Loving the Alien and the Death of David Bowie

There is perhaps no greater musical influence in this writer's life than that of David Bowie. For over 40 years his music has captivated us, his style influenced us, and often motivated us to express ourselves and be different as we were always meant to be. As time, styles, fashion, and the like goes, Bowie who was born in 1947 as David Robert Jones found his musical niche as the Man Who Sold The World and brought us the Alien persona Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Out of the decay of the 60's Love Generation, Bowie defied all conventions and blurred gender lines and genres. Glitter Rock, Glam, Goth, and even Punk Rock owes much to his influence and beyond as this self described Master of reinvention periodically shed his skin and like some chameleon would emerge in an entirely new guise and sound as he did as the Thin White Duke or later in Station to Station or when he appeared with Klaus Nomi.Never the imitator, Bowie was always one step ahead of the curve whose appeal spanned the globe and beyond. There will never be another like him. How fortunate of us to have lived in his time. Now in the wake of his passing at age 69 to Liver Cancer, we take stock and reflect on the Man Who Fell To Earth and gave us the soundtrack to much of our youth and the most interesting of times before returning to stardust as one day we shall all do ourselves. And now to borrow a line from his breakout1969 hit Space Oddity, "The stars look very different today." And indeed they do. Our hearts go out to his son Duncan Jones, his wife Iman, and their daughter Alexandria Jones. We at American Mishima are forever grateful and thank Mr. Bowie for an extraordinary soundtrack to this existence on this planet and in this very life.

Godspeed and Be Welcomed in Nirvana. 

And Ziggy Played....Guitar!