Happy 60th Birthday David Bowie

As I write this, from California, it's the eve of David Bowie's 60th birthday. But it's already the 8th across the pond... So, as impossible as it seems, David Bowie is now 60.

The man himself either has "no plans for a lavish celebration" for his birthday or will "mark his milestone birthday" rather lavishly, "with a massive outdoor gig in New York later this year." (He's curating the inaugural High Line Festival in May.)

Plans are afoot for fan birthday events - possibly lavish ones - for members of his message board. On TV, radio, and in print, people are already weighing in with opinions about favorite Bowie songs, albums and "moments". (My November list of top 5 Bowie songs is too recent to need updating.)

There's also special Bowie-themed TV programming on channels such as the UK's VH1 Classic and Turner Classic Movies in the States. Bowie.net offers a programming calendar, so you can check out when and where to catch David Bowie - A Reality Tour or his cameo in Yellowbeard.

The 8th is David Bowie Day at Virgin Classic Radio.

On Saturday, a one-hour BBC Radio 2 program, "Inspirational Bowie", aired. The broadcast has been archived and is now online via streaming audio. It's really excellent.

A staggering array of artists pay tribute to Bowie on the broadcast, including New Order's Peter Hook, Ian McCulloch, described as a "Bowie fanatic", Suede's Brett Anderson, Jarvis Cocker ("Somehow Bowie managed to keep that intelligence without it getting pretentious"), Richard Hawley (his favorite is still Ziggy Stardust), Boy George, Marc Almond (who talks about Bowie touching his hand during a concert), Elbow's Guy Garvey, Ricky Gervais (who thinks Aladdin Sane might be his best album, though he wondered, "Is this okay to like? Is it too arty? Is it too pretentious?"), Annie Lennox, Debbie Harry ("Bowie gave people an exit from numbing suburbia..."), and Moby (who talks about how Bowie never gets credit for his producing work.)

David Bowie, as James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause in a 1980 Tonight Show appearance, performing "Life On Mars", from YouTube:



The Divine Comedy - Life On Mars (Live) (from Uncut: Starman: A Tribute To David Bowie)

Big Country - Cracked Actor (from Uncut: Starman: A Tribute To David Bowie)