Bowie has left the building!

[seaboy4hire]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/12092387/David-Bowie-1947-2016-His-life-and-career-in-pictures.html

 

I wasn't a big fan of his but his influence was significant on many artists that came after him. Really in shock nevertheless.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[+ Keith30309]

I loved Bowie from my early teens on. To me he meant that something very different and edgy could also be cool - an important, rare notion to lots if people who thought of themselves as different.

[bigvalboy]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/12092387/David-Bowie-1947-2016-His-life-and-career-in-pictures.html

 

I wasn't a big fan of his but his influence was significant on many artists that came after him. Really in shock nevertheless.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

+1...Thanks for the post. I'm shocked as well. He had a tremendous career. Rest in peace. I hope that those in the know will post some of his more memorable videos.

[AdamSmith]

Woke up middle of the night and saw this news. Shocked likewise.

 

Besides reflecting on all that Bowie gave us, it might be an answer to anyone wondering, Should I finally do X today, or put it off a while longer?

[+ WmClarke]

Wow.

[Lankypeters]

During my Chelsea days, a friend/neighbor told me Bowie did the leather bars off 10th (the Spike and the Eagle) in the early mornings. I wonder if this was true or fantastical.

[+ quoththeraven]

I'm a huge Bowie fan. (Shocker, right?) I've had the privilege of seeing him perform twice. So the news of his death comes as a huge shock to me. Here's a few vids I found while trolling YouTube.

 

Appropriate title is appropriate. It also harks back to his first hit, "Space Oddity" and is from the first album of his I bought:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMThz7eQ6K0

The next song is the song that delayed my love of Bowie's music because my college roommate insisted on blasting the album it's on first thing in the morning. (This is the only song I remember from that.) Apologies to the escorts on the forum; the attitude displayed in the song is, shall we say, not enlightened. But that's the point.

(This version is from one of the Bowie tours I saw and shows how he reinterpreted songs in performance.)

 

One of his hard-rocking classics,"Suffragette City":

My favorite Bowie song, "Heroes":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjBQKIOb-w

Mad respect also for him moving to Berlin and cleaning up his act once he realized cocaine was controlling him, not the other way around, for re-establishing a relationship with his son Zowie/Joey, now known as Duncan Jones (whose retweeted tweet was the first one I saw about Bowie's death), for his acting on stage and in film, and the many changes he went through in his life and his music. David Bowie (nee Jones) was always his own person. He never sold the most records or had the most hits, but he was fiercely original and never stood still. His physical body may be gone, but his music will live on.

 

ETA: New York Times obituary here.

[+ WilliamM]

Woke up middle of the night and saw this news. Shocked likewise.

 

Besides reflecting on all that Bowie gave us, it might be an answer to anyone wondering, Should I finally do X today, or put it off a while longer?

 

Like Adam, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the news. It was a big shock.

 

I still listen to Dylan & Joan Baez, Bowie, Patti Smith and several others frequently.

 

Springsteen and others are far less important to me now, not sure why.

 

_________________________________

Thanks to QRT for posting the Bowie tribute just now. I had never heard "Heroes" live before.

 

I play Bowie's in person album (2LPs) recorded here in Philly the most, because I love Bowie in performance slightly more than the studio albums.

[wklucas]

Ground control to Major Tom: RIP

the stars look very different, today.

[+ quoththeraven]

There are several live versions of "Heroes" all over the interwebz. The ones from LiveAid featuring Thomas Dolby on keyboards as well as a speeded up tempo and the one from the Concert for New York held shortly after 9/11 (which I'm almost positive Bowie experienced as a resident of New York City) are also worth finding and listening to.

 

There's also the version on the live album "Stage." But while there are YouTube clips with the audio from the album, no one seems to have recorded or uploaded video from the concert from which it's taken. It's slower than the studio original and I like the vocals (but not the instrumentals) better.

 

I am a little shocked, but maybe not surprised, that his family kept his cancer diagnosis a secret. While I appreciate all the years we had, 69 is still too young.

[+ quoththeraven]

And some of his "fuck yous" to the concept of binary gender:

[rvwnsd]

I've always enjoyed Bowie's music. Was shocked this morning when I heard the news, particularly since he just released a new record on Friday. RIP.

[nynakedtop]

Can't pick a favorite.

 

Bowie was an essential part of my identity formation. Anyone here remember NY's Ninth Circle bar?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYjBQKIOb-w

[+ WilliamM]

I spent Live Aid weekend not in Philadelphia (where I should have been), but at Island Beach State Park in New Jeresey. I did hear some of it on the radio and more on TV. Everyone, especially QTR, thanks for letting me know that so much of Live Aid is available on YouTube.

[Rod Hagen]

Terrible timing for the NYTIMES, in their Arts and Leisure blurb this morning there's a short piece about all the awards he will (would have (received this week) and the lead line was, "It's good to be David Bowie" OOPS! He was remarkable.

[bigvalboy]

A special nod to Quoththeraven for posting all those wonderful videos. We forget the genius that he was, and as MSNBC mentioned, the master of reinvention, yes...Rebel Rebel indeed.

[+ quoththeraven]

A special nod to Quoththeraven for posting all those wonderful videos. We forget the genius that he was, and as MSNBC mentioned, the master of reinvention, yes...Rebel Rebel indeed.

 

You're welcome. An LJ/DW post I did collecting links to previous posts to his videos had eleven links, most with more than one video. One video was all of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars.

[body2body]

I was up late last night when I heard of Bowie's death. I was turned on to his album "Hunky Dory" by some friends shortly after I came out. We went to the Ziggy Stardust show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in '72 and it was a revelation. Here was this androgynous ( not effeminate) character commanding the stage and the audience. I had never seen anything like it. GaGa, and Madonna, and all the others who have developed themed concerts owe it to Bowie. I saw him again during the "Alladin Sane" tour, by this time he was playing big arenas and had become a "rock star" but he still commanded the stage like few performers I have ever seen ( and I have seen Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Hendrix, among others). Listen to "Hang on to Yourself" from Ziggy Stardust, and you can here Punk Rock coming. While he was fighting Cancer he completed his last album, and has a musical opening in New York . A man who left a mark and will be missed. Here's my favorite...

[nynakedtop]

I think of David Bowie as the soundtrack to the highs and the lows in my life. He has inspired me, to never let life get me down and to be authentic and honest. He was true to himself and never followed trends or the mainstream. They say you should never meet your heroes because they'll won't live up to your expectations. From what I've heard from people who knew him, met him and interviewed him he has exceeded their expectations.

[TruthBTold]

Like everyone above I felt the loss personally for some reason. His willingness to make us all question the meaning and borders of sexuality was something that hooked me. His music was original and creative and as subsequent artist recognize the start of their own journeys. He will be missed.

[bigvalboy]

 

 

 

 

They pulled in just behind the bridge

He lays her down, he frowns

Gee my life's a funny thing, am I still too young?

He kissed her then and there

She took his ring, took his babies

It took him minutes, took her nowhere

Heaven knows, she'd have taken anything, but

All night

She wants the young American

Young American, young American, she wants the young American

All right

She wants the young American

Scanning life through the picture window

She finds the slinky vagabond

He coughs as he passes her Ford Mustang, but

Heaven forbid, she'll take anything

But the freak, and his type, all for nothing

Misses a step and cuts his hand, but

Showing nothing, he swoops like a song

She cries where have all Papa's heroes gone?

All night

She wants a young American

Young American, young American, she wants the young American

All right

She wants the young American

All the way from Washington

Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor

"We live for just these twenty years

Do we have to die for the fifty more?"

All night

He wants the young American

Young American, young American, he wants the young American

All right

He wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?

Do you remember, the bills you have to pay

For even yesterday?

Have you have been an un-American?

Just you and your idol singing falsetto 'bout

Leather, leather everywhere, and

Not a myth left from the ghetto

Well, well, well, would you carry a razor

In case, just in case of depression?

Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors

Blushing at all the afro-Sheilas

Ain't that close to love?

Well, ain't that poster love?

Well, it ain't that Barbie doll

Her heart's been broken just like you have

All night

All night was a young American

Young American, young American, you want the young American

All right

All right you want the young American

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler

A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady got a Chrysler

Black's got respect, and white's got his Soul Train

Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands ache

(I heard the news today, oh boy)

I got a suite and you got defeat

Ain't there a man you can say no more?

And, ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw?

And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?

Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?

Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?

Ain't there one damn song that can make me

Break down and cry?

All night

I want the young American

Young American, young American, I want the young American

All right

I want the young American, young American whoa whoa

Young American, young American

I want what you want

I want what you want

You want more

I want you

You want I

I want you

I want what you want

But you want what you want

You want I

I want you

And all I want is a young American

Young American

[+ quoththeraven]

Apologies for spamming the thread. Here's a great 2002 interview with Bowie that interviewer Terry Gross of Fresh Air replayed this afternoon and a remembrance by Nile Rodgers, producer of Bowie's most commercial and commercially-successful album, Let's Dance:

 

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/462653510/david-bowie-on-the-ziggy-stardust-years-we-were-creating-the-21st-century-in-197

 

https://www.yahoo.com/music/david-bowie-changed-my-life-nile-rodgers-180120507.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw

 

Also what may well be the final posed photo of Bowie:

 

https://m.facebook.com/davidbowie/photos/pb.30899502664.-2207520000.1452538006./10153171636972665/?type=3&theater

 

(Sorry, not sure I can hotlink or save and upload so it's visible here, so I'm just linking to it.)

[bigvalboy]

Apologies for spamming the thread. Here's a great 2002 interview with Bowie that interviewer Terry Gross of Fresh Air replayed this afternoon and a remembrance by Nike Rodgers, producer of Bowie's most commercial and commercially-successful album, Let's Dance:

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/462653510/david-bowie-on-the-ziggy-stardust-years-we-were-creating-the-21st-century-in-197

 

Thanks quoththeraven.

 

This was fascinating...I realized I never knew him.

http://www.npr.org/2016/01/11/462653510/david-bowie-on-the-ziggy-stardust-years-we-were-creating-the-21st-century-in-197

 

 

Yes, read more and listen more.

[+ José Soplanucas]

I am so sad! Bowie's persona and talent impacted me in so many ways. Back in the 80s I danced his music throughout my coming out process. He's going to be missed very much. So many of my idols are leaving us these last few years....

[coriolis888]

When he was 31 he played the part of a male escort in the film, Just a Gigolo. Here is a clip where he is being interviewed by Marlene Dietrich, who played the part of a brothel Madame: