38 - Bowie

It doesn't seem like it could possibly be so long ago, but today it is four days since David Bowie died. He seemed to be one of those people that would outlast us all, or at least more realistically that he'd live a a ripe old age well in to his 90s, or even reaching 100 and getting a card from Brian... but no. All of a sudden, just a couple of days after Blackstar was released, the news came that he'd died.

Aside from his music, the one thing that always comes to mind when thinking of Bowie was his brief appearance in the film Twin Peaks; Fire Walk With Me. It's an electrifying performance, and also incredibly enigmatic. The sequence is cut in a manner to increase the confusion, and disorientate the viewer. But Bowie is just wonderful. 

So to hear a while later that he was never happy with the performance was quite a surprise. Some people apparently criticised his accent, but the accent was precisely the accent David Lynch wanted for the performance; if he had thought it was wrong, he'd have changed it. 

When asked to return for the third series of the TV show, Bowie declined, citing that as the main reason; but the thing is, at that time he'd have known he was dying, and working on ensuring Blackstar was completed... yet I still can't help but think how things would have worked out had he appeared. As the show aired, as each week passed, and Agent Jeffries kept on being mentioned, I hoped that we'd get at least a surprise cameo from Bowie. But it wasn't to be, and all we got was footage from the film - and footage without Bowie's dialogue, as he asked that it not be used because of the accent. 

Four years ago, the world was robbed of a great talent. But we should be thankful for what a great body of work we have. 

Maybe, now, Bowie is himself the starman waiting in the sky?