On January 10, one of Rock's greatest icons passed from this world. It's not any stretch to say that David Bowie was known to most, if not all of the several generations that make up the vast world of Rock and Roll. At the young age of 69, Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, the enigma from Berlin, the Goblin King, or whoever David Bowie was to you, moved onto a new stage that has an unmovable curtain.
David Bowie succumbed to liver cancer, a disease he had been battling valiantly for 18-months, by all accounts. But before he went though those curtains, he created a final album filled with as much art as we could hope from a man whose life was dedicated to the creation of art. From his first album in 1967, through to this last offering, Blackstar, David Bowie provided a rich collection of music that was not only beautiful (and often disarming), it was enhanced by a visual display of personas.
There is no one favorite album or period. They all mean one thing to one person or another. David Bowie's art spoke to everyone on every wavelength, which makes his departure that much harder to bear for most of us. From the mod style that his eponymous debut presented to the Ziggy Stardust that lasted for more than an album; from the Thin White Duke character to the Berlin observer of darkness, and from the myriad of experimental '80s and '90s sets to the final New Millennial philosophical albums, David Bowie was a tireless part of life. And he explored it, living it, digesting it, and explaining it to us through his art. He hoped that we would become better for it all. And often, we were. If we took the time.
With his last video, "Lazarus", David Bowie took the time to explore his passing in a unique and shocking way. He refused to just lie back and let death consume him. Instead, he showed us that things will be all right. And they will be. Time will pass. The world will continue to turn in markings of days and years. But we can learn a lot by what he left us. If we have a courage to look just a little bit deeper.
Thank you, David Bowie, for a beautiful display of your art. I'll be paying close attention until I go through those curtains myself.
"Where are we now?
Where are we now?
The moment you know
you know, you know.
As long as there's sun
As long as there's sun
As long as there's rain
As long as there's rain
As long as there's fire
As long as there's fire
As long as there's me
As long as there's you."
"...and I'm floating in a most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today..."
