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One of the highlights of Dead & Company’s Fall Tour was spending the Halloween Show with Sam Cutler and his bride. One of the things we talked about was Sam being asked to play the role of Host on David Bowie’s upcoming Tour. Apparently, David was planning to move forward regardless of anything that was forecast for him or any condition he had been dealing with. He somehow kept this all pretty quiet.

I’ll never forget seeing Bowie at The Spectrum in Philly in 1983 on the Serious Moonlight Tour. I was awestruck by live music from that day forward. I was 13 years old… Nearly every night for a number of years I fell asleep with my Sony Walkman’s headphones on listening to either Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” or David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”. David Bowie broadened and illuminated my musical mind as a kid and I’ll never forget that. Some words in his honor and memory…

Stardust fell on Ziggy on a predetermined time
Another Rebel Rebel whose beauty was sublime
He played a role that rolled his way and knew just what to do
I rode my bike and sang aloud, “I’m happy, hope you’re happy too”
Transgenders found an idol that appeared with Siamese eyes
He comforted confusion with some space age lullabies
Stood atop the mountain without guilt, remorse or pity
Walked his Modern Love right down the streets of Suffragette City
He filled the world with so much stuff that only he/she could do
Somehow became an alligator and a mama-papa coming for you
To see him on a stage made all his lyrics come alive
That definitely weren’t no D.J. that was hazy cosmic jive
So many Ch Ch Changes seemed to mark his mark on life
He danced upon the razor’s edge and played upon the knife
Planet earth is blue today because your star ascended
Golden years remembered through tears at news your life had ended
You added color to our lives in shades we’d never seen
From Liza Jane to Blackstar and so many in between
All The Young Dudes will carry the news of musical treasure lost
Another legend leaves us as we mourn and count the cost
We forge ahead with gifts you gave remembering what you’d say
Under the serious moonlight we can be heroes for a day
You showed show biz how to show off something that was showy
This generation gets Lady Gaga, WE had DAVID FUCKIN BOWIE!!!
While you planned another tour the grim reaper had his plan
We’ll meet again but until then, Ohhh Wham Bam Thank You Man!

Planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do…

Dean

*photo provided by Eric Schwartz

9 thoughts on “Planet Earth Is Blue and There’s Nothing I Can Do…”

  2. Mike Lenowsky

    I was gonna say the same as Jerry above. That line..We had David Fucking Bowie is a great capper to the best tribute I’ve read today. You really hit the nail on the head Dean. Thanks so much.
    My first show was Queen at MSG at 13 years old. I wish I’d seen Bowie that early cause he was a huge part of my musical world in my teens. The two times I saw him were both good and then Phenomenal. First was the decent Glass spiders tour. Gaudy and glitzy with Frampton on guitar and Squeeze opening..who were incredible. 2nd time though a few years later at Giants stadium again he had Adrian Belew on guitar who played on a bunch of Bowie albums and Carlos Alomar his usual rhythm guitar player who were a perfect team for busting out every great Bowie tune under the sun..or above the sun technically going by his lyrics. He was the one cat I wanted to see just one more time. And now hearing that he was gonna tour makes his passing even sadder. Not many people can reinvent themselves over and over while consistently creating great music. No one did it as great as he did. I happened to like Tin machine and really wish I saw them. But anyway, there’d be no Madonna, Lady Gaga etc. Without The thin white duke paving the way and always leading the way. He was a true original who created a pretty freaking astounding body of work. On a side note..although somewhat known..He essentially introduced Stevie Ray Vaughan to the world by having Stevie play amazingly on the Great Let’s Dance album. Thanks again Dean for the best tribute by far for the legend. RIP DAVID BOWIE

  4. Jules

    I saw David on the Serious Moonlight tour with a relatively unknown Stevie Ray Vaughn on lead guitar. Oingo Boingo opened. David pmayed keyboards for Oingo Boingo’s set. I was 13. Changed my life forever. That is all….

  6. Diane LaMarca

    Artist, musician. writer, poet, actor—he was a true renaissance man. Always reinventing the persona he potrayed with unique and provocative style while providing us with diverse music that resonates across generations. My mother took one look at the cover of Diamond Dogs and asked me if I needed to speak with “someone” about any “issues”I might be having. She became a fan after I dragged her to the Thin White Duke tour two years later and at 73, still plays his albums on her turntable. My oldest son who is 21 jams to Bowie on his ipod and my youngest who is 10 asks to play the Young Americans cd in the car. My heart is heavy with grief over his passing but also full of gratitude for having been touched by his brilliance.

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