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Another hometown hero of sorts for us Seattleites. Actually, Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic were from Aberdeen/Hoquiam, where I spent a bunch of time working on my book about hate crimes, Death on the Fourth of July. A more bleak upbringing I could not really imagine, except maybe in Forks. Anyway, this is another cover, this time of a great David Bowie song from the era when Bowie was a great songwriter.

Fall Dog Bombs the Moon: A lil' tribute to the evil geniuses at NASA, who figured a way to bomb the one spot within artillery range even less hospitable than Afghanistan.

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(Dana Gillespie - Championship Water Skier, Pop Singer, David Bowie Discovery, Blues Belter . . in that order)

Most people probably remember Dana Gillespie from her RCA album "Weren't Born A Man" which had the distinction of a: being produced by David Bowie and b: best use of a corset in a photo shoot.

I suppose if you wanted to get really abstract about it, her pop-star period could resemble that of Samantha Fox, only in the 1960's. But I think that would be a cheap shot, because Dana Gillespie was (and still is) multi-talented, as is evidence by her solid reputation as a blues singer these last twenty years.

This particular track goes back to her first album issued in 1968 (although it dates to 1967. it wasn't issued in the states until a year later). It's rumored to feature a virtual who's who of London session musicians, including Jimmy Page. "You've Just Got To Know My Mind" opens the album Foolish Seasons, and is written by Donovan. It's a great track that sadly made little impression in the U.S. but was enough to establish her as a major artist in the U.K. and Europe (which was no mean feat, considering the competition at the time).

I admit, it rocks.

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(Junior's Eyes - The best known unknown band of the 60's)

Most people have probably never heard of Junior's Eyes. It's not a name that comes rolling off the tongue or conjures up some instant recognition. But if I told you they were David Bowie's backup back and played on Space Oddity and The Man Who Sold The World, then you'd at least have some idea. They never toured the U.S. and only had one album (their first) issued by A&M in 1969. No hit singles, no airplay to speak of and not given over to rave reviews with the press when it first came out. It's that curious mixture of psych, progressive and hard rock - not really settling in on any one thing that led to nonplussed assessments.

Some bands don't age well. Junior's Eyes isn't one of them. In retrospect they had a lot more to offer than they were given credit for and this track, "Playtime" gives ample evidence.

"Andy Warhol" on vinyl.

Also known as that “kinda odd, Turkish/reggae song off of 'The Lodger' with the title that sorta-but-not-quite means 'Long Life' that isn’t megastadium-tour-greatest-hits-popular, but still plenty good enough that you wish that someone on the damned radio machine would once in a while play something like this and not 'Cat People' or effing 'Golden Years' every damned time they have to drop in a Bowie, even though those are both pretty fine songs too and I don’t know of you remember but "Golden Years" was also the theme song to a weird little teevee series that starred a young Felicity Huffman, back in, damn, 1991? 18 years ago? Can that be right? That children conceived during that show's pilot (Plot: Old guard at a secret lab is doused with chemicals that make him age backwards.) are old enough to be out somewhere on a date tonight, watching ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (Plot: Old Brad Pitt is doused with CGI that makes him age backwards.) and have never heard ‘Yassassin?’” song.

Well we can’t have that, now can we?

Bowie celebrated his 62nd birthday this week. h/t Mark Hoback.

Life on Mars?

John Amato has been talking up the British series Life on Mars to me for a while, and I thought I'd check out the American version last night. Gotta love any show that starts with a little Bowie.