“Throwing darts in lovers’ eyes“
As the Chicago Tribune correctly suggests, there couldn’t be a better artist to close out the last day of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s David Bowie Is exhibition this coming Sunday (Jan 4th) than Neil Gaiman.
Bowie fans will no doubt be aware of Gaiman’s references to Bowie in his work over the years, not least of all the unfinished short story, The Return Of The Thin White Duke, with illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano (see insert pix in accompanying montage), which was published in the Summer 2004 edition of V Magazine.
On Sunday at the MCA, Gaiman will read the finished version of The Return Of The Thin White Duke from Trigger Warning, his new book of short stories.
Neil explained to Christopher Borrelli of the Chicago Tribune:
“It’s an old piece of fiction, started around 2004, “The Return of the Thin White Duke.” It was written in two parts. I finished it for this book, but the first part was with artist Yoshitaka Amano, who was commissioned to do pictures for a magazine called V. His images were Bowie and (Bowie’s wife, the model) Iman as sci-fi characters. Then I was asked to write a story, so it became about Bowie and Iman in this future New York.“
The main picture in our montage is of Gaiman as Jareth the Goblin King from a brief Labyrinth spoof created by his wife Amanda. Over to Christopher Borrelli again…
Q: There’s also this funny video of you circulating online where you play Bowie with your wife (artist Amanda Palmer). You’re wearing a mullet that makes you look like Bowie from “Labyrinth”.
A: Oh my God. Yes, it was long before we were married. I just got off a plane from America to see my then-girlfriend Amanda. She said, “Neil, I am so glad you are here, and also there’s this lane I go jogging through every day that reminds me of ‘Labyrinth’ so I’m going to film my version with some friends who are puppeteers and we have a Bowie wig and you’ll play Bowie.” I remember saying no. But she is persuasive.
Embarrassingly enough for Neil, you can watch that video here.
Read the full Chicago Tribune interview here.
If you didn’t manage to get a ticket for the reading on Sunday, we’re afraid you’re unlikely to get one now. The event sold out in less than an hour.