Janet Bardini: Falling For Bowie

Are your band T-shirts a part of your pandemic work/weekend/constant wardrobe? In our "Concert TBTee" series every Thursday, we're asking the FUV airstaff to dig through their closets for the concert and band T-shirts that mean the most to them and why. Janet Bardini, who hosts FUV's Saturday morning music mix from 6-10 a.m., has a special place in her heart for her David Bowie T-shirt.

Growing up as a teenager in Yonkers, I didn't become a David Bowie fan until my friend Donna took me to the cinema during the summer of 1976 to see the film "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Watching the film, I understood my friend's Bowie obsession: He was sexy, sensitive, and so darn talented.

Afterwards, my Uncle Frank's wife, who worked for RCA records, showered me with Bowie vinyl. I bought my first Bowie T-shirt at the Yonkers Raceway flea market, where you could find many other band tees, both official and bootleg (and no more than $10). The T-shirt was black and featured Bowie in profile with short, red-orange hair in a scene from the film.

I don't know what happened to the original shirt. However I was surely glad to see an official replica of it in the gift shop at the Brooklyn Museum during the "David Bowie Is" exhibition in 2018. When I wear it, I still feel like that teenager from the '70s who saved up her babysitting money to buy vinyl at Sam Goody and T-shirts at the raceway flea market.