{"id":5105,"date":"2025-09-10T13:18:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/10-things-we-learnt-at-the-new-david-bowie-centre-151322\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T13:18:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T13:18:28","slug":"10-things-we-learnt-at-the-new-david-bowie-centre-151322","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/10-things-we-learnt-at-the-new-david-bowie-centre-151322\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things We Learnt At The New David Bowie Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We went to the press viewing for the new David Bowie Centre<\/strong><\/a> at the V&A East Storehouse<\/strong>. Here’s 10 things we learned there… warning: contains spoilers<\/em>!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We went to the press viewing for the new David Bowie Centre<\/strong><\/a> at the V&A East Storehouse<\/strong>. Here\u2019s 10 things we learned there\u2026 warning: contains spoilers<\/em>!<\/p>\n

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1 From Apple to the end, Bowie kept everything<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The archive contains 90,000 objects. These date back to Bowie teens, including his July 1968 rejection letter from Apple, signed by Peter Asher (\u201cAs we told you on the phone, Apple is not interested in signing David Bowie\u2026 we don\u2019t feel he is what we are looking for at the moment\u201d). A more recent revelation are the copious notes, written on coloured stickies, for a proposed play called The Spectator that Bowie was working on before his death. This would have been set in London in the 1700s and included characters such as criminal Jack Sheppard, William Hogarth and the Mohocks, an eighteenth-century street gang. \u201cMany sex scenes\u201d promises Bowie, zesty to the end.<\/p>\n

2 We now know Major Tom\u2019s surname<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is an entire section devoted to Bowie\u2019s unrealised projects. As well as The Spectator, we learn more about Eno and Bowie\u2019s proposed Leon In India concert through illustrations and an action plan (\u201cmeeting of art dudes \u2013 Oct 15\u201d). There\u2019s also Bowie\u2019s handwritten treatment for a Young American film. This was to be set in 1932 and featured a character called Major Tom Brough. And have you ever heard of Catastrophy Cabinet? Or All The Emperor\u2019s Horses? The answers lie within.<\/p>\n

3 Thin White Duke wasn\u2019t kidding<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The costumes on display confirm that Bowie\u2019s waist remained snake-like throughout his life. So you can directly compare the waist size of one-legged Ziggy catsuit with his Earlhling distressed Union Flag frockcoat. From the ceiling hang suit carriers containing another 20 iconic costumes, from Freddie Burretti\u2019s Ziggy outfits to suits from the 2003 Reality tour. There\u2019s also a selection of Bowie\u2019s gorgeous shoes \u2013 the first things you see on entering the space after one of Bowie\u2019s old 12-string guitar.<\/p>\n

4 Touch that dial<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plan ahead and you use the V&A\u2019s Order An Object service, which allows anybody to pick up to five items from the collection and make an appointment to see them in person. There have already been more than 500 appointments booked but if you move fast, you could get your hands on the ARP synth from Heroes<\/em>, the Japanese koto from \u201cMoss Garden\u201d or the pipe he smoked on Saturday Night Live<\/em> as soon as October 1.<\/p>\n

5 Never eat with goblins<\/strong><\/h2>\n

To give a flavour of the Order An Object service, facsimiles of some items have been collated in Topic Boxes covering different subjects including Lyrics, Music Making and Costumes. This are well worth browsing. Not only can you find Bowie\u2019s Indonesian lyrics for an unrecorded 1991 song called \u201cAmlapura\u201d, but there\u2019s also a letter about the challenges of making Labyrinth. <\/em>\u201cI could see the potential of adding humour to this strange little rubber world,\u201d he writes but the goblins \u201cwere terrible company at lunch break\u201d. This was one of many examples of Bowie\u2019s thorough preparation before interviews. Included are his notes ahead of a conversation with Jeremy Paxman about the future of music that includes soundbites he plans to use.<\/p>\n

6 Chicken cocktails all round!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bowie even kept his menu from Berlin\u2019s Schlosshotel Gehrus, which he visited with Iggy Pop and Tony Visconti. All three men noted what they had ordered. While Bowie went for the bird\u2019s nest soup (4.25DM) and Visconti the french onion (4.50DM), all three plumped for the odd sounding chicken cocktail at 10DM.<\/p>\n

7 Rhyme time<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Fascinating insight into Bowie\u2019s lyric-writing process comes in one of the Topic Boxes on Music Making, showing his search for rhymes. He starts with the sentence \u201cthis one will never go down\u201d, followed by other sentences containing words thar rhyme with the above \u2013 \u201chiss soon spill feather blow town\u201d, \u201cabyss shun kill sever bow brown\u201d and \u201ccrevice undone refill blather mow gown\u201d. It\u2019s a different slant on the cut-up technique.<\/p>\n

8 Like Bowie, there will be ch.ch.changes<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Three of the David Bowie Centre\u2019s themed cabinets will change every six months. For the opening, these three include a look at the influence of drum n bass on Bowie in the 1990s, a cabinet devoted to Gail Ann Dorsey, and one featuring objects by two guest curators \u2013 Nile Rogers and the Last Dinner Party. Dr Madeleine Haddon, the David Bowie Centre\u2019s curator, says this will change to ensure the centre is \u201cin conversation with contemporary conversation\u201d.<\/p>\n

9 Use the guide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In keeping with the show-don\u2019t-tell philosophy of the V&A Storehouse, there is very little in the way of signage on each cabinet. So if you want to know more about the handwritten lyrics for \u201cWin\u201d, get a handle on the various items of fan art (Bowie kept everything he was sent) or locate Bowie\u2019s unused idea for the Low <\/em>cover, you will need to get hold of one of the official free-to-use guides that help visitors navigate the centre. We recommend this highly to get the most out of the space.<\/p>\n

10 Fancy a souvenir?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ah, but there isn\u2019t a shop. However, from the museum caf\u00e9 you can browse the online shop and pick up some \u00a32,700 Terry O\u2019Neill prints. Or if you are feeling less rich, an exclusive V&A Ziggy tote bag for \u00a315.<\/p>\n

David Bowie Centre at the V&A Storehouse opens on Saturday September 13<\/strong>.
Access to the David Bowie Centre is free. Tickets are released\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0every six weeks.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post 10 Things We Learnt At The New David Bowie Centre<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We went to the press viewing for the new David Bowie Centre at the V&A East Storehouse. Here’s 10 things we learned there… warning: contains spoilers! We went to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2414,31,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david-bowie","category-features","category-lists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}