Bowie Ball 2026 - notes and photos!

 Group shot by Chris Crud: Christobel, Erika, Allan, and Spencer of the Vanrays, Rickshaw Jan 10 2026

My battery died. I got no photos of the Vanrays last night, but I got to dance to "Diamond Dogs" instead of trying to capture a perfect image; and then when my wife and her friend Christobel, AKA Wendy, wanted a group photo with me, Spencer and I were chatting about the Vanrays' powerhouse reading of Tin Machine's "Under the God." This is hiw he ended up un the photo! He was telling me he'd wanted to do a song with Nazis in it, he explained--a man who is sensitive to current events. Worth reading the lyrics! 

Under the God
Skin dance back-a-the condo
Skin heads getting to school

Beating on Blacks with a baseball bat
Racism back in rule
White trash picking up Nazi flags
While you was gone, there was war
This is the West, get used to it
They put a swastika over the door

Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy

Washington heads in the toilet bowl
Don't see supremacist hate
Right wing dicks in their boiler suits
Picking out who to annihilate

Toxic jungle of Uzi trails
Tribesmen just wouldn't live here
Fascist flare is fashion cool
Well, you're dead - you just ain't buried (yet)

Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy

As the walls came tumbling down
So, the secrets that we shared
I believed you by the palace gates
Now the savage days are here

Under the gods
Crazy eyed man with a shot gun
Hot headed creep with a knife
Love and peace and harmony
Love you could cut with a life

Under the God
Under the God
One step over the red line
Under the God
Under the God
Ten steps into the crazy

Bowie wrote that in the 1990s... what would he say about America today? 

Speaking of topical tunes, openers Disaster in a Dress did "I'm Afraid of Americans," too!

But back to the pic at the top, Chris Crud, in a glammy orange dress, obliged us and snapped the photo, but there were a bunch of other later bands besides the Vanrays that I didn't shoot -- I was saving battery to get a little Bombshells before it died altogether. Mission accomplished: 

All shots by me unless otherwise noted

Didn't get a good one of Siobhan, the guitarist -- there were just too many people to cross to the other side; and there was no shortage of photographers (I knew Bob and Gord but there were three other pros in the pit and lots of cellphone amateurs like me). I'm very glad Siobhan is back on the stage! Apparently she left Vancouver stages or 10 or more years after her husband died too young of cancer, which she mentioned in the course of dedicating the Bombshells' version of "Starman" -- which, sadly, I did not capture on video. They also did "Blue Jean" and "Suffragette City" and a song I didn't recognize. 

Erika and her friend Christobel got Face painted, too. 

(selfie by Erika)

By the way, here's my Straight feature with Mellow. Her Mom used to work for the Straight, apparently, and was tickled to get mentioned. I think Mellow told me her name was Zoe Friesen? She met her stepdad at the Straight; I think he was taking photographs for them... maybe his name was Ryan? It was hard to hear and there were lots of distractions; Mellow was popular last night! 

There were lots of costumes on display. Talesha was very diplomatic standing aside for the people in silver. I am glad not to have had to cheer her this time: my throat was ratched. The winner of the contest, I think, should be obvious. It's kinda nice that I have no idea whatsoever what their gender is:

But I think we need to do something to publicly acknowledge Talesha's presence -- her awesome care in costuming, her constant presence at shows, and the tirelessness of her dancing. Maybe if we're not going to give her a prize, we can actually name the prize after her or something? Definitely an MVP of the Vancouver scene: 

There were other MVPs present, often heavy hitters. Cass King did something odd with Bowie's "Lazarus," which people may or may not have understood, singing the song from offstage--I presume to mark Bowie's absence? People were confused, especially if they a) didn't know the song and its meaning or b) weren't in full view of the stage ("Is she up there, somewhere?" A lot of craning necks!). She also sung a reggae-fied version of "Rock'n Roll Suicide" with Roots Yard earlier in the night, while my wife and Christobel were getting their faces done, thereby missing Tania (Friends with Guests, Red Herring, Stone Cold Crazy) and Rachel Strobl (Coach StrobCam, also with Greg Kelly, who did double duty with Roots Yard and China Syndrome), also doing vocals, trading off with Cass. Rachel's look has changed a lot over the years; it took me a minute to recognize her. Check out her lead on "It Ain't Easy" on her Instagram.

I loved Tania's dress. Here's Roots Yard:

As for Cass King and the Cassettes, their funniest bit involved fighting for the right to do "Heroes," one of those songs that everyone vies for, which they won by agreeing to do, as a "contractual obligation," David Bowie's "The Laughing Gnome," which was rehabilited and reintroduced into the Bowie Ball repertoire last year by my buddy David M., who will no doubt be performing it TODAY, SUNDAY JANUARY 11th at the Bowie Ball pit. 

Cass was somewhat derisive about "The Laughing Gnome," joking that she had realized that only ten years separated "The Laughing Gnome" and "Heroes," which -- I can only paraphrase -- meant to her that, if, in your writing practice, you wake up one morning to realize you have written "The Laughing Gnome" (or something equally trivial), don't let it stop you. I have come to quite adore "The Laughing Gnome," however. 

Anyhow, her mild derision for "The Laughing Gnome" did nothing to stop the band from doing a hilarious, bang-up cover version of it, a jubilant, swingin' arrangement. Bowie himself was on the way to re-embracing the song in the last years of his life. If there is one thing I wish he could have lived to see about the Bowie Ball, it is the re-emergence of "The Laughing Gnome." 

I am sure the gnome would get a kick out of it, too. I didn't really get good shots of Cass but here's video of the first two songs in their set!

I think the only other video I'll post is for China Syndrome's "Ashes to Ashes." I am going to have to replay it to see what Tim sings in place of "Jap girls;" last time I heard him do the song, at the Princeton, he very noticeably omitted the racial slur, for obvious reasons, but it produced an awkward line reading -- a gap in the vocal. I noticed no such gap last night! (I've actually replayed it since I wrote the above and still can't make it out -- but it sounds okay, which is what counts; if you're going to change the lyrics, at least do it in a way that doesn't make listeners do a double-take). 

Check out the wicked guitar solo at the end of that clip by Mark Anthony Richardson of Ophelia Falling, guesting with the band...  

"The Laughing Gnome" wasn't the only super-early rarity covered. Lou Reed cover band Crushed Velvet reached way back into the Bowie catalogue to do the Kingbee's "Liza Jane," from back when Bowie was still Davie Jones. Real fun -- I preferred the early deep cuts to the late ones (favoured later by Spacejunk, say). Tamla Mah, seen above, joined them for a song, too! 

Star Collector, too, did a pretty great early Bowie tune called "Let Me Sleep Beside You." I was wiped out at that point and only got a distant photo. I liked there "Hang On To Yourself," as well -- one of the punkiest songs of the evening, though no competition for the Vanrays' "Under the God."

There are other bands I did get photos of, however. Shag the Band, whose name really needs to be given with all three words for the joke to work, did a marvelous "Young Americans," for example. They  had the most sequins, between band members and the guitarist had the Best Hat of the Night. I did think (to be mildly critical) that they needed to work on the male harmony vocals, but the women were astounding, as were all the female singers last night. 

What else do I have? Mostly just photos. Rebel Valentine, the MC and one of the Vanrays singers, and Dave Bowes, the event organizer, are pictured below. 

But like I say, my camera died during the Bombshells' set. I hope someone posts their "Starman," because it was a highlight, as was the entire set by the Vanrays (I was right up front when Phil, on bass, fell over; he's fine!). Even though I was exhausted, I got up and danced, and we then stuck around for the Walk-Ins, who I don't really know, but who did a great job of, for instance, "I'm Waiting for the Man," one of two Velvets songs that got covered. I was unaware that Bowie and Reed had sung that together. 

It was the first time I made it all the way to the end of a Bowie Ball. 

Anyhow, it's a great night of community and creativity and cover tunes, and those hankering for more should come to the Bowie Ball Pit, the all-ages next-day afterparty today at LanaLou's starting at 4pm today (Sunday January 11th). I'll be there, and David M. will do "The Laughing Gnome." How can you resist? 

I might add a Bob Hanham or Gord McCaw photo or two later, maybe, so check back here for a bit more in a couple days?