Do You Know...

who this Duo is??? Well, you will learn...my pretties: you will learn.

(Until you learn, check this out, especially Bowie fans!!)

Christiane F. - Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo

Last summer Patrick introduced me to Christiane F. – a beautiful, middle-class but essentially hopeless young girl of 13 from Berlin, West Germany.

Okay: it was a movie. But Christiane F. is a real person. And her story is terrifyingly disturbing. The movie was filmed in 1981 and unapologetically realistic in recounting her struggle with drug-addiction against the backdrop of a dark, black and gray Free Germany still trying to overcome its Nazi past.

The film is brutal. Filmed in documentary style we see beautiful, prepubescent Christiane living with her mother and new boyfriend after her sister has left to live with their father. Like many teens coping with pain, Christane escapes from her seemingly abandonment issues by losing herself listening to music in her room – in this case, David Bowie records – and daydreaming of the new disco, “Sound” which assumes in her mind some sort of fantasy world. She is not poor, not abused, not even unloved – and, yet, she feels utterly empty.

Eventually Christiane starts to frequent the “Sound”, lying that she is age 16 to get in. In a dreamlike state she wanders her dream world amongst other angst-ridden youth all the while with her beloved Bowie songs playing on the dance floor. She befriends some older teens and meets gentle, chivalrous Detlev – with whom she falls in love with. After a few months stint of hanging out with her new friends and boyfriend at the underground Zoo train station where the kids would drop acid and sleep there if homeless, Chistiane eventually becomes addicted herself to heroin - even though her friends warn that she would become hooked after only one try - and loses her virginity to Detlev at 14.

Her mother finds her one day collapsed at home and in a very open-minded (almost insightful) gesture – fetches Detlev and locks them both in her room to quit cold-turkey. The scene is harrowing – with nothing left to the imagination. The 2 young lovers vomit, sweat, bleed, writhe in pain and shake uncontrollably while alternating trying to consol one other. It is absolutely ghastly to watch. (And I join the critics who believe it should be mandatory viewing in schools.)
They do, eventually, make it through and are clean – but only for a moment. As they visit the old gang at the station to encourage sobriety they immediately relapse suggesting to each other to just “do it one last time”. Devastatingly, they are hooked again....Immediately.

Her life spiraling out of control, Christiane is forced to steal, sell her beloved Bowie albums, see friends die from overdose, and eventually enter prostitution herself. Her once angelic, unmarked child’s face is now bloated, with dark circles, her long hair matted and ratty. When her love, Detlev, moves in with a homosexual client as a last resort of survival – albeit the most unhealthy, reckless and hopeless way of life – Christiane finds herself even more alone and isolated than ever before. The movie ends with her voiceover stating that her mother sent her away from Berlin to live with a grandmother. She never saw Detlev again. A couple years later her autobiography was published before the age of 20 and she became an overnight news and talk-show sensation. Amazingly, her battle with drugs remained off-and-on until 1996 with the birth of her son.

Even with the dark, unforgivingly realistic subject matter of the movie, it remains one of my all-time favorites. For 8 years I have been working with teenagers and have been moved and mostly disheartened at their plight. Whether or not kids turn to drugs, alcohol, lying, gangs, immoral or promiscuous behavior to deal with life, the underlying common denominator is the universal feeling of having no sense of identity and belonging which leads to feelings of utter isolation. Virtually all youth experience this as “growing pains”.

As “weak” or “naïve” as one can judge Christiane F., upon watching the film one cannot help but still root for her as a young heroine, all the while relating to her youthful crush that then blossoms into her first Love. We’ve all been there. We recognize her excitement when she attends her first concert of her larger-than-life idol, David Bowie (who believed so strongly in the story as to score the film and make a cameo appearance reenacting his 1975 Berlin concert).

The best scene of the movie literally makes me ache a mix of nostalgia and yearning of some unattained youthful dreams. With “Heroes” (my favorite Bowie song of all time) as accompianant - and before she and Detlev have yet to become hooked on drugs – this magnificent scene follows them as they run hand-in-hand like nymphs along with their gang of friends in the middle of the night through a darkened downtown Berlin building. Playfully falling down only to get up and do the same again, their laughter, camaraderie and free spirit echo what youth so desperately crave while belying the angst that they, in fact, truly feel. Even when Detlev breaks a window to steal money and the kids suddenly become criminals outsmarting and running away from the police, one still finds themselves rooting for the young lovers’ escape and eventual first kiss. The scene says so much – without any dialogue – with Bowie singing, “I can be King. And you can be Queen. There's nothing that can drive us apart. We can be Heroes: just for one day.”

And so they were…

80s Song of the Week #5 - David Bowie "Blue Jean"

ok, ok if you've been reading my blog by now you know that I dig David Bowie something awful! *that's a good thing, by the way :)

I was not introduced to Bowie, though, until his 1980s period - quite different than his earlier heyday. That said, when he reached the 80s, whether or not with the birth of MTV and music videos - he did a major makeover - and the sexy, suave, non-effeminate but still unique Bowie was born. THIS was the David Bowie that I first cut my teeth on. Hubba hubba.

I remember this video quite clearly. I LOVE it not just for the swinging, danceable song that it is but for the video production. Firstly: the duality that plays a theme throughout it - the duality of his makeup shading (SO sexy on his angular bone structure) opposing the different color duality of his one brown eye and one light eye. Then there is the duality of him being a sexy performer onstage with the crowd in the palm of his hand and his double role of him playing the nerd in the business suit trying to impress the attractive woman watching the show (I remember that 80s makeup on her by the way!). Lastly, I love the choice of having the crowd sometimes choreographed to playfully repeat his gestures onstage. And what could be cooler than them applaud his performance at the end by doing the very French retro-chic 'snapping' of fingers instead of clapping of hands?

This video was actually only part of a 20 minute video which is hard to find nowadays in it's entirety. Until next week, my 80s friends!

All the Young Dudes Carry the News: Bowie turns 60

Yesterday was David Robert Jones AKA David Bowie's 60th birthday. Since a child I have always lived in a theatrical, dream-like, imaginative world in my head and that is why I appreciate his work so much. A true artist, he should not only be revered for his career longevity and uncomparable songwriting talents but because he is one of the last few who represented a time when true performers were bigger than life and concept albums were essentially a form of escapism from the real world.

I listened to a 2002 interview on National Public Radio yesterday where he commented that he just wanted to learn to play saxaphone as a kid and write theater musicals until 16. Undoubtedly it was that theatrical creativity and vision which led him to don the red wig and makeup in the 70s and create the "Ziggy Stardust" character, explore other adrodgynous fashions and then continue on to remake his sexier 80s image with his suits and shorter James Dean hair, and finally become the sophisticated and classy man that he is now.

Singer Suzanne Vega put it best, "He's not just a great rock and roller: he's a great Entertainer. And there's something almost like the old-school vaudeville about his character. And as he's gone on, he's gotten almost more 'human' onstage. Which is very powerful - perhaps even more powerful than when he was doing the more fantastic characters from the 70s".

This song, to me, epitomizes my utter contentment at being able to lose myself and go 'to another place' through his lyrics and piano. I have been that 'Girl with the Mousy hair', and Lord knows I have 'walked through my sunken Dreams'. I was going to put the original video, but found an excellent picture hommage of Bowie through the years that is perfect for this blog's subject. Enjoy and don't be afraid, my readers, to lose yourself in the dreamland he creates with his music...

Ziggy Imposter doesn't Bite the (Star)dust..

On Monday, my ex-punk (back in Northern Ireland when he was young and angrier) boyfriend called me to inform me we were going out and it was a suprise. Being a Monday night and all, the only thing I could be sure of was that alcohol would somehow be involved. He told me NOT to dress up and get to his place around 9:30pm. Luckily I wore my high-heeled stilleto boots because I needed to be tall in order to see when we ended up going to a concert at the rockin' Casbah!

Well, I was almost the most straight-laced person there (one blonde girl wearing slacks and blouse from the office beat me out) as I noted everyone was either punk or mod. Very hip! I do believe that I was probably also the only gal there without a tattoo...

Well, it turns out I was in for a treat. Evidently once a year in San Diego, some local musician impersonates David Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust phase. We are talking adrodgynous one-piece unitard, white platform boots, bad reddish spikey 80s wig and face paint.

Now. I have to admit that this guy sounded pretty damn good. I mean noone can expect him to be as sexy and self-assured as the the real demi-God Bowie. Shoot, they just don't make singers like that anymore. Back when musicians and their lyrics were "bigger than Life". Not like now with these over-produced, lip-syncing, one-hit performers whose main concern is shaking their a** for their video. (Alas, I digress...) Anyhow, this guy got some of the Bowie moves down pretty well. In fact, my only constructive criticsm was to lose about 10 pounds or wear a girdle under that spandex unitard. Gurl, that thing showed everything from panty lines to bulges!!!

The crowd loved it and it was hilarious and true entertainment when some people rushed onstage to join him in the encore song and bowing down to him playing up the magical fun of him being "Bowie". Also, another highlight was when 5 foot tall (well, he was pretty damn short) Freddy Mercury impersonater joined him for their duet. Radical!!!

All in all I can say the $10 bucks cover charge was well-spent for an 80s treat on a Monday night. Too bad they got off to a late start and we finally left at 12:30 during the transition to the "Cure" cover band - that's one of Patrick's favorite all time bands!

Click below to enjoy the real thing and one of my favorite Bowie songs!!