Loving Farewells To David Bowie At NYC Tribute Concerts – Quick peek at Radio City show on 4/1/16 and interview with Woody Woodmansey
The series of tribute concerts at Carnegie Hall, that Michael Dorf (best known as the man behind the Knitting Factory and now City Wineries) began in 2004 have become a highlight of the NYC Spring calendar. They’ve raised a lot of dough, over a million bucks prior to this year, for music education programs and celebrated the music of giants like Paul Simon Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, REM, The Who, Neil Young, Prince, and the Rolling Stones. In January it was announced that this year David Bowie would be in the spotlight. Coincidentally, the announcement came on the same day that news broke of Bowie’s untimely death. It soon became clear that one night wouldn’t satisfy the demand of artists who wanted to participate – to say nothing of the fans who wanted to attend – so a second night at Radio City was added. Last week, the shows began with a rehearsal in front of an audience at City Winery on Wednesday before stepping up to Carenegie and Radio City on Thursday and Friday respectively.
On Friday afternoon, I was able to meet with Mick (Woody) Woodmansey at Radio City as show preparations were underway. Woody first played with Bowie in an outfit called The Hype that mutated into The Spiders From Mars. He played drums on 1970’s The Man Who Sold The World, 1971’s Hunky Dory, 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and 1973’s Aladdin Sane. Along with the above NY1 report on the shows, here is some bonus footage of the chat with Woody. In includes some great insight into Bowie from the man who, sadly, is the last living member of the quartet (Mick Ronson and Trevor Bolder were the others) who made what stands to many as Bowie’s best loved and most memorable period. You can also scroll down and link to the January report featuring an interview with Tony Visconti who was musical director and led the house band for the tribute shows. Visconti spoke about Blackstar, gave his perspective of David in the studio, and revealed his favorite 3 Bowie albums. Visconti and Woodmansey will continue their Holy Holy tour tomorrow night (April 5th) in Boston.
