The recent passing of David Jones [[aka. David Bowie) caught many off-guard. Of the many covers we did in one of the earliest bands I was in [[The Post-Adolescent Gloomies), we did a cover of "Ziggy Stardust" [[and ironically enough Vince Taylor's/The Clash's "Brand New Cadillac"). So, yeah, he was a big influence on me. This particular song means a lot to me, as I remember listening to it in a car with a girl I loved after leaving one of her dance recitals:
Being no stranger to many existential crises, I can sympathize with the many odd transitions and flip outs celebrities like Bowie would go through. Some of them can be reductively chalked-up to poor diet [[though, in Bowie's case, his diet involved cocaine, milk, and odd peppers). Yet, I can understand his keyed-up freakiness in thinking black magic practitioners [[like Jimmy Page) were out to get him. Toy around with art and language like odd formulas, read enough Burroughs, do enough psychedelics, question enough things, hang around the wrong crowd, start paying attention to the symbolic poetry and coincidences that crop up in life, and chase shadows long enough....well, eventually those shadows will start chasing you, and the world will feel like it's closing in on ya' [[Crumb was right, Thank God for B Vitamins).
Bowie was quite the riddle weaver, and even as I read strange facts http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-20944291and follow leads of his connections to various artists and former bands [[like this folk group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dgmJjFUdwYor this odd piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0mysuXbkEI, too bad Joe Meeks saw no potential in him), I see a huge networking lattice of interconnected folks: Mary Hopkin, Christiane F., Mick Ronson, Toni Basil, Darla Jane Gilroy, aside from obvious ones [[Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Brian Eno, Jim Henson etc.). The Vatican was even moved by his passing, making mention of "Space Oddity", which has the odd lyric "The stars look very different today." [[normally folks on Earth would say "The stars look very different tonight", but from Major Tom's vantage point, measurement of time on the limits of the Earth's surface would not apply. Well played, Bowie!). As a bold surrealist who had gone full circle many times on things, there were probably some moments of his life where he adopted viewpoints I couldn't get behind [[like Dali).
Truly he changed the way things will ever be seen. While everyone will chime in on their ways he influenced them [[I will tune out a lot of the GaGa), from Ricky Gervais to the creators of the Venture Bros. [[making many references to Major Tom and having the main shape-shifting villain assume the form of Bowie), I think Low, Station to Station, and Man Who Sold the World were my favorite albums, and there wasn't an album he did that didn't have a track or two that I liked. Only recently, did I find out that attempts are being made to bring back Twin Peaks [[as Laura Palmer promised in the Black Lodge), and there was a box set released with "Missing Pieces' from Fire Walk with Me [[including scenes of Bowie portraying the disapparating travel worn FBI Special Agent hunting leads on a "Judy" in Buenos Aires who makes an odd dream-like appearancehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5EqPZMZO4s).
How Bowie lived out the last fifteen years of his life with sporadic exposure is a mystery to me. Yet, I know he has been translated onto better regions ahead.
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