There are some artists, Mozart being one of them, who seemed to have a sense of their importance in the grand scheme of the universe even as they were brushing shoulders with the hoi polloi.
Before he shot to fame and eventually, the heights of snogging Andy Warhol in a New York Cinema, allegedly, David Bowie came from Bromley, a suburb of Southeast London a short bus ride from my native hometown of Croydon, which I’ve written about on here before. I would explain the subtle differences between Bromley and Croydon but why should you care? You’ll never go! Alright, alright: Croydonites tend to call Bromley “stuck up,” but I guess if both towns are in the gutter, maybe Bromley is looking at the stars…Point being, I feel an affinity with Mr.Bowie’s work, based not only on his and my respective taste in stage outfits, but also, our shared geographical heritage. So what if he couldn’t ditch the band fast enough? So what if he changed his accent the minute he got famous? Point is: He played his first gig in the Rat & Parrot, in Beckenham, so I’m told. And I’ve set foot in there at least twice. We’re like blood brothers.
Yes, David Bowie was nuts in 1973. Absolutely batshit nuts. But boy, was he intriguing. And how much of his performance back then could be said to have informed the next 35 years’ interpretation of camp throughout our culture? Thanks then to Julian Chadwick at PDX Pipeline for pointing out a screening this evening at Floating World Comics on NW 5th of the Bowie 1980 Floorshow performance, actually shot in 1973, but in a nod to Orwell’s 1984, his first performance after his much-publicized “retirement.” The show starts tonight at 8pm. In the mean time, here’s a not-at-all camp performance of Time from said show. I can’t wait to see the rest:
Seminal Bowie: Far more than just a massive set of canines…