Bowie's Star

If there’s one musician that could span over four decades of music and art while making it OK to be different, it was David Robert Jones aka David Bowie. Word of his death took some time to settle in. I first learned the news on Twitter. Talk about a sad start to the week. The 69-year old fought and lost a brave battle with liver cancer. In secrecy.

What got everyone talking that morning (with major staying power on social media) is how Bowie influenced lives around the globe. Where one Facebook post contained but a photo or video, others mentioned their favourite song, first Bowie concert or song that made them a fan for life.

The album during my generation was Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps), with some fabulous videos including Ashes to Ashes and Fashion, back when MTV was the music video channel.

Bowie/Glass Spider Tour

I let that morning just be, a sad, cloudy Monday in Vancouver, BC. The first thing that came to mind was searching through my vast collection of concert tickets (back when they were hard-copied and fashionable to collect) for that Glass Spider Tour I attended in Anaheim in 1987. For $22.50 (a hefty sum to cough up for a ticket in the day), I got to sit in the eighth row.

Good timing as I was living in Los Angeles, visiting San Francisco on the weekend the tickets went on sale and vividly recall having grabbed them from a local SF concert ticket phone line for that Southern California gig. Though I can’t remember the details, it was a knocker of a show, sealing my fan status for life.

David Bowie Death New York Apartment Memorial 2016 5
[Photo by David Shankbone on Flickr]

Following the concert ticket scan, all that went through my mind was Life on Mars? (from 1971’s Hunky Dory), with its St. Pepper and ELO-styled ending. It’s a sad tune that offers hope in its refrain, allowing Bowie’s vocal range to shine. Had I been in Los Angeles, I’d have joined several high school friends at memorials around town, particularly in Hollywood.

Bowie_TELUS-1
[Ode to Bowie’s Aladdin Sane at Telus Gardens downtown]

So now as I write this, on a rainy Saturday morning, my husband and I are finally able to put on a Bowie CD (The Singles Collection) and have one final good concert together.

Aladdin Sane [Belgian]

We hope that wherever Bowie is in the universe, that he’s in a happy place, creating music with other stellar artists. RIP, Starman.

Bowie Hollywood Walk of Fame photo by Yausser on Flickr.

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