## Bowie’s Berlin: Alomar and Murray Bring the ‘Heroes’ Era Home
On a Friday night at Berlin’s famed Metropol, the two surviving members of David Bowie’s Black American three-man backing rhythm section take the stage. Guitarist Carlos Alomar and bass player George murray are missing their old percussionist comrade, the late, great Dennis Davis, but are tonight rounded out by a full band. It’s November 7 and they’re kicking off a 16-city, month-long European tour bringing the music of Bowie’s berlin Trilogy (1977’s Low and “heroes” and 1979’s Lodger), that they helped create, back where it was born.
As the lights dim, the band is introduced by its leader, Carlos Alomar, and then kicks into a powerful, spot-on rendition of “Joe the Lion” from “Heroes”. This song was written in this city 48 years ago, less than two miles away at Hansa Studios, itself only a couple of blocks from the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie.
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Cold War Berlin was the stuff of spy movies in the late ’70s – a wild west borderland with agents and operatives from both sides, and nonpartisan schemers making a buck, mark, or ruble in between. West Berlin was an island in a opposed East German sea, connected by train to West Germany, to which it belonged. A symbolic reality lived amidst a walled line between East and West, Warsaw Pact versus NATO. The Cold War raged hot in other parts of the globe, but here the simmering tension echoed the inter-war, expressionist, Weimar years in this same old city.
It was all of this, particularly the themes alluding to that early 20th century German Expressionism and the work of
The D.A.M. Trilogy Tour: A Return to Bowie’s Berlin Era
The set list on that opening night in Berlin hits the most rocking points of the D.A.M.-powered albums. “None of the slow stuff,” Alomar tells me ahead of time, when planning the tour. By slow stuff he’s referring to the ballads on Station to Station (1976), but also, more specifically, the experimental, ambient tracks on the second side of Low and interspersed throughout “Heroes” songs often attributed as much to producer Brian Eno as to Bowie himself. “Heroes” was the only album entirely recorded in Berlin. Low was mostly recorded outside of Paris at Château d’Hérouville, and Lodger was recorded entirely in Montreux, Switzerland at Mountain Studios. But as Alomar and this tour point out, the Berlin Trilogy is only the middle three of a five-album run with this powerhouse rhythm section. So it’s kind of a… five album trilogy.
Starting with the Station to station tour in 1976, Alomar served as bowie’s band leader and was responsible for the arrangements adapting studio recordings to the stage. He worked in this capacity all the way up through the Let’s Dance tour (an album on which he didn’t play). In reply to a question that I asked at lunch in Harlem a few years ago involving the musical notation-reading ability of rock musicians, Alomar said, “Well, it is a very delicate situation because I don’t like to intimidate the musicians. I have to kind of look at every musician and treat them like, ‘Hey man, I wont you to play it like you wrote it, not play it like that guy wrote it.I don’t want you to be Bowie, I want you to be you.'” This is indicative of the patience, intellect, and versatility that made him perfect for this role under Bowie, and now the D.A.M. Trilogy Tour is not just a return to Berlin and this period’s music, but a return to his position as the band leader for this music. Bowie trusted him for many reasons, but an crucial one was that Alomar intimately knew his whole catalog.
Before the start of the show, the Metropol bar attached to the main dance floor teems with people in VIP passes who all seem to know each other. They tell me that they are members of the Facebook group, Bowie Fascination, and most of them attended the David Bowie World Fan convention in liverpool, England in July last year.It was there that Alomar publicly announced this tour. The duly gathered then felt they had to be part of this history.
[Image of Michael Cunio at the Metropol on the Berlin Trilogy Tour. (Photo by jordan Rothacker)]
In assembling the band, Alomar called in singer Michael Cunio, known for belting out vocals with Brass Against. While most of the covers he sings with that big band are from
## Bowie’s ‘Scary Monsters’ Reimagined: A Night with Adrian Belew’s Power Trio
The Bowery Ballroom in New York City pulsed with anticipation on a recent December night, not for a nostalgia act, but for a vibrant reimagining of David Bowie’s 1980 masterpiece, *Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)*. Adrian Belew, the guitarist who helped define that era of Bowie’s sound, led a power trio – featuring bassist Tony Lewis and drummer Stephen Cusano – through a setlist that was both reverent and refreshingly innovative.Belew, known for his distinctive and often experimental guitar work, didn’t simply replicate the album’s iconic sounds. He *interpreted* them, injecting his own flair while remaining true to the spirit of Bowie’s compositions. The show opened with “Fill Your Heart,” a deep cut from *Let’s Dance*, before launching into the angular energy of “Hong Kong Garden” from *Low*.”We’re going to play a lot of *Scary Monsters* tonight,” Belew announced, wryly adding, “I was either going to pick up my guitar or to retire and become a plumber.” This segued into the song “Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)” itself, showcasing Belew’s accomplished guitar playing and its ability to capture the essence of Robert Fripp’s original work.
Next came a sole song from *Station to Station*, the crowd-pleasing dance hit, “Golden Years,” and Cusano had the moves to get and keep everyone moving. His hips would make even David Bowie blush and giggle, and they kept us dancing with “Fashion” following. This final stretch of songs from *Scary Monsters* continued with “Ashes to Ashes,” a sequel to Bowie’s most famous hit, 1969’s “Space Oddity.” This rendition began with an elaborate piano solo by Lewis, and Belew beamed from the side, a proud father-in-law. “It’s No Game (No. 1)” and “Scream Like a Baby” concluded this opening show with hard, heavy, and triumphant power.
While the average rock music lover might not know much of the album *Lodger*, when the band played one of my favorites, “Yassassin,” I felt like a member of the community as the whole room sang along on the refrain of the chorus with the backup singers. Most everyone I met had an English accent,and many were booked for more shows,especially the UK stops in sheffield,Liverpool,Glasgow,London,and Bristol,before the final show in Dublin. The farthest travelers I encountered were a pair of women from Los Angeles, all glittered and lightning-bolted.
