“As was the case with Miles Davis in jazz, Bowie has come not just to represent his innovations but to symbolize modern rock as an idiom in which literacy, art, fashion, style, sexual exploration and social commentary can be rolled into one.”
Rolling Stone magazine
Bowie is the man who elevated his music to what can only be described as an art form.
Driven by an entirely deeper dynamic than most pop artists, David Bowie inhabits a very special world of extraordinary sounds and endless vision. Unwilling to stay on the treadmill of rock legend and avoiding the descent into ever demeaning and decreasing circles of cliché, Bowie writes and performs what he wants, when he wants. His absence from the endless list of “important events” has just fuelled interest.
Constant speculation about what the guy was up to has even led some to wonder if this is his greatest reinvention ever. David Jones! David Robert Jones was born in Brixton on January 8, 1947. At age thirteen, inspired by the jazz of the London West End, he picked up the saxophone and called up Ronnie Ross for lessons. Early bands he played with – The Kon-Rads, The King Bees, the Mannish Boys and the Lower Third –provided him with an introduction into the showy world of pop and mod, and by 1966 he was David Bowie, with long hair and aspirations of stardom rustling about his head.
Kenneth Pitt signed on as his manager, and his career began with a handful of mostly forgotten singles but a head full of ideas. It was not until 1969 that the splash onto the charts would begin, with the legendary Space Oddity (which peaked at No. 5 in the UK). Amidst his musical wanderings in the late 60s, he experimented with mixed media, cinema, mime, Tibetan Buddhism, acting and love.
The album, originally titled David Bowie then subsequently Man of Words, Man of Music, pays homage to all the influences of the London artistic scene. It shows the early song-writing talent that was yet to yield some of rock-n-roll’s finest work, even if it would take the rest of the world a few years to catch up with him.
Have you seen 'The man who fell to earth'? another showcase for his talents.
You will be missed David, you were a unique talent.
Nigel Benn was a powerhouse among boxers.
Known to his fans as the Dark Destroyer, his first 22 professional fights ended with him knocking out all his opponents—half of them before the first round was over.
The Lotus Esprit was a really innovative supercar with a composite bodyshell made out of fiberglass with some pieces even made of plywood!
Great handling, supercar looks, and even an acceptable ride.
I bought one in 1994. ESU 417 was a 1983 copper bronze Turbo Esprit. After gettting the car checked out by a specialist, I bought it for £6000 which seemed like an incredible bargain for such an exotic vehicle. Unfortunately due to a sticking wastegate, the original engine blew a head gasket after a couple of weeks. I was lucky to find a rebuilt Turbo HC engine which I had installed and then the car was back on the road. Very loud, very fast, lots of fun. The car came with me to Switzerland in 1996 before returning to the UK where I sold it.
I miss my Lotus, it was my first supercar and definitely an experience!
I have known Harvey for more than 30 years - yes, it shocked me when I did a quick calculation and realised how long it has been since we first met at university.
We shared a house for a while. Actually two different houses, first in east London, then 'south of the river' in Surrey Quays.
Harvey is a modest, generous genius. At university, one night he told four jokes backwards simultaneously - really, it was unbelievable.
After losing touch for too many years, I finally tracked him down a couple of years and visited him at his 'Domaine' in France. Great fun. A bientot my friend!
St Tropez is a great holiday destination. Despite the hype and celebrity and showbiz connections, it really is still a fairly unspoiled fishing village.
St Tropez has almost no large hotels and certainly none of the concrete monsters that are so common along the Cote D'Azur.
If you can find a good, reasonably priced hotel (as we managed to nearly 20 years ago and we still stay there almost every year) then St Tropez really is affordable and fun.
What an incredible woman!
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known by the pseudonym Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
Keys released her debut album with J Records, having had previous record deals first with Columbia and then Arista Records. Keys' debut album, Songs in A Minor, was a commercial success, selling over 12 million copies worldwide.
She became the best-selling new artist and best-selling R&B artist of 2001.
The album earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Fallin'" becoming the second American recording artist to win five Grammys in one night.
Her second studio album, The Diary of Alicia Keys, was released in 2003 and was also another success worldwide, selling eight million copies.
The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards in 2005.
Later that year, she released her first live album, Unplugged, which debuted at number one in the United States.
She became the first female to have an MTV Unplugged album to debut at number one and the highest since Nirvana in 1994.
Keys has made guest appearances on several television series, beginning with The Cosby Show. She made her film debut in Smokin' Aces and also went on to appear in The Nanny Diaries in 2007. Her third studio album, As I Am, was released in the same year and sold five million copies worldwide, earning Keys an additional three Grammy Awards.
The following year, she appeared in The Secret Life of Bees, which earned her a nomination at the NAACP Image Awards. She released her fourth album, The Element of Freedom, in December 2009, which became Keys' first chart-topping album in the United Kingdom.
She released her fifth album, Girl on Fire, in November 2012, which became Keys' fifth chart-topping album in the United States. Keys released her second live album, VH1 Storytellers, in June 2013.
Throughout her career, Keys has won numerous awards and sold over 35 million albums and 30 million singles worldwide.
Billboard magazine named her the top R&B songs artist of the 2000s decade. In 2010, VH1 included Keys on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Billboard magazine placed her number ten on their list of Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years.[9] In February 2012, Keys was ranked 14th on VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music list.
Keys was ranked at number thirty-three on VH1's "50 Greatest Women of the Video Era" list
Sad news today that Lemmy from Motorhead has died. I saw Motorhead play live at Donington in the '90s and they were an extremely talented band.
Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee has confirmed that without Lemmy, the band will no longer continue.
“Motörhead is over, of course,” he told Sweden’s Expressen newspaper. “Lemmy was Motörhead. We won’t be doing any more tours or anything. And there won’t be any more records. But the brand survives, and Lemmy lives on in the hearts of everyone.”
Lemmy, who died on 28 December, two days after being diagnosed with an extremely aggressive cancer, formed Motörhead in 1975 and was its only constant member, as singer and bassist.
“He was terribly gaunt, he spent all his energy on stage and afterwards he was very, very tired. It’s incredible that he could even play, that he could finish the European tour. It was only 20 days ago. Unbelievable.”
“It feels fantastic that we were able to complete the tour with him. It’s heartening that we didn’t cancel because of Lemmy. I’m incredibly grateful for the years we had, and that we had such a good time together.”
Recalling the day he heard Lemmy had cancer, Dee said: “It came as a shock, but when [Lemmy] went home he said, ‘I had a good run, fuck it.’”
Among the many artists who paid tribute to Lemmy were Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine, Gene Simmons, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx, and rapper Ice T.
Andy Warhol was really a creative genius.
Wikipeda says; Andy Warhol (/ˈwɔrhɒl/; born Andrew Warhola; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.
His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture, and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist.
The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives. It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist. Warhol's art used many types of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music.
He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1984, two years before his death. He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. He managed and produced The Velvet Underground, a rock band which had a strong influence on the evolution of punk rock music.
He is also notable as a gay man who lived openly as such before the gay liberation movement. His studio, The Factory, was a well known gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, drag queens, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons. Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films.
He coined the widely used expression "15 minutes of fame". Many of his creations are very collectible and highly valuable. The highest price ever paid for a Warhol painting is US$105 million for a 1963 canvas titled "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)". A 2009 article in The Economist described Warhol as the "bellwether of the art market". Warhol's works include some of the most expensive paintings ever sold.
The new 911 GT3 RS breaks boundaries – an experience we have no intention of keeping from you.
For that to be possible, nothing less than an explosion of power is required. Plus a tremendous amount of propulsion: the 4.0-litre flat-six engine delivers 368 kW (500 hp) and a torque of 460 Nm. With a maximum speed of 8,800 rpm, it pushes to the extreme – and yet never feels the strain.
Equipped with Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) as standard, this thoroughbred athlete blazes through the 100 km/h mark after merely 3.3 seconds – that’s 0.6 seconds faster than its predecessor. Nevertheless, the new 911 GT3 RS is also capable of slowing the pace down: the PIT SPEED button on the centre console activates a safety-oriented speed limiter, cooling the car’s temperament at a single stroke.
Engine power is converted into propulsive force by 7-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK), fitted as standard. Seventh gear is optimised for performance, and gear ratios are tuned for racetrack driving.
The chassis has been engineered for maximum performance. Dynamic engine mounts and Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) with sports tuning are all included in the standard specification.
The body of the new 911 GT3 RS has been fleshed out. By comparison with the predecessor model, it is around 30 mm broader at the rear and even 80 mm broader at the front. With its wider track, a 100 mm longer wheelbase and with rear-axle steering fitted as standard, the new 911 GT3 RS represents a new dimension in driving and roll stability and promises even better agility and driving performance.
This performance capability is underpinned by wider wheels and tyres as well as by the enlarged wheel diameter of 21 inches on the rear axle.
Despite the extra girth, the 911 GT3 RS is strict on weight. To increase its chances of victory and further reduce fuel consumption, many of its components are made from carbon and light alloys, such as magnesium or aluminium.