Now this is funny. In a rather ‘odd’, even macabre way. But we all look for patterns in life. Particularly in tragedy. I don’t know why, they’re not particularly comforting, but we do. Its the human condition. One of them, anyway.
So Amy Winehouse died at 27. As did; Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Kobaine, Janis Joplin, Bryan Jones and a host of others. We look for ‘reasons’. What happens at 27 that doesn’t at 26 or 28 or 32? No idea. Just a coincidence? Or a pattern. None of them died of old age, nor illness in the normal sense of a terminal illness.
Then this very week, the ultimate Hero, David Bowie dies at 69. And yesterday the wonderful (didn’t know him at all, never met him, but the ‘wonderful’ really describes his stage personae and the image conveyed therein) Alan Rickman also died. Aged… 69!!! Snape is no more.
Maybe God has culls. Of famous people (no-one counts the millions of other deaths that inevitably occur every year, however tragic each and every one may be in his/her own household). Kind’a ‘thinning out the herd’ of rock musicians, artists, actors, due to over-supply which may cause problems in the food chain. And that’s different from when politicians die because of problems on the gravy-train.
Alan Rickman. One of our favourite actors. So suave. So smooth. So definitively British in every way. Even when playing an American villain, or a French courtier, he did it in English. Plummy English. Unapologetically so. And funny. So deliciously, wryly funny.
And so back to Bowie. Another fabulously English man. Born in Brixton. He never really left. Other than in every real sense of the word ‘left’. Yet he too was a definitive Brit. He always sang in ‘English’. Which may sound like, er, obvious. But its not. Most British singers sing in American. From Robert Plant to Mary Hopkin. American is the language of rock, almost the language of song. But not Bowie. He stuck with his proper pronunciation throughout his career. Ground Control to Major Tom. In English.
Even the wonderful Adele sings in English. Most of the time. But for her that is an accent of choice. And different from her natural tongue, which is cor-blimey, strike-a-light, Cockney scumstress. And if you doubt that, please check out this fantastic link to the goddess of the modern ballad singing and chatting in the car with James Cordon. It is not only brilliant but is in such ‘proper’ English that it required subtitles so Americans could follow it.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/james-corden-adele#.qdmzZ04B84
Happy Friday
A xxxx
69 is also the symbol for the zodiac sign ‘cancer’ and which is also the name of the disease which the both died of.
Can’t say I knew Alan Rickman or Bowie but did find myself striking up conversation with Alan Rickman, relatively recently at the Hampstead Theatre (which for some reason is in Swiss Cottage, but never let location stand in the way of a name…) at a Press Night showing of the excellent musical about the Kinks – Sunny Afternoon, before it transferred to the West End. We talked about queuing at bars to get served (which we were both doing at the time). He seemed like a good bloke – none of the big “I am”.
Only got to see Bowie perform once. Somehow or other, a friend had got a couple of tickets to his 50th Birthday Gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire and invited me along. Not a big venue and we were only a matter of feet away from him. He was chilled (as you would expect) and was exchanging blown kisses throughout with his Missus who was sitting up in the nearest box to the stage. Very sweet – and he ran through every song you would have wanted to hear – a true all-of-the-hits ++ set list, which went on for a good couple of hours.
Both happenings memorable and instantly make me smile, thinking of them – both men giants of their craft and we are the richer for what they gave us and the poorer at their loss…..