The Smiley Smile Message Board

How damn sad, real bad day  :'(

RIP, DB

 :-\

It's been such a horrible time for deaths lately. In the last week of 2015 alone, we lost two rock and roll icons - Stevie Wright and Lemmy. And now, this. I'm utterly speechless, especially since it came seemingly out of blue as he had just turned 69 and released his latest album "Blackstar". May he rest in peace.

Shocking news... goodbye, David. :'(

Holy sh*t! Very shocking! RIP Starman!

Stunned.

No words.

crazy. he was my all time fave. R.I.P.

From Mike Love's facebook: I've just learned of the the passing of David Bowie. David was a brilliant talent who possessed the ability to recreate himself again and again. Not only was he a creative force, but he was a very astute business man. My condolences to his family. David leaves this world a great gift of his music and more. RIP David!
Peace,
Mike Love

Sad to say, I was only ever familiar with his hit singles until recently. I'm listening to Blackstar right now, and it's brilliant. We lost a talented man today. :( RIP

His version of GOK was never a favorite but I just might listen to it in his honor. RIP Duke

Very sad news, first Lemmy and now David. We've all lost a hero.

This really shocked me. I didn't know he was sick. I figured that with Blackstar and his last album, he was entering a new phase of his career. I've just recently gotten into him, from his newest album actually (the idea of someone releasing a 10-minute long single that goes from Arab-mantra to soul to almost a dance-trap style really hooked me) and it's a shame to just get to appreciate someone's work before they pass away. The same thing happened last year with Allen Toussaint.

RIP Bowie, you really were one of a kind.

  What a horrible shock. He will be greatly missed, and remembered.

This was the LAST thing I expected to hear on the news this morning.

Poor David. It seemed as though he was blessed with eternal youth.

What a wealth of extraordinary music he gave us. Goodbye, sir. 

Been up all damn night. Posted something to the main board here on the Golden Globes at 1:22 a.m. EST as I wound down for the night. That's a rarity in itself (look at my post count). And then the news came in.

Ironically, a Bowie tribute band's making the northeast-U.S. rounds this month - his Ziggy-era drummer (Woody Woodmansey) and his career-long most frequent producer (Tony Visconti) are among the players. A friend of mine works in tour promotion and was at the NYC show Friday night, Bowie's 69th birthday. Visconti at one point phoned Bowie from the stage and whipped the crowd into a chorus of Happy Birthday.

The thought - the significance of it all - is making me a little misty as I type.

Woodmansey, Visconti et al (the touring aggregation's known as Holy Holy) is scheduled to play my town, Toronto, Tuesday night. I have tickets. The show must go on - these guys have bills to pay and promoters to honour - but it'll feel like a wake now. I feel rotten for all the musicians, several of whom have been in notable bands or are family members of "Bowie people" - in fact, the entire operation reminds me of Jardine, Family & Friends, although there is no Bowie progeny involved.

Visconti posted the following to Facebook 90 minutes ago:

"He always did what he wanted to do. And he wanted to do it his way and he wanted to do it the best way. His death was no different from his life - a work of Art. He made Blackstar for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it. He was an extraordinary man, full of love and life. He will always be with us. For now, it is appropriate to cry."

RIP. David and Brian are easily my two favourite musical figures. It's a tough day for a legion of fans.

I was never a huge fan but he was an amazing talent - RIP

Sad news indeed! R.I.P.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Bowie.  Was aware he had health problems since his heart attack but had no idea he had cancer. 

RIP.

I will say one thing. It happened with dignity, not the usual freak show courtesy of the dreadful celeb-obsessed media.

I agree with the comment about his version of GOK (quite a poor cover by DB), however when Carl was questioned about it (At Knokke,Belgium in 1987) Carl said 'what a great artist David is'

The world lost a very special person yesterday. It's made all the more sad by the fact that David Bowie was still capable of making vital music. The influence of his art is pretty much incalculable at this point in time. To me, he was the ultimate Rock Star and the epitome of style and class. This hits closer to my heart than any celebrity death ever has. Thank you, David, for introducing me to so much over the many years since I bought an Aladdin Sane LP at the local department store. I think your influence on me is probably pretty much incalculable too.

There will never be another one like him.

Here's one of my favorite performances of his.  An incredibly emotional and powerful rendition of "Heroes" backed by the members of Queen and a very ill Mick Ronson on guitar at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert.  It's interesting how the title "Heroes" was supposedly meant to be ironic and cynical, hence the quotation marks on the album title but given that Bowie performed it here, at Live Aid, and at the Concert for NYC after 9/11, it definitely took on a new meaning throughout the years.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsiQgRp5bfQ&sns=fb

I think many of us can chart personal relationships and various periods of our life according to albums and certain artists, & I believe it's very powerfully true of David Bowie because of the artistic depth of his music. I have been listening to him all day and feeling deeply his brilliance and his absence. The song Heroes is my all time favorite, but I don't think that Robert Fripp ever played it live. There is a YouTube video of Robert flip playing it with Adrian and King Crimson, but I don't believe he ever performed it live with Bowie which is a shame because even the great Mick Ronson, struggling so profoundly against his cancer, cannot approximates a specific and rather abstract artistry of Robert Fripp which is so critical to that song. How noble of Mick to have played his heart out that day and I do not mean to diminish him, but there is something unique about that experience of David Bowie playing together or I should say recording together with Fripp on that magical song. Now it's just one of those things that can never happen.

My opinion is that songs like "Heroes" and "Joe The Lion" were unreproducable on stage for that reason. Fripp flew in, overdubbed his parts in, I believe, one take and flew out again. Magical indeed, but not to be repeated.

In King Crimson, Fripp could reproduce the most complex and technically demanding parts note for note every time but this was different.  In my opinion, of course.

Thanks John. I agree.  Fripp could and did do so once at least, as in this video, which actually is thus a better version of the song than DB ever produced on stage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcuXYlzxmF4&list=RDJcuXYlzxmF4

I can listen to Fripp play this for 10 days straight.

Well, I hope RF does this song with Eno and the rest of the original performers at a tribute show.

Blackstar is the first Bowie album where the man is not on the cover in some form or other. We should have known that something was up. It's like the album cover was practically telling us "I'm gone now."

I've rambled on here before about how when guys like this leave us, they have no way of knowing all the little ways they touched the world.  I was never a huge Bowie fan, but of course enjoyed his music whenever I heard it, just never really got into him in a huge way.

Anyways, I own a video game store.  We're located on this little downtown street, and we sell arcade games, etc.  So, the locals sometimes tell us these stories, one guy came in several years ago and let us know that our street (1 block long) used to have a bar, back in the day, called "Godzillas" !  They had pool tables, and pinball machines like we have, he couldn't remember exactly which building it was.

A couple years later, a guy lets us know that the church owned a couple buildings too, and one also had arcade games, and pinball machines in it, couldn't remember exactly which building.


About a year ago, a woman came in and told us about how she used to come down here, and there was this one building that had an awesome bar in it, she couldn't remember exactly which building either.  Anyways, she talks about how she used to go down there, and all her friends would be there, they'd play pool, they'd drink, they'd play the jukebox so loud the walls would shake.  She's telling us how much she misses that place, she met her husband there, etc. 


So, the name of the bar?  "Young Americans".  Her favorite place back in the late 70's. 


People like David Bowie never understand their immense contribution to the world, even though it's just music it has the ability to make people feel joy and makes life that much better.  He never knew about that place, how could he?   Making that song though inspired some guy's bar, which inspired people that used to visit it, and people still talk about it.  I'm talking about it right now. 

There was a nice 'send off' down here in New Orleans yesterday afternoon, courtesy of Arcade Fire and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who wound their way through the French Quarter with loads of fans in what's known as a 'second line' parade.

I'm unable to put a video on but there are a number of them available online.

One is 'A la Nouvelle-Orleans, Arcade Fire parade en hommage a David Bowie' from Le Huffington Post

RIP Mr Bowie.

Good observation there.

That's the way to do it. Thanks for the heads up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivbw7skNujI

Last Monday, the day when most people found out about Bowie's death, Todd Rundgren, with no words spoken about the man, ended his show with 'Rebel Rebel'. That really got to me, one of my musical heroes honoring the passing of another of my musical heroes in that way.

If you're interested:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pd3yvrz

And David Bowie has the #1 album on Billboard. Unbelievably that's the first time ever. It does my heart good to see the outpouring of tributes, comments and emotions that his passing has created. I'm sure there will be a major tribute to him on the Grammys next month too.