when i was young, 7 or 8, my older brother and i spent a lot of time listening to the beatles, the beach boys, jan and dean. we loved music. we both still do.
as i became a teenager and things at our house became harder and scarier we took refuge in music often, if not always. we listened to all kinds. i particularly took to prince, the stones and led zeppelin. i can say with absolute certainty that led zeppelin saved my life on numerous occasions. in high school and college it was U2, pearl jam and a lot of the beatles (always a mainstay). i still love all these bands.
after the flood, in the early days of PTSD and exhaustion, i had no TV and no internet. all i did was listen to music. the first cd i replaced after the flood was david bowie. i was listening to all kinds of people along with those listed above, among them: carole king, blondie, queen, sam cooke, sinatra, elvis, adele, springsteen. but i listened to bowie EVERY DAY. every single day.
on the days that i was too terrified to even open the front door, let alone go out to walk the dog, i played bowie on the turntable. on the few days i was confident enough to take a long walk i listened to bowie on my ipod. on the days i was able to go somewhere i listened to bowie in the car.
bowie saved my life. when i heard about his death on monday i was crushed. not having known he was sick it was such a blow. i ache for his family. i mourn for a world without him. selfishly, i mourn for a man i didn't know but that saved me.
RIP starman!
