Anneliese Jones and Mike McCarthy (Photos: Michael Donahue)

A woman was dressed as David Bowie at the annual “EL-BOW! The Elvis Bowie Birthday Party,” which was held January 10th. The woman, who didn’t want to give her real name, was a dead ringer for Bowie in his 1972 “Life on Mars” video. That would be just before his Ziggy Stardust period. Her hair (wig?) was red and she wore a skinny blue suit. During the party she sang selections, including “Life on Mars” and “Ashes to Ashes.” 

She also got to cut the birthday sheet cake, which bore a TCB lightning bolt, but colored red to represent Bowie’s face paint on his 1973 Aladdin Sane album cover.

Scott Taylor and Laurie Major hosted the party at Major’s home this year. In years past, it’s been held at the home of Mike McCarthy and hosted by McCarthy and Anneliese Jones.

Music was by TURNT, which Taylor co-founded. 

  • Marcia Clifton, Jewell Roesler
  • Layvonda Fason, Brianna Henderson, Brendan Ballenger
  • Adam and Renata Rains
  • Jan and Jim Orick
  • Zoe and Will Loren
  • Scott Taylor, Laurie Major
  • Kevin Keough
  • Mike Abernathy
  • “David Bowie”
  • Chris McCoy
  • Zaria Crawford, Fedan Haydar, Leilani Howard
  • Mark Wallace and Brooke Nelson
  • Adam Hohenberg, David Less
  • Klay Lester and Mary Glasscock

Michael Donahue began his career in 1975 at the now-defunct Memphis Press-Scimitar and moved to The Commercial Appeal in 1984, where he wrote about food and dining, music, and covered social events until...