David Bowie Video Debuts Just Before His Longtime Producer Hits Chicago
By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 6, 2016 5:01PM
David Bowie, photo by Jimmy King
David Bowie may have passed away last January, but the tumult of activity stemming from his thrilling final project, ★ [a.k.a. Blackstar] shows no sign of stopping. Some of the tributes to the album have been groundbreaking, like "UNBOUND: A ★ InstaMiniSeries,” an episodic series of short Instagram videos drawing inspiration from Blackstar.
And now we have a new video from Blackstar, an animated interpretation of its latest single "I Can't Give It Away" directed by Jonathan Barnbrook. He worked directly with Bowie on his albums' visual identity from 2002 through Blackstar, and Bambrook's treatment for "I Can't Give Everything Away" is simple, haunting and transmits the song's melancholic beauty into the visual plane in a lovely manner.
(Barnbrook has also released all of the artwork elements from Blackstar for free download under a Creative Commons non-commercial share alike license, and urged people to remix the art in any way they see fit to pay tribute to Bowie.)
Plenty of David Bowie tribute concerts have popped up around the country since Bowie's passing, too—including one at Metro last month—but the most high profile one happened in New York last week. The Music Of David Bowie was a fundraiser for music programs that serve underprivileged youth, originally planned before Bowie's death. After the artist's passing the concert took on a new meaning.
A number of high profile performers appeared on the bill, but the most touching was probably Holy Holy, a band led by longtime Bowie producer Tony Visconti and Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie drummer Woody Woodmansey. Holy Holy has been touring recently, playing Bowie's initial foray into the harder rock that would lead him to glam The Man Who Sold The World. At the tribute show, Holy Holy played that album's opening track, the epic rocker "The Width Of The Circle." A stream of the Madison Square Garden performance made us hungry to hear more from Holy Holy.
Luckily for us, the band is coming to Chicago and performing this Sunday at The House Of Blues. In addition to The Man Who Sold The World—an album both men were instrumental in crafting alongside Bowie and then-guitarist Mick Ronson—they'll be playing other numbers from Bowie's heavier glam era. If you're still looking ways to relive a little of Bowie's magic, this is an excellent chance to do so.