Soulful night at Stevens for CAL’s latest lecture

Late in the evening last Saturday, the lights lowered in DeBaun Auditorium on a full crowd of Stevens students, staff, alumni, and members of the Hoboken community. The College of Arts and Letters’ Dean Kelland Thomas took the stage and announced the theme of the night: “The Soulfulness of David Bowie.” The talk would go on to feature stories from what Dean Thomas called our “hometown team”: Distinguished Artist in Residence Carlos Alomar, his equally-acclaimed wife, Robin Clark, and mediator and music journalist Christian John Wikane. The night was filled with inspiring stories, laughter, and, above all, the magic of David Bowie.

Carlos Alomar came to Stevens after an extensive career that began at the age of 16. He now heads the Sound Synthesis Research Center at Stevens where, in his words, he just tries “to blow kids’ minds every day.” His accolades continue; he played guitar on Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” served as the RCA house guitarist as a 22-year-old, and worked with many ubiquitous artists (James Brown, Alicia Keys, Chuck Berry, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Yoko Ono, and The Bee Gees, to name a few). But perhaps one of his defining successes was his collaboration with David Bowie.

Alomar co-wrote Bowie’s first American hit, “Fame,” alongside Bowie and John Lennon, and the team then went on to produce the album Young Americans. Alomar and Robin Clark were both influential in showcasing Bowie’s soul. Clark sang backup for many of his albums, and Bowie returned the favor by praising her first solo album when it debuted. Alomar served as Bowie’s musical director for 30 years, and Bowie remained Alomar’s and Clark’s friend for life.

The event was filled with an excited energy as people reveled in Clark’s and Alomar’s pearls of wisdom. In addition, Wikane had compiled a list of thought-provoking questions and a PowerPoint filled with old photos and video clips.

One of the crowd’s favorites was a clip of the band performing “Stay.” Alomar was flaunting a purple jumpsuit and jamming in perfect symbiosis with the rest of the band. Off to the side, Bowie watched in fascination with the largest grin. He took in the pure poetry of the band playing. The crowd cheered along as Alomar soloed. Then, as Bowie began to sing, the time capsule illusion was broken by Alomar and Clark sitting in front of the screen, joyfully singing along in real time.

Though the night had an air of nostalgia, Clark noted that their relationship with Bowie was not always easy. During her first performance with the band as a backup singer, Clark recalled that people in the crowd brought tomatoes to throw at her and the other vocalists. “They just were not used to the soul sound yet,” she remarked, before quickly adding, “But Bowie made sure we had a place.” It was his overwhelmingly positive acceptance of the sound, along with some enthusiastic fans, that helped her launch her own solo career while ushering Bowie into his soulful age.

Some of these loyal fans that Clark spoke of were in the crowd. In the first row sat the “Sigma Kids,” a group of devoted Bowie fans who camped outside the studio during the production of Young Americans at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. Alomar recounted that these people were such a respected part of their production process that Bowie bought them food and allowed them to critique the album when it was finished. They brought a unique perspective that was embraced by the room.

So what does Bowie have to do with Stevens?

In the words of Alomar: “The soulfulness of David Bowie is a wonderful example for students to understand that passion is what wakes you up in the morning and passion is that which will not let you go to sleep at night.” Bowie and Alomar shared that passion, and he hopes that his students will as well.

One alum of the Music and Technology program, Andy Waldron ’17, felt this sentiment through his own experiences as a David Bowie fan and former student of Alomar’s. “It is completely surreal to hear about all [Alomar] has done,” said Waldron, “to see the incredible things that he did to produce all of my favorite albums, and then to think back to when he listened to one of my songs and said, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty good.’”

Dean Thomas felt the event was a triumphant success and hopes that the Dean’s Lecture Series will continue with such acclaim. “It is my strong hope that our students realize how lucky we are to have such a talented and distinguished artist here on campus,” he said.

So what is the soul of David Bowie? To Alomar, it is vulnerability and yearning. These things can be found in Bowie’s music, his characters, and his relationships with others. To finish out the night, Alomar wished that “this once in a lifetime chance to get an inside look at this collaboration will inspire our students to follow their dreams.”