The Space Oddity Returns to the Stars: RIP David Bowie (1947 - 2016)

      Celebrities die all the time.  I'm sorry if that sounds morose but it's true.  They are just people like you and me and eventually, we all succumb to death's frigid grasp.  However, every once in awhile we lose a true icon; someone who is not a celebrity, but instead an immortal being whose presence on this planet shaped generations. They're more than just another "rock star" and leave us all in a state of cultural shock at the mere IDEA of their loss.  It's almost incomprehensible that they could be gone and yet we are all left in the wake, attempting to make sense of it all.  Such was the case this past weekend when the world lost a true social, musical, and cultural legend: David Bowie.
      To condense the life of such an incredible human being down into a few words hardly seems like an appropriate gesture.  Sure we all had a Bowie that meant something to each of us.  Some had Ziggy Stardust, some had the Duke and still others knew him only as Jareth the Goblin King.  The point is that David Bowie transcended his earthly shell and will join an elite group of people who have truly become immortal.  His music will continue to inspire, provoke, and mystify future generations with each and every listen.  His progressive beliefs on gender, fashion, art, film, and music are the stuff of legend.  Up until the very end, Bowie never stopped creating and in the days after his untimely death we're left with his final message - Blackstar.  An album whose meaning is now abundantly clear.  Faced with his imminent demise, Ziggy left us with a message of hope and of confidence.  He tells us not to be afraid, not to mourn, not to dwell on the sadness but instead embrace the future.  The release of his final record, accompanied by his final birthday, and followed by his crushing death lead us all to reevaluate his last words and listen closely as the man himself speaks to us about his final months - from whatever dimension he now calls home.
      People always look back on history, culture and particularly music and say man, I wish I could have been alive in the time of John Lennon, in the time of Jim Morrison, of Darby Crash, Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed...people who established themselves in the pantheon of human civilization as true musical trendsetters and revolutionaries.  As the dust settles around this terrible loss I'm left with a sense of pride... pride that I got to live in the time of David Bowie.