A long time ago, I didn’t know who David Bowie was. I was young, foolish, and in 8th grade. Without a drivers license, and desperate to “spread my wings,” I learned how to navigate the subway system. Now all of Boston was at my disposal, and I slowly mastered the city. My favorite place was a poster / merch shop called “Stairway to Heaven.” Incidentally, that’s how I learned about Led Zeppelin — why would you name a music store “Stairway to Heaven.” I did this learning a bit more slowly. Instead of cell phones and computers, I mastered card catalogs and microfiche.
But back to Stairway to Heaven. That was how I discovered David Bowie. Growing up, my bedroom had bright green shag carpeting and yellow walls. The ’70s were cruel to fashion and interior design. Rather than repaint the walls (that came much later), I started covering every inch in posters. One day, at Stairway to Heaven, I saw this crazy David Bowie poster. It was huge and bold and I couldn’t take my eyes off of it. I didn’t know a thing about Bowie, but I had to get the poster. It went up on the wall and stayed there for 5 years. Then it went with me to college. Then it went to my first place after college. All in all, it was on one of my walls for a decade. That’s forever when you’re young.
If I was gonna have the poster, I had to find out about the man and his music. Otherwise, I’d be a total phony. This, having just read Catcher and the Rye, was something I wouldn’t abide. So off to Strawberries (again, on the train to Downtown Crossing), and I got Changesbowie — a greatest hits collection. I couldn’t get past how random and cool it was. The guy who crooned Changes was the same guy blasting Suffragette City and goin’ funky (with John Lennon!! OMG!!) on Fame.
I was hooked. Next came Ziggy, Low, Station to Station, Lodger, and … Black Tie / White Noise. The album didn’t make it on to any “Top Whatever” list of Bowie albums. I honestly wonder if he even remembers recording it.
Years after buying the poster, I still hadn’t actually seen David Bowie perform live. Again, this was pre-YouTube, and MTV occasionally played the video for Let’s Dance, but not much. I heard Bowie was doing the Tonight Show, and I recorded it on the VCR. There it was. The man “in person” and live. I’d progressed to CDs by ’93, and here’s the song that I had memorized note for note.
By 1997, I was producing a morning radio show. It was all the crazy, whack-pack type stuff everyone does … now. The boss man announced that he got us 10 tickets to see David Bowie that night. In response, and excitement, I promptly vomited after hearing that we might (might) be able to go say hello to him after the show. The show was amazing. Beyond amazing. But again, didn’t meet the man. He left immediately after walking offstage. Alas …
Years later, hooked on everything about music, I moved to Los Angeles to help program content for a rock ‘n’ roll website. Part of the job was conducting interviews, and I got to talk to some amazing folks. One of whom, Suzanne Vega, had a manager who was somehow connected to … David Bowie. The manager said, “sure … I’ll hook you up with Bowie. I bet he’d love it.” Humina humina.
This was 2004. Not a great year for Mr. Bowie, but unfortunately nobody knew that. He had some health problems and decided to pretty much disappear. There was no announcement, but it happened. Appearances were very few, but I was undeterred. I spoke with his manager, his lawyer, and a few assorted folks in his camp. Everyone was nice, polite, and never gave me a brush off, but ultimately, “David will be unavailable for the foreseeable future” was the response after 6 months of effort.
I was crushed.
Sunday night, I was sound asleep. It was a long day, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed. Strangely, and still under the effect of a sleeping pill, I woke up at 1:28 AM as if I’d gotten hours and hours of sleep. It was strange. This never happens. I went downstairs to grab some water and noticed my front door was wide open and the breeze was sending cold air through the main floor of the house. I closed the door, and (force of habit) looked down at my phone. The split second I opened Facebook, the post came across my feed.
January 10 2016 – David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with…
Posted by David Bowie on Sunday, January 10, 2016
I’m not a particularly superstitious guy, and I don’t believe in ghosts and all of that, but it was too creepy that it all happened at that exact moment. Normally nothing wakes me from a sound sleep. I thought I was just having an overly vivid dream. Unfortunately, I wasn’t. And now, nothing seems cool.
Ashes to ashes, funk to funky …
