Not Afraid of Americans

December 14, 2009 7:14 PM

David Bowie's response to his first American fan letter. In 1967, 14 year old Sandra Adams wrote a letter to Bowie. According to Bowie himself, this was his first bit of fan mail from the States. The response, though brief, is funny and sincere.
posted by spaltavian (79 comments total)

that's great.
posted by rainperimeter at 7:19 PM on December 14, 2009

What do you know, even rock stars could use a 3-minute edit window.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:20 PM on December 14, 2009 [9 favorites]

I found his response charming. His excitement and curiosity about his first American is obviously unfeigned, and it's nice to see somebody who often seems so much larger than life as an eager young man at the start of his career, happily writing letters back to fans because he is just so thrilled to have them.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:21 PM on December 14, 2009 [16 favorites]

It's now official: Sandra Adams is the hippest American to have ever lived. I mean, really, talk about getting in on the ground floor to what turned out to be one of the greatest and most influential rock artists of all time. Nice going, Sandra.
posted by NoMich at 7:21 PM on December 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

I missed the Monkees reference the first time through, and was wondering why he was being such a defensive jerk about the name change. But it's "no need to tell you," not "you can't make me tell you." Awesome.
posted by nebulawindphone at 7:23 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

This makes me happy.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2009

NoMich: It's now official: Sandra Adams is the hippest American to have ever lived.

From the link: Oddly Sandra never bought another Bowie album as her musical tastes had shifted toward folk music.

posted by spaltavian at 7:24 PM on December 14, 2009

I so, so would like to show this to Bowie, then sit down with him and discuss it. Would he recognize his own writing? I imagine it would be a fascinating conversation.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:27 PM on December 14, 2009

I sort of know Sandra Dodd, on-line at least, for a number of years now--she is a guru of radical unschooling here in the US.
posted by not that girl at 7:28 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

I hope one day to get to America, and inhale Britain's GDP in cocaine. My manager tells me a lot about it...
posted by pompomtom at 7:28 PM on December 14, 2009 [6 favorites]

Just the sort of nice young lad you could take home to your mum for tea. There's some footage of him somewhere in his first TV appearance while still a schoolboy representing some spurious 'rights of the long-haired' (touching the collar, shock horror) group him and his mates started where he comes over as very self-assured for his age.
posted by Abiezer at 7:28 PM on December 14, 2009

I didn't mean to be name-droppy there at all, more like, "Oh, hey, small world."
posted by not that girl at 7:28 PM on December 14, 2009

this is super wonderful.
posted by anya32 at 7:29 PM on December 14, 2009

That Bowie is a class act through and through. A few years ago a friend of mine met Bowie and spoke with him at length and reported that he was as nice as could be.

It would be impressive if a star took the time to write what is a pretty long response, but even more impressive is that, in 1967, Bowie took the time to type the letter on a typewriter, which was then folded and put in an envelope, which then was snailmailed to Sandra. Makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
posted by zardoz at 7:32 PM on December 14, 2009 [12 favorites]

By the way, my girlfriend -- the one from the Wall-E story -- has a similar email from Amy Poehler. She saw Poehler perform live as Stacy, Andy's little sister on Cona O'Brien, and enjoyed her performance, so she wrote a letter to her. It was, at it turns out, Poehler's first fan letter, and she wrote back excitedly and sent Courtney some Upright Citizens Brigade stuff.

Here's the text of that letter, from January 25 of 1998:

Dear Courtney,

Thanks so much for your nice letter to me about the character I do on Conan. It's great fun to do, and the writer of the piece -- Brian Stack given me great things to say. I think the headgear is funny too -- but it rips my mouth up the whole time. That's cool you guys were in the audience -- it's a lot of fun to sit in the audience and do it.

I'm glad you're a fan of the show because I am too! Most of the people who work on the show are hilarious friends of mine. Do you know you are really the first actual piece of "fan mail" I've ever gotten? (If you don't count that weird card I once got from a soccer buddy.) Thanks for your kind words! I write and perform in a sketch comedy troupe here in NYC called the Upright Citizens Brigade. The other guys in my group are on Conan a lot. I bet if you're a fan you would recognize them.

Thanks again for your letter. If you're ever in New York come see us. Keep rockin' out in Ham Lake.

Amy Poehler
"Stacy"
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:39 PM on December 14, 2009 [28 favorites]

I love Bowie. I love writing letters. I was born in 1970 otherwise you can bet this would have been me!

A kid in my high school, whose parents were military types, says he went to kindergarten with one of Bowie's offspring. This kid had to do a report on someone that influenced him, so he picked Bowie. While reading the report he had a photo passed around, presumably showing him at a young age standing next to some kid that could have been Bowie's (supposedly he'd been invited to Bowie's kid's birthday party).

The teacher stopped his report when he quoted Bowie as saying, "I met my first wife while she and I were laying the same bloke."

I have no idea how Bowie met any of his wives, and have no idea if this kid's report had an ounce of truth.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:39 PM on December 14, 2009 [3 favorites]

Email? I mean letter, of course.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:40 PM on December 14, 2009

Wow, "Love You Till Tuesday," the single referred to in the letter, is a weird little song. Like, Herman's Hermits weird. Is the bad 'Til Tuesday named after this song?
posted by escabeche at 7:41 PM on December 14, 2009

Aw, it's so sweet. I could almost hear some deeply earnest young lad reading it aloud.
posted by Sova at 7:44 PM on December 14, 2009

I can't believe she never got another Bowie album. After this letter!? Betrayal!
posted by haveanicesummer at 7:52 PM on December 14, 2009

My mom knew the dentist who did Bowie's veneers, and when I met him (the dentist) at a dental conference, I was kinda giddy about what that did to the degrees of separation between me and David Bowie. Years later, I actually met Bowie (who really was nice as could be) and I got so starstruck that my only coherent thought was "Wow, his veneers really are good."

In other news, "The Laughing Gnome," another song from the Love You Til Tuesday era, kinda creeps me out.
posted by Ruki at 7:57 PM on December 14, 2009

The teacher stopped his report when he quoted Bowie as saying, "I met my first wife while she and I were laying the same bloke."

I have no idea how Bowie met any of his wives, and have no idea if this kid's report had an ounce of truth.

That might have been Dr. Calvin Mike Lee –

While I was at college in England, Calvin enjoyed great success in the music business. His boss was a man called Lou Reizner who was the director of Mercury Records for Europe. Calvin was his A&R man, he was responsible for David Bowie's first American record deal. David was 21 years old, very beautiful and Calvin had a crush on him. Meantime Bowie had a band called "Feathers". there were three members in the group, Bowie, his girlfriend Hermione and Hutch a guitarist from Yorkshire. They were booked at the Roundhouse supporting the Who & Scaffold (Paul McCartney's brother's band). In 1968, I went to see "Feathers", this show was before the signing to Mercury Records. Calvin decided he needed to introduce me to David again as he had broken up with his girlfriend and was feeling pretty low. By now David had been signed to the Record Company and it was time to start the album. Calvin wanted to cheer him up so the album didn't suffer. This time the three of us went out to dinner. We discussed music and the album of course, Tibetan Buddhism and bisexuality, which we all agreed, we were. Soon after this, David and I were best friends and lovers.

posted by tellurian at 8:00 PM on December 14, 2009

Astro Zombie, I wrote Conan a letter. He didn't write back.

Dear Mr. O'Brien.

I know what it's like to be stalked. It happened to me once (actually twice). I feel bad for you. I was never stalked by a priest though. That has to be really weird.

Can I have an autographed photo? Please say yes. Or don't say anything at all, just send it to the above address.


Sincerely,


Christopher L. Jorgensen

p.s. don't make me send this letter another 99 times. Ha ha!

I'd like to pretend all of the above is made up, but he was stalked, so was I (twice), so it's all the truth. I would have sent the letter another 99 times, but even I will only spend so much for a joke.

Hey, anyone know if the address at the bottom of the Bowie letter is still good?
posted by cjorgensen at 8:00 PM on December 14, 2009

It's a good thing she wrote when she did, she never would have received such a wonderful reply from The Thin White Duke.
posted by MikeMc at 8:01 PM on December 14, 2009

Quite a contrast to what the blokes from The Spiders from Mars give of Bowie. Like anyone, multifaceted, multiperceived.
posted by juiceCake at 8:03 PM on December 14, 2009

Yup, that was great.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:05 PM on December 14, 2009

Like anyone, multifaceted, multiperceived.

Like Madonna, only talented. Then again there was the Bowie and Bing thing. Strange that, I wonder if Bowie talked the Binger into helping him polish off an 8 ball after the taping.
posted by MikeMc at 8:25 PM on December 14, 2009

Well, I never met Bowie, but know several people who did - and by all accounts he's extremely nice. I suppose he may have been less nice in his twitchy coke paranoia time of massive drug taking, but otherwise, no ill reports that I'm aware of.
posted by VikingSword at 8:27 PM on December 14, 2009

This is really great. I would love to get a similar letter from any of the musicians I very nearly idolize. (Billy Joel, I'm looking at you.) It's too bad that this kind of thing is as rare as it is.

Thanks for sharing.
posted by Kimothy at 8:32 PM on December 14, 2009

This is all kinds of awesome, yet so completely of another era. Sums up the differences between 2009 and 1967 (ancient typewriter with keys that don't quite hit the line of type correctly, exquisite politeness, the chasm between Fan and Celebrity not having yet turned into a Grand Canyon, Robert Frost, Vermont, "the real America") in a very resonant way.
posted by blucevalo at 8:35 PM on December 14, 2009

I would fucking kill any man in this room for the original version of this letter. No offense.
posted by aramaic at 8:35 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

(if this had been reddit, people would have screamed "blog spam!" and linked to her original post instead)
posted by effbot at 8:40 PM on December 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

I liked the stationary.
posted by oddman at 8:41 PM on December 14, 2009

NoMich: It's now official: Sandra Adams is the hippest American to have ever lived.

From the link: Oddly Sandra never bought another Bowie album as her musical tastes had shifted toward folk music.

Seriously, it doesn't get any hipper. Not only did she discover him first, she dropped him first. "Yawn...I was really into him last year..."
posted by nosila at 8:53 PM on December 14, 2009 [13 favorites]

and inhale Britain's GDP in cocaine

Funny, I was listening to some live Bowie on a radio show* this evening, sounded like it was from the mid 70s and frankly pretty bad IMO, and thought "jesus, this must have been from deep in the cocaine years."

* WREK's New Forces Radio Hour, download link 1 and download link 2; the Bowie tracks are around the middle of the show; you have to download by Tuesday midnight ET because it's going to get overwritten by the next show
posted by intermod at 8:55 PM on December 14, 2009

What a sweet letter, and I loved the twist of fickle Sandra ditching Bowie for folk music.
posted by Forktine at 8:57 PM on December 14, 2009

escabeche: Wow, "Love You Till Tuesday," the single referred to in the letter, is a weird little song. Like, Herman's Hermits weird. Is the bad 'Til Tuesday named after this song?

Well, it's exactly the kind of song I'd expect Steve Marriott's roommate to write.

Also holy moly goddamn right is Sandra Dodd the hippest person who ever lived... from the write-up on her website: "I didn't buy any more of his albums, anyway—by the time he was openly available I was immersed in folk music. I bought some current acoustic stuff (Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Carol King), but mostly I was collecting field recordings of traditional ballads and everyday songs. Then I got involved in Renaissance music, and I had a sexy, funny boyfriend from India and..."
posted by Kattullus at 9:06 PM on December 14, 2009

Bowie's veneers

I liked Bowie's old teeth. Sure they were pretty snaggly, but Bowie is an exceedingly handsome guy. The crazy teeth and mismatched eyes made his beauty even more fascinating.

Pretty neat to see such an unguarded letter from Bowie, given the personae he's adopted over the years.

Dear David Bowie, thank you for Lady Gaga. In the name of the Stardust, the Sane, and the Thin White Duke, Amen.
posted by Monsters at 9:07 PM on December 14, 2009 [6 favorites]

Swoon, Mr Bowie.
SWOOOON.
posted by smallvictories at 9:07 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

He is so not 5'10.
Also, I would have written back.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 9:09 PM on December 14, 2009

Oh, in case you don't know who Steve Marriott was, here's some early Small Faces: Itchycoo Park, Lazy Sunday, Tin Soldier and All or Nothing. He's the small one.
posted by Kattullus at 9:09 PM on December 14, 2009

Charming! Thanks for posting this.
posted by LarryC at 9:15 PM on December 14, 2009

wi-at? I love this letter. So endearing!
posted by emd3737 at 9:26 PM on December 14, 2009

Also, I would have written back.

In her original website post (also linked upthread) she says she did:

He asked me to write and tell him more about myself. I did. I always figured I was a reject for being fourteen years old. But probably he was swept away in being busy getting famous.
posted by not that girl at 9:51 PM on December 14, 2009

Bowie, a few years before & after this fan letter
David Bowie interview at 17 - founder of The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Long-haired Men.
Ching-a-ling - the Feathers
David Bowie - "When I Live My Dream" original video 1969
posted by madamjujujive at 10:15 PM on December 14, 2009 [2 favorites]

That is a ridiculously sweet letter. Wow.
posted by brundlefly at 10:28 PM on December 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

I am so jealous of this lady, and of all of you and your friends-of-friends who have met David Bowie. Although, honestly, I don't know what reaction I'd have if I ever ran into him somewhere. Crying? Incontinence?

(As a sidenote, I did have a dream that I met him once. He was a spokesman for Secret deodorant, and I was part of a focus group. He asked me what mattered most to me in an antiperspirant. I was so sad when I woke up.)
posted by rebel_rebel at 10:33 PM on December 14, 2009 [12 favorites]

One of my few brushes-with-famous-people was with Bowie.

It was the second week of September, 1983, and he was playing at the Coliseum in Vancouver. I'd just started at UBC, and was drinking rather a lot, as was my wont. One night there was a mixer at Place Vanier with free booze, and a friend of mine who I'd graduated with and who was also a freshman at UBC took great advantage of the freebies (white wine, for some bizarre reason, as I recall, something I'd never really gotten inebriated on before).

It was pouring rain that evening, as usual, and when the mixer shut down, I was, in young wonderchicken style, just getting geared up. But being underage, finding more booze was going to be a challenge, so we decided to make the trek across campus to Gage Towers to find her older brother, the theory being that he could hook us up with some more grog.

As we passed in front of the computer science buildings, I got it into my head to do the Gene Kelly routine from Singing in the Rain, and sing and splash and swoop around the light poles a bit. Predictably, my blood-alcohol content rendered my swooping a little less graceful than it should have been, and I ended up breaking my ankle.

Next morning, I woke up in my dorm room in my clothes with a monumental wine hangover and a somewhat hazy recollection of the night before. Reeking, disoriented, with a throbbing right ankle that felt about the size of my head. My mother, who was visiting Vancouver to see I'd settled in, and her sister, who'd come to visit with my mom, were knocking on the door. I can't say they were all that surprised. At least Mitzi -- yes, my friend's name was Mitzi -- wasn't there in the bed with me, too.

We went to the campus hospital, I got strapped up and given a pair of crutches, and we went to the Bayshore Hotel, where they were staying, for breakfast. I was feeling about as physically bad as an 18-year-old can.

The elevator stopped on our way up to my mom and aunt's room. I could smell myself, and it wasn't pretty. I was staring at the carpet, swaying, sweating, and trying desperately not to throw up, but noticed more or less in my peripheral vision two very large black-suited men and one much smaller blond man get on.

We got off on my mom's floor, and as we did, I realized that the little fellow was David Bowie. The realization took long enough to percolate through my hungover brain that all I had time for was a double-take, wobbling on my crutches, enough to meet his eyes and smile, and get a smile back.

I believe that he was a nice fellow because of that smile, 'cause man, if I'd had to stand in an elevator with my sodden, reeking self that morning, I'd have been rejoicing the moment I got off.

This first, memorable experience of my university career turned out to emblematic of the next 5 years. UBC was a lot of fun.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 11:10 PM on December 14, 2009 [15 favorites]

This was written on a wall where I used to live:
"The great thing about David Bowie is whether you're a boy or a girl, you can say, 'When I grow up I want to be David Bowie!'"
posted by aws17576 at 11:17 PM on December 14, 2009 [3 favorites]

I donno, a little fear is healthy.
posted by jeffburdges at 11:25 PM on December 14, 2009

Looks like he wasn't afraid of Americans back then.
posted by bwg at 12:50 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Eep ... forgot to look at the post title. Ah well, great minds think alike and all that.
posted by bwg at 12:51 AM on December 15, 2009

Was about to sound all sleuthy and say the letter was nicked from Letters of Note and then I saw it was via her own site. So never mind!

But LoN is an excellent site too, and you should read the exchange with Dr. Seuss, Vonnegut's account of Dresden, and this real downer from Brian Wilson's dad. Why yes, I was thinking of posting it to the front page.
posted by Dandeson Coates, Sec'y at 12:58 AM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

I can't let those two veneer/teeth comments go without posting the old classic: Bowie's Teeth: "Believe it or not, it's an in depth analysis of David Bowie's teeth."

(One day I will either move to a state where the "TVC15" license plate is still available or will pry it away from whoever has it in WA. I'm lookin' for you TVC15 WA!)
posted by girlhacker at 1:06 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

...and Steve Marriott lead Humble Pie.
posted by bonefish at 1:15 AM on December 15, 2009

Brilliant! Really enjoyed the letter and the teeth docu.
posted by Will_Tuna at 1:55 AM on December 15, 2009

My own Encounter with Mr Bowie:

About ten years ago, I went to the MoMA on a Sunday afternoon to look at the Jasper Johns exhibit. A very thin blonde man in a suit came over and stood next to me. I looked up, thought to myself Oh, it's David Bowie, and went back to the painting.

Then it hit me. That's David Bowie.

So I looked up, he saw me looking, smiled, and winked, and then walked away.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:07 AM on December 15, 2009 [9 favorites]

The letter is neat, but what I really enjoyed is poking around on her site. I haven't seen that complete a homepage (and particularly one that's clearly hand coded) in quite some time.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:07 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was watching an old film on TV the other night called "No Down Payment"...

...shortly after that they showed a documentary about Robert Frost, the American poet...

I made my first movie last week. Just a fifteen minutes short, but it gave me some good experience for a full length deal I have starting in January.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 4:31 AM on December 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Funny thing about Bowie is that the times that he had problems with drugs were when he did his best songwriting (probably Ziggy Stardust to Young Americans). I never understood that.
posted by ovvl at 4:42 AM on December 15, 2009

the times that he had problems with drugs were when he did his best songwriting

Yep, that's how it works sometimes.

A friend of mine in college sat next to Mr. & Mrs. Bowie/Jones (David & Iman) on a plane once. The two things she never forgot: 1. Iman is really, really tall; 2. David Bowie has a ridiculously low, baritone laugh. Like, imagine a recording of Santa Clause on barbituates, being played back at half speed.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 5:37 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

CoolPapaBell: I so, so would like to show this to Bowie, then sit down with him and discuss it. Would he recognize his own writing? I imagine it would be a fascinating conversation.

Yeah, that was my first thought, too-- would kill to have someone w/ a video camera record him rereading the letter and get his reactions. So obviously, I shot off an email to Shaun Usher, who runs the really fabulous Letters of Note, to see if he'd tried. Sounds like it's not exactly on the front-burner. Were I an enterprising reporter, I'd spend some serious time making it happen. Because it would be magic.

One extra reason it seems so touching to me is because this still tears me up
posted by NolanRyanHatesMatches at 5:55 AM on December 15, 2009

Too bad these sorts of letters from artists to their fans are likely few and far between. I too like "Love You Till Tuesday."
posted by bizwiz2 at 6:31 AM on December 15, 2009

I still have the fax i received from Bowie re a story I was doing on a different artist. One of them prized possesion thingies.
posted by timsteil at 6:42 AM on December 15, 2009

a heartwarming christmas bowie tale even though it happened many years ago sometime in the summer, i think:

one of my old bosses, dill boan*, was a newspaper publisher for a wee, wee paper. he had ... 6 or 7 kids, i think. when the kids were little, he went to a newspaper convention in california, and took the family with him on vacation. as luck would have it, he was staying at the same hotel as bowie, who was on tour in his ziggy stardust phase at that point in time. dill boan was doing his convention things during convention times & his wife was left to try to wrangle the kids around town for vacation fun. kids, being kids, were fighty & grumpy. somewhere in the course of dill boan's day, he'd actually met bowie & had a brief conversation with him, even though dill boan, like sandra adams, was more a fan of folk. later that evening coming back from dinner, he & a few of his tired, grumpy kids were in the elevator going back to their room. the elevator stopped short of their floor, the door opened, and in walked a glammed-out bowie with his entourage. bowie smiled at dill & said, 'good evening, mr. boan,' and dill boan smiled back & said, 'good evening, david, how are you?' the elevator dinged & the doors opened at dill boan's floor and he & *his* entourage got off, with bowie saying, 'have a nice evening, mr. boan!'

dill boan's kids were slack jawed & wide-eyed. 'DAD! do you KNOW who that is, dad?' dill boan said, 'of course i know who that is. and he knows who i am. didn't you listen? '

dill boan said his kids calmed down & were much better behaved--and quite a bit more respectful of him--after that.

*name changed to protect the innocent
posted by msconduct at 6:58 AM on December 15, 2009 [14 favorites]

Funny thing about Bowie is that the times that he had problems with drugs were when he did his best songwriting (probably Ziggy Stardust to Young Americans).

Respectfully disagree--I like all of Bowie's stuff up through Scary Monsters and sporadically thereafter (the last complete album that I really liked was Black Tie White Noise), but my favorite period of his was probably his Berlin period, which was during the time that he moved to West Berlin to dry out. Actually, I'd include Low, Heroes, skip over Lodger (which I never liked that much) and include Scary Monsters.

Anyway, yes, Bowie very cool.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:40 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Current 93's David Tibet sent me a postcard in high school, in response to a letter I wrote to him. He recommended that I read "Riddley Walker", which, FUCK YEAH.

Also: This is awesome, and makes me like David Bowie even more than I did previously.
posted by everichon at 8:26 AM on December 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

I wonder if he took out to dinner and a movie, and later sent flowers to his first groupie.
posted by digsrus at 9:25 AM on December 15, 2009

I looked up, he saw me looking, smiled, and winked, and then walked away.

I like this Bowie story the best out of all the ones in this thread, because it most reinforces my idea of him as a grinning Cheshire-Cat-like changeling, mysteriously flitting from place to place, spreading fey magic.
posted by Greg Nog at 10:27 AM on December 15, 2009 [10 favorites]

Favorited this post because it made me smile. And say "awwwww . . . "

Too adorable for words.

Thanks, spaltavian!
posted by jason's_planet at 10:27 AM on December 15, 2009

And to think, it was only a few short years later that Bowie ascended to become the Guild Sovereign.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:48 AM on December 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

I thought it was impossible to love and adore David Bowie more than I already did.

Thank you, spaltavian, for proving me wrong.
posted by scody at 11:04 AM on December 15, 2009

Ahhhh David Bowie. Musical genius, genuine person. That letter was so cool to read, although the skeptic in me says, of course he'd be very nice as at that point he was a relative nobody having flopped with various outfits like the Lower Third, Mannish Boys and The King Bees.
But I think the Bowie of today would be just as genuine.
He was born January 8th as was I (also sharing that day-Elvis Presley, Robby Krieger of The Doors and Soupy Sales!), and it is indeed a day of greatness.
I still can't believe Bowie has not released new material since the most excellent 2003 album Reality. I think the heart attack really set him back and he has been out of the public eye for some time now. I hope he is well.
Bowie and Bing Crosby are always on at this time of year-what a bizarre pairing, yet oddly beautiful. Bowie said Bing had no idea who the hell he was. Ho-ho-ho!
posted by chudbeagle at 12:03 PM on December 15, 2009

What a fantastic glimpse into the start of Bowie's career! It must have been exciting to start getting fan letters and to start seeing his career build and spread to new countries.

It made me remember being a child and asking (then new) Canadian Governor-General Jeanne Sauve for her autograph. I was 10 and excited to be invited to Ottawa's Rideau Hall with hundreds of other children as part of a trip I'd been chosen (and funded) to go on. Someone told me I should get her autograph for my Care Bears autograph book. I was very excited about meeting the first woman speaker of the house, first woman G-G and so on. So I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, which wasn't hard because most of the other kids there seemed to have no idea why we were there or who she was - we were only 10 or 12 years old. I shook hands with her and asked if I could have her autograph. She was genuinely delighted and she said no one had ever asked for it before. Then she signed my autograph book and let me take a picture. I was over the moon. But I look back at it now and wonder what it must have been like for her to be asked for her autograph. Not that I think I moved mountains or anything, but now that I'm an adult, I wonder if it was the sort of thing she brought up about her day over dinner with her husband or if she thought it was kind of a neat thing or what -- even though she was at the height of her career.
posted by acoutu at 2:49 PM on December 15, 2009

Glad this went over well; I was really tickled by this letter like most you were.
posted by spaltavian at 3:55 PM on December 15, 2009

Strange that, I wonder if Bowie talked the Binger into helping him polish off an 8 ball after the taping.

Bing was more likely to light up a roach.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 5:40 PM on December 15, 2009

(As a sidenote, I did have a dream that I met him once. He was a spokesman for Secret deodorant, and I was part of a focus group. He asked me what mattered most to me in an antiperspirant. I was so sad when I woke up.)
posted by rebel_rebel at 10:33 PM on December 14 [10 favorites +] [!]

I dreamed that he owned a gas station chain, which he frequented, being a good manager, and better yet, I dreamed he was made out of Lunchables.
You heard me.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 6:05 PM on December 15, 2009 [5 favorites]

Haha, ok. You win for weirdest "meeting David Bowie" dream.
posted by rebel_rebel at 10:01 PM on December 15, 2009

rebel_rebel: He comes up a lot.
hehehe.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 4:04 PM on December 18, 2009