WINE & MUSIC: DAVID BOWIE AND SMITH & HOOK

My musical tastes growing up were warped, indoctrinated into music via the mellow pop of the seventies with stuff like The Carpenters, Bread and 10CC. My dad had his jazz records, and there was some rock infused with the Funk scene I was exposed to thanks to my growing up in Dayton, Ohio (one of the focal points with hometown bands like Roger and Zapp, Heatwave and Ohio Players). I thank friends of mine who turned me onto groups like KISS, Boston and Queen, opening the door to rock ‘n’ roll for me. My tastes just kept getting broader the older I got.
One artist I of which I have always been a fan is David Bowie. Even the old stuff like “Rebel Rebel”, “Suffragrette City”, “Jean Genie” and “Space Oddity.” I don’t really remember where it was or when it was that I started listening, but I do know that I love listening to any artist who has the guts to reinvent himself as the times change.

When his record, “Let’s Dance” came out in the eighties, it was a melding of the New Wave stuff going on with some great blues, courtesy of an emerging guitarist named Stevie Ray Vaughan. I still love that whole record (CD, whatever). “Earthling” came out in the nineties with guitarist Reeves Gabriel, and the sound was totally different. Check out his duet/remix with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails:



A wine that I’ve known for years is Smith & Hook Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2006 is a rich, full-bodied red that is dark, brooding and really complex. It has always been a good Cab, but recently, perhaps in the last couple of vintages, it has taken on that David Bowie-chameleon-like personae, morphing with the times to become something equally as good, but something completely different than what I remember it being.

The Smith & Hook Cab is one of my most-recommended California Cabs, outshining a lot of Napa and Sonoma Cabs, for both its complexity and its price tag. Pick up a bottle today, and go back and listen to some David Bowie, be it “Ziggy Stardust”, “China Girl” or even “The Heart’s Filthy Lesson.” Try ‘em together and see why change is always good.