"Dead at 69, after a long battle with cancer, surrounded by family and friends."
And I had no idea either of them were even sick.
While the title of this post is a direct quote from a character played by one of these men, I felt it accurately described how people felt and reacted to both of them during their long and illustrious careers (well, one a bit longer than the other).
Today, we say goodbye to David Bowie and Alan Rickman.
Now, I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of Bowie's music - I didn't dislike it, in fact there were a couple of songs I really liked, but he was never one of my favorites. But I admired and respected what he brought to the music industry. Plus, it's weird how relevant he was to my recent life - first I play a video game where I hear his voice in my head instantly for the true final boss, then I lose a Halloween costume contest to a woman dressed as Jareth from Labyrinth. This was a shocking enough loss...
But then to hear of Alan's passing so suddenly, and the fact that as I said above it's almost exactly the same story made me think it was another one of those horrible pranks. Alas, we've lost a great voice (in more than one meaning) of film. I first saw Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest, and have since adored him in everything I've seen him in: Dogma, Die Hard, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Love Actually, Sweeney Todd, the list goes on. It was really Alan Rickman being cast as Severus Snape in the first Harry Potter film that led me to finally checking out the books and becoming the Potter fan I am today, and it's one of his best and most fitting roles. Finally, Alan Rickman is important to me personally because of his story: He was in textiles most of his life until finally getting fed up and becoming an actor at the age of 41 - so whenever I watch people my own age or younger become superstars and start to worry about what I'm doing with my life, Alan's story reminds me it's never too late.
Goodbye, Alan and David. We'll miss you both, Always. Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing we can do.
Bowie hit me really hard. He was actually one of the first non-musical theatre artists I got really obsessed with, first with Hunky Dory and then branching out into his Berlin albums, Ziggy Stardust, and Heathen. I don't even know what it is, but the versatility of his music and the wealth of interesting sounds he would make, both in his own voice and in the arrangements of his songs, really appealed to me. From Bowie I branched out into a lot of other pop music, and found more obscure gems like Klaus Nomi and Kate Bush, and it just...I don't know. His music became such a latent part of my life for a very long time, and even though that won't be going away, it feels odd not to have him anymore.
ReplyDeleteRickman, too, of course...just what a loss. Both of them, such everpresent parts of everyday life--"oh, let's check out the new Bowie album! Oh, Alan Rickman's in a new movie", and it's just disquieting to have that removed all of a sudden.
Also--when I learned Bowie died I felt compelled to record a tribute. If you don't mind, I'd like to share that here:
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1AvURIUGIo
Well said, Nilbog.
ReplyDelete