Bing Crosby gained fame for recording probably the most sold song ever recorded, White Christmas. Penned by Irving Berlin and recorded by Crosby, it blew away the standards for a hit. That was in 1942. He made movies, recorded more hits, and enjoyed a career that lasted to the end of the 70′s.
Starting in the late 60′s, Bing started doing Christmas specials. He usually had very family oriented performers and the shows were, for lack of a better word, very safe. Imagine my, and I imagine most of the world’s surprise, when in 1977, for Christmas,
David Bowie appeared on the show with Bing. He talked about his boy, joked, and otherwise acted as safe as Roy Clark would have. It was SHOCKING! Together they performed Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy, which was very beautifully done. They fit and countered perfectly. Later in the show, Bowie introduced ‘Heroes’ to the public in the form of a video ( not a normal move in those days ).
I was stuck in a small hotel room with my entire family somewhere in Florida during that Christmas. We were all in one room the night Bing’s special previewed. I had to turn the tv around backwards and cover the entire thing with a blanket to keep the light from bugging my parents. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hear it very well ( I have never had much hearing ), so I took a cassette recorder and crammed it against the tv so I could play it back later. The tv sent as much sound out the back as it did the speaker, so my dad started yelling and cussing about 2/3 through Heroes. I treasured that recording until it eventually disintegrated. I bought the album, only to find out the song was actually about twice as long as the video, and the video cropped out the best part, “Maybe we’re lying, so you’d better not stay. But we would be safer, just for one day”.
I enjoyed that Bing Crosby special more than any other, even if I couldn’t hear much of it. The one person who never got to see the special was Bing himself, he died before it was aired.
About 2 years ago, I received a phone call about doing an art installation that would coincide with a music festival in NY called the Highline Festival. I'm always excited when an opportunity finds me in which I get to flex my tech and conceptual muscles as a video artist. Imagine my excitement level when I learned it was to be curated by none other than