When I was a girl, I was completely afraid of Ziggy Stardust. Curious, too. I remember the first time I saw 'it'. To me, Ziggy was an alien, like from outerspace. I had a vivid imagination from the radio. I had not seen 'it' -a Ziggy Stardust. I understood she was a man. I don't know that I had completely understood that Ziggy was a character but I knew that Ziggy got talked about on the radio.
Rolling Stone Cover, Feb 2012
I remember because I was in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. The QE it was called. And my Dad was doing or getting something from Via Rail, called CN back then, where he worked. We went through the underground plaza. And, I. saw a kiosque with magazine after magazine with the same cover.
I had no idea what "that" was but I held onto my Dad's hand. Tighter. I totally remember that moment. The smell of the metro. The people rushing. My Dad's hand. And the moment I saw Ziggy Stardust. Funny how some things stick right with you.
My parents didn't really explain. Because kids don't often say what they don't know and who would think that I had no frame of reference for creativity or art or theater or being avant-garde. Not to mention, what was going on in pop culture at the time. I did not. I was just being pulled along on an errand.
Well, eventually, I met up with a larger world than the one that I had been living in. The new world situated David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust, "Rock Music" and provided some understanding about what a young anti-establishment David Bowie was about.
I love that my wonderful West Indian/Caribbean/Guyanese/Canadian mother remembered that David was the one who sang Modern Love and China Girl, on her own, with no prompting. She said, she remembered that I loved those songs.
Those and many more.
