourne Concerts

* CLUB UK Afterparty

A new film titled Arthur & The Invisibles (with the voice of David Bowie as Maltazard) has been released to Australian cinemas as of January 11.

Village Cinemas has this page.

Today is January 8 and David Bowie's 60th Birthday. In accordance, articles and tributes are appearing around the AU/NZ media:

Melbourne's The Age dedicated a full page on Saturday. The article titled "Ziggy Stardust at 60" can be read here.

New Zealand's Herald had an article on Sunday titled "Bowie - 60 Tomorrow and Bigger Than Ever". It can be read here.

Finally, lean back on your radio today (Monday) as 3RRR plays a near constant rotation of Bowie tunes from all eras between 12 noon and 2 PM.