andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

With the touch of a button, Nicolas Dresti delivers a shot of adrenaline to the sea of 30 thousand fans. Their screams are met with his quick rhythmic jumping and head bobbing to the beat on-stage. He’s not the main event, heck he’s not even a co-headliner, but he’s still the man orchestrating one of the hottest concerts on the planet – all from a laptop. This may be Lady Gaga’s party, but DJ Space Cowboy is the event’s power source – the battery that keeps the beat alive.

He’s now on top of the world.

On that night Dresti was the European energizer bunny, but now he’s recharging his own batteries at his hotel. It’s hard to believe that he is the key to Lady Gaga’s live performance successes. The man in the neatly-cut dark-suit and sparkling rhinestone skinny-tie seems sophisticated and quiet – the complete opposite of what a Gaga concert is notorious for.

But it’s true. Look at Dresti and his alter ego DJ Space Cowboy like you would Clark Kent and Superman – they’re both the same person, yet totally different at the same time. Put Clark Kent into a phone booth and he’ll become Superman. Well, put Dresti in front of an audio mixer and laptop, and he’ll suddenly transform into the backbone – or backbeat, if you will – as DJ Space Cowboy, Gaga’s DJ and head maestro responsible for explosive energy in any crowd.

His new album Digital Rockstar dropped earlier this week, and it’s one of the rare chances to really hear Superman-like energy harnessed into one CD.

“Raising the energy bar is one my main jobs as a DJ,” Dresti tells andPOP in the martini bar of Toronto’s Pantages Hotel.

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If someone decided to name climate change after one of the Rolling Stones, perhaps the world would take it more seriously.

That’s the genius behind a German scientist who recently discovered a new species of arachnid in Malaysia and dubbed it heteropoda davidbowie, according to the Telegraph UK. Peter Jager said he did so hoping it would draw attention to the plight of the species, which is often shirked on endangered animals lists.

Bowie was chosen as the namesake for the large, yellow, hairy spider (a genuinely freaky looking thing) because of his penchant for spider references in his music. His 1972 The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was followed by an international Glass Spider tour.

Jager has reportedly discovered more than 200 kinds of spiders in his last ten years of work. And Bowie isn’t the only celebrity to have warranted a namesake, according to Exclaim Magazine.

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Actors making the transition to recording artist are usually looked at with disdain, but it’s pretty hard to argue with David Bowie.

Bowie croons along with Scarlett Johansson on two tracks of her upcoming Tom Waits cover album, reports Ananova.com.

With big name support like that, the future looks bright for Johansson’s singing career. But will Waits himself be a fan?

“I sent him some of the early recordings,” Johansson noted, “and he said, ‘Go ahead.’ I’ve heard he’s very pleased.”

Meanwhile, Johansson’s day job is keeping her busy, with “The Other Boleyn Girl” opening next weekend.

Here’s casting news that will shock you, perhaps even more than when it was announced K. Fed would be guest starring on “CSI” this year.

Reuters is reporting that David Bowie (yes THE David Bowie), will join the cast of “Sponge Bob Square Pants” (yes the one who lives in a pineapple under the sea) in a guest starring role.

Bowie blogged that he will be the voice of a character whose name is Lord Royal Highness, and that hey couldn’t be more thrilled about his new job.

“It’s happened. At last. I’ve hit the Holy Grail of animation gigs. We, the family, are thrilled. Nothing else need happen this year, well, this week anyway,” Bowie said in his blog.

The episode will air sometime next year.

David Bowie is in talks to play inventor Nikola Tesla in an upcoming thriller from ?Batman Begins? director Christopher Nolan, reported Billboard Tuesday.

The cast of ?The Prestige,? a tale of rival magicians in early 20th century London, already includes Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine.

The Tesla character is based on the real-life Serbian-American scientist who discovered the rotating magnetic field.

The movie, which is based on Christopher Priest’s 1996 novel, is scheduled to shoot in January with a budget in the $40 million range.

Bowie has previously appeared on the silver screen in 1976?s “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” 1983’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” and 1996’s “Basquiat,” among others.

He most recently appeared in “Mr. Rice’s Secret” in 2000, the same year he ranked seventh on VH1?s list of the 100 greatest artists of rock and roll.