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David Bowie
The year started off with the loss of a true legend. And so shockingly unexpected. I had really only come to appreciate his music as an adult. When I was a kid, I of course knew his Nile Rodgers era of pop, but it wasn't music that I bought. In my world, he was Jareth the Goblin King from Labyrinth. One of the most awesome characters of my childhood. Of course I had a crush on him; that's the way the character was written - as an idol dreamt up by a teenage girl.
Once I got older and started expanding my musical horizons, I really started getting into music from many different incarnations of his career. No one certain phase, older songs, newer songs, I was into it. He was one of those people you just assumed would always be around in one form or another. Immortal. 2016 and cancer proved us wrong and a bit of my heart went along with him.
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Alan Rickman
So soon after we lost Bowie, we lost Rickman. I know many people think of him as Snape from the Harry Potter movies, but in all honesty *whispers* I'm not a big Harry Potter fan. I think I liked just about everything I saw him in. He was one of my top 5 favorite actors because he was just so good. He morphed into so many different characters and even when he was despicable, you still liked him. He was one of the good ones and suddenly he was gone.
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This one hurt. It really, really hurt. In the holy trinity of 80's pop stars (Madonna, Michael & Prince), he was the one who I was a fan of the longest. Sure, I didn't show it as much as I did the other two, but his music was always in my library. Michael was my crush in grade school, but he went kind of...well, you know, and I grew out of it quickly. Madonna was my idol in high school, but I grew out of dance music in college. Prince was another artist who transformed his music, his image, and it always seemed to fit the time. I had the Purple Rain soundtrack on cassette, the Batman soundtrack was one of the first CD's I ever bought. He was one of the first to embrace (and then reject) the use of the internet for music. The man was a genius, he had so much f-ing talent, and he was pretty dang sexy.
I saw the news break on Twitter while I was at work. First that an ambulance was called out to Paisley Park. All I could think of was "No, no, no...lots of people are there. It might not be him." Then the news broke that it was, in fact him, and I found myself saying "No, no, no" out loud. Nobody else seemed to care as much. I had to hold it in. Just that morning I had told my husband I needed more Prince songs on my phone after hearing I Would Die 4 U on the radio. "Pills and thrills and daffodils will kill. Hang tough children."
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| I had to make a pilgrimage to see this while I was in Minneapolis this year. |
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Gene Wilder
By this point, we knew what kind of fresh fuckery 2016 had turned out to be. This time it was fellow Wisconsinite, Gene Wilder. Yes, when he died it was like a fantastical part of our childhood went with him like he had shot off the globe in a great glass Wonkavator, but then you remembered all of the other great roles he played. One of my favorites was actually the Fox in the live action version of The Little Prince. Ugh, my heart.
His acting, his comedic timing, his charity work. Gilda's Place is an amazing thing and I wish there had been one closer to me a couple of years ago. It was sad to hear that he had suffered from Alzheimer's, but at the same time, I was thankful to know that he was free from that suffering.
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This one is still fresh. I have told some George Michael stories on here in the past, like my grandmother's hatred of him. I remember sitting outside on our front steps with my boom box in grade school, playing Wham! Make it Big and singing along at the top of my lungs. I'm sure the neighbors appreciated it. I remember being alone in the middle school art room after school, putting in my cassette of Faith and singing along at the top of my lungs. I remember putting in the CD of Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 in the 5 disk changer my college loft when I had a moment alone and singing along at the top of my lungs. Do you see a pattern here?
That man could SING! I had just been telling my son a few days earlier that I never heard him sing off key while performing live. It was just amazing! Have you ever heard him sing "Brother Can You Spare A Dime" live? You need to. Let me find it.
I've heard this so many times and watching it now made me completely tear up. My god, what a talent!
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Carrie Fisher
Talk about being fresh in your mind. This loss might be the hardest of the year. I guess that's pretty obvious coming from me. She played one of my two childhood idols - Princess Leia (the other being Wonder Woman). Leia was strong, put people in their place, lead a rebellion, had a wicked sense of humor, and nabbed a hot scoundrel. I wanted to be her! As the years went by, I learned that she was many of these things in real life as well. Wickedly funny, an amazing writer, an advocate for mental illness and didn't give a hoot what others thought. Well, I take that back. Once she finally came back to her role as General Leia Organa, the media and internet were their hurtful selves and she spoke up about it on her favorite outlet - Twitter.
I still wish to be like Leia, but now I also wish to be like Carrie Fisher.
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All I have left to say is Good riddance, 2016. May 2017 be a year of joy whether it takes an ass-kicking to do it or not.
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