David Bowie 1946-2016
My consumption of music is not organized. I come to new music randomly by hearing it on the radio, at a club, or a convention. In Miami, a radio station had a show called Psychedelic Sundays. The show played the trippier songs of 60s and 70s. That is where I probably first heard David Bowie. The music was magical and took me to interesting places.
By the time Labyrinth came out, I knew who Bowie was musically. Bowie was awesome as Jareth. He was funny and scary. I feared for the heroine Sarah. Could she solve Jareth’s labyrinth and rescue her brother? Labyrinth was one of the best fantasy films of 80s, in large part to Bowie’s performance.
Shortly before his death, I had a Bowie moment. It was after 2AM and I was dancing at Independent Bar. A woman came up to me and started dancing with me. She said she was looking for the person who was having the most fun. I thanked her, talked, and danced. Then “Heroes” came on and the woman had not heard it. I told her it was a Bowie song, but The Wallflowers covered it for
the Broderick Godzilla film. We had pleasant conversation about the big guy, while dancing to “Heroes”.
His death was a surprise since I and many people on my social media feeds were praising him on 69th birthday. A new album had just come out and it seemed Bowie was going to be hanging out with us for a while, so his leaving so soon after that was a shock. The universe feels different without him in it.