Wednesday 2 July
5.30pm – 6.30pm
NB this is the rearranged time as Alan Edwards had an extra event in the morning and could not get here in time for 2.30pm (as advertised in the brochure)
St Mary’s Church, Beaminster
£12 I £2
Priority Booking Dates
Platinum, Gold Sponsors and Donors and Trustees 24 March
Silver Sponsors, Donors and Committee27 March
Bronze Donors 31 March
Friends 3 April
General Booking 7 April
Each tier with be emailed with their Priority Code the day before their booking start date
Programme
Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse.
In I Was There, he describes getting his break in the mid-’70s as a scruffy, stoned 20-year-old just back from the hippie trail; his encounter with London’s thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie takes him to the US and beyond; and his move into the world of pop with the Spice Girls during the tabloid-crazed ’90s.
At the centre of this story sits the defining relationship of Edwards’ career: his close, thirty-year collaboration with David Bowie. He guides us through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind-the-scenes reports, whether he’s playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Above all, we’re treated to Edwards’ fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with and what makes them tick, as he looks back on his role in the last five decades of music and culture.
A beautiful, warm, jaw-dropping, once-in-a-lifetime, lifting-the-stone guide to a secret world . . . I loved it Tony Parsons