Passing of DAVID BOWIE

[Chris Knipp]

David Bowie 1947-2016

In his honor the Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting two free showings of films starring David Bowie, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH and MERRY CHRISTMAS MR LAWRENCE at the Walter Reade Theater at 6:30pm and 9:00pm, respectively. Extraordinary performances, especially as the extraterrestrial in Nicholas Roeg's film. He seems truly otherworldly, as in fact he did as Ziggy Stardust. One of the great ones is gone. His departure from this world was especially surprising since he'd just co-directed a theatrical production last year based on the Roeg film (Hilton Als didn't like it) and had just his 26th and final studio album, Blackstar.

See the detailed musing about Bowie on the occasion in The New Yorker by Anthony Lane, who will tell you about a number of other films with Bowie in them. Bowie, Lane says, "was a man of the movies."




Sasha Geffen explains why the 1972 Starman video is a seminal moment. But Bowie remained significant for 45 years. For Bowie's continuing relevance and brilliance, see this song video from Blackstar.

[Johann]

Thanks for this Chris. I mentioned his passing in the lounge. He deserves his own thread.
The Man Who Fell To Earth blew my mind when I first saw it on vhs years and years ago. The Criterion DVD has been discontinued.
That film has Kubrickian qualities- no joke. I can see people being put off by Bowie's performance, but the fact is he's definitely a man of the movies as Mr. Lane said.

My best friend got me listening to Bowie more about 15 years ago. I noticed she had more Bowie albums than anyone else. I said "You really like David Bowie". Her reply: "Oh yeah. Will the real David Bowie please stand up!"
What can you say about this brilliant chameleon that hasn't already been said? And that video for LAZARUS- wowza. He knew he was going, he turned it into Art. Who among us would have the presence of mind to release an album *FEARLESSLY* just as you're on death's door?

Goodbye David. To say you made a mark is woefully understating it.

[Chris Knipp]

Maybe Criterion will bring THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH back into print to honor Bowie's memory. It's a shame its no longer available.

[Johann]

Yes, that Criterion release was here and gone. Kudos to anyone who landed a copy.
If you're listening, Criterion Collection...

[Chris Knipp]

They're bidding for The 2-DVD Criterion Man Who Fell to Earth set on eBay of course. $41 is now bid. Another is up to $199. Netflix and Amazon don't have it for rental. Nor can you watch it on Hulu, where a selection of Criterion films are available.

Here's the Criterion description of their edition. Why would this go out of print? I saw it in a theater at its US release so I must have seen the "shortened" version.

United States
1976
139 minutes
Color
2.35:1
English
The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. The story of an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for Nicolas Roeg’s visual tour de force, a formally adventurous examination of alienation in contemporary life. Rock legend David Bowie, in his acting debut, completely embodies the title role, while Candy Clark, Buck Henry, and Rip Torn turn in pitch-perfect supporting performances. The film’s hallucinatory vision was obscured in the American theatrical release, which deleted nearly twenty minutes of crucial scenes and details. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Roeg’s full uncut version, in this exclusive new director-approved high-*definition widescreen transfer.

Features the set included:

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION
-New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Nicolas Roeg, with uncompressed stereo soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
-Audio commentary by Roeg and actors David Bowie and Buck Henry
-New video interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg
-Performance, new video interview with actors Candy Clark and Rip Torn
-Audio interviews with costume designer May Routh and production designer Brian Eatwell
-Audio interview from 1984 with author Walter Tevis, conducted by Don Swaim
-Multiple stills galleries, including Routh’s costume sketches; behind-the-scenes photos; and production and publicity stills, introduced by set photographer David James
-Gallery of posters from Roeg’s films
-Trailers
-Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A new essay on the film by critic Graham Fuller (DVD and Blu-ray); Walter Tevis’s original novel, reprinted specially for this release, and an appreciation of Tevis by novelist Jack Matthews (DVD only)
New cover by Neil Kellerhouse

Source: https://www.criterion.com/films/755-...-fell-to-earth

[Chris Knipp]

Bowie in New York.

An article by Steven Kurtz in the 16 Jan. 2016 NYTimes (in the Fashion and Style section) gives a glimpse of Bowie's private life in New York, where for the past 20 years he lived almost invisibly. Though "enormously wealthy," he had no other residence other than a "mountain retreat in Ulster Country, NY." In 1980

After he became Ziggy Stardust, and a huge star, Mr. Bowie found refuge at the West 20th Street apartment of his publicist, Cherry Vanilla. In her memoir, "Lick Me," she recounts how he would do brain-sizzling amounts of cocaine and drink milk for nourishment (no solid food in those years), and they’d rap about "power, symbols, communication, music, the occult, Aleister Crowley and Merlin the Magician."

Bowie in 1980 in front of the Hotel Carlyle
He took a break in Berlin to escape his debauched NY lifestyle, and there made three albums. Then was back in 1980 starring in Elephant Man on Broadway; the Times

In 1982, with Nile Rodgers producing, he recorded the album “Let’s Dance” at the Power Station on West 53rd Street, a sonic and commercial triumph. But for all his victories and nocturnal good times in the city, Mr. Bowie seemed unable to commit to it.

When Iman met Mr. Bowie at a dinner party in 1990, he was living in Switzerland as a tax exile, a citizen of the world. She wasn’t having it, she once told The Guardian: "I’m a New Yorker. I was like, 'Let’s go home.'"

First they were in "a conventional prewar" apartment on Central Park South, then paid $4 million for two penthouses on Lafayette Street (a giveaway in today's prices) in SoHo where they remained, and where mourners

gathered in the numbing cold after he died to lay flowers, many unaware, until that day, that he’d been a fellow New Yorker.

Over time, Mr. Bowie did become a real New Yorker. He absorbed the city’s attitude and cultural quirks, and had trouble catching a cab. He wrote a song (“Slip Away”) about Uncle Floyd, the host of a weird, low-budget, quasi-children’s TV show that aired locally back in the UHF days.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, he performed movingly at the Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden. He covered Simon and Garfunkel’s "America" and announced from the stage, before singing "Heroes": "I'd particularly like to say hello to the folks from my local ladder. You know where you are."

His later years in NYC were "subdued and grown-up." He "did the ballet, all the cultural stuff," he'd "already done a livetime worth of parties."

His life was also more subdued after he had a heart attack on the stage in Berlin. He led a pretty normal-seeming life. He shopped for groceries once a week at Dean & DeLuca. He loved the chicken sandwich with watercress and tomatoes at Olive’s on Prince Street. He liked to rise at 6 a.m. and get his "buzz" by walking the still-empty streets of Chinatown.

He read a lot. He collected art. He painted. He and Iman socialized with the parents of their daughter’s friends at school. He spent his remaining time meaningfully and productively, and largely here.

And during his "stunning end-of-life creative burst" he "found a way never to leave his neighbhorood." Lazarus, the musical adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth was staged ten blocks from his house; his last album and songs were recorded on Crosby Street, 283 steps from his front door.

"Have you seen the photo that’s been circulating on Twitter of Mr. Bowie out in the city in cargo shorts and sneakers and carrying Uncut magazine?" the Times article concludes. "He’s very normcore. You can see why nobody recognized him, why an international superstar was able to move through the city unseen. . .He understood that in our minds we all held a picture of David Bowie, or Ziggy, or the Thin White Duke. It allowed him to walk among us disguised as himself, David Jones."

(He is carrying a copy of Uncut whose cover story is "100 Rock and Movie Icons."

[Chris Knipp]

David Bowie Rochester, NY mug shot.



He was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in 1976 along with some others, all released on bail at his expense. He never played in Rochester again. I did not know about this. Someone I know in Rochester posted on Face book a photo of a tinted blowup of this mounted on an electrical box as street art.

[Johann]

That's really cool about him being a New Yorker, and walking anonymously.
Makes me think of John Lennon, who also thought of himself as a New Yorker.
But he didn't walk around NY unnoticed. John went outside without bodyguards, and that may have contributed to his death.
I say "MAY". Chapman was psycho.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes one dos think of John Lennon, who also enjoyed being a New Yorker, but alas did not live to master the art.

[Chris Knipp]

David Bowie - In His Own Words.

New DVD is a 90-min. interview compilation on David Bowie. It comes out 12 Feb. 2016 and will sell for $9.07 and can be pre-ordered. Publisher's blurb below.

While the average pop or rock star, however gifted in their chosen field, is not usually a raconteur, a fascinating speaker or a great wit, there are a select few individuals from the world of music who can knock em dead with a few choice expressions or any number of quotable statements. One such artist is David Bowie; always right on the money when it comes to music, Bowie is equally at home talking about the fate of the planet, making wild but intriguing predictions about the future, chatting about the path of music from hereon or discussing any number of writers, poets, philosophers or artists who have inspired him. The filmed interviews and conversations collected together on this DVD are superb examples of such debates, with Bowie on form on anything and everything he feels passionate about over more than 90 minutes of footage. Taken from right across the man s career, this film will prove a delight to Bowie fans everywhere.

[Chris Knipp]

His music. AV CLUB - The lesser-known Bowie: 19 gems and deep cuts

Let's not forget he's a musician. Singer songwriter, stage performer, recording artist. With learned commentary by AVClub film critics, this provides sounds and images spanning Bowie major albums and periods, glimpsing the amazing range of this pop genius. Just for one example, Win blends soul and cosmic spacey. The commentary is an example of the quality of the writing in this AV CLUB feature:

Young Americans’ title track is its masterpiece, and “Fame” was its smash hit, but the best example of what the misunderstood album had to offer is “Win,” a sultry R&B slow-jam that’s just abstract and arty enough to be recognizable as Bowie. The song has the basic form of a seductive ballad, albeit unusually deflated for one with a chorus that advises “all you’ve got to do is win.” Some major rock critics at the time felt that Young Americans was a Philly soul ripoff that Bowie was too aloof (and too white) to get right. But the way “Win” drifts off into the ether every few minutes suggests otherwise. Even with skilled funk session players steering the sound in an earthier direction, the man at the mike had kept eyes on the cosmos. [Noel Murray]

The album cover for the Bowie album "Tonight" is "inspired by" (does that mean a riipoff of the style of) Gilbert & George. It's pretty. The Guardian did a review of the cover art of Bowie albums.
The comments are less solemn than the Americans' at AV CLUB.