Monday, January 11, 2016

Remembering David Bowie in an Early Online Interview

Like many people, I was devastated to learn that artist and rock star David Bowie passed away after an 18-month battle with cancer. However a clue was served up when I was noodling around on Youtube and came across a new song he had recently released that was very melancholy, in the imagery as well as the tune and words.

His music was a  soundtrack to many of my favorite years; in high school, it was "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust" and "ChangesOneBowie," the latter which my brother used to play frequently.

Then I remembered today the connection I had to Bowie, as brief and obscure as it may have been at the time, besides being a big fan.

Bowie was one of the earliest "famous people" online conferences I moderated for AOL (America Online). What I recall of the chat was that in the end, he praised the online medium and typed (I'm paraphrasing by memory), "I shall conduct all my interviews in the future in this medium."

I slipped in one sneaky personal question about his life with wife, the model Iman, but he didn't answer it. Even as someone who led a public life, in one sense, seemed to regard his privacy highly.

This was confirmed by his keeping his cancer secret for what I've heard reported was at least 18 months.

Some of my favorite Bowie songs are the ones that didn't get too much play, like "Five Years." Another was "Life on Mars," which I thought was just totally amazing -- and someone else must have liked it, because it showed up being sung on "American Horror Story" by Jessica Lange.

David Bowie, you will be hugely missed.

What songs of Bowie's did you like best? Post a comment here!

No comments:

Post a Comment