Bowie: A Biography - JFK247

MainMan’s attentions as a solo artist (whether he
wanted to be one or not, and by most accounts, he
did not). The rest of the band had reportedly first
become indignant once Mike Garson filled their
heads with empowering Scientology dogma. Angie
claims Garson was only there in the first place to
infiltrate Bowie and the Spiders and bring them and
the MainMan dollars to the church, something the
pianist (who has had no ties with Scientology since
1982) now denies. Regardless of the actual
motivations, it was decided that the Spiders would
be done after their sold-out July 5 show at the
Hammersmith Odeon. Filmmaker D. A. Penne -
baker was hired by RCA to shoot the concert at the
Hammersmith Odeon and capture Ziggy’s curtain
call for posterity. It was intended for release as one
of the first home video cassettes, a technology that
RCA was then developing, but would remain in the
vaults until 1983. The story of Ziggy’s retirement was
also leaked to the press so there would be no
second thoughts. The kids were killing the man and
Bowie was breaking up the band. He would do it in
style, in front of adoring fans, at the height of his
popularity and power, with Mick Jagger in the
audience and the documentarian who’d shot the
iconic Bob Dylan documentary Don’t Look Back
recording it all. Who cares whether it was true or
not? Was it ever true to begin with?
“Tony Defries had very grandiose ideas on this
next tour that he wanted to do, which we called tour
three,” Zanetta recalls. “It was to be this mega-mega-