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Nick Smart

@quietseclusion.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.3K following 350 posts

📚 Author: David Bowie: The Collector. 📖 Joint editor: David Bowie Glamour. 🏛 Joint curator and founder: BowieCon '22 and '23. 🌎 www.nicksmart.net

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · Sep 11

Still buzzing from yesterday’s press preview of the David Bowie Centre at V&A East Storehouse. Here’s my video tour of this dream come true for Bowie fans! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBDY...

David Bowie Centre Press Preview

YouTube video by Nick Smart

www.youtube.com

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 3d

Love it!

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 3d

Interested to see that Suffragette City doesn't make the cut.
When I interviewed Ian Hunter, he told me, "I rejected Suffragette City because I thought it was an average song. We had plenty of those!"
I love Suffragette City, but I kind of see what he means.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 4d

If Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory were one album, which twelve tracks would make the cut?

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 5d

Kansai Yamamoto’s asymmetric bodysuit, crafted for Bowie in 1973, became iconic in the Ziggy/Aladdin era. Inspired by Kabuki theatre and the yin–yang of opposites, it captured duality: masculine/feminine, human/alien, chaos/control. ⚡ #DavidBowie

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 7d

My alma mater. Good for her. It's a great place.

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 7d

🎉 Happy Birthday to the brilliant Tim Palmer — producer of the two Tin Machine albums that re-energised Bowie’s career! 🎸
Tim also joined us at the New York Bowie convention we curated.
We’re sharing photos from his six-page interview in issue 6 of David Bowie Glamour.

#DavidBowie #TimPalmer

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 7d

Out now! Text in French. Amazing photos! Recommended.

Philippe Auliac @philippeauliac.bsky.social · 8d

David #Bowie Hors Cadre, is now on sale worldwide.
amzn.eu/d/dcMMDVG
www.di-arezzo.co.uk/music/500224...
150 exclusive pictures and stories by award winning #Photographer Philippe #Auliac
Deluxe hard cover 33,93£
Introduction by Carlos #Alomar
@davidbowiereal.bsky.social
@harpercollins.bsky.social

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 8d

Wishing a happy birthday to Louise Lecavalier.

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 9d

At the David Bowie Centre I came across something truly remarkable: an original drawing by Bowie of his final character.

Is the character called the Blind Prophet or Button Eyes?

Bowie himself settled the question once and for all.

Check out the picture. 👀

#DavidBowie #Blackstar

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 10d

Happy birthday to Earl Slick. A great supporter of the fanzine. Here's the title page of the major interview he kindly did for issue seven - and a photo of him holding issue 6! Thanks, Slicky!

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 12d

His greatest live album IMHO. Released today in 1978.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 12d

On this day in Bowie history (29 Sept 1990):
Bowie closed his Sound+Vision Tour at River Plate Stadium, Buenos Aires, promising to retire his greatest hits. He ended with Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide; a fitting farewell before a new ’90s era.

(Here’s my ticket from earlier in the tour)

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 12d

OK. I'll combine that with my Figurine Pannini 9/10 complete 1978 football sticker book and we are good!

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 13d

“By the time I got to New York…”

On Sept 28, 1972, Bowie made his NYC debut at Carnegie Hall. Ziggy, the Spiders, and a star-studded crowd—Warhol, Capote, Radziwill, Rundgren—watched Bowie deliver a set of Ziggy and Hunky Dory classics. A night that marked the start of his U.S. breakthrough.

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 14d

I can match your fiver (English, slightly crumpled), throw in a half-empty bottle of Brut aftershave, and a rare limited-edition packet of Jaffa Cakes. That should surely seal the deal.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 14d

Spotted at the new V&A East Storehouse: Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies cards. Bowie & Eno drew on these during the Berlin years; cryptic prompts that could shift an entire song. A humble deck of cards behind Low and “Heroes”.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 15d

Wishing a very happy 74th birthday to Tony Sales! 🥳 I interviewed him for issue 3 of the fanzine—he was generous, engaging, and shared how Bowie lit up with the idea of a band after Glass Spider. Bowie’s history would be very different without him. 🎂

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 16d

Happy birthday to the one and only Angie Bowie! 🎂✨

A true force of nature, I had the privilege of interviewing her for Issue 7 of DBG & she was as candid, funny, and insightful as you’d expect.

Wishing you a wonderful day, Angie. Here’s to celebrating your unique place in the Bowie story. 💫

-Nick

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 16d

Today marks 30 years of Bowie’s 1. Outside! Released 25 Sept 1995, it was an ambitious, avant-garde return to form with Brian Eno. A complex journey of art & narrative—the first of the 'best since Scary Monsters' albums! 📸 John Scarisbrick’s photos set the tone (seen here in the fanzine). ⚡️🎶

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

Another Bowie fan visits the amazing archive at the V&A East Shorehouse. Madonna.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

Me too. One time, I was doing a talk to launch my book and in the Q&A, a grumpy man had a go at me saying I'm not a real fan if I didn't see the Ziggy tour. I explained that my mum wouldn't let me go as I was five years old!

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

Yeah, I agree. Seems like he did what a lot of artists do - a couple of good songs on an album to use as singles and don't worry too much about the rest. Previously, almost every album track was a classic in its own right.

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

I'm in!

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Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

Cool!

Nick Smart @quietseclusion.bsky.social · 17d

Doing all those Iggy songs was just a bit too much, wasn't it?

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