A Blast From the Past: The Thin White Duke – in AG-388 “Mint Green”!

Regular TAH visitors probably know that at least one of our longtime commenters is a huge fan of the “Thin White Duke”.

Yes, that’s a reference to a “David”. But not David as in “David Duke”.  David as in “David Bowie”.

Bowie’s “Thin White Duke” persona of the mid 1970s masked some major issues.  At the time, the man had a serious drug habit – as well as drug-induced health problems. But unlike many of his contemporaries he managed to get a grip on his problems and survive reasonably intact.

Regardless, the man could certainly write and sing like few others.

Anyway:  this is for you, lass; you know who you are.  Here ya go, from 1992:  the Thin White Duke, resplendent here in what seems to be the late 1970s/early 1980s Army women’s AG-388 “mint green” summer uniform color.

(An aside:  believe it or not, the man actually manages to look reasonably good wearing that godawful color – which as anyone who’s ever seen any of those old women’s uniforms can tell you, is a damned difficult feat.  That color was . . . well, let’s just say its demise was one Army uniform change about which I can’t recall ever hearing a complaint.)

Here’s triple shot; Bowie wrote or co-wrote all three.  First, a duet with Annie Lennox.

 

The above clip is from the Freddy Mercury Tribute Concert. Here’s a second helping from the same evening, this time including two tunes – one of which probably my favorite Bowie tune of all.

Fair warning:  you may be a bit surprised by Bowie’s short monologue near the end of the clip.  I found it a bit out of character, perhaps – but under the circumstances, apropos.

 

A bit of background concerning the last clip.  The guitarist playing lead during that electric performance was an English gentleman named Mick Ronson.  Ronson had worked extensively with Bowie early in Bowie’s career.  (He was the lead guitarist for the “Spiders from Mars” during Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust period.)  Besides Bowie, the list of artists with whom Ronson worked with during his career reads like page from the “who’s who” of popular music from the late 1960s thru the early 1990s.

Ronson worked with so many of rock and roll’s luminaries because he was a truly exceptional musician.  Just how exceptional is demonstrated by the above performance.  Not many guitarists can upstage Queen’s Brian May.  Here . . . IMO, Ronson did.

Bowie’s monologue at the end of the performance above turned out to be even more apropos than anyone realized, but for a very different reason.  Fate decreed this would be Ronson’s last significant live appearance.

Ronson had been diagnosed roughly a year previously with liver cancer.  At the time of this show his cancer was in remission – though I think the effects of his fight with the disease show (he seems almost to be “running on empty” at times during the performance).

Unfortunately the remission ended.  A year and nine days later, Ronson’s cancer ended his life.

He was 46.

. . .

That’s all for now.  Time to return back to normal – more or less.  (smile)

Category: Pointless blather, Who knows