Between the Birth and Death of Queer Pop Legend David Bowie
DJ Roxy Moron Hosts Celebration at Rockette Bar
Wearing bell bottoms, graphic t-shirts, overalls, platform shoes, chokers, chains, shades, glitter, bright hair dye, and dramatic makeup, nostalgic fans crowded the dancefloor of Rockette Bar on Jan. 9.
They remembered a star’s iconic looks through the decades.
“I really do love the 70s David Bowie,” said Nora Harun—known as DJ Roxy Moron—the founder, organizer, and DJ of the annual party celebrating the English icon.
Harun began hosting the dance party after Bowie’s death, but she chose to celebrate his birthday instead, which comes two days before the anniversary of his death on Jan. 10.
“He transcends music,” she said. “I decided every year after to just celebrate his life to ease the pain.”
“I want everyone to dance and to let go and to sort of represent the essence of him,” said Harun. “Be a freak, be whatever you want, just don’t follow the crowd. I hope everyone will just embrace individuality.”
She said she admires the way Bowie glammed in his own way, no matter the reception of his audience or critics.
“He used to wear dresses and wear makeup and couldn’t care less what people were saying. He got a lot of flak for the things that he did. He had a lot of guts,” she said.
“He started things before people would even think of it.”
“Be a freak, be whatever you want, just don’t follow the crowd. I hope everyone will just embrace individuality.” — Nora Harun
Out of his 27 studio albums, her favourites would be his Berlin Trilogy: three albums he released consecutively: Low (1977), Heroes (1977), and Lodger (1979).
“Those three albums completely influenced me in so many ways,” she said.
Harun grew up in the 70s with her three older sisters. Each had their own collection of Bowie’s records on vinyl.
She listened to artists like The Cure, The Smiths, and Joy Division and went to school wearing spiky hair and pale foundation.
Harun remembered using her babysitting money to buy more and more records.
“Now CDs are completely obsolete, and vinyls are kind of making a comeback. People like the visuals,” she said. “I don’t know how many people still listen to them. It’s kind of a collector’s thing for most people.”
Erick McInnis—a partygoer and fan of DJ Roxy Moron—is also a big Bowie fan.
“Now he’s gone, but you still listen back to everything, and I think there’s not a lot of artists you can do a whole night [of],” he said.
The look of the entire event paid homage to the legend as well.
According to Harun, music and fashion go hand and hand. “You can’t separate them,” she said.
Bowie’s voice filled the two-storey Rockette Bar all night, evidence his music and image are still thriving to this day.
“In ‘Heroes,’ he goes, ‘We can be heroes, forever and ever,’ and I think David Bowie will never die—forever and ever,” said Harun.
