2018 in Review: Bowie Days, Part 2

Hi everyone,

When it comes to David Bowie, I apparently can't say enough. Read Bowie Days, Part 1, to learn about the David Bowie is exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, which I visited last summer. Read on to hear about a behind-the-scenes lecture by exhibition curator Matthew Yokobosky, who made the exhibition unforgettable.

David Bowie Is: Celebrating an Artist of Startling Transformations, Smithsonian Associates, Ripley Center, July 20, 2018 

Photo: Greg Gorman (1982)

Several people who attended the David Bowie Is: Celebrating an Artist of Startling Transformations lecture by the Brooklyn Museum's Senior Curator of Fashion and Material Culture Matthew Yokobosky had not visited the exhibition. (But the people who sat next to me saw it while vacationing in Buenos Aries.) If you want to hear from Mr. Yokobosky himself, you can listen to this interesting pre-lecture preview, the Not Old Better podcast, which gives you more background into David Bowie's life and creative process. 

The lecture also focused on things I never considered before, including: 

• What goes into planning and creating an exhibition, 
• How an exhibition must be tailored to whatever space in which its installed, and
• How much creative freedom a curator has in what and how exhibits are presented. 

 This was fascinating! I suddenly wanted to be a museum curator! 

To prepare for David Bowie is, Mr. Yokobosky traveled to other locations to view the exhibition and figure out how he wanted to present it. For example, in one place, the exhibition opened with a room that covered David Bowie's childhood and what was happening musically and politically at that time. Because the focus wasn't on David Bowie, Mr. Yokobosky decided against opening the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition that way. Instead, he went for an in-your-face approach that I loved. He also got to pick different items from David Bowie's archives that he wanted to feature! Can you imagine? 

Here are some interesting notes from this wonderful presentation:

• David Bowie had archived his items since the 1960s in four different locations around the world – wherever he happened to be closest to at the time. The David Bowie is exhibition opened in 2013 with 400 items. By the time it got to Brooklyn, it had 500 items in a 14,000-square-foot space. 

• The archive warehouses are filled with rows of crates (which made me think of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Each crate is labeled with a Polaroid of its contents. Mr Yokobosky saw one crate with a photo of a giant lighted "W" and asked the managers, "Do you have the other letters?" They did! This is what became the first item visitors saw in the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition, set up behind a glittery iconic costume that screamed David Bowie, the Showman. (Imagine walking up to this with David Bowie music blasting in your ears. It was a fitting welcome to David Bowie is!) 

Photo: Jennifer Picht

• These lighted BOWIE letters were used as a backdrop for the set of shows David Bowie performed in each of New York's boroughs during the New York City Marathon Tour in 2002. For this exhibition, seven of the eight LED lights were covered and the overall brightness was dimmed. 

• One time, when David Bowie was storing a piece of fan art, someone questioned whether it was worth saving, and he responded, "Ours is not to judge; ours is to archive." (I miss this guy's sense of humor.) 

• At one point, David Bowie's waist was 23" to 26", which is why designers loved to dress him and everything looked great. In 2002, Vogue borrowed the suit he wore in the "Life on Mars?" video, and Kate Moss couldn't fit into it. (That's right, Kate Moss!) The magazine staff had to call David Bowie to ask for permission to let out the seams a bit for the photo shoot.

Photo: Nick Knight

• The suits that David Bowie wore in The Man Who Fell to Earth were made by Guns 'n' Roses guitarist Slash's mom, fashion designer and costumier Ola Hudson. 

Photo: Steve Schapiro

• To soundproof the exhibition's concert room, special insulation was used: "It's made of blue jeans and it's reusable and it's flameproof," Mr. Yokobosky explained. "It's fantastic!"

• One of the rooms in the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition displayed a single from each of David Bowie's albums. Mr. Yokobosky bought them all through eBay. 

• Isn't it impressive to think how the Tonight album cover was done before Photoshop existed? David Bowie never shied away from experimenting with new things.  

Tonight

• The star pieces under the big black star on the Blackstar album cover represent how "Bowie" is spelled in stars. (There's a whole alphabet.) Do you see it?

Blackstar

• After the Brooklyn Museum exhibition ended, all of the items – most of which have been traveling from museum to museum for five years – need to be put back into storage "to rest" for five years. Don't worry, you can experience the David Bowie is exhibition virtually through this app!

• There were at least two people in this audience who didn't really know who David Bowie was. I applaud them for coming to learn, even if one lady didn't know how to say his last name and tried to correct how it had been pronounced for the last hour throughout the lecture and Q&A session. I also appreciated how graciously Mr. Yokobosky set her straight. 

• Fans visited the David Bowie is exhibition multiple times, and some even bought museum memberships just for that purpose. Mr. Yokobosky said that everyone he spoke to at the Brooklyn Museum had a different entrance point into David Bowie's career, like Ziggy Stardust, MTV, Labyrinth, or even Blackstar. They came to the exhibition to revel in that era, full of memories of how this artist changed their lives. 

It's still happening. David Bowie is still around and always will be. 

Leaders in American Song: George Gershwin and Cole Porter

Hi everyone,

Because I grew up watching movie musicals, I love all those old songs. For the last few years, I've noticed that the Smithsonian hosts lectures on songwriters and performers of that era. I wrote about their Ella Fitzgerald event last year. In addition to that one, I attended two lectures about American songwriters George Gershwin and Cole Porter, both hosted by pianist Robert Wyatt.

Gershwin, By George!, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of the American Indian, March 27, 2015

My love for George Gershwin (1898-1937) probably stems from my love for An American in Paris, the 1951 Best Picture Oscar winner with an exclusive Gershwin soundtrack. I also saw Hershey Felder's inspiring one-man show George Gershwin Alone at Ford's Theatre in 2003.

George Gershwin was an amazing composer and musician, a prodigy who accomplished so much in his 37 years, from classical works and piano solos to musical theatre scores and film songs. Together with his lyricist brother Ira, they formed one of the best known songwriting teams of the 20th century. I bet you know some of their songs [click on the titles to hear them]: "But Not for Me," "Embraceable You," "Nice Work If You Can Get It," "They Can't Take That Away From Me," and "Someone To Watch Over Me."

When George Gershwin first started complaining about headaches, his friends assumed he was being overly dramatic to get attention, but he died of a brain tumor shortly thereafter. About that, the composer's writer/friend John O'Hare appropriately said, "George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, but I don't have to believe it if I don't want to."

What attracted me most to Robert Wyatt's event, Gershwin, By George!, was that it included his performance on piano of Gershwin's orchestral masterpiece "Rhapsody in Blue." You can't get much better than this piece of music, which is always associated with the vibrancy of New York City living. Hearing it live is a treat! While I waited for it, I learned some things about George Gershwin during Mr. Wyatt's informative lecture:

• George Gershwin's parents bought a piano when George was 10. He sat on the bench and began to play it before ever having a lesson, so his parents found him a teacher, Charles Hambitzer, who later said, "I have a new pupil who will make his mark if anybody will. The boy is a genius." 

• Growing up, he loved listening to ragtime composer/pianist Scott Joplin. 

• He wrote the opera Porgy and Bess, based on the book by DuBose Heyward. Although not a songwriter, the author wrote lyrics to some of its most memorable songs, including "Summertime," "A Woman's a Sometimes Thing," and "My Man's Gone Now," but George's brother Ira got all the credit. 

• He wrote "An American in Paris" before ever having gone to Paris and played it in Carnegie Hall, New York, in 1928. (Click the song's title to hear George Gershwin himself performing this piece.) 

• "Our Love Is Here to Stay" is the last song George Gershwin ever wrote. Knowing that makes his brother's lyrics all the more poignant, don't you think? Below, hear the song, performed by Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron in An American in Paris.

"Our Love Is Here to Stay" from An American in Paris (©1951, MGM). 

Cole Porter: Sophisticate of American Song, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, July 22, 2014

My love for Cole Porter (1891-1964) doesn't come for a specific musical but a bunch of them, like Kiss Me Kate (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957). From there, I checked out MGM's 1946 Cole Porter biography Night and Day, starring Cary Grant, though it's pretty inaccurate in that Old Hollywood sort of way. A better biography is De-lovely (2004), starring Kevin Kline. 

Born into wealth, Cole Porter never needed money. He pursued music and found success as a composer in musical theatre. Although gay, he married friend Linda Lee Thomas, and – content with their platonic relationship – they lived lavishly and traveled abroad. A horse-riding accident in 1937 led to 33 operations on his legs and constant pain for the rest of his life. Some of his many popular tunes include the following [click on the titles to hear them]: "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love," "Night and Day," "Anything Goes," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "It's De-Lovely," "I've Got You Under My Skin,""My Heart Belongs to Daddy," "So In Love," "I Love Paris," "All of You," and "True Love." 

Although Robert Wyatt didn't play piano during his lecture, Cole Porter: Sophisticate of American Song, he provided some great archival footage and trivia. Here are some interesting things that I learned:

• Cole Porter was very smart. Originally from Peru, Indiana, he went to school on the East Coast and didn't contact his family the entire time he was there. He was valedictorian of his class at the Worcester Academy in Massachusetts. He went to Yale University, where he participated in lots of extracurricular activities but didn't bother with his studies. Then, he was nearly expelled from Harvard Law School but was transferred to music school instead. 

• He was very good friends with composer Irving Berlin, but composer Lorenz Hart was not a fan. He also didn't like Frank Sinatra's versions of his songs. 

• He wrote at least 800 songs, and "Love for Sale" was his favorite. 

• After he wrote "Your the Top," everyone asked him to add more verses to it; he added 300 lyrics  in a week. (Click the song's title to hear Cole Porter himself perform it.) 

•  After his horse-riding accident, he named his left leg Geraldine and his right leg Josephine. (Hallelujah for his sense of humor!)  

• In 1948, his musical Kiss Me Kate became the first to win the Tony for best musical. Below, hear the song "Too Darn Hot," performed by my favorite tap-dancing lady, Ann Miller, from the film version of Kiss Me Kate. 

"Too Darn Hot" from Kiss Me Kate (©1953, MGM)

Where would we be without these two prolific composers' astounding contributions to music? Don't you feel grateful to them – and in the mood for an MGM musical marathon right now?