To work at CHUM Television in the ’80s and ’90s was to exist in rarefied air. But never more so than the moment I met David Bowie the day before his MuchMusic Video Awards appearance in 1999, just wandering the halls with his camera wanting to find out what made the place tick.
I met him at the bottom of the stairs as I took a new employee from our second-floor office to the main-floor rehearsal hall to meet the producers at Bravo.
“Hello, I’m David Bowie.”
Isn’t it funny when ultra-famous people introduce themselves by name? Still, if I didn’t already know he was headlining the show, I may not have recognized him in his jeans and crew neck, looking as much like a regular person as a superstar ever could. When you think of David Bowie, it’s hard not to think of costumes, makeup, performance alter-egos. His larger-than-life influence on music, art, fashion and gender stereotypes.
Today’s expressions of love and grief over Bowie’s death immediately brought my everyday meeting with him to mind — people around the globe are remembering him for his iconic persona and career and very likely for some of these perfectly human moments.
“What exactly do you do here?” he asked.
CHUM building culture and etiquette dictated that you remain calm in the midst of celebrities and idols. But this was someone I’d been listening to since my interest in music had begun. Here was the biggest performer I would ever meet; someone I’d seen in concert from the rafters, and never imagined I’d ever catch an up-close glimpse of, let alone have a conversation with.
But here he was, asking me if he could take my picture and record me for his website, as a way to document his Much experience (this was long before social media and selfies).
I shook his hand, quickly encapsulated my job, and told him I looked forward to seeing him perform the next night. Then, I went about the regular business of the day.
During the MMVAs that year, my job was to wrangle Tia Carrere. At the time she starred in Relic Hunter, a sci-fi — fantasy series that aired on Space, a channel under the CHUM TV umbrella. I ran the communications department at Bravo, but chipped in to help every year on the awards show. Ms. Carrere’s most fervent wish was to meet David Bowie. My night’s goal became making that happen. The problem was, he was heavily entouraged. Though I had the inside track on who was handling his handlers (and I’d talked to him just yesterday!), he remained behind an impenetrable wall. Throughout the night I kept checking in to see if it would happen so I could answer her constant requests for updates about what time they were meeting.
Back then, the video award show was a party inside a television broadcast, so the entire downtown Toronto building was filled with hundreds of music industry people, media, advertisers and other stakeholders, and their guests. The audience outside were members of the public in the thousands, both inside the gates and outside in the streets, closed off and overflowing with bystanders hoping for a glimpse when VJs brought guests to the windows. Musicians and performers could be in the crowd, interact, meet and mingle. Some did, while others — like Bowie — either chose or were advised not to.
Other acts performing that night were: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Britney Spears and Our Lady Peace. Carrere was one of a long list of presenters and celebrity guests, and she’d be introducing Bowie. While we waited (and I prayed) for this meeting, I spotted Alice Cooper and distracted Carrere with an intro to him. I left them chatting about the possibility of Cooper making a guest appearance on Relic Hunter, as I made an attempt to enter the inner sanctum that was Bowie’s greenroom.
No such luck. I didn’t want to mention to Carrere that had she been around just yesterday, she could have talked to him to her heart’s content.
Meanwhile, somewhere in his archives is a photo of me attempting to be a picture of professionalism.
Carla Lucchetta is an online producer at TVO.org.
Main image credit: istock/Meinzahn
Nikki Ashworth is a Bowie superfan, a musician and project coordinator at The Agenda. Her first Bowie concert was the one referenced above, the 1999 MMVAs.