R.I.P. SIMON HOUSE

“I hear the sound of mandolins...”

It's turning out to be a very sad Sunday, with the news now that Simon House has died at the age of 77.

Simon had a long and illustrious career starting out as violinist and keyboard player with High Tide alongside Bowie’s fellow Turquoise member, Tony Hill. It’s possible that this is when Simon and David first met as they were on the same bill when David was a member of Hype. Bowie certainly had wonderful things to say about High Tide later.

Following a few years with Hawkwind, Simon joined the ISOLAR 2 band for The 1978 World Tour. He also contributed to the Lodger album, which has its 46th anniversary today.

Today’s lyric quotation is a reference to the fact that he also played mandolin alongside violin on Lodger.

Simon’s live work can be heard on the various official live releases from the 1978 tour, such as Stage, Welcome To The Blackout and Live in Berlin.

Our thoughts are with Simon’s friends and family.

#RIPSimonHouse #Bowie1978 #BowieStage

R.I.P. ALAN YENTOB

Sad to learn of the passing of Alan Yentob, the long-serving BBC arts broadcaster and documentary-maker, who has died aged 78.

Bowie fans became aware of Yentob's fifty-minute BBC 1 Cracked Actor documentary, when it first aired fifty years ago in January 1975.

Yentob interviewed Bowie again for a follow up documentary in 1997: An Earthling at 50.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family.

#RIPAlanYentob #BowieCrackedActor

SPACE ODDITY AT THE IVORS 55 YEARS AGO TODAY

“You’ve really made the grade...”

On May 10th, 1970, David Bowie performed Space Oddity to an audience at The Talk of The Town in London and broadcast live around the globe.

The event was the Ivor Novello Awards and Bowie received the Special Merit Award for Originality.

Perhaps he was just very happy to be there, but it did seem at times like our man was rather amused by the whole affair.

And we’re not suggesting for one second that it was the musical contribution of the Les Reed Orchestra that may have tickled Bowie...no, he was clearly just overwhelmed by the occasion, probably.

Watch the performance, complete with special trousers, here.

#BowieSpaceOddity #BowieIvorNovelloAwards