Talent, fortune, fame, style…some people seem to have it all. Some only have one or two of the above but they still have something that most of us don’t – the opportunity to slap their name on something and profit from it.
One way of doing this is via endorsement deals, like when you see Sofia Vergara’s face on, well, everything: Cover Girl, Pepsi, Head & Shoulders, and a clothing line at Kmart of all places (Vergara always looks so chic and polished on the red carpet that it’s hard to understand why she didn’t go for a more upscale department store line). As it stands now, she joins the likes of Nicki Minaj, whose Kmart line reflects her loud, playful style but in even cheaper, gaudier materials.
These are just two examples of how celebrity collaborations are almost always a disappointment. So I say why even bother?
Much has been made of the preternatural prescience that permeates David Bowie’s final album Blackstar, released this past January 8th – coincidentally the same date as the artist’s 69th birthday and a mere two days before he shuffled off this mortal coil.
Lyrics such as “Something happened on the day he died/Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside” from the title track, and the eerie “Look up here, I’m in heaven” from the song “Lazarus” give fans the impression that Bowie not only knew he was saying goodbye, but wanted to continue communicating with them once he was gone. Bowie kept his terminal liver cancer a secret for 18 months, working diligently on his 25th album and an off-Broadway musical entitled Lazarus that acted as a kind of sequel to the 1976 film “The Man Who Fell to Earth”, which he starred in.
One of the amazing things about an artist like David Bowie is that he was inspired by artistic giants and also served to inspire musical and cultural shape-shifters who would follow in his wake.
For example, Strung Out in Heaven: A Bowie String Quartet Tribute , a six-track EP released on February 5th by musician Amanda Palmer, features collaborations with Anna Calvi, writer (and husband of Palmer) Neil Gaiman, actor/writer/director John Cameron Mitchell (of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” fame) and Jherek Bischoff, who can also take credit for all the string arrangements on the EP. Each track also features accompanying original artwork from artists around the world.
The simply amazing tribute is available via Bandcamp for a mere $1 – 54 cents of which will go to Bowie’s publisher. The rest of the proceeds from the first month of sales will fund cancer research wing at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, in honor of Bowie. It’s exciting that these kind of scrappy, spur of the moment projects are gaining momentum and popularity. It’s the kind of forward-thinking originality that Bowie himself strove for throughout his career.
Listen to their version of “Blackstar” via the video below:
