WEBVTT - Chapter Six: Aladdin Sane (1972-1973) 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.680 Off the Record is a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:06.360 It was forty minutes before showtime and David Bowie was missing. 0:00:07.120 --> 0:00:09.559 This was never a good thing, but especially not tonight. 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.600 It was the final date of his Ziggy Stardust Tour, 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:14.920 the sixteen month trek that had taken him from the 0:00:14.920 --> 0:00:19.200 sleepy English suburbs to America, Japan and beyond. The tour 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:21.760 had begun on the back of a pub. Now he 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.040 was playing the hometown hero at London's Hammersmith Odeon Arena. 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.720 The show is being filmed for posterity, and high profile 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:31.400 friends like Mick Jagger, Lou Reed and Ringo Star were 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.600 there to cheer them on. Thousands of fans had gathered 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.920 outside the venue on the Summer's night in July. Many 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:41.760 came dressed as their idol was spiky day glow hair, 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:46.800 shiny sequined pants and dangerously tall platform heels. Their faces 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.120 were decorated with glittery disco drew guy makeup and brightly 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.440 painted lightning bolts. One of these fans was a thirteen 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:58.560 year old East London schoolgirl named Julie. Waiting outside, she 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:01.840 spotted a pale figure pacing anxiously amid the garbage and 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.399 an otherwise deserted alley behind the venue. He looked like 0:01:05.440 --> 0:01:08.440 just another Bowie clone, ready for the show. But then 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:11.480 Julie noticed his mismatched eyes, and slowly it dawned on 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:16.319 her this was no clone. She gingerly approached, eager to 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.120 offer a few words of praise and thanks. As he 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.199 beckoned her over, she quickly realized something was very wrong. 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:27.000 David was worryingly thin and dishoveled. His famous eyes were 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:29.840 filled with tears. He fled his dressing room for a 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:32.080 moment of solitude, but now he seemed relieved to have 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.200 someone to talk to for a few precious minutes. The 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.360 torment had been building for months, years, even, and he 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:42.560 was desperate to unload. David didn't know who he was anymore. 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:48.440 Was he Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie, David Jones. He called 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.520 his latest character a Laddin sane for a reason. He 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:54.760 was heading towards the brink of insanity. A complete physical 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.320 and psychological collapse seemed imminent. He could feel it coming. 0:01:58.880 --> 0:02:01.120 He was going mad. He in fighter to Julie as 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.040 his nicotine stained hands drew another cigarette to his lips. 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:08.920 Everything had gone right, but then all so wrong. His 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:12.120 marriage was all but over. His finances were a mess. 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:15.800 Louis didn't say it. His flirtation with cocaine is wreaking 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:20.120 havoc on his nervous system. Something had to change and fast. 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:24.480 David spied some frantic roadies sent to track him down. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.160 It was time to go. He said goodbye to Julian, 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:31.799 bounded back inside the theater, passed the guards down the hall, 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.919 up the backstage stairs to a balcony overlooking the street. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.080 From there, he surveyed the scene, staring out at his 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:41.840 fans waiting outside, the blessed who remodeled themselves and his 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.960 image to them. He was a god and he was 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.320 about to forsake them. But he had to. He had 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:52.440 to save himself. His manager's and patient Bark brought David 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.120 down to his dressing room. He stared in the mirror 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.280 as assistance touched up his makeup. The fragile face with 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.000 the injured eye. It looked at him like a stranger. 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.600 He knew what he had to do. David Bowie was 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:07.280 about to commit murder on the stage. He was about 0:03:07.280 --> 0:03:11.280 to kill off his greatest creation, Ziggy Star dust Clock's 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:20.840 ticking lights down Volume Up showtime. Hello, and welcome to 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:23.480 Off the Record, the show that goes beyond the songs 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.240 and into the hearts and minds of rock's greatest legends. 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.400 I'm your host, Jordan Runtup. This season explores the life, 0:03:30.680 --> 0:03:34.840 or rather lives of David Bowie. Today's episode looks at 0:03:34.880 --> 0:03:38.080 a Latin Saying, the American sibling of Ziggy star Dust. 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.560 The character was born on the road. As Bowie embarked 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:46.640 on his triumphant first pour of the United States, it 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:49.040 seemed like everything he had worked towards was coming true. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.680 Yet David felt more confused than ever. With his face 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:56.160 bisected by his trademark Lightning Bolt, the character reflects an 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.840 artist coming apart at the seams. The multiple identities David 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.280 araft It had originally brought him personal and creative freedom. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.920 Now they threatened to tear him apart. As the name suggests, 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.760 Aladdin Saying is a troubling self portrait of a man 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.240 on the brink. It was all David could do to 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:17.280 pull himself back from the edge. Passengers aboard the Queen 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.159 Elizabeth the second we're settling into the ship's fine dining 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.480 room when a strange figure appeared in their midst David 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:26.680 Bowie had made his entrance in fools Ziggy stardust regalia. 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.120 It was a black tie version of one of his 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.080 stage costumes, complete with wings protruding from his shoulders. It's 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:37.000 certainly made an impression. Some people gasped, others coughed up 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:40.200 their soup. They're all looking at me, David complained to 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:43.719 his dinner companions. Well what did you expect? Came the reply. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.279 For the remainder of his journey, David took his meals 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:52.800 inside his cabin. It was September. David was en route 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:54.600 to New York to kick off his first tour of 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.440 the United States. Rather than take the relatively quick flight 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.240 from London, he and his if Angie had opted for 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.600 a costly, yet refined week on the high seas. It 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.320 was quite literally the only way to travel. By this point, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.039 David had developed a serious phobia of flying. It began 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:14.760 during a recent vacation to Cyprus, when his plane had 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:18.359 been in an electrical storm and struck by lightning. Soon after, 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.640 his dead father appeared to him in a dream and 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.000 advised him never to fly again. That was enough for David. 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:28.120 If it flies, its death became his familiar mantra. His 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:31.080 fear was so intense that for a time he refused 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:33.359 to stay in hotel rooms higher than the fourth floor. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:38.680 David's manager, the cigar chomping compulsively fur coake clad Tony 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.520 to Freeze, saw David's phobia as an asset. It made 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.640 great copy, adding to the eccentrical lure of his most 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:49.520 important client. Rockers like Led Zeppelin and Elton John could 0:05:49.600 --> 0:05:52.719 keep their private jets. Ocean liners were a throwback to 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:56.200 the glamour icons of the nineteen twenties and thirties, making 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.040 it the ideal mode of transport for his rising star. 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.600 And make no mistake, David was a star, even if 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:08.640 no one else knew it. Yet for years, British acts 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:11.440 wanting to crack the United States had to start from scratch, 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:14.719 schlepping around small venues and playing third on the bill 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.960 the homegrown American heroes. Eventually, if they were lucky, buzz 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:22.200 would start to build. Tony DeFries planned to skip the 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:25.640 whole toil and obscurity part. David Bowie would arrive on 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:29.320 American shores as an a list. Soon enough, everyone else 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.679 would have to catch on. De Freeze insisted that David 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.400 would never open for anyone, but always headline. He wrote 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.359 outrageous clauses into his performance contracts, demanding the largest grand 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:43.200 piano in the city for each gig. Anything less than 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:46.200 nine ft long would result in the show's immediate cancelation. 0:06:46.880 --> 0:06:49.039 If a venue didn't have a private walkway from the 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:51.320 entrance to the dressing room, they would have to construct 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.599 the wall so David could remain unseen until showtime. In return, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.400 David was expected to act like a headliner to freeze 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:02.000 book David into weekends at high end hotels so he 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.760 could get used to v I P treatment. A big 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.280 and brooding Yorkshireman named Stewie George was hired as David's 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.840 personal bodyguard, and together they rehearsed sprinting out of venues 0:07:11.880 --> 0:07:15.680 into one of three vans left idling outside. They've grown 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:19.480 up with scenes of Beatlemania. Now they were planning for Bowiemania. 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:23.560 So far, only the fab Forward pulled off such an 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.520 ambitious Atlantic crossing. Tony DeFries planned to do it again 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:31.400 with Bowie. To announce the upcoming US tour, he flew 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:34.840 over top American journalists from Rolling Stone and Playboy for 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:39.040 an all expense paid Deluxe Weekend. The scribes were wind 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.080 and dyed at the Dorchester Hotel before being greeted by 0:07:42.120 --> 0:07:46.040 Bowie himself, who encouraged one and all to call him Ziggy. 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:48.360 Lou Reid and Niggy Pop were on hand for an 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.160 added dose of chaos before they all trucked over to 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.920 the Friars Club to watch Bowie and concert. The cocktails 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:57.480 or Derve's and hotel suite set to freeze back some 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.360 twenty thousand pounds, but it was a small price to 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:04.160 pay for column inches A blood of glowing magazine features 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:06.560 made David one of the most talked about performers in 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.040 the States, and he hadn't even played a note there. 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.680 To aid in his American assault, Defrees set up a 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.280 field office in New York City for his newly formed 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:22.239 management company. It was called MainMan. David loved the name, naturally, 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.320 assuming that it referred to himself, but it soon became 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.440 obvious that Defrees saw himself as the MainMan, which would 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.600 lead to some flashes down the line. The expensive offices 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.199 in Midtown Manhattan functioned chiefly as an opulent stage set 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:41.600 designed to project strength, importance, and above all success. The 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.360 rooms were decorated with elegant leather armchairs and framed portraits 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:49.280 of David. Desks were piled high with expense charges written 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:53.920 on custom MainMan stationary. He looked amazing, but the suggestion 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:57.960 of immense wealth was purely a facade. DeFreeze took a 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.680 similar approach with his employees, who were hired more for 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.640 their flamboyant sense of style than any professional skills. The 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.559 New York man Man office was staffed with an outrageous 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:11.880 cast of freaks from Andy Warhol's factory scene. Tony Zanetta, 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:14.400 who become friends with David the prior year when he 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.800 performed in the war Hall stage play Pork, was installed 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:21.840 as Mainman's president. Fellow Pork veteran Lee black shoulder As 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.040 was taffed as vice president, and Cherry Vanilla filled out 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.480 the ranks as publicity officer. Cherry was the only one 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:31.400 with any business experience, but that didn't seem to bother anyone. 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:35.160 In fact, that was their selling point. They were wild 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:39.080 rule breakers, capable of causing a sensation and looking absolutely 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:42.200 fabulous while doing it. This was much more in mine 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:47.400 with the image to Freeze was trying to convey. The 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:50.160 MainMan staff were urged to act and look like a 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.000 million dollars. This involved pretending that they had a million dollars. 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.400 They returned loose with company credit cards and encouraged to 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:01.000 pay for lavish meals with enormous groups of in destry insiders. 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.760 Man man have their own expense account. At Max's Kansas City, 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:08.079 the late night haunt of the downtown Elite, a fleet 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.280 of limousines were kept on constant call on top of 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.480 their hundred dollar a week salary. Staffers had their rent paid. 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:17.079 So did a group known as the f O d 0:10:17.320 --> 0:10:20.720 s or Friends of David, people who had no tangible 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.280 role within the company. This was all part of the 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:27.559 Frieze overarching philosophy. You have to spend money to make money, 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.000 But whose money was it? Where was it coming from? 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.000 It was a question that nobody bothered to ask. They 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:38.800 were too busy launching a star. In an effort to 0:10:38.800 --> 0:10:42.000 build an extra layer of mystique around David, DeFries turned 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:46.640 down nearly all interviews. Instead, requests were forwarded the Cherry Vanilla, 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.560 who took a somewhat unorthodox approach to her role as 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.640 David's public relations officer. Once she flashed the crowd at 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.679 a press conference, another time she bit the rear end 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.520 of a female reporter. And then there was the time 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:02.360 she went on American radio and told listeners that David 0:11:02.480 --> 0:11:05.679 was not only gay, but a communist to boot. But 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.400 war Hally and MainMan staff knew little about David's actual life, 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.240 so they felt free to embellish when appropriate, and also inappropriate, 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.920 sex was usually a talking point. Cherry Vanilla frequently described 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:22.200 David two reporters as quote the sexual Antichrist. During one 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:25.360 high profile radio interview, she claimed that David made a 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:28.240 point to sleep with everyone who worked for him. The 0:11:28.280 --> 0:11:33.280 following day, Mayman offices were flooded with job applications. By 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.640 the time he ducked in New York in early September, 0:11:35.760 --> 0:11:39.280 the city was buzzing for Bowie. Members of the press 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:43.640 were on hand to cover his arrival. Profiles ran in Time, Newsweek, 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:47.640 and Rolling Stone, the ladder of which included this memorable description. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:52.559 His hair dyed bright carrot sticks straight up above the brow. 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.200 His smooth white skin is stretched from bone to bone 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.840 in his face like telegraph wire along poles. He changes 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:04.160 the expression constantly, as wind blowing across a lake. Instantly 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:10.200 a static electricity. Everything about his appearance is extreme. Advertisements 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:13.640 for Bowie's album and tour towered over the streets and avenues. 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:18.240 Brick walls bore chalk scrawls bearing the words Ziggy Rules. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.400 Considering David's toward begun in the back of a pub 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.360 six months earlier, this was all pretty far out. David 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.040 had some serious business to attend to. As he settled 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.240 into his plush suite at the Plaza Hotel, it was 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:34.400 decided to supplement his backing band, now touted as the 0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.080 Famous Spiders from Mars, with a new keyboard player, and 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.559 they had just five days to find one. Mike Garson 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.520 came highly recommended, with a background and avant garde jazz. 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.080 He logged time backing the likes of Mel torm A, 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.839 Nancy Wilson, and Martha Reeves. Now he was eking out 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.600 a living in tiny tourist clubs for five bucks a night. 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.680 He had begun to think, Man, I think I really 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.280 need to go out on the road with a famous 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:03.640 rock star. Soon his wish was granted. That's September, he 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:05.840 got a call from Maine Man asking if he wanted 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:09.200 to do audition for the Ziggy Stardust tour. Garson had 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.960 never heard of Ziggy or Bowie for that matter, but 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.640 it was either that to go back to teaching piano lessons. 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.720 He showed up at the r c A Studios, where 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:21.199 Bowie's guitarist and de facto musical director Mick Ronson plays 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.400 sheet music on the piano. Garson's site read it on 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:28.080 the spot, adding jazzy flourishes as he went. He only 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.520 played about seven seconds before Ronson stopped him. He had 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.040 the gig. Garson would become a crucial component of bowie 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:40.480 sound over the next few years, mastering classical, jazz, pop, gospel, 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:44.240 pretty much everything but rock, and that's what Bowie loved 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.600 about him. Garson, who was rumored to have practiced eight 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:51.120 hours a day for ten years, brought a studied intensity 0:13:51.160 --> 0:13:54.520 to the band. Bowie referred to the keyboardist, who was 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.079 a devout scientologist at the time, as Garson the parson. 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.760 After some quick rehearsals, Bowie was finally ready to make 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.240 his American debut. It had been scheduled for September twenty 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:10.680 two in Cleveland, the Heartland rock capital, where a local 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:14.240 kid had formed the first US Bowie fan club. Due 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.360 to David's no fly policy. The band and crew made 0:14:17.360 --> 0:14:20.480 the long trip from New York by bus. De Frieze 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.160 had drafted Tony Zenetta to act as tour manager, but 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:25.960 the title meant nothing to him. What does the road 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:29.280 manager do, Zenetta asked the Freeze. Just make sure they 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:33.160 find Cleveland. Came the impatient reply. De Frieze was busy 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.760 doing battle with the Cleveland promoter, who had failed to 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.720 provide a properly huge baby grand piano. De Frize was 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:42.040 ready to pull the plug on the show. Before the concert, 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.280 organizers borrowed a suitably enormous set of keys from the 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.920 city's Symphony Orchestra. A sold out crowd of thirty two 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:51.920 thou people packed into the Cleveland Music Hall to watch 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.720 Ziggy Stardust live and in the flesh. The screams were 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.480 so loud that Mike Garson resorted to stuffing cotton in 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:02.000 his ears in the ends. The audience couldn't contain themselves 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.800 and invade at the stage. Afterwards, David met a twenty 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.840 one year old fan from acron name Chrissy Hind, future 0:15:08.840 --> 0:15:11.720 front woman of the Pretenders. She and her friends show 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:14.320 Feurdom around in her mother's oldsmobile to get a meal. 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:19.760 How's that for some good old fashioned American hospitality. David's 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.360 first concert in America had been a resounding success, but 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.480 the real test was still to come in New York City. 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:29.640 If he could make it there, he could make it anywhere. 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:33.480 He was booked to play Carnegie Hall. The Beatles had 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:35.720 been the first band to rock the hollowed venue on 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:40.120 their triumphant American debut in nineteen sixty four. Eight years later, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.480 David was hoping for similar luck for all of their 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:47.360 promotional fireworks. His records weren't selling in the States. It 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.520 was crucial that he went over this media mecca. The 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.960 main man Warhol contingent were tasked with distributing tickets to 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:56.560 the great and good of the New York literati, most 0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:59.360 of whom had never even heard of David. Seats were 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.560 given to True and Campody, Jackie Kennedy's sister, Lee Razzwell, 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:06.280 Todd Rundren, and the New York Dolls. Cherry Vanilla would 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.920 later say, we peddled David's ass like Nathan sells hot dogs. 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.040 The show was hyped into the social event of the season. 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.920 Andy Warhol was limited to just two tickets and Atlantic 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:20.120 Records Chief Ama Dagon reportedly couldn't get his hands on 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:23.800 any made Man received four hundred applications for the one 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.680 hundred press seats available scalpers on Seventh Avenue. We're making 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:30.680 upwards of fifty dollars on tickets with a face value 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:35.120 of six bucks. On the night of the concert, Kleague 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.400 lights on the steps of Carnegie Hall lit up the 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.440 sky like a classic Hollywood film premiere. The Marquis bore 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.680 the words fall in love with David Bowie. It was 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.720 a declaration fulfilled. Any semblance of New York cool had 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.200 melted away by the end of the show, as newly 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:55.120 minted Bowie fanatics were dancing and Carnegie Hall's historic aisles. 0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.400 Despite being feverish with the flu, David earned a rapturous 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:03.440 five minute a vation. The press were equally enthusiastic. A 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:06.800 star is born. I've always wanted to write that in review, 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.840 and now I can, gushed one reporter. Another declared the 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:15.480 sixties are well and truly over. The publicity led to 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.680 an influx of requests from promoters, and soon the eight 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:23.040 date tour swelled to include an additional eight weeks. Bowie 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:29.639 Mania was beginning d C. Boston, Kansas City, Indianapolis, St. Louis, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:33.960 Salt Lake City. David's torbus barreled down the long stretches 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.640 of highway past the ever changing landscape. Cities turned to forests, 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.240 which turned to deserts. David was living out his cherished 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.320 fantasies of Jack Kerouac's character is in On the Road, 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.160 the book that had liberated his imagination as a young boy. 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.280 As is so often the case, the fantasy doesn't always 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:55.600 equal the reality. On his first journey to America the 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.120 year before, a man in Texas way at the gun 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.719 at David for wearing a dress. This trip featured similar 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:05.439 hostilities as he struggled to connect in the South. Members 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.680 of the Ku Klux Klan came out in droves to 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:11.480 pick at his gig in Nashville, objecting to David's bisexuality 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.800 and supposed Communist sympathies. David arrived at ten thousand ced 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.520 arenas in St. Louis, Kansas City and Miami, only to 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:21.920 find that a few hundred people had bothered to turn up. 0:18:22.600 --> 0:18:25.240 Ever the pro he gathered the small crowd into the 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.560 front rows and performed an intimate cabaret style set just 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:32.600 for them. Dates and Dallas and Houston sold so poorly 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:36.760 that the Freeze had to cancel them completely. Even if 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.080 the shows were a bust, they had fun as they 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.520 made their way through the American heartland. David and his 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.000 band loved to crash the sleepy hotel, cocktail lounges and 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.639 full ziggy stardust makeup and costumes just to see the 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:54.040 open mouth stairs of the usual clientele. Sometimes they had 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:57.679 too much fun. One morning, road manager Tony Zanetta got 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:01.399 a frantic call. David was miss sing. The crew was 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:03.760 packed up and ready to go, but their star was 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.440 nowhere to be found. A short time later, Zanetta got 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.920 another call. It was David. He had no idea where 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:14.480 he was. I'm in a house. There are trees everywhere. 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.760 I think I'm in the middle of a forest somewhere. Somehow, 0:19:17.880 --> 0:19:19.960 a bell hop at the band's hotel was able to 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:23.439 work out David's location based on that sketchy description, and 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:28.240 disaster was averted. This time. The partying came to a 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.840 head in late October when the Ziggy start Us tour 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:34.680 pool in the Los Angeles. By then, the entourage had 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:39.480 grown to forty six people, including an assortment of drug dealers, groupies, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.840 a professional palm reader, and diggy pop. Just for the 0:19:42.880 --> 0:19:45.720 hell of it, all were booked into the ultra lux 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:50.399 Beverly Hills Hotel at our sier's expense. Most spent their 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.520 days lounging by the pool and ordering huge meals of 0:19:53.520 --> 0:19:57.080 lobster thermidor for themselves and random horus they met strolling 0:19:57.080 --> 0:20:00.680 Hollywood Boulevard. All were welcome, just send the bill to 0:20:00.760 --> 0:20:05.320 our c A Records and Tapes. David liked l A. 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:10.040 It suited his lust for glamour, insatiable hedonism, and compulsive 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.440 need for chameleonic character changes. He was surprisingly sober during 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:16.800 this time, wanting to keep a clear head for the 0:20:16.840 --> 0:20:19.000 pair of make or break dates at the Santa Monica 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.879 Civic Center. His chief outlet was sex. His bungalow at 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.119 the Beverly Hills Hotel hosted a parade of local groupies, 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.720 visions and glitter and platforms. His latest serious fling was 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:35.520 with Andy Warhol's newest factory girl, nineteen year old Surrender Fox, 0:20:35.760 --> 0:20:38.640 who would later go on to marry aerosmith Steven Tyler. 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.120 David liked her so much he called her into his room. 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:43.760 The chat when he was in the middle of having 0:20:43.760 --> 0:20:48.320 sex with other women. This was quite a compliment. One night, she, 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.360 David and Angie had a threesome involving a bathtub, Lady Godiva, 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:57.480 Wig and lots of pearls. Stories of David's seduction are endless. 0:20:58.080 --> 0:21:00.639 Once at a party, he's at his side on a 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:04.679 woman dancing with music producer Kim Fowley. David sidle up 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:06.960 to Fouley and politely asked, are you in love with 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.639 this woman? Or may I take her into the bathroom? 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.760 Receiving no objection, David approached the woman with a well 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:16.000 honed pickup line, how do you do? I'm David Bowie. 0:21:16.160 --> 0:21:18.920 I'd like to discuss life at the Universal whatever my dear. 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:23.120 Hand in hand, they went off in search of a restroom. 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:26.080 A gang of jealous drag queens followed in hot pursuit, 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:31.399 all eager for their private moment with Ziggy. David's sexual prowess, 0:21:31.440 --> 0:21:34.320 to say nothing of his impressive physical attributes, has been 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:38.399 widely commented upon. He was a romantic, described as a 0:21:38.440 --> 0:21:42.480 tender yet aerobic lover and an excellent kisser. To quote 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.679 Cherry Vanilla is one time pr manager and occasional romantic partner. 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.480 It never felt like we were just having sex. It 0:21:49.520 --> 0:21:52.280 felt like we were really making love. He was either 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:55.320 a fabulous actor or a man whose emotions ran deep. 0:21:56.359 --> 0:22:00.320 David's voracious sexual appetite was slightly frightening to some members 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:04.080 of his inner circle. He seemed down for at any time, anywhere, 0:22:04.560 --> 0:22:07.480 in the limo, in the bathroom, on the sidewalk in 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:10.320 front of the hotel. Back in his days as a 0:22:10.359 --> 0:22:13.600 student that promptly TechEd, David used sex as a power 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:18.359 play to capture attention. His newfound fame only amplified this tendency, 0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:22.199 and the effect was startling. Cherry Vanilla, who shared a 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:24.639 bed with him on more than one occasion, believed he 0:22:24.720 --> 0:22:27.960 was a sex addict. Another intimate would describe him less 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:31.000 charitably in this period as quote screwing everything that moved 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.600 and quite a bit that didn't. The crew joke took 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.440 on a scary realism one night at his hotel when 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.359 a sinister member of the Hollywood show business elite offered 0:22:40.359 --> 0:22:43.919 to procure a dead body for his pleasure, still warm 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.960 if he liked, David was deeply horrified and rejected the 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:53.440 indecent overture. However, there is the troubling claim of Laurie Maddox, 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:56.320 a member of the so called Baby Groupie's Click of 0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:59.439 teenagers that hung around with visiting musicians who roamed the 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.960 Sunset Strip Clubland at night, also known as Lori Lightning. 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:07.720 Maddox is perhaps most famous for her tempestuous relationship with 0:23:07.800 --> 0:23:11.480 Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page when she was a miner. Prior 0:23:11.520 --> 0:23:14.440 to that, she said she lost her virginity to David 0:23:14.440 --> 0:23:17.360 Bowie during the Ziggy Stardust tour when she was fifteen 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:20.800 years old. Her version of events is varied considerably over 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:25.080 the years and occasionally features historical impossibilities, leading some to 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.600 doubt her story, but she's repeated the general just for 0:23:28.680 --> 0:23:32.640 decades and tells her tale with utmost fondness. The way 0:23:32.640 --> 0:23:37.080 it happens was so beautiful, Maddox said, I remember him 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:40.120