Peter Ormerod
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bowiegod.bsky.social
Peter Ormerod
@bowiegod.bsky.social
120 followers 78 following 540 posts
Author of David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God, published by Bloomsbury. Also entertainments editor for Iconic Media Group. Also a bit too keen on porridge, toast, Swindon, Noel Edmonds etc
Posts Replies Media Videos
bowiegod.bsky.social
I’m delighted to say I’ll be appearing at a few literary festivals this month. It would be lovely to see you if you can make it along to one or more of them - details coming up
October 3, 2026 at 8:49 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
A whole lotta TS Eliot, a helping of Waugh and a dash of Orwell - all in my latest piece about Bowie and, er, God

bowiegod.substack.com/p/bowie-apoc...
Bowie: Apocrypha & Miscellany, part 4
Time, divinity, TS Eliot and David Bowie. Plus: come and see me!
bowiegod.substack.com
August 31, 2026 at 10:44 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Fascinated by this moment in typography: the revolution of 1958 when Cambridge University Society of Arts went from serif to sans, and in a big way. Of all the things I've found while clearing my mum's old house, this is (perhaps weirdly) one of my favourites
August 14, 2026 at 3:12 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
I've been hoping to do an event with Alex for a while so very happy to have this opportunity!
peteselby.bsky.social Pete Selby @peteselby.bsky.social · Aug 12
I’ll be talking to @alexlarman.bsky.social and @bowiegod.bsky.social about their brilliant Bowie books at this year’s Stratford Literary Festival in October.
Come and join us.

Tickets on sale from Friday at 9am
www.stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/events
August 12, 2026 at 8:10 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Ha, pretty sure certain figures within the estate signed this off with a twinkle in their eye
bogl.bsky.social bogl @bogl.bsky.social · Jul 24
I like to think the ad agency know exactly what they did picking that song.

And the Bowie estate?

"Sure, you can have this song for THIS much!"

Shilling The Rubes.
July 24, 2026 at 7:06 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Really quite excited to be doing an event with the brilliant Kieran Saint Leonard in London on Tuesday next week, talking all things Bowie/occult/esoteric. It's going to be quite some night - do come along if you can

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/david-bowi...
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God
Peter Ormerod x Kieran Saint Leonard in-conversation
www.eventbrite.co.uk
July 15, 2026 at 4:12 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Worth it for the Evelyn Waugh/Thomas Merton collab info alone but it's clear that @helenbarrett.bsky.social's Beatlesy book will be excellent and mightily refreshing

open.substack.com/pub/helenbar...
My Beatles-adjacent reading list — part one
Illuminating books from the backwaters of Fab Four history
open.substack.com
July 4, 2026 at 10:55 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Lovely to see my book in the Guardian's list of 70 Brilliant Books for the Summer! Thanks to those who compiled the list and those of you who've bought the book (and to @vendicepartners.bsky.social for letting me know about this)

www.theguardian.com/books/ng-int...
June 13, 2026 at 4:00 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Will be great
June 13, 2026 at 1:31 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
It was a pleasure to be interviewed by Mike Warwick of Do Radio about my book and a whole load of other things, including my childhood, Christianity, my slightly weird but lucky life as an opinion writer and all sorts really

doradio.uk/where-to-nex...
Where To Next – Do Radio
doradio.uk
June 11, 2026 at 3:56 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
'I do not feel very confident that I can make anything satisfactory of Middlemarch. I have need to remember that other things which have been accomplished by me, were begun under the same cloud.'

George Eliot, 1869
June 9, 2026 at 8:37 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Wondrous stuff from Branagh and co in The Tempest at the RSC

www.warwickshireworld.com/news/the-tem...
June 4, 2026 at 10:39 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
New music by me! It's a pretty big electro kind of thing. Can't shake the C64 loading music influence but I'm actually quite happy about that

peterormerod.bandcamp.com/track/surge
Surge, by Peter Ormerod
track by Peter Ormerod
peterormerod.bandcamp.com
June 1, 2026 at 1:15 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Pretty amazing to see and hear the great @donnymccaslin.bsky.social at @prestomusic.bsky.social
in Leamington tonight. Aside from anything else, what a privilege to hear him play a tribute to Sonny Rollins on this day of days - his take on St Thomas was extraordinary

youtu.be/v4DTR0I7xhA?...
Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas
YouTube video by BluesBeboper
youtu.be
May 26, 2026 at 8:59 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
New Bowie/God bits from me! Some pictures, some videos, a response to the thoughtful review in First Things and more besides

open.substack.com/pub/bowiegod...
Bowie: Apocrypha & Miscellany, part 3
Five paintings, one sculpture, confessions and a code
open.substack.com
May 25, 2026 at 3:50 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Most pleased to be appearing at this year's Also Festival! It takes place in July in a lovely corner of Warwickshire, and is packed with fascinating talks and great food and music and whatnot and is, well, Quite a Thing. I'm much happier about all this than the photo suggests
May 19, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Reposted by Peter Ormerod
soundsclips.bsky.social
Sounds Front Cover featuring Alison Statton of the Young Marble Giants pic by Paul Slattery in Sounds 17th, May 1980.
May 17, 2026 at 8:32 AM
bowiegod.bsky.social
My brother-in-law was a late teenager around this time and remembers thinking that Bowie had gone 'staid'. I'd not heard anyone else say that until reading some of these European reviews. This is such a great series - always grateful for voices that counter received wisdom, official narratives etc
May 14, 2026 at 1:46 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Very sorry about this
May 14, 2026 at 11:27 AM
Reposted by Peter Ormerod
bowiesongs.bsky.social
The return of the Thin White Duke. London, 50 years ago: www.patreon.com/posts/157422...
Isolar 50: London (Pt. 1), 3-5 May 1976 | Chris O'Leary
Isolar 50: London (Pt. 1), 3-5 May 1976 by Chris O'Leary on Patreon. Join Chris O'Leary's community for exclusive content and updates.
www.patreon.com
May 5, 2026 at 6:16 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
New from me, featuring Dennis Potter, Fyodor Dostoevsky, @thefence.bsky.social and Ruby Flipper

open.substack.com/pub/bowiegod...
Bowie: Apocrypha & Miscellany, part 2
More stories and snippets that have spun out of my book
open.substack.com
May 4, 2026 at 3:34 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Coming up soon! The fine band Hunky Davy will be playing too. @BurndtOutWard and Alex Sharpe are excellent and I'm very happy to be involved. Tickets selling fast so don't miss out

facebook.com/events/s/bow...
May 3, 2026 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Peter Ormerod
bowiesongs.bsky.social
it's wonderful that this very Eno-esque strategy in the studio was used for possibly "Magic Dance" of all things
Dann Huff: Anyway, I got there and whatever the first song, David wanted an atonal type of guitar solo. Well, to this 23-year-old, 24-year-old whatever I was, I really was the wrong person to call for that. I understood the concept, but I didn’t have real-world experience. Usually, what would happen in a case like this, people would just say, “Well, thanks so much, we’ll pay you for your time, but we need to get somebody who’s more qualified.” My experience with David was just the opposite; he figured out a way to make me relevant to what he was doing and simply what he did was he said, “Tell the engineer, ‘Turn off all of the instruments except the drums,’” and he said, “I’m gonna pick a key and you just play this riff on it, play the blues, play whatever you want. Pick a random key, G, G minor, drums played on it, we’ll just jam. You know what, eight, 16 bars.” Then he would roll the tape back and he said, “OK, I’m gonna pick another random key,” and he would pick something, maybe B major, which against G minor would be really weird harmonies. He did that I don’t remember exactly how many times, but it was enough. To have this discontinuity between everything I played, and he said, “You go take a coffee break and I’m gonna put this together in a comp,” and that’s what he did.
May 1, 2026 at 6:11 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
You're Not Alone, the big new Bowie thing at Lightroom in London, is certainly an experience but left me with some Questions, about which I've written here

open.substack.com/pub/bowiegod...
You're Not Alone: Astounding sound and vision, but what about the story?
The experience overwhelms, yet questions remain
open.substack.com
April 26, 2026 at 9:07 PM
bowiegod.bsky.social
Gatiss + Placebo + Brecht + RSC worked very well I thought

www.warwickshireworld.com/whats-on/art...
April 22, 2026 at 1:33 PM