January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
SEPTEMBER
October
November
December
A WEEKLY DIARY EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN FOR MIRABELLE MAGAZINE
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1973 January February March April May June July August SEPTEMBER October November December |
A WEEKLY DIARY EXCLUSIVELY WRITTEN FOR MIRABELLE MAGAZINE
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After Italy I had to go back to France again, to that famous old Chateau d'Hérouville, which I've told you so much about, so as to do some work with Ronno on his new album. I'll tell you all about that another time - right now I'd like to tell you about another friend of mine who has an album coming out soon.Her name is Dana Gillespie, and she is currently playing the role of Mary Magdalene in the West End Show 'Jesus Christ Superstar', also, she just got signed for a big role in the next film being made by the director Ken Russell, which is going to be about the composer Gustav Mahler.
I first met Dana at the Marquee Club in London, where I was singing at that time with my band, The Mannish Boys. I'll never forget seeing her standing there brushing her hair in the mirror. I walked up gently behind her, took the brush from her hand and ran it softly through her beautiful long dark hair. She was only fourteen years old, but she had her own set of drums and lots of great musician friends. We all used to get together in her flat which was on the top floor of her parents' house in South Kensington and we'd just play music for hours. One day we got so carried away making music and dancing that we crashed right through her floor. Luckily no one was hurt, but Dana's parents thought it would be a good idea for her to move to the basement flat, where she still lives!
Well, it's been a long time since I carried Dana's toe shoes home from school and I'm so proud of her all she's done, especially her new album, 'All Gone'. She even sings one of my songs on it, 'Andy Warhol'. Actually I wrote it especially for her a few years ago, but I just couldn't wait to record it myself, so I put it on 'Hunky Dory'. You'll hear a few touches by Ronno and myself on the album, but Dana wrote almost all the songs on it herself, and produced it too!
8th September 1973
Well, I guess while I'm telling you about my friends who sing and dance and play guitar, I should also remember not to forget my MainMen and crew who display their talents in the lights of an office, and who helped me so much to do my thing in the lights of a stage. Without them I would never have been able to 'get the show on the road' as they say. Even though I don't have a show to get on the road right now, there are plenty of other schemes and projects that they are helping me with. They are my friends, and they are the people who relieve me of the burden of keeping all the loose ends together while I surge ahead in a stream of creativity, but most of all they are totally 'bannanas' and an endless load of fun!
Most of the people at MainMan, U.S.A., were formerly actors in 'Theatre of the Ridiculous' type plays in New York City. These are usually very low-cost productions performed in a very small theatre with a maximum of outrage and a cast of Max's Kansas City Stars. (Maxi's Kansas City is a very fashionable New York restaurant/club/entertainment spot where a lot of very interesting people seem to meet).
They are the most highly creative and entertaining plays I have seen, though sometimes terrifically boring!
Tony Ingrassia's plays are by far the funniest, craziest, most real and even most outrageous of all these kinds of plays, and now I have Tony and almost his whole stable of actors working for me, and they seem to love it!
It all started back in the summer of '71. I was playing at the Country Club just outside London. I had long blond hair then, a big felt hat with a feather and yellow patent leather 'Mary Janes' (shoes!). Mick Ronson was with me and Rick Wakeman was playing the piano. Lee Childers and Cherry Vanilla walked in and the whole place just lit up. Cherry immediately introduced herself to Angie and me and told us all about the column she was writing for a magazine entitled 'Circus',... called 'Cherry Vanilla... with scoops for you'.
Looks like I've run out of room again, so I'll save the rest of the story for next week...
15th September 1973
Last week I was just beginning to tell you about the lovely Cherry Vanilla. You remember I mentioned she was writing a column for 'Circus' magazine; well, also she was playing Pork in the Andy Warhol play 'Pork' which was in rehearsal in a London theatre called the Roundhouse. So that evening (if you remember I was playing in the Country Club), when I came to singing my song 'Andy Warhol', I asked Cherry to stand up and take a bow, which, of course, she did - in great style! Lee Childers was taking photos.
After the show, we had a drink and chatted some more whilst Cherry enticed us to come and see her show, due to open in a few days. She promised me a 'good mention' in her column, a few complimentary tickets to 'Pork' and a night of dancing in a club after the show one evening. So then they left... they had to get their sleep for an early rehearsal next morning.
Lee was 'Pork's' stage manager and photographer.
Next time I saw them it was from my seat at the Roundhouse. There was Cherry up on the stage dressed (or rather not dressed) outrageously. We went backstage to see Lee and Cherry afterwards and then all went dancing. Cherry and Freddie (I hope you remember who Freddie is by now!) just never sat down all evening they were so busy dancing. That was just the beginning of our great and long friendship. Little did we know that one day we would all be working together!
So when Angie and I sailed to America on the QE2 to begin the first American tour, we found that DeFries had hired the whole lot of those theatre people to run MainMan. They were sort of 'between plays' and extremely energetic and enthusiastic and they performed their jobs as if they were roles in another show, and they were still on stage. Of course they had to make up their own dialogue and improvise constantly! Most of their previous rock 'n' roll experience (especially Cherry's) was strictly social! Well, they came through with flying colours and have run all three of my tours since then, as well as the day to day MainMan business... and most of all, they have provided me with great fun and inspiration.
22nd September 1973
I'm going to start off this week by telling you how much I'm missing Angie. She's always so good in helping me choose the right shirt for the right occasion, and the proper vegetables to serve little Master Zowie Bowie, who also misses his dear old mum.
Daniella is always around, of course, and Freddie and Ava do take very good care of both Zowie and his dad, but Angie has such a strong presence and is so organised in running the Bowie household that we do all fall apart a bit when she's away.
As I told you last week, Angie has been in America with her agent meeting various directors and producers, auditioning for films and television shows.
During her visit to Los Angeles with Tony Zee and Cherry she made an appearance as a guest on the 'Tonight' show, and from what I've heard she really looked fantastic, and got Johnnie Carson the host, a little shook up with her personality.
Tony DeFries sent me a video cassette tape of the show so that I could view it on my portable video recorder, but it seems that the cycle difference between the American and English systems caused a little problem in the playback - but tomorrow I shall have an adapter and I will be able to see at least an electronic reproduction of my lovely wife.
Since I started working on my new musical, 'Ziggy Stardust', I've been spending most of my evenings at home writing and imagining scenes, sets, lights and characters - but in order to relax once in a while and to catch up on the gossip I've been inviting friends over for a spot of tea and company.
Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood have been frequent visitors of late, and we usually sit around listening to music until the wee small hours, turning each other on to our favourite sounds.
I'm about to embark on a new project with favourite group The Astronettes. You'll be hearing more about them in the coming weeks.
Oh well, we sure are missing Angie but, of course, she now has a career of her own to follow and we expect her back with us really soon.
See you next week!
29th September 1973
Hello again,
At the moment it seems that I spend my whole time at the recording studios. Sometimes I think I should just take my bed and live there for a while, as I never seem to have much time for anything else. Recording is, of course, a very important and natural outlet for me, and once I have got involved in a session, time just seems to rush past, and I realise that apart from slipping home to sleep at night, I haven't seen anything of the rest of the world for days.
Angie is still in America, continuing with her screen tests and career interests, and I'm really missing her very much indeed. For her own part, Angie has been pretty homesick as well, though we both understand that work has to force us apart occasionally. Last week she persuaded Daniella to bring Zowie over to visit her for a while, and so there was the usual pandemonium within the house while little Zowie's clothes were pressed and packed and all the travel arrangements were made. Zowie was, of course, very excited and went around telling everyone that he was going away to see his mum who was a long way from home. Eventually Daniella became nearly as excited as he was, and they were both rushing backwards and forwards in a panic! Angela has now taken a house in Beverly Hills, right next door to Carole King, so I expect Zowie will come home singing all of her songs and telling me how great she is. I've also heard that Angie and some friends had dinner with Warren Beatty just recently, and so when I speak to her tonight I shall ask her all about it.
Lindsay Kemp, who I expect you have heard me talk of and who is a great mime artiste, staged a production of a play by a great French writer called Jean Genet. The play is called 'The Maids', but it ran into a lot of censorship trouble over here. And so last week I asked a couple of friends from my office in London to go over to Paris to try to contact Genet and explain some of the problems Lindsay was running into. Genet is a great recluse and very difficult to get hold of, and I believe that they had a lot of adventures trying to track him down. My aim is for Genet possibly to come to London, as I am sure he will appreciate the production of his play, and help to get some of these silly bans lifted as I really don't like to see good art and theatre being lost through misunderstanding and bad publicity.
Anyway, I think I'll climb down off my hobby horse now and get myself ready to leave for the studio and get back to work. So take care of yourselves until next week.
| Created: April 1998 © Paul Kinder | Last Updated: 2/1/99 |