17th January 2016 - Not all decisions are good ...

Thought for the day: "Old age is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions."

I have a number of friends and aquaintances, and after mentioning my own recollections of Bowie in the Roundhouse many moons ago, I picked up this little story about a friend, who is better known in the Llanelli area these days for his commetaries at the Scarlet's games, and for playing the old Master of Llanelly House and recanting the sad story of the suicide/murder of Mira Turner - the upper house house maid ... Eldon Phillips...   his story..

A VICAR has spoken of the time he turned down the chance for David Bowie to perform in Carmarthen — because the £100 price tag was too hefty.

Reverend Eldon Phillips recalled the decision after hearing today of the singer's death.

While training to become a teacher at Trinity College, Mr Phillips was involved in booking gigs for students, and was approached by Bowie's agent asking if he could perform at the college.
But as he was yet to release the album Hunky Dory - and was relatively unknown as an artist, Mr Phillips felt he had no choice but to turn the gig down.

He said: "It would have been around 1970/71 and I was booking bands to perform while doing my teacher training.

"The agents I dealt with in London rang me up and said he had this act — a singer songwriter with a small band. He had just changed his name from David Jones to David Bowie.
"He said it would cost around £100, but because he was unknown as such then I couldn't risk spending the college's money on it. I couldn't guarantee how many people would be there."
But he added that the decision quickly became a regret as Bowie shot to popularity.

"Literally a few weeks later Hunky Dory came out and I regretted it immediately," Mr Phillips said.
"It was such a seminal album, and I always say the three biggest influences on rock and roll since the Second World War are The Beatles, Elvis, and David Bowie.

"I wasn't a huge fan of his, but I thought his best album was Hunky Dory. I also have an album called David Bowie at the BBC, which is made up of tracks he recorded over a number of sessions - that is superb."

Well - it goes down with the other failures in history - such as the rejection of the Beatles, the thought that a photo-copier would nver catch on and the firm belief that there may be a small demand for computers - maybe one day there would be five or six...

I shall have a quiet day today ..

Cheers !!