Happy Birthday David Bowie!

David Bowie is my favorite performer of all time, and today is his birthday. He is now 58 years old. It's hard to believe. I saw him about a year ago on his "A Reality Tour" at Madison Square Garden. He was more energetic and rocked harder than the vast majority of performers half his age. I first discovered Bowie in high school, when I bought his greatest hits collection "ChangesOneBowie." I became addicted and started buying his back catalog during my college years. The first time I saw him live was in 1982, for his "Serious Moonlight" tour. The show was quite theatrical, as all Bowie shows tend to be, and quite enjoyable. I even continued to stick with him though his creative lean years (mainly the late 1980's and early 1990's), although I feared that he had finally become creatively tapped out. My fear was alleviated in 1995, when Bowie released 1.Outside, a concept album about the end of the millenium and then toured with Trent Reznor. I saw the show in Cleveland that year, and it was great.

There was a bit of a scare over last summer, when Bowie suffered chest pains and had to undergo angioplasty on an urgent basis. Sadly, I had been expecting something like this for a while, as Bowie has smoked rather heavily for thirty years. It was a shame, because Bowie had been enjoying a renaissance, with consecutive albums released in 2002 and 2003 (Heathen and Reality) that were the first albums in a long time that compared favorably to his classic albums from the 1970's. Not only that, he had been putting on a really killer tour. Fortunately, I got the chance to see him and be blown away. Although all indications are that he's made a complete recovery, it is unknown when he will put out another album or tour.

So, here's wishing David Bowie (née David Jones) a happy 58th birthday, with hopes that he can get back to doing what he does best in 2005!