What started out as an innocent comment to the Daily Mail, Gigwise managed to turn into blatant rumor-mongering. In an article in the Daily Mail, T In The Park festival organizer Geoff Ellis remarked about Bowie, “It would be nice for him to do the Main Stage as soon as he feels ready. It feels like unfinished business.” (For those of you who don’t remember, Bowie was scheduled to headline in 2004 before he had to cancel the end of A Reality Tour due to his emergency heart surgery for a condition originally thought to be a pinched nerve in the shoulder.)

Anyway, Scott Colothan at Gigwise decides that molehill really ought to be a mountain. He wrote in his farticle, “The musical institution that is David Bowie is rumored to be headlining next year’s T In The Park festival.” Now I ask you, where exactly in Ellis’ comment did he say that T In The Park was actively working with Bowie to book him as the headliner? In no way can anyone who follows Bowie’s career deduce that because a festival planner wants Bowie to headline their festival that he will do so. Hell, he didn’t even headline the festival that HE planned!

And if that’s not enough to make you throw your hands up in disgust at Colothan’s article, he also mentioned that Bowie originally pulled out of the festival in 2004 due to a shoulder injury. Now if the date today were the end of June 2004, I could understand the mention of Bowie’s shoulder injury. But the date is more than 4 years after Bowie had to cancel and more than 4 years after finding out that the shoulder pain was due to a blocked artery. You know, the type of shoulder pain that is a common symptom of cardiac distress in men?! Gah! What journalist doesn’t have access to Google to check facts before sending an article to print? To be fair, with a bit of thought I can make an educated assumption that Colothan intended to refer to the original reason that Bowie gave for canceling – the shoulder pain. However as it is written, and especially in light of the blatant rumor-mongering, the line is misleading.

Maybe I’m unnecessarily getting my blood pressure up over this, but this article seems like it was written just to tweak the hopes of Bowie fans. Like maybe if the writer mentions the possibility of a live Bowie performance then fans will flock to the site boosting traffic for that month. We the fans with good memories and resources see what you’re trying to do Mr. Colothan… and rather than be simply let down to find out there are no actual negotiations being reported on, we’re aggravated.

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Then have we got a party for you! From one of our readers, Steven Evans: “My project will be an homage to Bowie, playing music he has created, performed, produced, written, as well as music he has inspired or that may have inspired him. It will feature everything from Iggy Pop to Visage, including Brian Eno, T-Rex, Bauhaus, Talking Heads, Jobriath, Pet Shop Boys, and many others. The night will be Glam, Dance, Rock and Roll, and even include some quieter moments (think “Space Oddity” and “Crystal Japan”). The inspiration comes from Bowie himself, and also from the many quarters he has inspired, including the 1980s New Romantics and the more experimental strains of Pop and Rock. Revelers are encouraged to dress the part!”

The name of the party is:

A Project by Steven Evans

of
by
for
about
related to
Mr. David Bowie

The party takes place this Friday, July 11 at 10 pm at SpiegelClub in the Spiegeltent at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. There is no cover charge. The SpiegelClub offers a late-night bar with music and dancing, the SpiegelClub is the region’s most exhilarating summer gathering place, where audiences and artists can meet over a drink or a casual bite and enjoy SummerScape evenings at Bard. Travelers may follow this link to find directions to the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Prior to Steven’s DJ set, Peter and the Wolf will be performed in the Spiegeltent beginning at 8:30pm, tickets $25. See the Fisher Center website for details on the program.

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“Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered” is the newest addition to the family of Bowie cover albums. In the spirit of themed David Bowie cover albums like “Goth Oddity“, this one is comprised of electronica covers. Truth be told, I’m not much of an electronica fan in general (though I do like the occasional electronic band) but there are a few fun covers on this album. The covers of “Loving The Alien“, “Sound + Vision“, “A New Career In A New Town“, and “Life On Mars” are quite ravetastic. I’m tempted to tie a pair of glowsticks onto the end of a couple of strings and dance around the house. On the other end of the spectrum, the covers of “Oh You Pretty Things” and “Sweet Thing” will make a great soundtrack for my next nap. And the cover of “Repetition” is disturbing – something about an upbeat song about domestic abuse seems so wrong.

Of course none of the covers can hold a candle to the originals, but it’s still a fun album for the hard-core Bowie fan…you know, not every cover can be as inspired as Bauhaus’ “Ziggy Stardust” or Xiu Xiu’s “Under Pressure”. If nothing else, the title of the album alone should be enough to get Bowie fans to buy it and add it to the collection – unlike “2.Contaminated Hopes of Every Outside Fan Everywhere“, ahem, I mean “2.Contamination“.

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