Wow, this hit me very hard. I've always been mystified how we can be left devastated by the death of someone we have never met. When I heard David Bowie as a kid I suddenly felt like there was someone who understood how secretly weird and strange I felt. I remember secretly staying up late at night to catch him on a late night rock show (Midnight something or other) and was amazed by his daring challenges to serious social strictures of the era (this was the late 70s). In particular there was a scene of him walking down the street in a urban area while singing and people of all types coming up to him.... some embracing him, some kissing him, some talking to him and walking alongside. It was just something I had never seen a man do in my social environment at that time. His challenge to us was not overly aggressive like the masculinity of that era and his music reminded me that there were other ways of being a person in this world. Throughout my life when there were moments that felt unbearable I would play his songs and for awhile I felt as if I wasn't alone. Words just can't communicate what his music meant to me
No comments:
Post a Comment