The first sign that David Bowie was still alive in 2005 came when he appeared — upside-down — about a minute and twenty seconds into this video by the Danish band Kashmir:

David had met Kashmir through Tony Visconti, who produced their album. He showed up at the studio one day, added backing vocals to “The Cynic,” and did a solo turn on the bridge. It’s a pretty good song, not necessarily a great one.

I for one was totally unaware of it at the time. I ask again, for about the hundredth time, how did people even watch videos during this period, post-MTV and pre-YouTube? I think many of them got made and then sat on somebody’s hard drive for a decade or so.

Lou Reed was also on the Kashmir album, reciting a spoken-word piece called “Black Building”:

But that’s neither here nor there. These things are supposed to be short. On to the next one.