Alexander Stuart

My review of David Bowie's legendary Ziggy Stardust Rainbow Theatre show in 1972. ( These are fragmentary thoughts, first started around 4am on Sunday night/Monday morning, when I learned about David Bowie's death. ) A post I wrote about David Bowie's legendary Ziggy Stardust concert at London's Rainbow Theatre. I was seventeen at the time!  I somehow never quite imagined David Bowie's death, listening to Rock'n'Roll Suicide all those years ago. He went with grace. Peace. Commander Chris Hadfield performs David Bowie's Space Oddity on the International Space Station. See the extraordinary video at the bottom of this post. Beautiful thought from Tumblr: the accumulation of Bowie being played all over the world right now must be enough to hear from space. I hope he can hear it. One of the most beautiful renditions of David Bowie's music (YouTube video below): Seu Jorge - Rock n' roll Suicide , from Wes Anderso

I did not expect to wake to this: #DavidBowie: legendary rock star dies aged 69 – latest updates from The Guardian: http://gu.com/p/4fy2e?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

For anyone who has any doubts about Lana Del Rey's hauntingly broad range of talents, here are two songs and videos that capture the beauty of her voice and presence at its most vulnerable and simply moving. Chelsea Hotel #2 is a Leonard Cohen song that Lana Del Rey sings even more beautifully than Cohen (and I love Cohen), bringing to it the strange kind of frailty that Lou Reed brought to songs like Perfect Day (both Cohen and Reed videos are below.) The second Del Rey song is Black Beauty, from her album Ultraviolence , made all the more beautiful here by the "fanmade" music video by Peter Tatsis, which features vintage footage of female dancers (along with footage of Del Rey herself, from other videos) which in its own way is as haunting as Lana Del Rey's tender song and voice. Lana Del Rey's music now strikes me as comparable in a sense to early Bowie: enormously varied, hugely accomplished and at the same time the beginning of a long wonderful

Truly fabulous YouTube video of David Bowie and Damon Albarn performing Bowie’s timeless Fashion. Bowie looks as if he's time traveled. I want his lighting and makeup ⚡️⚡️⚡️

Of all the tributes to, and stories about, Lou Reed over the past week, this is one of the most fascinating - even though it doesn't directly concern Reed himself, but rather Herbie Flowers , the legendary British bass player who created the immortal bass line that opens Reed's massive solo hit, Walk On The Wild Side. When I first heard Walk On The Wild Side, it seemed the ultimate late night New York song: a transgender story (which apparently radio stations in the 1970s and since didn't even pick up on, despite the line, " Shaved his legs and then he was a she ") featuring characters from Andy Warhol's Factory , which sounded as if it had been recorded at about 1 am in some smoky lowdown basement hangout in the East Village. The video above reveals the immense influence of Herbie Flowers - who had worked with David Bowie , who produced Walk On The Wild Side and the Lou Reed album it came from, Transformer , on Bowie's own classic breakout s

Very sad to learn from the New York Times that music LEGEND Lou Reed has died at 71, survived by his wife, the equally extraordinary Laurie Anderson. He was so fabulous in concert. Just astonishing music: Sweet Jane , I'm Waiting For The Man , Heroin , Walk On The Wild Side ...and the whole Bowie -produced Transformer album ( Perfect Day is sublime, too)...he is and was a genius. I remember his double album (in the days of double albums) Metal Machine Music - four sides of guitar feedback/white noise, reputedly released to fulfill his contract with RCA Records (they had Bowie and Lou, how I loved them even if he didn't). The New York Times article about his death is here: Courtesy New York Times October 27 2013.