Veteran rock icon David Bowie celebrated his fiftieth birthday, and promoted his new album, and raised money for the "Save The Children" foundation with an all-star concert on Thursday night, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lou Reed, Billy Corgan, Foo Fighters, and Sonic Youth were among the onstage guests, and here's how it went.

LODER: Most people who turn 50 in this business let it slide and don't mention it a lot, you've taken the opposite course, how come?

DAVID BOWIE: I tried to evade it but it's been impossible. I guess if I hadn't of wanted to go with the idea of doing a concert it would've been more underplayed. I really don't mind. I'm having a ball. I like where I'm at and this show is looking like it might be a real occasion to remember, for me especially.

LODER: So you're doing "Jean Genie" and "All The Young Dudes." Did you pick these or were these assigned to you.

BILLY CORGAN, Smashing

Pumpkins: The artist known as David Bowie, formerly Davey Jones, picked these songs for me.

KURT Did he figure you'd bring something special to these tunes?

CORGAN: I don't know because the first thing I said was wow, I love those songs but I cannot sing them, they're too high and he went "Don't worry about it." What do I say, you know?

LODER: Was David Bowie an important part of a certain time in your life?

ROBERT SMITH, The Cure: Yeah. It's not like anyone else would ask me to do this but I wouldn't do this with anyone else. He meant a lot to me when I was 13 to 16. I was a big Bowie fan. I went to see him 5 or 6 times.

DAVE GROHL, Foo Fighters: We were in the studio and we had heard that he wanted us to do it and of course we thought that would be amazing and I was walking through the kitchen in the house of the studio where we're recording, and I walked past Pat and he's sitting in the kitchen like "Oh yeah... oh really... " and I look at

him and he goes (points to imaginary phone) "It's David Bowie." And I said "What?" And he said, "It's David Bowie.

WILLIAM GOLDSMITH: And Janet's taking pictures of him on the phone.

GROHL: I go to his girlfriend Janet, the telephone, David Bowie! And she runs out and takes a picture of him.

LODER: Did you have to buy a present for him, it is his birthday?

SMITH: I did actually go out today and buy him a present.

LODER: What did you get him?

SMITH: I bought him a fossilized chameleon in a jar.

GROHL: I didn't bring a present, I'm so embarrassed. I was asked that question earlier and I didn't bring a present because I thought what does David Bowie not have? What could I get David Bowie?

KIM GORDON What do you give the man who sold the world? Ha, ha.

[article id="1440542"]LODER: Have you gotten some interesting gifts from these people, do you make them come across with stuff when they arrive?

BOWIE:

Their talent, Kurt, just their talent. Their presence is enough it really is.[/article]

LODER: Bowie's new album, "Earthling" will be out next month. The birthday concert airs as a pay-per-view special in March.