2016 Wrap-up

Well, I for one am glad 2016 is done and dusted. It wasn't a great year personally for me, and for those of us who follow the world of music and entertainment, we lost too many great people.

I stopped writing this year because life got in the way, but in retrospect, there would have been too many "Vale" posts to write.

Here's a fairly thorough list of the entertainers we lost in 2016:

• Robert Stigwood (artist manager for Bee Gees, Eric Clapton, et al)
• David Bowie
• Glenn Frey (guitarist/vocalist/songwriter for the Eagles)
• Alan Rickman (notable for the character "Professor Snape" in the Harry Potter franchise)
• Bryce Rohde (Aussie Jazz Pianist)
• Paul Kantner (Guitarist in the Jefferson Airplane)
• Maurice White (Vocalist from Earth, Wind and Fire)
• Vanity (of Prince-associated project Vanity 6)
• Harper Lee (author of the classic "To Kill a Mockingbird")
• Sir George Martin (producer of many great records, including all of the Beatles catalog)
• Jon English (Australian Rock star and theatre actor)
• Keith Emerson (keyboardist of the Nice and Emerson Lake and Palmer)
• Frank Sinatra Jnr (son of the late crooner Frank Sinatra)
• Steve Young (outlaw Country singer)
• Phife Dawg (rapper from A Tribe Called Quest)
• Dennis Davis (drummer with David Bowie and Stevie Wonder)
• Merle Haggard (Outlaw country singer)
• Pete Zorn (multi-instrumentalist with Steeleye Span and Richard Thompson, among others)
• Prince
• Billy Paul (American soul singer, whose biggest hit was "Me and Mrs Jones")
• Muhummad Ali (boxer and media figure)
• Mac Cocker (Triple J broadcasting pioneer and father of Jarvis Cocker from Pulp)
• Bernie Worrell (keyboard wizard with Parliament/Funkadelic and Talking Heads)
• Mac Rice (writer of "Mustang Sally" and Staple Singers' "Respect Yourself")
• Bud Spencer (a favourite actor of mine, in films like "They Call me Trinity")
• Scotty Moore (guitarist on all the early Elvis Presley records)
• Alan Vega (founder of post-punk band Suicide)
• Sandy Pearlman (manager of Blue Oyster Cult and founder of online download service E-Music)
• Viola Beach (British band, all members of which died in a car accident)
• Ronnie Corbett (British Comedian)
• Rudy Van Gelder (producer of the some of the finest jazz records of the 20th century)
• Prince Buster (Jamaican Reggae pioneer)
• Buckwheat Zydeco (accordionist and Zydeco musician)
• Ross Higgins (his most famous work was as Ted Bullpit in "Kingswood Country")
• Fergus Miller, aka Bored Nothing (Australian indie Musician)
• Mode Allison (American jazz pianist)
• Milt Okun (producer for Warner Bros Records in the 1960s and 1970s)
• Sharon Jones (American Soul Singer)
• Hugh McDonald (songwriter and violinist in Redgum)
• Florence Henderson (best known for her role as Carol Brady in "The Brady Bunch")
• Ray Columbus (NZ singer in Ray Columbus and the Invaders, famous for their original hit "She's a Mod" in 1964)
• Wayne Duncan (Daddy Cool)
• Ross Hannaford (Daddy Cool)
• Leonard Cohen
• Greg Lake (bassist in Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson)
• Alan Thicke (American actor)
• Rick Parfitt (rhythm guitarist in Status Quo)
• George Michael (founder of WHAM! and solo artist)
• Carrie Fisher (best known for her role as Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" franchise)
• Debbie Reynolds (mother of Carrie Fisher, actress)

Wow. We will miss each and every one of them.

Here's hoping for a better 2017. Happy new year to you all.

Last Words on...David Bowie

Vale David Bowie

David Bowie left this earth on the 10th January 2016. Yes it's taken me this long to find the words to write in response.

It's hard to process what Bowie's loss means to the world. Or even to me. The music he gave us indelibly soundtracked our lives for so long, and it did so with such potency. It felt like the music's charismatic creator would be around forever.

Never mind the fact that David himself was out of the public eye for a decade before the surprise release of "The Next Day" in 2013. Even with the release of the record, he remained reclusive, rarely making public appearances and making almost no attempts to promote the record. He didn't get a chance to promote his latest record "Blackstar", as his untimely passing occurred two days after the album's release.

Bowie always seemed to be masterfully in control of his music, his image and his career. He changed from one thing to another during the 1970s with effortless ease and grace, always ahead of the curve and defining trends rather than following them. It came as shock to me to read an old quote from the NME dating back to 1984:

"I always thought I was intellectual about what I do, but I’ve come to the realization that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing half the time."

If he didn't know what he was doing then he was constantly trying on new concepts and ideas to see what fits. He was once described by filmmaker Nik Roeg as being "awkward within society". It appears to be that he was possibly changing the outward look to hide the insecurity within. That insecurity drove his restless creativity to go beyond the norms of what should be expected of him.

Watching the "Reality Tour" live DVD again in the wake of his passing, it appears that on this tour he was finally comfortable with himself, in his own skin. He'd finally reconciled what it meant to be David Bowie. It was a glorious sight.

To the very end, with the "Blackstar" album, he challenged the listener. Challenging them not to rest on their laurels and the assumptions of what David Bowie could be. He gave us what we now can assume were hints of his impending mortality, but the needle was barely off the record from the first playing of the album before that could fully set in. The news hit the world like a collective kick in the head.

Bowie gave the world so much joy with his fantastic and challenging creativity. He inspired and entertained us for close to 50 years and Earth's loss is Heaven's gain. The music will live with us and I'm personally greatful for his fine works.

Vale David. Your life's work will be remembered long after the pain of your sad passing has faded from our memories.