He's Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature

Today is David Robert Jones's Birthday, Aka BOWIE!

He has also been called Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Man Who Sold the World, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Thin White Duke, The Space Oddity, and so many more titles. He has been called chameleon but they change color to blend in with their surroundings. Bowie has always chosen to stand out.

I meant to post this earlier but it's too depressing to think that he may have retired from the public. After all, his 26th studio album, Reality, was released in 2003 and Heathen was released just the year before. He promised us an album a year in spite of the recording industry's methods of one every 2-3 years. But then, he has NEVER lived up to his promises to his fans.

He toured extensively in 2003 and 2004, (I saw him 3 times on his Reality tour!) however it was dramatically cut short when he had heart surgery. Not altogether surprising, considering this man smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, drank alcohol and, for a few years in the seventies, lived solely on cocaine, milk, and green peppers. His weight dropped to 98 pounds and he was a walking skeleton in the seventies, although some say he was at his most genius. Wikipedia has a thorough biography. It didn't help that he had a lollipop thrown at him from an adoring fan during a concert a week or two before his heart problems began. It hit in his eye, quite ironic, considering the Norwegian word for lollipops is "love on a stick". I believe this triggered his heart problems.

Here is a video on youtube about the lollipop.

Since his angioplasty, he has sung on stage with The Arcade Fire, David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Alicia Keys for a token song or three, but I think he is afraid to take on anything that may jeopardize his health. He has chosen small projects in recent years, such as portraying Nicola Tesla in the Prestige, voicing the evil Malthazard in Arthur and the Minimoys, guesting on Ricky Gervais's Extras, voicing His Royal Highness in SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis, appearing in XM Satellite Radio commercial, and as Olgivie in the movie, August. He guest sang on Kashmir's, TV on the Radio's, and Scarlett Johansson's albums and recorded songs for the Shrek 2 and Stealth soundtracks. This is quite a list for someone who has "retired" but I am ever hopeful that he will give us one more music album. For the next month, I will be playing an album a day in tribute to one of the greatest artists who ever lived. Today I start with David Bowie: Early On.

These Birthday posts are worth reading.

http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2009/01/happy-birthday.html

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-get-your-rocks-off-happy-birthday-bowie

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/b/david-bowie.html

Happy Birthday Mr. Jones!!! Oh yeah, and a big happy birthday to the King, Elvis Presley, too.


He's Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature - song: The Bewlay Brothers, artist: David Bowie, album: Hunky Dory