David Bowie

"Look up here, I'm in Heaven"--David Bowie, "Lazarus" (2016)

I woke up this morning to the stunning news that David Bowie had died.

I'm almost speechless.

On Friday, Bowie turned 69 and I was in a celebratory mood, listening to Hunky Dory in the car while driving my son to a friend's house, then listening to Low in the kitchen on Saturday morning while making breakfast and putting groceries away.

Yesterday morning, after dropping our sad, dead Christmas tree off at the township tree recycling location, I stopped by the local Best Buy on a whim to see if they had Bowie's new album Blackstar in stock. Sure enough they did, and though I do my best to do most of my music shopping at the local stores, I figured "I'm here, they have it, it's $9.99, let me just buy it now." I listened to part of the title track "Blackstar" and was pleased to hear how at this point in his career, Bowie simply follows (followed) his instincts, not giving a hoot about chasing trends.

I checked my phone first thing this morning at 5:45 AM and couldn't believe my Facebook feed.

Now, I am at work and listening to Blackstar on my headphones, to Bowie's last dispatch before becoming the Starman he once sang about. The album is uncompromising, as most of Bowie's career was.

I need to get back to work...and actually do some, like, WORK. I want to revisit the subject of David Bowie soon, though.