Where were you when you heard David Bowie had died?

Advertisement

Advertise with us

I’m not on Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. Truth be told, I don’t even own a cellphone. Never have. So you can excuse me for wondering what the hell my 18-year-old son was doing in the kitchen at 7 a.m. Monday morning, waking up the house with Bowie’s Heroes, a tune he fell in love with a couple of years ago after hearing it featured in the teen flick The Fault In Our Stars.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/01/2016 (3904 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’m not on Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. Truth be told, I don’t even own a cellphone. Never have. So you can excuse me for wondering what the hell my 18-year-old son was doing in the kitchen at 7 a.m. Monday morning, waking up the house with Bowie’s Heroes, a tune he fell in love with a couple of years ago after hearing it featured in the teen flick The Fault In Our Stars.

Then I turned on my computer (yes, I own a computer) and there was the news (oh boy). Bowie, dead at 69.

I’ve been a Bowie fan since 1976, the year I marched into my barbershop with a copy of Changesonebowie under my arm and asked Fern Legros, a fellow who’d been cutting my hair since I was 12, to “make me look like this,” showing him the cover. He gave it his best shot. I was still a fan the next year when I picked up Low, the first of the singer’s late-1970s collaborations with Brian Eno. Gotta admit, at the time, me no like. I was 15; back then, England Dan and John Ford Coley spent as much time on my turntable as the Thin White Duke and Low, which was decidedly non-commercial, failed to resonate.

David Bowie died Monday after a battle with cancer. He was 69.
David Bowie died Monday after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

I’m glad I grew to adore it. Because when my son continued calling up Bowie’s greatest hits on his phone Monday morning ‚— Suffragette City, Fame, Under Pressure — I made a point of taking him downstairs where 33 Bowie LPs (and one by Tin Machine) are filed in alphabetical and chronological order, amid another 6,000 rock and roll remnants of my youth. “Start here,” I told him, handing him Low, then Heroes, then Lodger. “Then work your way back,” I went on, pulling out The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. “And these, too — these are unbelievable,” I said, reaching for Station to Station and Hunky Dory.

I saw Bowie once, in Edmonton during the Serious Moonlight tour. Canuck band Rough Trade was slated to open the Winnipeg show and my buddies and I thought it was worth three days on a bus, there and back, to see a bill featuring The Tubes and Peter Gabriel instead. It was.

I remember where I was when Keith Moon died. I remember where I was when John Lennon was killed. And I’ll remember where I was Monday morning, too — listening to my son belting out, “I will be king… and you will be queen” at the top of his lungs, while preparing an omelette.

David Sanderson

Dave Sanderson was born in Regina but please, don’t hold that against him.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: After 12:15 a.m., there are no restrictions to shopping or important decisions today. The moon is in Capricorn.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a tricky day. Don’t be too ambitious. It’s totally OK to kick back and relax. But be aware that communications with parents and authority figures might be confused, vague or subject to misunderstandings. Nevertheless, romance is sweet and cosy!

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Read
2:01 AM CDT

‘She was looking to destroy me’: convicted harasser faces new charges

Dean Pritchard 6 minute read Preview

‘She was looking to destroy me’: convicted harasser faces new charges

Dean Pritchard 6 minute read Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

When Agnieszka Ciochon-Newton moved into the 55-plus apartment building on Stradbrook Avenue last year, she came across as “timid, soft-spoken and sensitive,” said building manager Tanya Owen.

Little did Owen know the meek-looking 58-year-old woman would soon turn her life and the lives of many of her tenants upside down and threaten her career and family.

“She was looking to destroy me for a simple tenant disagreement,” Owen said Thursday.

Court records show Ciochon-Newton was arrested earlier this month and charged with seven counts of criminal harassment, two counts of uttering threats and one count each of fraud, breaking and entering, attempting to obstruct justice, intimidation of a justice official, mischief and defamatory libel.

Read
Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

A quick look at where provinces and territories stand on time changes

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

A quick look at where provinces and territories stand on time changes

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 6:28 AM CDT

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's government said Thursday the province will be sticking with daylight time year-round, making it the latest jurisdiction to move away from twice-annual time changes. Here's a look at where things stand across Canada:

British Columbia said in March that it was moving to permanent Pacific daylight time. The change also means that parts of northeastern B.C., which have been on mountain standard time year round, are now in alignment with the rest of the province.

Alberta also switched to permanent daylight time this year in what it calls Alberta time. The change means it now has the same time as Saskatchewan year round.

Saskatchewan has been on permanent central standard time since 1966.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 6:28 AM CDT

Kinew delivered what most of us wanted; now we’ll have to deal with the consequences

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

Kinew delivered what most of us wanted; now we’ll have to deal with the consequences

Dan Lett 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 8:43 AM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew has decided to adopt permanent daylight savings time, which means a permanent end to the spring forward, fall back tradition of adjusting our clocks. And absolutely no one is surprised.

Read
Updated: Yesterday at 8:43 AM CDT

Canada-U.S. trade relationship is broken, but the damage can — and will — be repaired

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Preview

Canada-U.S. trade relationship is broken, but the damage can — and will — be repaired

Tom Brodbeck 5 minute read Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

Canada needs to get serious about diversifying its trade beyond the United States. But at the same time, Canadians should expect relations with the U.S. to normalize after Donald Trump is no longer in the White House.

For generations, Canada-U.S. trade was considered almost a fact of geography. The two countries share the world’s longest undefended border, deeply integrated supply chains and a century of commercial relationships.

Canadian manufacturers depend on American customers. American manufacturers depend on Canadian suppliers. Energy, agriculture, automotive production and countless other industries operate across the border as though it barely exists.

That isn’t going to change dramatically, even in the midst of a bitter trade war unleashed by the U.S. president.

Read
Thursday, Sep. 17, 2026

Where were you when you heard David Bowie had died?

David Sanderson 3 minute read Preview

Where were you when you heard David Bowie had died?

David Sanderson 3 minute read Monday, Jan. 11, 2016

I’m not on Twitter. I’m not on Facebook. Truth be told, I don’t even own a cellphone. Never have. So you can excuse me for wondering what the hell my 18-year-old son was doing in the kitchen at 7 a.m. Monday morning, waking up the house with Bowie’s Heroes, a tune he fell in love with a couple of years ago after hearing it featured in the teen flick The Fault In Our Stars.

Then I turned on my computer (yes, I own a computer) and there was the news (oh boy). Bowie, dead at 69.

I’ve been a Bowie fan since 1976, the year I marched into my barbershop with a copy of Changesonebowie under my arm and asked Fern Legros, a fellow who’d been cutting my hair since I was 12, to “make me look like this,” showing him the cover. He gave it his best shot. I was still a fan the next year when I picked up Low, the first of the singer’s late-1970s collaborations with Brian Eno. Gotta admit, at the time, me no like. I was 15; back then, England Dan and John Ford Coley spent as much time on my turntable as the Thin White Duke and Low, which was decidedly non-commercial, failed to resonate.

I’m glad I grew to adore it. Because when my son continued calling up Bowie’s greatest hits on his phone Monday morning ‚— Suffragette City, Fame, Under Pressure — I made a point of taking him downstairs where 33 Bowie LPs (and one by Tin Machine) are filed in alphabetical and chronological order, amid another 6,000 rock and roll remnants of my youth. “Start here,” I told him, handing him Low, then Heroes, then Lodger. “Then work your way back,” I went on, pulling out The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust. “And these, too — these are unbelievable,” I said, reaching for Station to Station and Hunky Dory.

Read
Monday, Jan. 11, 2016