commencing countdown engines on.
As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I’ve got left?
David Bowie
The image is a little fuzzy, scanned from a badly faded photograph that I took back in August of 1983, but the memories are vivid from when David Bowie played at the biggest rock concert ever to hit Alberta, Canada. It was a hot summer afternoon in Edmonton at the Commonwealth Stadium in front of a crowd of 60,000 people. David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, and The Tubes…
This was back in the day of no cell phones, no instant videos posted to social media, and when you went to a concert you gambled on being searched and your gear confiscated. Being young and invincible I assumed that my bag would be searched and took the risk of hiding my camera on my body.
It was an amazing performance: Ashes to Ashes, Let’s Dance, Fame, and Space Oddity to name a few.
And what do I do with the time I’ve got left? I guess you release another album just days before your death. A brilliant one at that. A truly inspirational man of many talents who left behind a huge body of work to inspire us.
His words echo in my head…and the stars look very different today.
it's (almost always) about the water... 
Amazing…you got to see him live….what an amazing experience it must have been!!! Being in my mid 60’s that question you ask is even more pertinent….having lost a very dear friend just over a year ago, he was 60…..the impact of these many ‘famous’ deaths are pretty strong! I feel rather lucky to have been asking that same question…what to do with my life/time….for many many years, but now it really is up front and personal! It is a short time we get to be here and i am damn sure i’m going to do my best to love every moment and move thro this time with as much curiosity, love and kindness that i can demonstrate.
this is a beautiful tribute and the image is fabulous. I’m been so immersed since his death in his music, his history and it seems like the only songs playing in my brain right now are his! He certainly lived his life to fullest, right up the end….i’ve ordered the cd and am waiting impatiently for it to arrive! Tried to watch the video of Lazarus but found it to close to the bone right now…later!
What a truly lovely comment, thank you Linda! I am seeing through blogs and social media just how many people that he connected with. I am in awe of how quiet he kept his struggle and of how he was an artist to the last breath. I too found it difficult to watch Lazarus.
That was a great photo that you took. Well done.
Thank you, I was pleased with this one!
xxx And wow, you snuck a great photo back then!
Thank you! I’ve been spending some time looking at old photographs and slides that I’ve taken through the years. It’s an interesting process to look at them and think back on why you might have taken something a particular way. Others I look at and wonder what the heck I was doing?
Sheryl, that brought tears to my eyes. You are not only an artist and photographer. You are a writer also. I am so glad to know you.
Jane
Now you’re making me weepy too. It’s been a long road but but I’m starting to feel comfortable in my own skin, thank you.
David Bowie has been a part of my life for nearly as long as I can remember. The first album I ever bought was Ziggy. I saw him live in Cincinnati, Oh in 1976. Back in my teens I cut my hair in the Ziggy style. I have traded boots for years. I listen to his music most everyday. He is the artist I measure all other against, and they have all fallen short. It is hard to believe that someone I see as almost mythical is gone, and he has taken a part of me with him….
Oh but what a parting gift he left us.
This made me smile. He truly was an artist in every sense of the word.
You’ve caught the very essence of him. The memory etched in your mind as the image captured on film, in the presence of greatness.
Thank you, when I look at this I can almost hear him singing “I’ll stick with you baby for a thousand years”…