1974 January February March April MAY June July August September October November December

MY WORLD by David Bowie A WEEKLY DIARY EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN FOR MIRABELLE MAGAZINE

4th May 1974

Buenos dias, amigos!

   I'm having a great time getting into Latin dancing and as you see I've picked up some of the language to go with it, too! Anyway, back to the dancing... My friends Geoffrey, Wayne and Ava have been taking Angie and me to this fabulous Latin-American dance club in New York. It's called Corso's and it has different Latin bands playing every few nights and the people who go there are just the most fantastic dancers. I'm almost embarrassed to get up on the dance floor 'cos they just put me to shame in the dance department. I've always loved to dance but when it comes to rhumba-ing and tango-ing, I've got two left feet. I'm learning, though, and I'm determined not to get discouraged. Pretty soon, I'll be as good a dancer as the rest of them. Geoffrey and Ava are already terrific at it and they have a bit of a giggle seeing me stomp (instead of sway smoothly) on the floor.

   Speaking of Ava, her full name is Ava Cherry and she was one of my back-up singers on 'The Midnight Special' TV show I did for American television. She's cute and a really talented singer and she's just been signed by MainMan which, as you know, is also my company. I'm going to work on her first single with her and it's sure to be fabulous, 'cos she's got such a great voice, really powerful and dynamic. She's also a terrific looking girl and I'm sure she's destined to be a star. Remember, you heard about Ava here first!

   I've also been going way uptown to a really famous place called the Apollo Theatre. They have the most incredible bands playing there - people like B.B. King, who's a real old blues guitarist and singer; The Temptations - a great singing group who also have a fabulous dance routine; and The Spinners another really hot singing group.

   I've even been getting a bit of culture. Angie and I went to the ballet the other night and although I'm not your typical ballet fan I was really impressed with it. The dancers move so gracefully and are a pleasure to watch.

   Angie's calling me to come down and have a bite to eat. So goodbye until next time.

11th May 1974

   I must tell you about the wonderful night out on the town Angie and I just had. We decided to go out on a real date, just the two of us, like we used to do before we were married. So we left Zows in the capable hands of his nanny, Marion, and went forth into the big city. First we went to a quiet little Spanish restaurant. The setting was ever so romantic. Candles on the table, strolling musicians and wonderful food. I didn't like the idea of eating snails in green sauce at first, but once I had a taste of Angie's I found them absolutely delicious and wound up having two orders for myself. Thank goodness Angie is so adventurous with food, otherwise I'd be doomed to a life of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding!

   Anyway, after we just about stuffed ourselves with bread, wine and assorted other exotic dishes (I don't know how we both stay thin) we went to see a play which was written by one of our good friends, Tony Ingrassia, who also happens to be a MainMan artiste. Remember when I was writing my musicals, 'Ziggy Stardust' and '1984'? Well, Tony is the guy who was helping me write them. Tony's new play is called 'Fame' and it's about the '50s Hollywood movie queen, Marilyn Monroe. Angie has a special interest in the play because she was originally going to play the part of Marilyn. I think she would have been fantastic. She does look like a movie star, anyway, don't you think?

   The play was fabulous. I love stories about Hollywood and all the glamour and excitement. I've been in a few movies myself, you know, but now I've decided I like watching movies better than acting in them.

   Angie thought the play was great, too. She especially liked all the '50s costumes - swinging skirts, toreador pants and stiletto heels. She's got a wardrobe full of them already, and wears them whenever she gets in a '50s mood.

   After the play was over we went backstage to congratulate Tony and meet all the other actors. Angie told them they did an astonishing job (astonishing become Angie's favourite word, she uses it all the time) and then everyone thanked us for coming.

   We finished off this perfect evening by going to the 82 Club and dancing into the wee small hours of the night. We had such a great time that Angie and I have made a date to go out next week, too. In fact, if this keeps up we might even be going steady!!!

18th May 1974

   Hello again,

   Well, it seems that recently, every week, when I sit down to prepare this column, I have to wrack my brains to think of something different to tell you about. I don't feel that I have done much lately that would interest you, as so much of my time has been taken up in the recording studios.

   It also means that time seems to go incredibly fast, and it seems like only yesterday that I sat down to write to you last. When one gets down to an intensive recording project like I have been doing lately, it seems to take up all of one's time and energy.

   As you all probably know by now, and hopefully managed to see - Mick Ronson made his solo debut at the Rainbow Theatre and was, of course, magnificent. Mick is a true artiste. He takes his work very seriously and an incredible amount of preparation went into his first shows.

   Ronno decided that he had to be completely fit, as he had been off the road for some while, and spent a couple of weeks beforehand really getting himself into shape. He bought himself an exercise machine and worked on it for about an hour every day. You could almost see his muscles growing and developing by the day - he really believes in bodily health.

   For any artiste to be able to give their all during a tough stage performance they have to be very fit and in complete control of their movements for the whole time.

   He also got Suzie to choose him a new bicycle, and began rising early in the mornings and cycling off round Hyde Park for a couple of circuits. I don't think you would have believed it was Ronno if you had seen him! You see Suzie also bought him a bright yellow cycling mac which he put on and which would billow out behind him as he got up speed. He also cut down on his cigarette consumption by about half, so all in all Ronno got himself into the peak of physical health.

   Talking of that, I think that I'll have to step up my own fitness programme, because as you probably know, I am working on some stage plans of my own at the moment which are going to tax the Bowie body to the full.

   I'm working on a new musical which is going to be called 'The Nineteen Eighty Floor Show' - I think - at least that is the title it has at the moment. It's the music for this that I have been concentrating so hard on during the last few weeks. As you can gather from the title - it's to do with the future. I have always read a lot of science fiction, and that has given me a lot of ideas. In fact, it's been on my mind for some time now to work out some sort of stage show of this kind, and it's very exciting to be finally getting down to hard work on it - and seeing what were just ideas and thought develop into reality.

   I will shortly be discussing plans for its stage presentation with some American colleagues, but as my plans are still in such an early stage, I can't tell you much more at the moment. Don't worry, as soon as I know a bit more myself, I will be telling you all about it.

   Well, that's all for now.

25th May 1974

   I must tell you all about the wonderful new projects I've become involved in. I'm going to produce a movie called Oktobriana. What, you may say, is an Oktobriana? Well, Oktobriana is a who, not a what, and she's the beautiful blonde, super-heroine of a very famous Russian underground comic strip.

   I was given the collection of Oktobriana comic strips as a present - and while reading them it suddenly came to mind what a fabulous thing it would be to make Oktobriana (OK for short) a real person and film all her escapades. We'd even update the Oktobriana adventures and while she'd still be an exotic Russian, her adventures would be all over the world and she'd perhaps even wind up in space, occasionally.

   Then I got stumped. Who in the world could play the role of this invincible, indestructible heroine? Luckily, I didn't have to go too far for the answer to that question. MainMan's own Amanda Lear just happens to be the perfect person. Amanda is blonde with a very fiery temperament just like the lady in question and she also really does have a Russian background. She was absolutely destined to play Oktobriana.

   When I told Amanda about it she was very excited and we began working on scripts immediately. You know, of course, that I just can't resist writing in at least a tiny part for myself. We'll have to come up with a segment, 'Oktobriana Meets Starman', or something like that. Anything to get starstruck Bowie into the show!

   Anyway, Amanda is having such a great time with this character that she doesn't want to be known as anything else. As she says, "Amanda is the past, Oktobriana is today". She says this with a flawless Russian accent so one tends to respect her wishes.

   We're also having a wonderful time designing costumes for Oktobriana.

   Our plans so far have Oktobriana wearing clothes made out of animals skins, high boots on her legs and she'll also carry a shining sabre. This girl really means business. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

   Oktobriana also has an album of songs coming out in the near future. It tells of all Oktobriana's adventurers and her loves and I'll have my hand in producing this record, too!

   It's not going to be easy creating a match for the last great super-hero of the world, Ziggy Stardust, but Oktobriana is in mighty good hands.

Created: July 1997 © Paul Kinder

Last Updated: 3/1/99