Put On Your Red Shoes / And Dance The Blues

Over the weekend, I was watching an episode of VH-1 Storytellers from ten years ago featuring David Bowie, running through some songs from his then-new album 'hours...' as well as some classics. His hair was luxurious, his banter was superb, his band was aces, the songs were gems (well, most of them, at least), and it all made me wonder...

...where the fuck is David Bowie?

His last album, the actually-quite-decent '03 release Reality, was over a half-decade ago, by far his longest stretch between albums. And he's popped up here and there during that time, but mostly with other artists -- a few songs with Arcade Fire, some background vocals for TV On The Radio and Scarlett Johansson, and that's it. No new albums, no one-off track for a soundtrack, no touring, not a peep. When artists like Dylan and McCartney are touring their asses off, taking victory laps in their sixties yet still managing to release interesting new material, we get nothing from Bowie.

Of course, the benefit of this is that he stays young (or young-ish) in our memories, where iconic images stick and stay: the brash youth of Ziggy, the cool European grave glamour of the Thin White Duke, the besuited '80s pop star, the floppy-haired elder statesman of the '90s and '00s, and so on. The unconfirmed rumor surrounding his withdrawal is that he suffered a heart attack during his '04 world tour, and his doctors have forbade him from full-scale touring and performing. It could also be that he's choosing to shut it all down in order to be a full-time dad to his young daughter, in a way that he was not to his now-adult son Duncan. (Who, BTW, just directed a cool and slightly eerie film called Moon, featuring Sam Rockwell, which you should see if you can.)

But no matter the reason, it's a disappointment to not have the artistic presence of Bowie present to comment on the times in ways that only he can, espousing on his career threads of alienation and introspection. And sure, it's selfish to expect artists to serve the public on demand, as if artists failed to need periods of revivification and renewal from time to time. But it would be thrilling for Bowie to trot out his catalog at least one more time, to show the younger generations the full array of inspiration and show that only Bowie can provide. Ground Control to Major Tom...