Me and the Starman

“Whatever route brought you to David Bowie, and whatever spells he has cast on you power the years, I think you’ll find much in this book that strikes a chord” – Nicholas Pegg. Everyone knows the story of David Bowie, the Brixton boy who by sheer force of will made himself into the biggest pop star in the world via glam rock, white boy soul and Berlin before signing off by turning even his own death into an artistic statement. This is not his story. Instead it’s the story of the lipstick traces he left behind: the impact his artistic endeavours made on our lives. How his music, his acting and his presence inspired people and let them think differently about themselves. Curated by Jon Arnold (The Black Archive) and James Gent (We Are Cult) and published by Chinbeard Books, Me and the Starman tells the stories from the fans and those who knew him, the story of the connections he made with his art. With a foreword from the author of The Complete David Bowie, Nicholas Pegg, and an afterword from MainMan president Tony Zanetta and including contributions from musicians such as Adamski, Kristian Hoffman, Malcolm Doherty and Jessica Lee Morgan, Glass Spider tour performer Victor Manoel, novelist Paul Magrs and Eisner Award winning writer and artist Nick Abadzis amongst many others, it traces the often invisible impact he made on lives that might otherwise have been very different. It’s a story that stretches from the the Laughing Gnome to Lazarus, from the Beckenham Arts Lab to Blackstar and beyond. Me and the Starman is a deeply intimate and very personal collection of stories and essays paying tribute to how the man who fell to Earth grounded us all, and helped the weirdest among us feel a little less alone. It’s the story of when you give not only your hands but your hearts to an artist. All profits from this book go toward supporting the work of Cancer Research UK