[contextly_sidebar id="DZf61J7XmguCfy810D0nO4eWhpigEdTS"]We have a feeling people are going to be saying goodbye to David Bowie for a long time. We already started at Wonkette this morning, and you filled the comments (which were allowed just this one time) with all YOUR favorite songs, films, moments, the things that meant the most to you, personally.
We are not going to attempt to be profound or Bowiesplain why NO, THIS IS THE IMPORTANT THING and YOU SHUT UP, YOU PROBABLY DON'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT THE SECRET DAVID BOWIE RECORD THAT WAS ONLY RELEASED ON MARS or anything like that. We'll just throw a few more things at you, and then for dessert, you can enjoy this special Wonker-curated David Bowie Spotify playlist, based on the songs you posted in the comments on the last piece.
We do want to mention his latest and last record, Blackstar , which came out on his birthday, Jan. 8, and how it was indeed a well-timed farewell to this earthly life, and to his listeners, the people who traveled along with him, most of whom he never would meet. A fitting end to the performance art that comprised his public life? Sure. But it also shows a hell of a lot of affection and respect for the folks who stuck with him and made it possible to be David fucking Bowie . In "Lazarus," he is confronting his death from a hospital bed, but he's also still dancing.
"Look up here, I'm in heaven."
Here's a really fuckin' cool thing that illustrates how much art can do for the world, and comes with a heaping dollop of "Fuck you, Ronald Reagan" on the side:
Here's Business Insider, with some context:
It may seem like an odd accolade for a government to bestow on a rock star, but Bowie's music from Berlin is entwined with modern German history. Specifically, as the German Foreign Office links to in the above tweet, his hit song "Heroes."
Journalist James Woodall wrote about Bowie's connection to Berlin in The Week in 2008, noting, "The famous title track of Heroes says it all: a tender, anthemic single, its lovers stood 'By the wall/And the guns/Shot above our heads.'"
David Bowie took amazing pictures, so it makes sense that his mugshots would be the sexiest, most badass mugshots in the history of time:
Brian Eno, a close friend and collaborator of Bowie's, shared that he got one final email last week, but he didn't know it was goodbye:
"David's death came as a complete surprise, as did nearly everything else about him. I feel a huge gap now.
We knew each other for over 40 years, in a friendship that was always tinged by echoes of Pete and Dud. Over the last few years — with him living in New York and me in London — our connection was by email. We signed off with invented names: some of his were mr showbiz, milton keynes, rhoda borrocks and the duke of ear.
About a year ago we started talking about Outside — the last album we worked on together. We both liked that album a lot and felt that it had fallen through the cracks. We talked about revisiting it, taking it somewhere new. I was looking forward to that.
I received an email from him seven days ago. It was as funny as always, and as surreal, looping through word games and allusions and all the usual stuff we did. It ended with this sentence: 'Thank you for our good times, brian. they will never rot'. And it was signed 'Dawn'.
I realise now he was saying goodbye."
Did we mention Neil Gaiman wrote what he admits is "unabashedly fan fiction" about Bowie? Neil Gaiman did that and you should read it.
Also one time, an awesome astronaut named Chris Hadfield did the BEST Bowie cover ever, because he did it IN SPACE:
Oh and "Life On Mars," also too, is one of our favorites:
As promised, here's your Spotify playlist, chosen by you, the Wonkers, and also by us in the secret chatcave. It starts with "Heroes" and "Lazarus," then goes all over the place until the end, where you can stream his final record in full:
</center>The last words of "Lazarus" go like this: <p/><blockquote>Oh I'll be free <p>Just like that bluebird </p><p>Oh I'll be free </p><p>Ain't that just like me?</p></blockquote> <p>Can't argue with that. </p><p>[<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/germany-thanks-david-bowie-for-helping-bring-down-berlin-wall-2016-1?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds" target="_blank">Business Insider</a> / <a href="http://www.vulture.com/2016/01/brian-eno-shares-david-bowies-final-email.html" target="_blank">Vulture</a>]</p>
Wonkette's Playlist Of Our Hero David Bowie, Just For One Day And Forever
Uggh...what a shitty way to remember your birthday. Thanks, Obama!
I used to wonder the same thing. I also wondered where he found plastic surgeons who were shady enough to keep operating on him long after it was no longer ethical to do so. I had a boss who became addicted to plastic surgery, and at one point I said to him "IF you are able to find someone to perform that procedure on you, you should run like hell, because that doctor is a quack." The doctor he consulted would NOT do the procedure on him. Jackson should have stopped with the nose jobs in the mid eighties. His nose was completely destroyed and no longer worked the way a nose is supposed to.