Musician and singer-songwriter David Bowie performing with guitarist Carlos Alomar in Fréjus, ... [+]
When asked about one particular memory that stands out about his friend and collaborator, the late David Bowie, guitarist Carlos Alomar brings up a personal one that occurred almost 45 years ago involving someone they had both worked with. “David was living next to me,” he says. “We were having a large time. Our families were together. Little Zowie [now called Duncan] is playing with my daughter Lea-Lorien. They're the only kids in the building. We're living a large life, we've got beautiful places that we're living, and everything is happy with the world. And [John] Lennon gets shot, and David is inconsolable. He comes over to my house, and we share that moment because we don't wanna be alone. So memories of the greatest times have to be shared with the worst of times that you have to get over. And those really look at the life and breath–the highs and the lows have to be put together to equal the existence of your relationship.”
That relationship is an essential part of Alomar's longtime connection to Bowie's career. For three decades, the Puerto Rico-born, New York-raised musician had worked on the icon's many albums (including Young Americans, Station to Station, Low, “Heroes”, Lodger, Scary Monsters, Outside and Reality) and tours. Naturally, he has accumulated anecdotes and stories from his time with the icon that he will share at this year's David Bowie World Fan Convention, which will take place June 17-18 in New York City.
“We're looking at not a fan, but the real word: the fanatic,” says Alomar about the event, which started last year in Liverpool. “The one that has chosen a particular David Bowie [persona or era], because let's not assume all Bowie fans are a fan of every Bowie. It was really interesting because of that—to be able to see all these people grab a little bit of David from this epoch, a little bit from that. So I'm really excited over the fact that not only are we talking about David and his past, but we're also able to come all the way up to now. Let's make the fans the stars for a minute.”
Along with Alomar, other convention guests who had worked with the singer will include Tony Visconti, Kevin Armstrong, Ava Cherry, George Murray, Mark Plati, Robin Clark, Carmine Rojas and Keanan Duffty. There will be discussions about aspects of Bowie's music and career, exhibitions, and a marketplace as well as a BowieBall featuring musical performances. “I don't have any expectations other than it's gonna be fabulous,” Alomar says. “It's gonna be great. Everybody will find all the questions pretty provocative. Having one moderator for all the different panels lends itself to a discussion that's gonna be pretty broad. It's like an immersive David environment.”
Alomar's association with Bowie began sometime around 1974 when the two of them were working on recording sessions for the British singer Lulu. At the time, Bowie had put his Ziggy Stardust glam-rock persona to bed. “One of the first things I said to David is, ‘You look like s**t, man,'” Alomar recalls of their first meeting. “'You need to eat something.’ You gotta remember I got an Afro, I'm coming from Harlem, I'm the Apollo-Theater-kind-of-guy. I probably had a dashiki at one time or another. And here's David coming out of Ziggy with his pale white skin, 98 pounds and red hair. This is The Odd Couple version 2.0. So it wasn't really the actual Lulu sessions that brought us together. That was an issue of the excellence of our performance. He knew what the song was, and yet he has this guitar player that soulfully maneuvered around it and he was extremely interesting.
“He was very curious about the Apollo Theater, Harlem, Spanish Harlem. He was interested about everything. And if he could tap into me, then he can tap into everything. Also, I found his accent really cool. I just thought he was very, very interesting. But we really connected when he finally came to my house, and that's when we talked. Then he asked me to work for him.”
That chemistry led to Alomar's first appearance on Bowie's album, 1975's Young Americans, which found the British singer totally immersed in American soul music. According to Alomar, Bowie had wanted the members of the Philadelphia-based music collective MFSB (best known for the song “TSOP”) to work on his record, which didn't happen. “It became, “Man, I'm sad, I can't believe they turned me down. What am I gonna do it?'” Alomar remembers Bowie saying. “And I'm like, ‘Dude, I just came from the Main Ingredient. You want somebody? I'll hook it up.’ I got Robin [Clark] my wife and Luther Vandross [on] background [vocals]. As it rolled, the necessity of bringing in my crew and giving him resources that he can depend on me to bring him and then when it got there, it exploded—that's a pretty good bonding moment. That's the trajectory that brought us 30 years later.”
Another byproduct of Alomar's work on Young Americans was the funky song “Fame,” co-written by him, Bowie and John Lennon, who added vocals and acoustic guitar; it later became Bowie's first U.S. number-one song. The origins of “Fame” could be traced back to a guitar riff Alomar played from the Flares’ 1961 song “Foot Stompin’” that Bowie had previously performed onstage. Says Alomar: “When you record a song [in the studio], sometimes it's dull; it doesn't have the luster that you thought it had. Or sometimes it doesn't sound as good as when you perform it live. So David cut it up into little pieces. He kind of made it a more blues-oriented song. And then John Lennon came in when we had the bass and the drums. Then it was kind of like a courtesy thing: 'Hey, lay down a little acoustic guitar on there.' It all evolved into this wonderful song.
“They [Bowie and Lennon] invited me to go to dinner with them. I was already hearing my parts, and as a musician, when you're inspired and hear something, you can't go drinking. With them, all they wanted to do was bond. And so I'm like, 'I hear what I hear...I gotta stay here.' So they left me to my own devices. When they came back, David heard it and he was like, 'Oh my God, this is great.' He found it mysterious and kind of creepy. That song came out and it was like, 'Who the hell is that?' And David put down that one line (sings notes)—it's like you have to throw in a wrench. And wham! It worked out just wonderfully. It bonded us forever.”
Alomar continued to work with Bowie on 1976's Station to Station and the iconic ‘Berlin Trilogy’ albums (Low, “Heroes” and Lodger) between 1977 and 1979—he, bassist George Murray and drummer Dennis Davis made up the taut and durable rhythm section known as the DAM Trio. “David wanted a Kraftwerk-type because he was into Kraftwerk during that time,” Alomar, who co-wrote the songs “The Secret Life of Arabia” and “DJ” with Bowie during the trilogy era, says. “The mechanical precision of Dennis Davis; George Murray, a lead guitar player that plays bass; Carlos Alomar, a thousand chords in one measure—this is like a totally different thing that he created. We were so flexible that no matter what he threw at us, we would throw four versions back. And so his ability to decide where he wanted to go could be fashioned immediately with this trio.
“We had the ability to change in a split, so there was no problem if you wanted to rock and roll or you wanted to go back to being soulful or if you wanted to go electronic– it didn't matter to us because it was all an odyssey. Look, if you get into that environment, just don't expect anything. Just keep yourself open.”
Although he did not appear on Bowie's blockbuster 1983 album Let's Dance, produced by Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers, Alomar played on the accompanying Serious Moonlight tour that year. The tour happened at a time when Bowie was enjoying a surge in commercial success and recognition. One particular moment from the tour that Alomar remembers is when Bowie and the band performed at the US Festival for tens of thousands of people. “It was like, ‘Oh my God.’ We had to get there by helicopter. When you approach it, you [see] a mountain that looks like it’s got blossoming flowers. Those are not flowers: those are people and the different colors of their costumes or outfits. They reflected like flowers until you get closer. ‘Oh my God, those are people.’ So that particular tour was just amazing.”
Not only was Alomar the guitarist for the Serious Moonlight tour, but he also served as its musical director. “My mantra is very simple: ‘There are no problems, there are only challenges,’ and you rise to those challenges and grow. And I think that's one of the things that David and I mutually shared as far as the odyssey that we decided to go on. You have to keep yourself open for surprises and don't think they're a problem. You test it no matter what it is. And through that challenge, you gotta learn one more if you wanna survive this one. Once you do it, put it in your pocket and get ready for the next one.”
Throughout his long career, Alomar has collaborated with numerous music stars—Paul McCartney, Cyndi Lauper, Iggy Pop and Mick Jagger, among them. But he'll always be synonymous with his work with Bowie, which produced a friendship that lasted until the singer's death in 2016. “Karmically speaking, fortune and blessings have to be a part of the odyssey and the explanation for everything,” he says, “because sometimes we don't know why things fall in our lap. We know why we're ready and we need it and we want it. But honestly, I could never say that by my own hand I brought these all to fruition. These are things that happened. People called, and when I showed up, I gave them what they wanted and it was they like me. They really like me.
“And so you start looking at relationships like the ones that David and I had, and you really start looking at a friendship–and then through the combination of your whole life going through crap and everything, you look at friendships as being something that has withstand the test of time.”
In addition to recording and performing music, Alomar is an artist in residence at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. As for his expectations for this year's world fan convention, he says simply that it s going to be awesome, adding: “People are awesome. And when they're given the chance to be around their own people. Joy is what you find when you go to a convention and there are other people of like-mindedness, and you realize, ‘I'm not alone and I was no fool to do this. Look at that 69-year-old man with that lightning bolt on his face (laughs)... I think I'm doing pretty good,’ they say. It's a good thing and we'll all see each other sooner or later.”
The David Bowie World Fan Convention will take place June 17-18 in New York City. For information, click here.
