MIKE STIPE AND REM

In my opinion they deserve a special mention on any Bolan list. Mike Stipe In particular has said time & time again ( in interviews) what an influence Marc Bolan was for him. He did the ultimate show of respect on their 1996 Cd "New Adventures in Hi-Fi" with a track called "Wake Up Bomb" by adding the Lyric-as chorus:

I get high in my low-ass boot-cut jean
I like being seen
I look good with my drink-eat-no-sleep, take-a-leap longevity
I get high on my attitude, latitude, 1973"

"My head's on fire and high esteem
Get drunk and sing along to Queen
Practice my T-Rex moves and make the scene
Yeah, I'd rather be anywhere doing anything "

Also lead guitarist Peter Buck acknowleges Marcs influence, which is so apparent in many of the latter tunes.  Ad to this Mike Stipes producing the movie "Velvet Goldmine" (which had a much larger Bolan type part -that was cut down when they decided to focus more on the relationship between the two main characters. But still there are 3 T-REX songs throughout the film-and "Placebo" have had a hit with their cover of "20th Century Boy"

So heres to You Mike & the rest of R.E.M. for helping to keep "A little Marc in you Hearts" 

Below is an excerpt from a recent interview with the band:

STIPE WAS NOT ALONE IN HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR GLAM. On early tapes of R.E.M. live shows in Athens, you can hear them covering a variety of glitter-laden classics, including T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" (a version by Placebo leads off the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack).  "We always did maybe 10 percent covers because we enjoyed it," says Buck, recalling how covers were frowned upon in local music circles. "People were acting like we're up there playing 'Smoke on the Water,' when instead we were doing obscure Troggs and Velvet Underground songs.

With everything ever recorded available on CD now, you forget that we were playing Velvet Underground songs when those records were out of print. I remember somebody came up to me when we did 'There She Goes,' and said, 'Wow, that's such a great song you guys just wrote.'  "It was unhip, but on the other hand, a lot of our peer group didn't want to ever play anyone else's songs and they ran out of ideas. I mean, I've played a lot of different stuff and I have a wellspring of understanding about what a song is that I can fall back on. But you know, the folks in Pylon, who were one of my favorite bands of all time, they really just ran out of songs to write. And Randy [Bewley] used really weird guitar tunings, and they really weren't familiar with other kinds of music, and they got to where they just were not able to create.

WHILE BUCK SPENDS HIS TIME AWAY FROM R.E.M. on his Seattle side projects Tuatara and the Minus 5, Stipe continues to involve himself in film. He's executive producer and helped supervise the music for Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes' new film set in the heyday of the glam-rock era. "I had an older sister who didn't listen to music, so I came to glam through punk rock, in '75, '76, when I was discovering Patti Smith, Television, Roxy Music and Magazine," recalls Stipe. "A lot of those people were talking about the New York Dolls and the Velvet Underground and Iggy and the Stooges, and you know, glam and alternative lifestyles.

So I went back and kind of found all that stuff.  "As a teenager at 15 or 16 years old--and particularly a teenager who was questioning my own sexuality and just trying to figure out what the fuck ... you know, what am I, how do I fit in here--it was great to discover this movement of music, however distant or however many years had passed since it had been vital, where there was a more fluid sexuality in a very heterocentric society. Even in the 1970s in the U.S., as open and free and sexually liberated as everyone was, it was still hard if you were a fag or if you were queer to figure out exactly where you fit in."

Does Stipe feel those labels have become more rigid again? After all, the term "bisexual" isn't heard a lot these days. "Yeah, and it was heard a lot then and it was good, you know? I'm personally against labeling, particularly something as fluid as desire. To me it doesn't really necessitate labeling, and bisexual just adds another category. And you know, it's good to have little offshoot everythings, but no one person is--I'm not going to make that statement--most people do not fit neatly into the categories that we've laid out culturally. There's a lot of overlap. And that's where things, for me, get really interesting."

HULLABALOO

The price ranges from £50.00 Pounds -   £150.00 depending on the size & framing
Most of the limited edition black and white photographs are available to purchase in two sizes. Each can be either mounted and framed in a riveted steel frame or mounted and unframed                                http://www.nowmedia.co.uk/gallery/mbolan1.html

14 x 20 mounted and framed.
4 x 20 mounted and unframed.
7 x 10 mounted and framed.
7 x 10 mounted and unframed.

Click the link to search the Marc Bolan one of the largest online Bolan listing/ items at **VINYL RECORDS** (I know I have to cange the logo);-)...    http://www.vtmusic.co.uk/artlist.aspx?&artist=Marc%20Bolan%20And%20T%20Rex    

Before the British tour (1977), he had taken T.Rex over to France for a few warm-up dates, which included an appearance at Le Nashville in Paris. While there, he reacquainted himself with the statues and paintings in the Louvre which had fired his imagination during the Riggs O'Hara expedition in 1965. After seeking out the statue of Hercules, he wrote in his tour diary that it was 'just the artistic inspiration to key the Bolan brain for boogie'. (Left is the Magritte painting of the tree titled "16th Septembre" in the Louvre.)

"Give me a C-Major chord and I'll give you a thousand melodies." - Marc Bolan

Highlighting music by some of the greatest Jewish composer in the past several decades, The Great Jewish Music series has paid tribute to first Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg and now British glam-rock pioneer Marc Bolan. Named as a primary influence by seminal punk rockers like the Ramones and Johnny Rotten, Marc Bolan and his group T. Rex forged a new music in the early 70's, confounding audiences and critics alike with his mercurial style changes and experimentations. Rejecting the complex time signatures and
advanced harmonies in fashion at the time, Bolan went back to the basics, bringing a primitive raunchy edge to his colorful cast of fantasy
characters. This compilation features a spectacular lineup of some of the most adventurous and creative rockers around, and is sure to be one of the most popular CD presented on the Tzadik label to date.

Jewish Composers

Track Listing for the "Jewish Tribute"
As always nice to see Lloyd Cole continuing his support of Marcs music wherever possible.
And a nice surprise to have Sean lennon & Melvins contibuting.

Most of the cuts are amazing if challenging listening the first time through. Do not expect the usual rock n roll-style covers though, or you will be sorely disappointed.

The first has been out for over a year from the Jim Carrey film The Trumen Show.
Included is a great Rock-a-Billy/Swing version by Big Six it is played during a sox-hop dance scene. I think you will be pleasently surprised by their version You can find the "Truman show" and "Big Six" Cd's at most online record shops..Update:* This is one of our older pages so I will just quickly update that since this writing marc has become almost a staple on Film and TV advert soundtracks, including the Highly acclaimed film "Billy Elliot" (info in Bits & Pieces)where almost the entire soundtrack are Marc songs, a high rotation Car commecrical in the USA & Europe for "Montero" and a RAGU Sauce advert.


Another release is by Placebo from the "Velvet Goldmine" film Which was also performed LIVE with Bowie at the "Brit's" awards show Also included on the soundtrack are two other Marc Bolan songs in their original T-Rex release.The third was just released on the soundtrack to the KISS insppired movie "Detroit Rock City" this version is by a band called Drain STH

More info coming soon -check the front page,Bits & pieces & The News section for other related info ...Rickster

Reported By Rickster:-)