I probably wouldn't have even pulled up this thread if it wasn't started by Bob. Wow, what a disappointment. I mean, I'm saddened by Bowie's passing, but the lack of pithy, heartfelt, personal stories here is just...
Service around here is going all to hell.
Mark, I streamed your mix and enjoyed it. Thanks for doing it and for sharing it.
Anyway...
It's a rare thing to be innovative, smart and successful. That's why Bowie was so iconic.
I first became aware of him when "Fame" took the country by storm in 1975. I was 11, and it pretty much blew my mind relative to song structure and technology. Six years later, I bought myself a CD player (hot new tech!) as a high school graduation present, and ChangesOneBowie was one of the first disks I acquired. Since I didn't have THAT many disks, I consumed that thing voraciously. I know it's a compilation, but what genius.
Just a couple years later, Bowie released "Let's Dance" and I was transfixed. Fortuitously, I attended his related tour performance of the first concert in the newly opened Tacoma Dome (the Tubes gloriously opened). It is a great memory of a spectacular show.
David and I didn't really do much together after that beyond revisiting the glory years. He tried to challenge me but I didn't want to be challenged.
But he nevertheless leaves me with an overwhelming sense of how great art can invigorate lives.
