‘Where Are We Now?’ – the ‘Starman’ at 66…

“Time may change me,

But I can’t trace time…”

 

David Bowie: ‘Changes’ – released January 7^th 1972  

 

“A moment of bliss I never thought I’d have again. Listening to new Bowie for the first time.”

Lady GaGa welcomes ‘Where Are We Now?’ – released January 8^th 2013 (Twitter)

 

“Just bought David Bowie’s new single ‘Where Are We Now?’- bloody gorgeous. New Album coming. How happy am I?”

Boy George (Twitter)

 

David Bowie has always been one for ch-ch-ch changes. Monday, marked 41 years since the master of reinvention released the ‘Changes’ single, his first on the RCA label, a day before his 25^th birthday.

This time a year ago I wrote at some length about ‘Bus-pass Bowie’ at 65′ – ‘a mortal with potential of a superman’…   

Yesterday, his 66^th birthday, the ‘Starman’ released his first single in a decade, into cyberspace. We didn’t even have to ‘try to pick him up on Chanel 2’, ‘Where Are We Now’, materialised from out of the ether, appearing unannounced on iTunes – Bowie as always a master of mystique and perfect timing.    

There is an album to follow, ‘The Next Day’, due out in March and an up-coming major exhibition at the V&A – so clearly timing is everything!

I’ve listened, a few times now, to the new release from an ageing glam-rock icon – a haunting and nostalgic piece harking back to more hedonistic days, living in Berlin with Iggy Pop – something of an Oddity but its melancholic cadences are beginning to grow on me.

I’m not so sure it was deserving of such rich critical acclaim from the media. There were far fewer eulogies from the music buying public. Comments, on Twitter and Facebook, were rather more prosaic and views very mixed. However there did seem to be a general consensus that Bowie, as a music legend, has earned the right to do what he likes in  his twilight years. I wouldn’t want to argue against that.  

The somewhat surreal video, Bowie as part of a two-headed doll (the other an unknown woman who remains silent throughout) while monochrome footage of Berlin landmarks, referred to in the somewhat abstract lyrics, plays out behind, is a pretty essential accompaniment.

Unless you know Berlin particularly well, without the visual prompts Potsdamer Platz (a public square decimated by bombing in World War II) the Dschungel (Club), KaDeWe (department-store) and Bose Brucke (a West Berlin bridge – the site of Checkpoint Charlie) might not resonate so well.

I hope this is his swan song. I’m pretty sure it will be, and that the artist who turned down a personal plea from Danny Boyle to appear at the Olympics opening ceremony is quick enough to know when the race is run – unlike one or two others!

I’ll look forward to the rest of the album, I’m sure it will be fine, perfectly listenable, but that is probably the ultimate insult to a ground-breaking artist with such an outstanding and memorable  back catalogue… 

‘Hunky Dory’, ‘Ziggy’, ‘Aladdin Sane’ … 

Bus Pass Bowie – ‘…a mortal with potential of a superman’

Thought for the Day:

 

‘The truth is of course is that there is no journey. We are arriving and departing all at the same time.’

‘…You’re too old to lose it, too young to choose it, and the clocks wait so patiently on your song…’

(‘Rock ‘n Roll Suicide’ – ‘The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars’ album – 1972)

David Robert Jones, ‘The Man Who Fell to earth’ in 1947 Brixton, has enjoyed a stellar 45 year career as ‘Starman’ David Bowie, a master of artistic reinvention who has constantly pushed the boundaries of music and performance.

The man, the myth, the musician turned 65 today and coincidentally shares a birthday with another music legend, Elvis Presley, the ‘Graceland’ King – who would have been 77.

During the 70s, Bowie’s ‘glam rock’ heyday, he effortlessly transformed from one iconic stage persona to another. In Bowie’s own words, ‘I’m an instant star. Just add water and stir’.     

It’s hard to believe that the creative artist behind ‘Ziggy Stardust’’ and ‘Aladdin Sane’, is now entitled to a free bus pass. A pensioner with a lightning flash!  

In a poll of Digital Spy readers, ‘Life on Mars?’ has been voted David Bowie’s greatest-ever song and ‘Hunky-Dory’ (1971), from which it is taken, his best album.

I wouldn’t argue with that. With such an amazing back catalogue, it was never going to be an easy call. But I’ve always considered ‘Hunky-Dory’ & ‘Ziggy’ (1972) one and two with ‘Aladdin Sane’ (1973) not far behind.  

Bowie has been the greatest and most influential musical innovator of his era. He has also been a master at creating his own mythology.      

As David Bowie’s biographer, David Buckley put it: ‘the myth has far greater resonance and is far more intriguing than stolid attempts to identify a ‘true’ essence … his appeal has lain in the generation of myths.’

Or as Bowie might have put it, ‘I’m not a prophet or stone age man, just a mortal with potential of a superman.’ (‘Quicksand’ – ‘Hunky Dory’ album)

Manchester Artist, Ed Chapman is helping to perpetuate the myth and the timeless appeal of the rock star in a stone mosaic, unveiled today, and entitled ‘Pin Up’.

He said, ‘I can’t believe David Bowie is 65. He always seemed to me like he was from another planet.’  

It seemed only right that Bowie should provide the soundtrack for our Sunday spin through the picture postcard Cotswolds – dry stone walls snaking across rolling fields, cottages of honey coloured stone dappled with wintry sunlight, and cotton wool sheep huddled on chilly hillsides.

We stopped off along the way at chocolate box Broadway, the creaking old mill at picturesque ay Lower Slaughter, and stoic Stow on the Wold ‘…where the winds blow cold.’

Our final port of call was ‘The Queen’s Head’, off Stow market square, where we introduce Valeria to real English beer, ‘BB’ from the Donnington brewery just two miles down the road.

She enjoyed it too, which made up for her miserably failing the ‘Marmite’ on toast breakfast test – her face was a picture!

Tomorrow Chris and I are ‘Easy- Jetting’ off to Prague, a post-Christmas bargain break that we couldn’t pass up. The Czech Republic capital is one of our favourite European city destinations. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a dusting of snow and looking forward to ambling across Charles Bridge, meandering through the old town, taking in some live jazz and supping a few foaming tankards of world famous Czech Pilsner.

Hopefully, I’ll be back next weekend – rhapsodising about our Bohemian break!

Dobrou noc. Na shledanou!  

What’s in a name… or number?

“What’s in a name?” to quote the Bard… or number, come to that!

Harper Seven Beckham (7lb 10oz)   the latest LA ‘star’ to burst on the scene has just appeared, in monochrome, on Twitter, with proud Dad, David, by @victoriabeckham     

Since Harper’s arrival was announced to the world by Becks’, on Facebook, the celebrity pages have been alive with speculation about his daughter’s given names, and now the LA Galaxy ‘soccer star’ has finally put us out of our misery – thank goodness for social networking!

Apparently her first name is totally unrelated to ‘Harper’s Bazaar’, the sophisticated women’s magazine in which Victoria’s fashion range has featured, but all to do with Harper Lee, author of ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’- apparently Posh’s favourite book.

Shame on all of those who suggested that such a literary classic was unlikely to feature on the bookshelves of ‘Beckingham Palace’!

We all thought we’d cracked the ‘Seven’ bit. Easy, Harper was born in the seventh hour, the seventh month and weighed in at seven pounds. Seven was also Becks’ shirt number for so long, during his glory days at Man U. and, if I might say, a much more sensible choice of name than ‘Twenty Three’, his squad number, as a ‘galatico’, at Real Madrid!

But no, that is only part of the story. Becks has enlightened us that ‘Seven’ was chosen because it symbolises spiritual perfection and is a lucky number around the world, after all there are Seven Wonders of the World and seven colours of the rainbow, don’t you know?

My old mum would have loved that. She was always a bit on the superstitious side and considered seven, and its multiples to be lucky. She must have had gypsy blood, or been born under a wanderin’ star because we moved house a lot, but invariably finished living at a lucky number:

I was born at 14 Wollaton St, before moving on to 21 Oakenhall Avenue and 7 Garden Road. There was also spell at 28 Wroxham Drive. Mind you the ‘sevens theory’ went out of the window with a  final move to 2 Grangemoor, the home Mum & Dad shared for the longest time of all.  

Thinking about it the sevens thing must have sub consciously rubbed off. Prior to our current house, which doesn’t have a number, Chris and I lived at 49 and 21!   

I’ve no doubt that baby ‘Becks’ number four, Harper Seven, will be loved to bits as she takes her place in a brand that already includes three boys, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz!

I’m not quite sure what it is about show biz/sports celebrities, like Victoria  and David, who have been blessed with perfectly normal names, that pushes them towards increasingly bizarre choices for their own off-spring.

Brooklyn Beckham, named after the place in which he was conceived, started a trend of his own, of course. It has long been a standing family joke (which makes ‘the girls’ cringe with embarrassment – sorry!) that if we had been cutting edge parents, ahead of our time in respect of babies’ names, Nicci would have been ‘Amboise’, pronounced with a Gallic lilt (the product of a camping holiday amongst the chateaux and vineyards of the Loire Valley) while ‘Gem’, rather more prosaically, would have been ‘Shirley’ (West Mids) famous only for its ‘Shirley Temple’ Chinese restaurant & takeaway!         

The best of the rest: other celeb off-spring  who have been saddled with names for which they will be eternally indebted to their parents, are the progeny of:

• Frank Zappa (1940 -1993) American singer- songwriter, record producer, film director and father to: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan & Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen

 

• David Bowie (1947 – ) glam rock legend, alter ego of Ziggy Stardust & Aladdin Sane, actor,  record producer and father to Zowie Bowie who now prefers to operate under his other given game and actual family surname, as the rather less flamboyant, Duncan Jones.    

 

•  Sir Bob Geldof (1951 – ) former Boomtown Rat and political activist, founder of ‘Band Aid’ and organiser of ‘Live Aid’ and ‘Live 8’ concerts to raise money for famine relief in Africa; former husband of  ‘the Tube’ and ‘Big Breakfast’ presenter  Paula Yates (1959 – 2000), father to: Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom, Little Pixie; and father by adoption to Tiger Lily Heavenly Hirani.

•  Nicholas Cage (1964 – ) Academy Award winning actor, star of over 60 movies, producer, director and father to Kal-El, the name given to ‘Superman’ on the planet Krypton.

 

• Helen  Blaxendale (1970 – ) British stage and screen actress, best known for roles in ‘Cold Feet’ and ‘Friends’, mother to Nelly Marmalade.

 

• Gwyneth Paltrow (1972 -) American actress and Chris Martin (1977 – ) singer song-writer and lead vocalist of rock band Coldplay – parents to Apple and Moses.

 

• Jamie Oliver  (1975 – ) aka ‘The Naked Chef’, celebrity chef, restaurateur, campaigner for healthy school meals, husband of Jules and father to: Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo, Petal Blossom Rainbow and Buddy Bear.    

 Good luck to them, one and all!

 

Twitter celebrated its 5^th birthday this week so I thought it was about time I caught up with the disciplined world of micro blogging. Follow @TrickyTree