Legendary Artist David Bowie Dies at 69

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

https://www.yahoo.com/music/legendar...064252101.html

David Bowie has died after a battle with cancer, his representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

“David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief,” read a statement posted on the artist’s official social media accounts.

The influential singer-songwriter and producer dabbled in glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career.

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

A big loss in the music world. Sad.
I heard he was able to put out a new album, but haven't heard much about it.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

A big loss in the music world. Sad.
I heard he was able to put out a new album, but haven't heard much about it.

This one hit me hard
Yes, new album.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

So surprising, and sad.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

apparently he's had cancer for some time. I think some of the surprise and shock comes from the fact that so many celebs want privacy when they become ill (understandable!) so we, the fans, are shocked when we learn of their passing.

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

apparently he's had cancer for some time. I think some of the surprise and shock comes from the fact that so many celebs want privacy when they become ill (understandable!) so we, the fans, are shocked when we learn of their passing.

I had read he'd had cancer for quite awhile, but that he and his family didn't say anything.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

When a music artist of this magnitude leaves us I always think of the people I was with when I was enjoying the music. Bowie spanned 5 decades and my musical memories are full of people and times. The strongest being the 70s with 6 albums and associated hits from 1972-1978 (ah the formative years at their finest to the 80s "Let's Dance" and the title song from that strange movie Cat People and beyond. David was part of the soundtrack of my life.

I am still learning about the parting gift "Black Star" as with almost all of Bowie's albums it is a departure from what is expected.

ETA Rolling Stone review for "Black Star"

The arty, unsettling 'Blackstar' is Bowie's best anti-pop masterpiece since the Seventies

Three years ago, with little warning, David Bowie ended a decade-long break from studio releases with The Next Day. The second album he's released since that unexpected return to the limelight is an even greater surprise: one of the most aggressively experimental records the singer has ever made. Produced with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti and cut with a small combo of New York-based jazz musicians whose sound is wreathed in arctic electronics, Blackstar is a ricochet of textural eccentricity and pictorial-shrapnel writing. It's confounding on first impact: the firm swing and giddy vulgarity of " 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"; Bowie's croons and groans, like a doo-wop Kraftwerk, in the sexual dystopia of "Girl Loves Me"; the spare beaten-spirit soul of "Dollar Days." But the mounting effect is wickedly compelling. This album represents Bowie's most fulfilling spin away from glam-legend pop charm since 1977's Low. Blackstar is that strange, and that good.

The longest reach is up front, in the episodic, ceremonial noir of the title track. Bowie's gauzy vocal prayer and wordless spectral harmonies hover over drum seizures; saxophonist Donny McCaslin laces the stutter and chill like Andy Mackay in early-Seventies Roxy Music. The song drops to a blues-ballad stroll, but it is an eerie calm with unsettling allusions to violent sacrifice, especially given recent events. (No who or why is specified, but McCaslin has said the song is "about ISIS.") "Something happened on the day he died/Spirit rose a meter, then stepped aside," Bowie sings with what sounds like numbed grace. "Somebody else took his place and bravely cried: I'm a blackstar." His use of an ideogram for the album's title makes sense here – there is no light at the end of this tale.

The album includes a dynamic honing of Bowie's 2014 single "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" with less brass and more malevolent programming; the title song from his current off-Broadway musical production, Lazarus (that's Bowie firing those grunting blasts of guitar); and a blunt honesty at the finish. Bowie turns 69 on January 8th, the day Blackstar comes out. In "I Can't Give Everything Away," he states his case for the dignity of distance – his refusal to tour (so far) and engage with the media circus – against guitarist Ben Monder's lacerating soprano-fuzz guitar, a sly evocation of Robert Fripp's iconic soloing in 1977's "Heroes." "This is all I ever meant/That's the message that I sent," Bowie sings in a voice largely free of effects – clear, elegant and emphatic. This is a rock star who gives when he's ready – and still gives to extremes.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/al...#ixzz3wyGCLTI9

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

"Lazarus" from LP "Black Star"

Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now

Look up here, man, I’m in danger
I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below

Ain’t that just like me

By the time I got to New York
I was living like a king
Then I used up all my money
I was looking for your ass

This way or no way
You know, I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Now ain’t that just like me

Oh I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Oh I’ll be free
Ain’t that just like me

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I was just watching a special on Bowie on Cable last week. I also noticed that in the last 3 days they were playing some of his classics. Amazing voice

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

Goodnight Ziggy Stardust.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

"Lazarus" from LP "Black Star"

Look up here, I’m in heaven
I’ve got scars that can’t be seen
I’ve got drama, can’t be stolen
Everybody knows me now

Look up here, man, I’m in danger
I’ve got nothing left to lose
I’m so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below

Ain’t that just like me

By the time I got to New York
I was living like a king
Then I used up all my money
I was looking for your ass

This way or no way
You know, I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Now ain’t that just like me

Oh I’ll be free
Just like that bluebird
Oh I’ll be free
Ain’t that just like me

Well he's a star man now. That made me cry.
Kicking myself for not wanting to spend the VIP$ for his tribute concert coming up at Carnegie Hall. I was planning to just buy the regular tix when they went on sale. Which turned out to be today, obviously all gone. He was to have made a special appearance.
I haven't been this upset over a celeb passing since Lou Reed died. Patti Smith is going to have to add another legend to her next performance of Elegie.
Losing a close friend's mother suddenly today didn't help, either.

eta: I found the album on youtube. The video for Lazarus that Lawren posted the lyrics to is chilling. That man was so incredibly brilliant, and talented, and disturbing at times. To the very end. The stars look very different today. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-JqH1M4Ya8

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

This just in:

Due to the overwhelming outpouring of interest from Artists, Friends, and Fans, a second show has been added the day after our sold out Carnegie Hall show
at Radio city Music Hall.

Both shows follow the same format of 20 artists playing his great repertoire and both shows will give 100% of the net proceeds to music education programs serving unprivileged children.

Tickets are going on sale on Friday at 11am thru Ticketmaster and the Radio City box office. We are going on sale right now with limited VIP pckages that include the best seats in the house for Radio City.

While the booking is not complete, the talent for these special two nights will be off the hook. There will be overlap of many of the artists, but it is not clear yet. We are juggling many different schedules, we hope you can understand. But be assured this will be a very special way to celebrate The Music of David Bowie who we miss dearly already. --

Mihael Dorf, producer
Shlomo Lipetz & the rest of
the City Winery team.

VIP tix are available now, here: http://www.musicof.org/davidbowie/