CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE STUMBLED INTO "THE SHALLOW ZONE." WATCH OUT FOR THE ROCKS. SOME OF THEM ARE SHARP.
If you're looking for a blog with meaningful content on the important issues of the day, you've come to the wrong place. This is the shallows, my friend. Nothing but shallowness as far as the eye can see. Let someone else make sense of things. I like it here.
IN A WORLD FILLED WITH COMPLEX POLITICAL ISSUES, SOCIAL INEQUALITY, AND FINANCIAL UNCERTAINTY, I CONSIDER IT MY GIFT TO YOU, MY READER, TO OFFER THIS SHALLOW LITTLE HAVEN, WHERE NOTHING IS TOO SHALLOW, TOO INSIGNIFICANT, OR TOO RIDICULOUS TO JUSTIFY OUR ATTENTION. IN OTHER WORDS, IF IT'S NOT IMPORTANT....SO WHAT? NEITHER WAS MARILYN MONROE'S BRA SIZE. AND THAT STILL SELLS MAGAZINES, DOESN'T IT?
VIDEO OF THE MONTH
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID BOWIE...NOW PLEASE RELEASE A BETTER SONG
So, David Bowie, my favorite solo artist of all time has just released his first single in ten years...and guess what? It's horrible. Please don't think it's easy for me to say that. On the rock star worship scale, I would rate my adoration for David Bowie at about eleven. I fell in love with him back in his Ziggy Stardust days, stayed deeply infatuated through his Thin White Duke period straight on through the Berlin years, and maintained the same level of affection even in the nineties when he was mostly doing movies and laying low in New York City with his wife Iman. I love David Bowie so much that I can't even tell you which of his songs is my favorite because, at one point or another, so many of his songs have been my "favorite" that it would feel like desecration not to mention them as well. Bottom line, to me, Davis Bowie is nothing short of a music god, and the barometer by which all other rock artists must invaribly be measured. I don't even have a crush on him. (My crush meter is totally weighed down with my unconditional passion for John Taylor, the most gorgeous hunk of male flesh to ever strap on a bass...or to just stand around doing nothing, for that matter.) No...my love for David Bowie is completely rooted in my admiration and appreciation for his musical genuis. Until I heard his new single, that is.
The single, called "Where Are We Now" was released on Jan. 8, which happened to be Bowie's 66th birthday. And at 66, the man is clearly still passionate about making music. It's a well-produced recording, and, if nothing else, it's proof that his voice has held up despite the aging process. It's the song itself that's disappointing. If there's one thing that Bowie fans have come to expect from his songs, it's that they will contain...well...a musical hook. Of some kind anyway. "Where Are We Now" has nothing even resembling a hook. It just sort of starts, goes on for a bit, and then just ends. Listening to it, you have the sense that it wants to be one of his earlier songs, but isn't quite up to the challenge. You keep waiting for that familiar rush of adrendeline to kick in and carry you off the way his other songs usually do, but, then, just as you're thinking "Okay, this is where the change comes and he gets serious", the damned thing just fades away like an old man in baggy red pants scuffling off into a midwestern suburban sunset. It hurts.
I can only hope that the upcoming album, which is set to hit store shelves in March, will temper the pain. As a true Bowie fan, I am willing to bet that it will. At 66, David Bowie is far from old and still capable of great things. Maybe not another "Heroes" or "Lady Grinning Soul", but great nonetheless. For now, all I can say is...I want to believe. And I will try...at least until March, anyway.
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