David Bowie was a pop genius who kept getting it right

David Bowie
(1947-2016)
A truly great artist, beautiful melodist, and elegant gentleman.

Like so many of my generation, waking up to the news of David Bowie's death was a shocker. The first words I heard when my clock radio alarm sounded at 6 a.m. on Monday morning, the start of a new work week, came from the voice of Steve Inskeep, host of NPR's Morning Edition, who said matter-of-factly -- and without any hesitation -- "David Bowie is dead."

With these four words, "David Bowie is dead," immediately I sat up in bed, confused, my head spinning. Fight back tears, I began remembering the many faces and sounds of this most innovative, iconic and illustrious artist and musician.

The 69-year-old Bowie's career had staying power -- five decades and 25 albums -- stretched over two centuries. Imagine that. His hits were many. "Fame," "Heroes," "Young Americans," "Changes," "Let's Dance," "Modern Love," "China Girl," immediately come to mind. But there are so many more, too. Bowie excelled at mixing rock, jazz, disco, pop, soul, glam, art rock, hard rock, metal, punk, electronica with ease. He bent genres with his music -- and was gender-bending with his many personas.

David Bowie ~ 30 essential songs:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/david-bowie-30-essential-songs-20160111

David Bowie / His artistic breakthrough came with
the gender-bending persona Ziggy Stardust.

In remembering Bowie, The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Bowie's artistic breakthrough came with 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, an album that fostered the notion of rock star as space alien. Fusing British mod with Japanese kabuki styles and rock with theater, Bowie created the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust."

Rolling Stone called the influential Bowie "One of the most original and singular voices in rock & roll for nearly five decades" noting that the British artist and musician "championed mystery, rebellion and curiosity in his music. Ever unpredictable, the mercurial artist and fashion icon wore many guises throughout his life."

A Tuesday Night Memo explores David Bowie's "Where Are We Now?" 
http://tuesdaynightmemo.blogspot.com/2013/01/david-bowie-where-are-we-now.html

Soon, after word of Bowie's passing spread through social media, the tributes and accolades began pouring in, both from musicians and music critics.

"The right words would be written in ink on card, not to be suddenly and brutally, like the news. In acknowledgement, the lights on this particular and peculiar little theatre will be lowered for a while. With deepest gratitude and respectful condolences to the family and friends of a truly great artist, beautiful melodist and elegant gentleman," wrote Elvis Costello on his Facebook page.

Sting on the passing of David Bowie wrote: "Trudie and I were totally captivated by his energetic charm, his extraordinary music, his art and his unique spirit. We will never forget him."

The Rolling Stones issued a statement: "The Rolling Stones are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the death of our dear friend David Bowie. As well as being a wonderful and kind man, he was an extraordinary artist and a true original." Added Mick Jagger: "David was always an inspiration to me. He was wonderfully shameless in his work. We had so many good times together. He was my friend. I will never forget him."

Peter Ames Carlin, the author of several books, including biographies of Bruce Springsteen and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, wrote on his Facebook page: "I am both crushed and awed by David Bowie's death. That he knew he was dying, that that fact informed everything about this epic work of art he unleashed hours before he died. That 'Lazarus,' the song and especially the video, are such beautifully rendered works about his own life and death. He turned death into a creation. It's kind of the ultimate act of artistry, that he could transform the dousing of the lights into such a spectacular life-affirming event."

On the PBS News Hour, Rolling Stone critic Anthony DeCurtis said: "He continually reinvented himself. David Bowie never seemed old." Added British Prime Minister David Cameron: "David Bowie was a genius. For someone my age, he provided a lot of the soundtrack of our lives."

Indeed, Bowie wrote anthems for the alienated, mixing rock music and theatricality throughout his career. Think Major Tom, think Ziggy Stardust, think Thin White Duke. He influenced generations of musicians and fans. I remember the thrill of spinning his early eighties album, Let's Dance, as a college DJ in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It remains my favorite David Bowie album.

On the occasion of his 69th birthday last week, Bowie released a new album called Blackstar, made in collaboration with a quintet of jazz musicians. Said NPR: "Bowie's work often addressed inner truths and existential questions. He was always morphing his sound and his look."

David Bowie / His new album, 'Blackstar' showed him
to be an adventurous artist and musician to the end.

Like so many, immediately after learning the news of Bowie's death, I began exploring his life and career. That afternoon, I purchased Blackstar via iTunes. Not surprisingly, it has been the most downloaded album on iTunes throughout the world this week. That evening as I sat down to dinner, I listened to it in its entirety for the first time after hearing "Lazarus" a few times in recent weeks on the "Morning Becomes Eclectic" show via KCRW.com.

I enjoyed what I heard from start to finish, and like the chameleon Bowie had been his entire career, I'm not surprised he avoided rock & roll. Instead, Bowie surrounded himself with a group of very bright and talented jazz musicians and created a jazz fusion album, a throwback to Miles Davis circa early seventies. It's very listenable and I think longtime Bowie enthusiasts will applaud his sound and direction.

"It could've gone so terribly wrong," wrote NPR music critic Barry Walters in his review of Blackstar. Fortunately, it didn't and Blackstar showed Bowie to be an adventurous artist and musician to the end.

David Bowie / "What I'm most proud of is that I can't help
but notice that I've affected the vocabulary of pop music."

As the subject of countless interviews, Bowie once said: "My entire career, I've only really worked with the same subject matter. The trousers may change, but the actual words and subjects I've always chosen to write with are things to do with isolation, abandonment, fear and anxiety -- all the high points of one's life."

Bowie will be remembered as a musical master of reinvention, a pop genius who kept getting it right.

"What I'm most proud of is that I can't help but notice that I've affected the vocabulary of pop music," he said. "For me, frankly, as an artist, that's the most satisfying thing for the ego."

Video of "Blackstar": Courtesy of YouTube. Photos: Courtesy of Google Images. 

A tremendous challenge, a tremendous responsibility

Becky Hammon / "There have been so many other women that are doing
really, really great things, and I'm just kind of following in their paths."

Last week, the San Antonio Spurs showed why they're trailblazers in American professional basketball by announcing they've hired six-time WNBA All-Star point guard Becky Hammon as the first full-time, paid female assistant on an NBA coaching staff.

The reigning champion Spurs have been innovative, outside-the-box leaders in bringing in internationally-talented players for the past two decades -- France's Tony Parker, Argentina's Manu Ginobili and Australia's Patty Mills come to mind -- and, earlier this summer, hired European coach Ettore Messina to join head coach Gregg Popovich's staff. So, it was not surprising that fresh off winning their fifth NBA championship, the Spurs would add to their history of forward-thinking moves by hiring Hammon. 

Becky Hammon / She's a trailblazer on court.
Now, she's a joining the San Antonio Spurs as 
the NBA's first full-time female assistant coach.

At age 37, the 5-foot-6 Hammon is retiring this month from a 16-season playing career in the WNBA in which she ranks fourth in career assists and seventh in points scored. The South Dakota native starred collegiately at Colorado State where she was a three-time All-American point guard, then became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2008 and represented the Russian national team in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She becomes the second woman to serve on an NBA coaching staff -- the first was Lisa Boyer, who was a part-time, non-paid member of the Cleveland Cavaliers staff in the 2001-02 season -- but the first who has been hired to a full-time, paid position.

"It's a tremendous challenge, and it comes with tremendous responsibility," said Hammon. "There have been so many other women that are doing really, really great things, and I'm just kind of following in their paths."

During the 2013-14 season, not only did Hammon attend Spurs practices, coaching meetings and film-review sessions, she also sat behind the bench for the NBA champions during home games while coming off a knee injury.

"I very much look forward to the addition of Becky Hammon to our staff," said Poppovich. "Having observed her working with our team this past season, I'm confident her basketball IQ, work ethic and interpersonal skills will be a great benefit to the Spurs."

Hammon said it was made clear to her by Poppovich that her hiring was strictly related to her qualifications in basketball. "He says, 'It just so happens you're a woman,'" said Hammon during a press conference.

In an interview with Jeré Longman of The New York Times, Hammon "called her role as a pioneer 'a tremendous honor.' But, she added of Popovich: 'Honestly, I don't think he gives two cents that I'm a woman. And I don't want to be hired because I'm a woman.' The important point, Hammon said, was 'I'm getting hired because I'm capable.'"

Another basketball trialblazer, Nancy Lieberman, who is the assistant general manager of the Texas Legends, the NBA Development League affiliate of the Dallas Mavericks, told The New York Times that Hammon's hiring "was a crucial step for the NBA and for women.

"First and foremost, this means respect," said Lieberman. "She did not get hired just because she is a woman. She was hired because she was qualified, because they know her personality, how she interacts with players, how she understands X's and O's."

"I think it's no surprise to anybody that they think a little bit different down here," said Hammon of the Spurs. Indeed, and as espnW columnist Kate Fagan wrote: "A very high, very thick glass wall cracked.

"Realistically, the league had no model in place for hiring a female coach; a team neded to be the first, to prove it could work. And it makes sense that San Antonio, the reigning NBA champs, a franchise that has always marched very effectively to the beat of its own drum, has stepped forward and done just that."

Other media reaction has largely been positive. San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist Ann Killion wrote: "The Spurs are an organization that doesn't need fake publicity or splashy headlines. Hammon wasn't hired for looks or her Nike endorsement or her name; name many people outside hard-core WNBA fans and former Colorado State fans even know who she is.

"She was hired by the best head coach in the league. Gregg Popovich is a man who doesn't suffer fools, media, phoniness or distractions gladly. He hired Hammon because he thought she would do a good job. Period."

Killion's colleague at the San Francisco Chronicle, NBA columnist Bruce Jenkins, said of Hammon: "She could not be more ready to become the first female assistant on an NBA bench."

In his New York Times story, Longman noted that around the NBA, Hammon's hiring "has been met with wide congratulations. 'Very bright basketball mind,' Kobe Bryant posted on Twitter."

Even President Obama took time out to congratulate Hammon. The White House tweeted: "Congrats to @BeckyHammon, @NBA's first full-time female coach. When #WomenSucceed, America succeeds -- and we know the @Spurs will, too. -bo"

While naysayers might think of the Spurs hiring of Hammon as a publicity stunt, I don't. It's obvious that her hiring came after extensive research and interviews, and that the rest of the Spurs' staff would be amenable to what Jenkins labeled as Popovich's "brave new world."

Hopefully, Hammon's hire will open doors for other female coaches and prove there shouldn't be gender barriers anywhere. Kudos to the San Antonio Spurs. After all, they're a team that's ahead of the NBA in a league that's ahead of the game when it comes to racial and gender inclusiveness.

Photos: Courtesy of NBA.com and WNBA.com.

Renegade Craft Fair: Out of the studio and into the spotlight

Handmade petite paper flowers by Blooms in the Air artist Ji Kim
were on display at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco.

The Renegade Craft Fair, which came to San Francisco's Fort Mason last weekend, brought out hundreds of artists and craft makers from their studios and into the spotlight to celebrate all things handmade in a variety of media.

Since its debut in 2003, the Renegade Craft Fair has showcased the best and brightest in Etsy indie craft and design, and it's become a major player in a booming DIY (Do It Yourself) craft movement in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Each year, the Renegade Craft Fair visits five U.S. cities (Austin, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco) plus London. Here, and in other cities, Renegade Craft Fair events are held in both summer and winter months. The San Francisco summer happening comes in late July while the winter event occurs in early December, just in time for the Christmas holidays. I've been a Renegade Craft Fair goer for the past three summers, and it's become one of my favorite San Francisco things to do.

From new and traditional to modern and innovative, there's always a diversity of art and style at the Renegade Craft Fair. It's interesting to see what's new and hip in the areas of art, clothing, jewelry, photography, quilts, toys and other knick-knacks -- and to be able to meet and mingle with the artists behind these creations.

On Sunday, thousands gathered inside the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason to see over 250 modern makers of art. There were arts and crafts enthusiasts, bloggers, media scouts and taste makers -- even savvy shoppers stocking up early on unique, artist-created gifts for the end of the year holidays.

Among the hundreds of handmade goods I perused at this year's San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair were:

• fresh butter crunch treats from p.o.p. candy;
• neat things for the house from the recoverie; 
• handmade greeting cards "sure to make 'em laugh" from Julie Ann Art; 
• handcrafted leather goods and jewelry focusing on creating beautiful, functional and timeless accessories from btwn wind & water; 
• handmade jams and pickles from lemon bird; 
• completely conscious clothing created with sustainable materials from field day; 
• beautiful, functional things for the curated home from Nell & Mary.  

Of the 2013 Renegade San Francisco craft makers, two garnered my attention for different reasons:

Mass transit made art by LinePosters.

First, LinePosters, a popular Brooklyn, N.Y.-based poster and apparel group co-founded by Cayla Ferari and John Brezicky, whose moniker "mass transit made art" drew me in because of my interest in mass transit and city maps.

LinePosters creates posters, letterpress cards and t-shirts of "highly stylized mass transit maps from iconic cities around the globe." Among them, transit maps of Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London and Paris caught my eye. (Earlier this month, I rode the Chicago "L" trains; I regularly ride BART to go back-and-forth between Oakland and San Francisco; and I love the London Underground and Paris Metro!)

As I bought four LinePosters letterpress cards (London, New York, Paris and San Francisco), I briefly chatted with one of the co-founders, Cayla Ferari, to learn more about what inspired her to turn mass transit maps into art. Then, I took the time to congratulate Cayla on what I thought was a truly original idea. In turn, she shared with me about how Oakland reminded her of Brooklyn, because both shared an up-and-coming art, food and culture scene despite often being over-shadowed by their bigger, neighboring cities of Manhattan and San Francisco.

Second, Blooms in the Air (aka BITA) is a petite and whimsical handmade paper flower shop created by a young and free-spirited southern Californian artist, Ji Kim. In visiting Ji's booth, it was evident that her flowers not only are pretty; they are always in season and in style, too.

On her website, Ji describes her art of paper flowers and what inspires her to create them. "The shop came to life when a desire to create something beautiful using my own two hands grew too big to ignore," says Ji. "BITA believes in the simple, honest joy that flowers give and hope that the inspired arrangements will leave you and your loved ones smiling."

In talking with Ji, I learned how she blends her creative talents with her attention to detail that enables her to create simple, well-crafted floral keepsakes. It explains why she describes herself as an archi-designer, an architect and designer who is a creative type, too. Although I did not buy any paper flowers on this day, I gained an appreciation for why Ji loves her art and enjoys talking to those interested in learning more about the beauty and joy of her art making.

Photo of Blooms in the Air by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013.
Photo of San Francisco mass transit made art courtesy of LinePosters.com.

Form + function + green technology = meeting the aesthetic and environmental needs of a city

"Seismic Wave" / Waiting for the Muni
Metro N Judah train at the corner
of Carl and Cole in San Francisco. 

The city of San Francisco has enjoyed a history of environmental sustainability and it prides itself on being a city of inclusion, too.

Reflecting these values are the colorful and artistic "Seismic Wave" Muni transit shelters that have sprouted up all around the City since the first one debuted on Geary and Arguello Boulevards in 2009. By the end of this year, there will be about 1,000 transit shelters that are making use of innovative solar technology and design.

In the words of former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who oversaw the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the first of the new transit shelters nearly four years ago, they "will make getting around this beautiful city easier and greener."

On a recent visit to the City, I rode the Muni Metro train from Embarcadero Station to Golden Gate Park to see the Rudolf Nureyev exhibit at the de Young Fine Arts Museum. During my nearly half-hour ride, I noticed several of these aesthetically-pleasing transit shelters dotting the N Judah route.

On my return trip downtown, I encountered one of the hip, "seismic wave" shelters up close at the corner of Carl and Cole Streets, across from the Crepes on Cole cafe where I had stopped for lunch, in the heart of the City's Cole Valley neighborhood.

I didn't mind that my wait for the next N Judah train would be eight minutes because it gave me time to study and admire the "Seismic Wave's" design and function.

A poster inside one of the shelter's display panels caught my attention: "Form and function combine with green technology to create a compelling, iconic structure designed to meet the aesthetic and environmental needs of a City at the forefront of new age technology."

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) touts its new "Seismic Wave" transit shelters as "the most sustainable shelter under the sun."

It's easy to see how and why.

Among the shelter's many "green" features" according to the SFMTA are:

• Solar-powered photovoltaic cells can generate up to 100 watts of electricity -- enough to power high efficiency fluorescent backlit information panels, super efficient rooftop lighting and NextBus and Push to Talk technologies.
• Up to 40 percent of all energy captured can be recycled back into the power grid.
• Wave-shaped plastic canopy composed of 40 percent post-industrial recycled content.
• Galvanized steel beams created with 60 to 70 percent reclaimed product.

Other features include: ergonomically-designed seats for up to six customers and steel support columns that can vary in length to accommodate San Francisco's hilly terrain.

In a 2009 interview with sf.streetsblog.org., project designer designer Olle Lundberg said it's been fun leaving his signature on the city. Lundberg Design, a local architect, was selected in a competition to design the civic project.

"We've done some really beautiful buildings in the city, but honestly nothing will have the same impact as (1000) of these will," said Lundberg. "These are going to be everywhere and are going to be this kind of icon. I do hope that they become part of the street vocabulary of San Francisco."

Indeed, form + function + green technology = meeting the aesthetic and environmental needs of a city -- the City.

"Seismic Wave" photograph by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013. All rights reserved.