iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

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...

bowiegod.substack.com

Bowie: Apocrypha & Miscellany, part 4

Time, divinity, TS Eliot and David Bowie. Plus: come and see me!

173

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

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

131

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I've been hoping to do an event with Alex for a while so very happy to have this opportunity!

040

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Ha, pretty sure certain figures within the estate signed this off with a twinkle in their eye

140

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

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...

eventbrite.co.uk

David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God

Peter Ormerod x Kieran Saint Leonard in-conversation

120

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

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...

open.substack.com

My Beatles-adjacent reading list — part one

Illuminating books from the backwaters of Fab Four history

152

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

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...

061

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

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...

doradio.uk

Where To Next – Do Radio

020

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

'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

141

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Wondrous stuff from Branagh and co in The Tempest at the RSC www.warwickshireworld.com/news/the-tem...

132

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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

peterormerod.bandcamp.com

Surge, by Peter Ormerod

track by Peter Ormerod

010

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

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?...

youtu.be

Sonny Rollins - St. Thomas

YouTube video by BluesBeboper

110

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

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...

open.substack.com

Bowie: Apocrypha & Miscellany, part 3

Five paintings, one sculpture, confessions and a code

020

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

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

121

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Sounds Clips @soundsclips.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Sounds Front Cover featuring Alison Statton of the Young Marble Giants pic by Paul Slattery in Sounds 17th, May 1980.

0369

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

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

120

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

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...

010

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

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.

29328

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

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...

open.substack.com

You're Not Alone: Astounding sound and vision, but what about the story?

The experience overwhelms, yet questions remain

130

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Gatiss + Placebo + Brecht + RSC worked very well I thought www.warwickshireworld.com/whats-on/art...

000

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Slightly weird thing to include in this list - you might as well include Blackstar www.thetimes.com/culture/art/...

020

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Funny detail in Guardian piece about Prince www.theguardian.com/music/2026/a...

131

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Thin White Duke 50: a big one. Bowie in Berlin, with Romy Haag, Christiane F. and one of the greatest performances of the tour. www.patreon.com/posts/155196...

patreon.com

Isolar 50: West Berlin, 10 April 1976 | Chris O'Leary

Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon

2144

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Thin White Duke 50: the European canon is here www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...

patreon.com

Isolar 50: Munich, 7 April 1976 | Chris O'Leary

Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon

1193

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

BowieBookClub @bowieboookclub.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

This month's episode may consist entirely of a long discussion about the elaborate backstory Bowie constructed for Pontius Pilate to play him in the movie version of Last Temptation of Christ (h/t to @bowiegod.bsky.social for his excellent book "David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God"!)

1115

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Really enjoyable evening at Topping & Co in St Andrews yesterday - extremely grateful to everyone who came to hear me talk Bowie and flattered by the excellent turnout (including a man who'd driven 1h30m in terrible weather). Superb questions too. And what a wonderful bookshop!

110

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Excited to talk about this — finally — and to be working with Pan Macmillan. Better do some work.

2215125

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Thin White Duke 50: Bowie in Rochester. The arrest, the mugshot, and the too-often-forgotten woman whose life was nearly derailed by it all. www.patreon.com/posts/isolar...

patreon.com

Isolar 50: Rochester, 20 (& 25) March 1976 | Chris O'Leary

Get more from Chris O'Leary on Patreon

2347

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Enjoyable Facebook juxtaposition

030

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

It was such a pleasure to be invited to speak about my book at St Mark's in Leamington - it's a really important place for me (and for many others, I'm sure). Great questions from the reverend vicar and the audience. The video has just been published - here it is www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjHb...

youtube.com

Friday 27th - David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God - Peter Ormerod

YouTube video by St. Mark's Church L. Spa

040

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Tomorrow night! Leamington Spa!

110

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Interesting piece in the @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social looking at three recent Bowie books - Alex Larman's, Paul Morley's and mine, which is described as 'a highly readable biographical overview, suitable for the non-Bowieologist'. Pleased about this! lareviewofbooks.org/article/davi...

lareviewofbooks.org

Après Bowie, le déluge | Los Angeles Review of Books

On the 10th anniversary of David Bowie’s death, three books consider the rock star from new angles.

142

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

This may well be great but I'm a bit alarmed by this bit of the press release (Harty wasn't 'reduced' to anything - he was just being Harty, and Bowie didn't seem in control of very much at all)

120

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

There's something I find incredibly artistic about this somehow. It's like a moving painting. (No sound)

030

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

This series is such a treat and it's only just got going so sign up now. (Numerology - which Bowie wrote as 'numberology' - was quite a thing for him at the time and seems to have been part of his prayer ritual, along with tarot and Dion Fortune's book Psychic Self-Defence)

110

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Quite a nice thing to see in the Amazon charts. Feels a bit weird to be ahead of Paul McCartney and the Dalai Lama but there you go Thanks, everyone

030

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Really nice and satisfyingly chunky review of my book in the London Standard 'What Ormerod provides here is a welcome addition to the heaving Bowie library' www.standard.co.uk/culture/book...

standard.co.uk

Life on Mars? Bowie was questing far deeper

Major Tom’s journey from lost spaceman to junkie to alien idol was never about sci-fi cheap thrills

030

Reposted by Peter Ormerod

Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

RIP "Uncle Floyd" Vivino, who was UHF television at its most gloriously strange. Inspiration for one of Bowie's best songs of his later years. bowiesongs.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/u...

bowiesongs.wordpress.com

Uncle Floyd→Slip Away

Uncle Floyd. Slip Away. Slip Away (Jonathan Ross, 2002). Slip Away (Live By Request, 2002). Slip Away (live, 2002). Slip Away (live, 2003). Slip Away (live, with the Polyphonic Spree, 2004). Deep i…

2487

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

When I was writing my book, all I really wanted was to see in my local Waterstones one day. And now - there it is, between Matthew McConaughey and Paul McCartney! There's been plenty else going in the book's first week out in the world. Here are some particularly lovely things:

171

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

My mother, a simply extraordinary woman named Priscilla, died on Wednesday night. She had a rare and priceless gift of being able to see beauty in anything, while being ferociously discerning. A fierce wit, an enchanted disposition, wild, magical, deeply and unsentimentally loving

220

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Pleased to see a piece about my book in la Repubblica. I've had a fondness for Italian newspapers since the early 1990s d.repubblica.it/culture/inte...

030

Peter Ormerod @bowiegod.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

A pleasant surprise! I've only just found out my book has received a starred review from Booklist (@ala-booklist.bsky.social), the influential American publication. Starred reviews indicate an 'outstanding title of a particular genre' and not many books get them, so that's nice

130