Suitable for age 16+
Eva’s mam Caitlin – Cait – was from County Carlow. She moved
to the States as a teenager in pursuit of fame and fortune. After the glory
days had come to an end, she found herself married to a steelworker in
Pittsburgh. Soon after, Eva came along.
Cait had learned a great deal about parenting in her own
loveless childhood and was determined that Eva would have all she could give
her, which, in material terms, was nothing.
Eva’s dad was a steelworker? Well, the bottom had fallen out
of the ‘City of Steel’ a generation ago and the family ‘steelworker’ now earned
a pittance working in a car-breakers yard. The pittance rarely got as far as
home.
Cait earned bits and pieces doing laundry, running errands,
minding other people’s children. She did her best to shield Eva from the
excesses of the nightly homecoming.
Her escape had always been through the radio, particularly
music like the Delta Blues, Lou Reed, Santana and David Bowie.
Bowie in particular resonated with her life and her world,
and a song would come up on the radio which would take her back to her
childhood, or the streets of New York, or her first trip on a plane, or her
first trip.
She loved to share his music with Eva and how embedded it
was within her and when their apartment was cold and dark, they would snuggle
up under the covers and share the magical powers that seemed to emanate from
Bowie’s endless imagination.
Until, one evening, the 9/11
documentary was on t.v.
Secret Life play live the works of David Bowie woven through
Eva’s story.
