David Bowie (Artist)

Hi, Sweet Baby,

Happy Late Night, and also sad with the news about David Bowie. I will post this now and then come back and write it, just so you know I'm here. Back in just a bit.

Well, what can even be said? I see a couple of posts from you on Bowie (via friends), and that's the thing with him - everyone liked him, or at least something by him. His music was popular will all ages and in most cultures, and in that way he was right up there with The Beatles and Elvis, who had the same birthday as him.

It was just two days ago and we were just talking about him, me and Ono. I mentioned that 1972 concert (if you saw my FB post) because it is legendary, and it was at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, where I saw so many of my earliest rock shows in the 70s. I never got to see David Bowie live, one of the very few artists I've missed (that I am a fan of), and if I had had the chance to see him, I would have wanted it to be on the Ziggy Stardust tour, which was the epitome of Rock Stardom in the Glam Rock era. Everything was happening then, concerning Rock Style (especially English), and Bowie personified it. Ziggy was the character he created to present the image to the world.

People said he was gay, the first really famous gay rock star. He played that up, and especially with his Alladin Sane image, and into Diamond Dogs. Those are the three best Bowie albums, I think : Ziggy, Alladin and DD. But yeah, he was flamboyant way back when, 45 years ago. And his image was that he was gay. He may have said that himself, but then later refuted it, said it was just an image. And he was married to model Iman for many years. But he put all of that imagery on the map, on top of all the great music he made in that period (with guitarist Mick Ronson, another legend).

So that was a concert I always wished I had been at, the 1972 Ziggy Stardust show at Santa Monica. Just because it was so Rock Star.

I said in my FB post to Ono, from two days ago, that I didn't care for the Bowie period that followed "Diamond Dogs". He abruptly changed his image from Glam Rock King to Zoot Suited white soul singer. He was called "The Thin White Duke" then, and he was actually gaunt, strung out on cocaine. His voice had become deep and hollow. It wasn't the Bowie I had known, and so I stopped following him for a while. Then he had a big comeback in the late 70s (or early 80s, I don't remember) with "Low" and the humongous hit "Heroes". For me, it wasn't the rock n' roll of his heyday, but still great stuff and catchy as hell.

What I mean to say, without writing a retrospective of his whole career (which many dozens of rock scribes will be doing anyway), is that Glam Bowie was such a huge influence on my Young Rock Self. Back in those days, there were glossy rock magazines like Circus and Creem, and they followed the Glammiest Stars like Alice Cooper, Elton John, Mott The Hoople and David Bowie. Before I ever bought albums (LPs), I used to buy 45rpm singles, because being 12 I only had a few bucks. And one of the very first singles I ever bought, in 1972, was "Space Oddity" by David Bowie. The "Major Tom" lyrics and the way he sang them over a strummed acoustic guitar just gave you goosebumps.........

I think it's safe to say that we are all kind of blown away, and saddened of course, that we are losing guys like Lemmy and now David Bowie.

We have talked a lot about the meaning of being an Artist, just straight-up being creative, and I think you could call him an Artist with a capital A. Besides that, in his most famous personae (Ziggy) he just plain was the representative of a brief time in rock and roll, when style was as important as the music, and had to be just as good.......  ////

On the home front, it was a good day in church, good singing and all. I have been the only tenor for four weeks now, as our other guy has been sick, and I've had fun singing my parts solo. It tests my voice, pushes me to improve. I saw several of your posts today, via Tristan and Sarah, and it seems like it was a nice, easy Sunday, good for just hanging out and making Art, or pondering it, or anything else to do with it. One post I saw had to do with tattoos and people's responses to them, from Tristan. There again you have the whole Image Thing, and it is always the character of the person that matters, which should go without saying.

I hope you have had a nice weekend and a good Sunday. I'm looking forward to the week ahead, in which I should be able to get in a hike or two.

Rock 'n Roll, David Bowie, Rock Stardom, my goodness.

I will see you in the morning, Sweet Baby. I Love You.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)