Monday, January 11, 2016

David Bowie [1947-2016]

Artist: David Bowie
LP: 7" single
Song: "Ashes to Ashes" 
[ listen ]

Like lots of other people, I was shocked to wake up today to the news that David Bowie had died. It just didn't seem possible. He's The Man Who Fell to Earth! He's not a moral being. I figured he'd just keep getting older and older forever, until finally Iman, maybe with some help from Catherine Deneuve, had to lock him away in the attic of some swanky 19th century penthouse in Manhattan

I remember the first time I encountered David Bowie. It was 1981 and I was 12; my brother and I were watching MTV at my disapproving Grandma Bea's house in Yakima when Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video came on. I'd never seen anything like it before. It was bizarre, beautiful and thrilling and it really made an impression. There's oodles that could be said about the effect Bowie has had on planet Earth, but everyone else is probably already saying it now way better than I. So much amazing stuff would simply never have happened in the history music and cinema if there hadn't been such a thing as David Bowie. So I thank God almighty there was. You can read all about Bowie on Wikipedia here. Go here to find his obituary in the New York Times and here for the one at the BBC.
 
David Bowie on YouTube:
[ "Ashes to Ashes" ]

David Bowie
[ January 8, 1947 — January 10, 2016 ]
We will miss you, David.

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