Author Archives: Moonage

Peter Frampton wants you to buy his guitar

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Peter Frampton is a friend of mine.

Well, on Facebook  he is anyways.  I asked him to be my friend for a few reasons.  Partly because he’s an icon of my generation.  Frampton Comes Alive! was one of the seminal party albums when I was, well, too young to be partying.

Secondly, he represented an era that seems to have died off, the guitar player.  He was all about his guitar.  He made the thing sing, cry, and soar.  Occasionally he wrapped some pretty good songs around his guitar as well.

Thirdly,

Glass Spider was the only time I ever saw Bowie perform.  Peter Frampton played lead.  It was perfect.  Flawless.  Amazing to hear.  Although I had considered Frampton a party staple, I grew to respect his talent during that concert.

Lastly, I have to support fellow Kentuckians.  Peter is auctioning his guitar in Tucson tonight.  If I have any friends in Tucson, do me a favor and dig a little deeper for Peter’s cause.

Aladdin Sane in Watchmen

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My bud Cristin mentioned a blurb about finding David Bowie in Watchmen. I loved that flick so I had to check it out.  Here’s the scene in question:

Not exactly David Bowie.  But, that is definitely Aladdin Sane.  Even got him hanging out with Mick Jagger and The Village People.  Given the other historical references in the sequence, it strikes me as being a little odd, and a little out of place.

But, for a Bowie fan, cool as hell!

Will and John do Bing and David

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Will Ferrell is such a cut-up I never know what to expect from him. As such, when he does something not looney, I often sit waiting for the punch line. Sometimes it never arrives and you realize there never was one. Sometimes he’s just serious. I think this is one of those times. I might be wrong. It’s just done too well to be his usual farcical self.

The Onion does Bowie and NASA and the Shuttle

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It doesn’t get much better than this:

According to NASA administrator Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, Jr., the highly experimental glam space program—dubbed Project Starman—has been in development for exactly five years. Though engineers initially feared the mission might blow our minds, the historic launch ultimately proceeded without incident.

“Admittedly, this is a very bold and risky departure for the agency,” said Bolden, later adding that Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust period and other outer-space-related work has been a major influence on NASA’s direction since the early 1970s. “Those familiar with NASA’s previous, more conventional research and exploration sensibilities are going to be in for quite a shock. Many are likely to be confused and threatened by the boundary-pushing nature of the project.”

And it only gets better from there.  Love The Onion!

The Spy Next Door?

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OK, so I got to see The Spy Next Door this weekend with my now seven year old boy.  It was a fun movie in a cute childish way.  Definitely made for kids.  This is standard Jackie Chan kid stuff here.  It was fun, definitely a thumbs up, but still kid stuff.  Except for one odd thing: the plot centers around a bootleg of David Bowie and Iggy Pop performing together.  Now, that’s cool and all, but I don’t get why it’s in this movie.  Now, the person this performance means something to is a ten year old boy.  He was born in 1999.  Bowie hasn’t really done a lot since 1999.  He’s done a lot of cool things, but musically, not so much.  Now, granted, retro and alternative radio plays a lot of Bowie, but not a whole lot of ten year old boys sit around listening to those stations.  So, bottom line, they may have heard Bowie, but I sure don’t see how a ten year old boy would be a fan.  They hear a lot about Elvis too.  I’ll put it this way, think back to when you were ten.  How many of your idols then were over the age of 20?

Secondly, and probably less profound, the only Bowie/Pop bootlegs I’m aware of were the 1977 The Idiot tour.  And, that’s all over the internet.  It’s just striking me as weird with all the Bowie themed small kid movies coming out.

And lastly, and certainly least profound, Jackie Chan is 55.  According to him he saw the Bowie/Pop performance that we have to assume was 1977 or so.  According to the movie, Bob Ho was living in China.  Bowie and Pop never performed in China.

Just a note to the future movie makers, we all know Bowie’s the coolest thing to ever hit pop music.  That’s a given, and that’s documented by his work.  However, to make a movie the least bit believable, keep Bowie in perspective.  If it’s a movie about 30 to 50 somethings, Bowie’s fine.  If it’s a movie about little kids,  Bowie’s not.  It’s a distraction that doesn’t need to be there.  Scour the latest teen magazines and you’ll find plenty of fillers for the movie.  And, quite frankly, I think most 40 somethings don’t really appreciate the fact some people think their music is on the same level as something a ten year old would listen to.  Music’s just not what it was thirty years ago.