Days are toooo short. (And Bowie Appreciation Continues.)

Mar 19, 2012 23:18

I cannot wait to be finished with school so I can get a decent job and start making good on the 20+ years of institutional life I've had. CAN. NOT. WAIT. I want my brain back, and I still can't find the motivation I mislaid around the start of January. I want to write, and to read for fun, and to be able to do so without the vaguely naughty sense of guilt that I should be doing other things instead. I suspect I probably felt much this same way as my undergrad career wound down, too, heh. I probably shouldn't be so emotional about things, but...can't not.

On a different note, I love the track, "Young Americans" by David Bowie.  The whole album is pretty awesome (Bowie's "plastic soul" phase), but the title track is just so funky and interesting.  Also interesting is this live performance of "Young Americans" that Bowie gave on the Dick Cavett Show in 1974.  Bowie's voice is more than a little rough here (to say nothing of his looks, although the hair is nice), but it adds a gritty depth to the lyrics, I think.  But my god, Bowie's backing band and singers (including a young Luthor Vandross!) absolutely NAIL IT.  SO. TIGHT.  Geez, incredible.  Also incredible?  The fact that Bowie was even coherent enough to give a performance like this, since the mid-70's was when he living on a rather strict diet of milk, cocaine and red peppers and rocking an image that was more Animate Corpse than Glam Rock.

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Actually, Cavett's entire interview with Bowie is pretty interesting; Bowie opens with an energetic performance of "1984," (a song he wrote for a musical adaptation of Orwell's book that never materialized) and then spends about 10 minutes sniffling and rubbing his nose, and fiddling endlessly with a cane whilst the always-cool and erudite Cavett tries (with limited success) to engage him in conversation.  The mid-70's were not a good time for Bowie (but damn, the guy produced some pretty awesome music), but luckily his story has a happy ending.  Ladies and gents, this is what David Bowie looks like on drugs (in 4 parts, I'll just link you to the first segment):

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school, bowie appreciation

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