Born and raised by underpaid public school teachers in Sanford, Fla., Andy Marlette graduated from the University of Florida and became staff editorial cartoonist at the Pensacola News Journal in 2007.
Andy’s editorial cartoons have become both hated and adored by daily readers. His work has been awarded by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors for best editorial cartoons on state issues.
This year started roughly with the death of a huge star, David Bowie.
The continued passing of musical giants and celebrities has continued.
Several of these include Merle Haggard, Vanity (Denise Matthews – Prince’s protegee), Maurice White, René Angelil, Paul Kanter, Glenn Frey … several more.
I am an illustrator specializing in photorealistic colored pencil and graphite drawings. Since finding my passion for portrait and figure drawing in high school, I have developed a technique focusing on high attention to detail.
I draw my inspiration from a broad range of cultural figures, such as sport athletes, media personalities, and entertainment professionals.
With each illustration requiring many hours of work, ranging from 30 hours to 100+ hours, I share my process through time-lapse videos on my YouTube channel, which has generated over 60 million views from a global audience.
I received my B.A. in Studio Art at Emmanuel College, in the vibrant city of Boston, Massachusetts. I am now pursuing a career in illustration.
I first saw and posted about Lady Gaga’s performance honoring David Bowie at the 2016 Grammy’s. I thought it was well done and showcased David’s music and Lady Gaga’s talent.
Today I say Bowie’s tribute performed by Lorde at the BRITS Award in London.
I don’t particularly agree with detractor who say that Lorde’s performance was better than Gaga’s. I think it’s a matter of preference in styles.
I can understand a sense of “ownership” in view of the fact that David was British.
I have included links for both performances in this post.
Check them out and you be the judge.
I can say that I liked both of them.
The main purpose was honoring a British musical icon:
Lorde’s tribute to David Bowie, Brit Awards 2016: ‘heartbreaking’
Neil McCormick, music critic 24 FEBRUARY 2016
Well, the Brits got something right. Their tribute to Bowie was powerful and affecting, showing up Lady Gaga’s Grammy award extravaganza for the superficial, soulless travesty it was.
Nineteen-year-old New Zealand songstress Lorde delivered a sombre version of one of David Bowie’s greatest songs, Life On Mars, backed by musicians who played with Bowie for decades.
With Mike Garson on piano, Gail Anne Dorsey on bass, Gerry Leonard and Earl Slick on guitars, they delivered a dark, moody rendering of a big, complex song of one of that classic that was all the more emotional for its sense of dignity and restraint.
Lady Gaga at the Grammys last week went so over the top, her ridiculous mash-up of 10 hits turned into a Bowie cabaret medley that was really all about Gaga, putting the focus on costume changes and digital computer effects sponsored by Intel.
~5 Ways Lorde’s David Bowie Tribute Was Better Than Lady Gaga’s~
~Published on Feb 24, 2016~
Lorde later recalled the event in a moving letter written after his death,
saying:
“That night something changed in me – I felt a calmness grow, a sureness.
I think in those brief moments, he heralded me into my next new life,
an old rock and roll alien angel in a perfect grey suit.
I realised everything I’d ever done, or would do from then on,
would be done like maybe he was watching.
I realized I was proud of my spiky strangeness because he had been proud of his.”
REASONS
It was backed by Bowie’s band
Lorde knew that one outfit was good enough
It had Bowie’s stamp of approval
It was actually about Bowie
(You can read detailed information in the actual YouTube video)
“On the 10th of January this year, the world was stunned and shaken by the news that David Bowie had suddenly passed away. I suspect that everyone is still trying to process this sadly unexpected event. Even if they didn’t know him personally, many people must feel as if things will never be quite the same again. He had that special kind of significance.
“For me, it’s almost impossible to mention Bowie’s name in the past tense. Everything he represented as an artist was, and always will be, vital and incredibly present. As a cutting-edge artistic genius, he continues to live on through his music. David Bowie is deeply embedded in the heart of British culture, as a fixture within our collective inner psyche, influencing every decade from the moment he first appeared on the airwaves with ‘Space Oddity’ in 1969 right up to the present day.
“The Brits Icon Award is only presented to unparalleled artists whose writing, recording and performance set them apart as having made a lasting impact on the nation’s culture, recognizing the very highest level of British music achievement. To accept the award, I’d now like to invite David’s dear friend Gary Oldman to the stage.”
~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~
Google Images
I do not own these images.
No intention of taking credit.
If anyone knows the owner of any, please advise and it will be corrected immediately.
“We are all coming to terms with the magnitude of David’s passing. The Jones family lost a husband and a father. Those closest to David lost a dear friend and the world lost a man, an artist of transcendent talent. As Annie so gracefully said, David’s contribution, his influence on popular music – on culture itself – has no equal. He was the very definition, the living embodiment of that singular word, ‘icon’. I am so deeply touched and honored to be here tonight to accept this award for David and his family.
Watch the full David Bowie tribute from The BRITs 2016. Annie Lennox and Gary Oldman pay moving tribute to the late, great David Bowie as he is honoured with a BRITs Icon award. Bowie’s band are joined by Lorde for a performance of ‘Life on Mars’.
I finally watched the Grammy’s which I had DVR’d. I think it was an amazing show in so many ways. Many different genres were represented. I saw people that I didn’t even know.
Kinda sad to sad that most of those mentioned in the “In Memoriam” section I knew
(that tells me a lot!)
Glad to see new talent recognized.
One of the performances that impressed me was Lady Gaga’s tribut to David Bowie.
Indeed, who else could have channeled this awesome talent lost early this year?
Lady Gaga’s David Bowie Tribute at the Grammy’s Was Fabulously, Perfectly Weird
Kevin Fallon
Could anyone else have paid homage to David Bowie?
Channeling Ziggy Stardust, Lady Gaga saluted the icon at the Grammy’s the only way that fit: with unapologetic weirdness and glee.
How can there be a successor to someone so singular, so unique, so impossible to pinpoint and unabashedly weird – all the while so undeniably genius.
Lady Gaga may not be the next David Bowie.
But if anyone can approximate the mood, the message, the spirit, and the stirring camp as the recently deceased icon, it’s the human and the alien in our Mother Monster, Lady Gaga.
~~GRAPHICS SOURCE~~
Google Images
Grammy’s Organization
Just Jared
Andy Marlette, Cartoonist
I do not own these images.
No intention of taking credit.
If anyone knows the owner of any, please advise and it will be corrected immediately.
It’s a testament to how fiercely we possess our affection for David Bowie that Gaga’s big, ambitious tribute at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, February 15, was met with such polarizing reaction on Twitter. For everyone 140-character fawning over Gaga’s tenacity and extraterrestrial talent in the loving salute, others found her drag and kitsch to border on blasphemous.
Of course, poking and prodding outrage and testing our tolerance for performance was a habit of Bowie’s. It’s fitting that such a raucous homage to his legacy at the Grammy Awards by the pop star with the most experience in the realm of instigating and provoking would elicit the same kind of reaction.
Let’s be clear, though. No one but Lady Gaga could have performed this tribute.
For sheer significance, there is no other artist today who engages with such glee the orchestration of new personas and the reinvention of identity.
She started with a stirring, technically precise few bars of “Space Oddity,” lighting effects washing some of the most iconic Bowie images over her face.
She then sped through a dizzying medley of Bowie’s hits. “Changes,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Suffragette City,” “Let’s Dance,” “Heroes,” and more: each one stoking an eruption of giddy applause from the audience, each one fading to the next hit all-too-quickly – Gaga barely had time to get into the groove before it was on to the next.
She peacocked and pranced and strutted and boogied. Her vocals were flawless. Her wardrobe channeled Ziggy Stardust, the performance styled to the Aladdin Sane album. There were robotic legs, a dancing mechanical keyboard, and psychedelic lights.
And there was Bowie.
There was Bowie’s joy. His exuberant weirdness. There was scale and spectrum and ambition, all of it at once scattershot and meticulous.
It was queer and cheesy and 100 percent committed by Gaga.
Just another traveler on life's highway hanging out in the slow lane. It's quiet, it's peaceful. Beyond the horizon is rest calling my name. Green pastures, still waters, my cup runneth over.
