I was perusing the news section of Bowie’s web site and spotted a couple of photographs of Bowie using a Mac, not unlike the one that I am using to generate this blog post. I am a bit of a fan of the old Bowie and a bit of a fan of the Mac. Seeing both in the same image is a bit of a thrill for this old fart. I have seen photographs of Bowie using one of the coloured iMacs some years back. He was in Moby’s flat at the time. I managed a mention on his web site once. Another thrill for the old fart.
Bowie has been quite an innovative user of the net although he has been quiet of late. Via his web site, which has been around for 14 or so years, he has organised events where fans can contribute to album artwork, select tracks for live albums and even contribute to the lyrics of songs for his albums. One winner even had the chance to sing backing vocals on the track. He was releasing .mp2 files on his web site back in 1996. I had a dial-up connection and any chance of downloading the tracks was impossible so being a rather audacious yet quick thinking individual I drove to the offices of an ISP near my home. I asked if they could do me a favour and download the tracks for me. They did. Not bad, eh? I must have looked so pathetic in their eyes.
I took some photographs of Bowie way back in 1978. I was using a small ‘instamatic’ camera. A friend took some much better photographs with a proper camera. Were you alive then? All of the photographs are here.
David Bowie. Live at the Sydney Showgrounds, November 25th, 1978.
Have you got a tape of this show?
To the webmaster of Bowie’s site, on the off chance that you are reading this, for goodness sake remove those rather unpleasant Google Adverts off the web site.
April 7th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Don’t have a tape as such, but I am pretty sure I have it on vinyl somewhere (I know I have the 1978 Adelaide and Melbourne shows on vinyl). Could organise a tape for you but can’t be sure of recording quality and the vinyl may have adopted a few pops and scratches over the years – haven’t played it in a decade or so! Let me know.
April 8th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Hi Ken,
That is fine. The Sydney Show that is on vinyl was recorded on the 24th November, 1978. That gig appears on the Forever Yours bootleg.
During the show on the 25th November they performed Rebel Rebel twice as Bowie felt the conclusion could have had more punch. As a bonus, Bowie sang a few bars of “With A Little Help From My Friends” as well as the jingle from the Beer drinking commercial “I Feel Like A Tooheys”.
It was the last show of his first Australian tour. He was really enjoying himself, as was the band it seemed. I was lucky enough to go both nights.
Cheers, John.