Monthly Archives: July 2009

At The Old Ball Game

Asked the waiter how to get to "the stadium", he said "Two blocks down, two over. Take the Red Line to Howard, can't miss it." He was talking about the Cubs' park, not the White Sox. When we got to the Cubs' park, we discovered the error. Luckily, it's on the same line, just different directions.

So, 40 minutes later, we get to the Sox' field, just in time for a Sox grand slam in the 2nd. We'd never seen one of those, live. So...Sweet!

chicago_sox

There was a nice moment in the top of the 9th when the Sox' center fielder jumped and snagged a ball that was pretty much over the fence, thus keeping the Rays from scoring at all. Otherwise it was a relatively uneventful 7 innings as the Sox' pitcher threw a perfect game - the first for the Sox since 1922, and only the second in their history.

The place went nuts.

Bubblegum For Major Tom

Mrs C and me, as "Let's Dance" Bowie & Ziggy Bowie

We saw a Bowie concert from 1973, on VH1 Classic, last night. This was the at peak of his Ziggy Stardust era - and I believe it was the last concert that particular band ever played; at least that's what he told the crowd, at the end of the show.

Now, I really only know Bowie as someone who made a lot of popular records back in the day, then faded a bit and made a big comeback when I was a teenager ("Let's Dance", etc.). I was three when this concert happened, and so I didn't have a clue about Bowie's position in the pantheon of music, as it was happening. And seeing this movie now, I was surprised by one thing: in the crowd shots, all the audience were screaming high school girls - young teenagers.

So, a question to those of you who were around back then: was Bowie simply a teenager bubblegum thing, back in the Ziggy Stardust era ? And, if so, does his status now as an indisputable Rock God seem odd ?

If not, what was filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker trying to do by making it seem as if all Bowie's fans were 16 year-old girls ?

Also, there were a couple of covers: Let's Spend The Night Together, White Light White Heat, (both sped-up, Vegas musical review style), and "All The Young Dudes" (which Bowie wrote but then gave to Mott The Hoople). That seemed strange, too. And then it struck me: with the costumes, the characters, the posing, the crowd-pleasing covers... he was simply doing a cabaret act, a lounge act, night-club theater with edgy makeup and clothes. Which is not quite as dangerous or revolutionary as the rockumentaries have tried to claim...