After a string of fabulous studio albumsin the new centurywhich included a mightyten year gap between Reality and his penultimatestudio album, The Next Day, David Bowie announcesa new record called Blackstar.I bought that recordon release day, a Friday, listened to it straight through three or four times that weekend, and then Monday morning the newsofContinue reading “#633: B is for Bowie’s “Blackstar””
Tag Archives: David Bowie
#632: B is for Bowie (“Brilliant Adventure,” The Box)
I I could read more, I suppose, to be more learned (“LUR-ned”)on the subject, but sometimesit’s just fun to imagine. Five yearspassed between albums, a totalmystery for a guy who had beenso prolific now for two full decades. He may have just been resting(entirely unlikely, I think). Or doing other stuff. Didn’t the first TinContinue reading “#632: B is for Bowie (“Brilliant Adventure,” The Box)”
#631: B is for Bowie (“Loving the Alien,” The Box)
I It will be forever and a single daybefore I get to the M section of thealphabet, so, even though I won’t write about them, I will from timeto time listen to an album from artistsin other parts of the alphabet. And the only reason I mention thisis because I listened to Magdalena Baythis morning,Continue reading “#631: B is for Bowie (“Loving the Alien,” The Box)”
#630: B is for Bowie (“A New Career in a New Town,” The Box)
I “You’re such a wonderful person, but you got problems.”The second tune on Low, all one minute and 52 secondsof it, contains this gem of a lyric. It’s 1977 and records are beginning to sound reallygood, although people at thetime didn’t think so. Tony Visconti has a newtoy called a Harmonizer andit makes the drumsContinue reading “#630: B is for Bowie (“A New Career in a New Town,” The Box)”
#629: B is for Bowie (“Who Can I Be Now?” The Box)
I didn’t rememberliking Diamond Dogsall that much at the firstlisten, but today it’s freshand weird and good.I’d have to study the lyricspretty carefully to understand the Orwell references beyond the titles, “We Are The Dead,”“1984,” and “Big Brother,” but I’m not going to do that; I rather just letthe record wash behindme as I toolContinue reading “#629: B is for Bowie (“Who Can I Be Now?” The Box)”
#628: B is for Bowie (“Five Years,” The Box)
I “Ground Control to Major Tom,”are likely the first words any of usever heard from David Bowie. Maybe I was five, and for yearsI would hear that distinctive voiceon the radio and knew the hits, but my older siblings, the arbitersof new music into the householdnever brought home a Bowie album. I didn’t start buyingContinue reading “#628: B is for Bowie (“Five Years,” The Box)”
#402: Poem on April 29, 2021
Poem on April 29 The best thing I could dofor myself this morning: spin Scary Monstersin the empty classroom before the students arrived,timing “Ashes to Ashes” and “Fashion” just for the moment as the first group of kids came throughthe doors of A-9.That was a good way to begin. What has felt like a weekofContinue reading “#402: Poem on April 29, 2021”
Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light
Last year, I remember talking in my classroom about the terrible news, the deaths of two British cultural icons, both personal heroes of mine, David Bowie and Alan Rickman, both dead at 69. And from that discussion, this has remained in my memory: a student actually said these words to me, “So you’ve got about twentyContinue reading “Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light”
Notes Toward A Musical Autobiography: Volume VIII, Bowie Binge Thanksgiving
As many of you know if you’ve been hanging around the jolly old blog site of yours truly, I’ve been listening to a lot of music. I’ve been attempting to rescue my languishing compact disc collection by listening to a single cd from every artist or band represented on the shelves in alphabetical order and thenContinue reading “Notes Toward A Musical Autobiography: Volume VIII, Bowie Binge Thanksgiving”
michael jarmer 