While your Webmistress has been on vacation and indisposed due to a head cold, respectively, her friends have kept their sharp eyes peeled for obscure Bowie references on the web. The first one was brought to my attention by Saudade. Composer and actor Ryuichi Sakamoto, known to some of you as Captain Yonoi from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, was interviewed by the Japan Times about his life in New York City and his environmental activism. He also managed to work in a reference to Bowie. So that you all don’t have to sign in to the Japan Times website, I’ve posted the pertinent text below. If you do wish to sign in, follow this link.
(Introduction)Along the way, Sakamoto has rubbed shoulders with many of the West’s rock and cultural glitterati, including David Bowie, with whom he shared a famous onscreen kiss in “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”—Who would you like to work with again?David Sylvian (lead singer with ’80s hit band Japan) is like a brother — and like all brothers, sometimes we are very close and sometimes very far apart. It depends on the time. David Bowie, I like his stuff. My favorite Bowie period is [1977’s albums] “Low” and “Heroes.” We both live in the same city, but he is so protected; he doesn’t walk around the streets so much! I see Yoko Ono sometimes; we sometimes exchange aisatsu (greetings).
The second obscure Bowie reference was found by the lovely Flowerpot. It is a clip from the Adult Swim cartoon The Venture Brothers that features the lyrics from Space Oddity as dialogue between three characters. Enjoy!