TED Music Director 2002-12. Endowed Professor at Johns Hopkins U. Director of New Media, Peabody Institute. Chairman, Living Classrooms Foundation music program
Somewhere in the aether
- Tweets 2,387
- Following 144
- Followers 27,830
- Likes 29
So upsetting to hear Terry Hall is gone. I will be playing The Specials’ brilliant ‘Ghost Town’ on loop tonight…. but oh dear, Twitter won’t allow me to link to it :(
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R.I.P. Ric Ocasek, lead singer with The Cars, at 75. A very cool cat. He was the first person to hear my album The Flat Earth from start to finish, in Mutt Lange's house in Chelsea.
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RIP Eddie Van Halen, dead today from cancer at 65. He was hilarious, mercurial, brilliant, and had the most beautiful relaxed expression as his fingers flew over the fretboard. He rarely guested for others, so I am priviledged that he played on my album ‘Astronauts and Heretics.’
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Packed and ready for a 10-week tour! I'm going to be adding songs to the set as I go along. any requests for 'deeper cuts'?
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RIP Andy Fletcher of @DepecheMode. So sorry for your loss edition.cnn.com/2022/05/26/e…
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I dreamed last night that I went in the studio with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark to record a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Precious’. We took a few liberties but it sounded awesome! @OfficialOMD @depechemode
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I am so sorry to have to cancel my appearance tonight @Moogfest I’m in hospital on IV antibiotics for a vicious kidney infection. But I think they’ve got it under control. @HopkinsMedicine always give me the red carpet treatment
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If you love @PrefabSprout 's classic album Steve McQueen ('Two Wheels Good' in the USA) please check out the production commentary and reminiscences by myself, Martin McAloon and @wendyfinnandmax Wendy Smith buzzsprout.com/699262/130765…
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My all-time favorite guitarist, Jeff Beck, has passed on. If you're not familiar with his work, check out his playing on this Stevie Wonder piece piped.video/watch?v=xiOPvOBd… (and of course, Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap owed him a lot.) RIP Jeff--your fingertips were truly magical.
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Thirty years ago on this day (July 2nd 1988) I married Kathleen Jennifer Beller, in Suffolk, UK.
Today is our 30th anniversary, sweet K, and I love you more than ever. Thank you for all these wonderful years--and hugs to our beloved adult children Harper, Talia and Graham.
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'Science’ turns 40! Thank you for your continued love and support for the song over the years. To celebrate this anniversary, the official video has been digitally restored. Go and give it a watch, Dr Magnus Pyke and Miss Sakamoto have never looked better! piped.video/watch?v=V83JR2Io…
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If you went to your local music venue to see a tribute act called DOLBY PARTON, would you expect (a) a buxom blonde from Tennessee singing Thomas Dolby songs?(b) an 80s synth band covering country + western hits?
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Congrats to @Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood for his Best Score Oscar nod for #ThePowerOfTheDog. He really deserved to win for #ThereWillBeBlood but was robbed! Also to Jesse Plemons for Best Supporting in the same film--who had 'Science' as his ringtone in Breaking Bad, remember? :)
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Last summer with Matthew Seligman, my brilliant bass player friend who is on Day 10 of an induced coma in St George’s London with Covid-19. It’s time to get better now, Matthew.
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And you may say to yourself: ‘this is not my beautiful house.’ And you may ask yourself: ‘well.. how did I get here?’
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Very sorry to hear of #GeorgeMichael's death. He was IMO a pop songwriting/production genius, and rare British vocal virtuoso
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At the ATM, mask and gloves. 60ish man steps, no mask, coughs into his hand, starts punching buttons! I step aside and say ‘I’ll wait till you’re done.’ ‘Man, you’re taking this seriously!’ he pulls out his cash, and I say, ‘better spend that quick. You can’t take it with you.’
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Happy 2020 everyone! I’m delighted to announce that after a 2+ year hiatus, my entire album catalog is finally available on Spotify [TMDR] open.spotify.com/album/6B0Ze…
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This summer I will be playing a select handful of U.S. shows entitled “Thomas Dolby: An Evening of Music and Storytelling”
I'll seconstruct half a dozen of my favorite songs, telling the story behind their creation while breaking down the beats, chords, keyboard parts, and sounds
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Always nice when a brilliant, double Oscar-winning artist like @billieeilish turns out to be a longtime admirer of my music!
piped.video/3oB2-LC881c?si=JrWQ…
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My attorney advised me to 'keep my head down' in the current political climate, and try to post stuff that doesn't offend anyone.
I told him, I'll be damned! Silence=assent.
But let me just state for the record: I am DELIGHTED with my new pedal bin.
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The way things are going, I am feeling cautiously optimistic that on Nov 3rd reason will prevail, and that in the following months, the true criminals will be locked up while America starts to heal from the wounds of the last 4 years.
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I think Bjork, Byrne and Bowie all came here from the same planet. Can’t you tell by their names?
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Gracious, was I ever really this young, and this thin? On a US tour with Bruce Woolley, circa 1978.
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Another of my heroes gone, away to the great Marquee Moon in the sky theguardian.com/music/2023/j…
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Flattered and and amazed that Spin Magazine listed Eddie Van Halen’s guest solo on my song ‘Eastern Bloc’ in their Top Ten Eddie solos ever spin.com/2020/10/eddie-van-h…
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Join us for a candlelight vigil to remember Matthew Seligman piped.video/user/thomasdolby
Sun April 19th 8pm UK time (3pm ET noon PT)
Please help his family:
gofundme.com/f/matthew-selig… ++++
Matthew would want us to remember the good times and have a party :)
Yours in sorrow, Thomas
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A very sweet and thoughtful 40-year retrospective on my first album.
popmatters.com/thomas-dolby-…
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This song is for Matthew Seligman, with all my love. piped.video/9G9Nzw-dF2A
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Incredible - my Tesla's Full Self Drive stopped the car last night for these five baby foxes on Falls Rd, Baltimore! It waited for them to do their thing, and then drove me home! [TMDR]
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Sad to hear of the death of Simon House, violinist on 'She Blinded Me With Science' who also played with Hawkwind, Bowie and Bruce Woolley. ultimateclassicrock.com/simo…
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View of Baltimore's Key Bridge from my balcony. The black lump in the middle is the cargo ship that collided with it in the night, completely destroying the central span.
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If you've ever wondered what you would done in Germany in the 1930s--you're doing it now.
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Who knew? The super-talented @BillieEilish is a big fan of my 2011 songs 'Evil Twin Brother' and 'Spice Train.' piped.video/watch?v=3oB2-LC8…
Have to say I'm very flattered, as I love some of her songs as well.
Should we do a collaboration?
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A conman, a liar, and a hypocrite go into a bar.
Barman says "What'll you have, Mr President?"
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38 – the number of years between me playing a song called Wind Power on Top Of The Pops, and Budweiser boasting about brewing with it in a Super Bowl ad #TheGoldenAgeOfWireless
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Oh, the UTTER joy of our first, lawful, speedboat trip to pick up sushi in Fells Point for a sunset picnic on the water by the Domino Sugar plant! This lockdown makes us appreciate how very lucky we are.
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Hey folks! I'll be doing a birthday guest DJ spot on Richard Blade's show on Sirius XM First Wave (ch 33) 2pm-3pm today. Stop by! [TMDR]
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On April 23rd we will be re-releasing Hyperactive on vinyl! It'll be available Stateside as well. Originally released in 1984 when it was my highest-charting UK single, it has since featured in Legion, Breaking Bad, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. [TMDR]
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Hey mister, if you're running out of music to play at your rallies, I'll be happy to send you my CD on condition you stuff it up your flabby ass, you lying groping narcissistic money-laundering racist buffoon #VOTE!
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Yeah, thank you, Big Bang Theory producers. I wouldn't have known what the hell to do with $1,000,000!
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There are so many broken hearts around the world today. Feel I have 100 million siblings who like me grew up with the music of David Bowie
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I meant to post this on MLK Day, but only just got round to it!
It's a live version of The Flat Earth--whose 40th anniversary is this year. This is a glitchy video, but it illustrates nicely how I put the song together. Enjoy! [TMDR]
piped.video/watch?v=cNIQrIXl…
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What my mischievous offspring have been getting up to during the Lockdown! 'Corona and the Pirate Twins' piped.video/watch?v=aPd1-ARS…
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Nice to be #1 in anything :) classicrockhistory.com/10-co…
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When DT says a place is 'infested' he means, mostly black people. When he says 'shithole' he means ALL black people. When he says 'I am the least racist person you will ever meet' he actually means 'I am the most racist person you will ever meet.'
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As if this weekend couldn’t get any worse: sad news of the passing of Andy Gill of the #GangOfFour, for whom I used to sound engineer live gigs in the late 70s.
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Hello Canada! I had a #1 single here in 82 with 'She Blinded Me With Science' and tonight I'm playing the Laval ice stadium near Montreal. And I'll be signing copies of my book too. Come! [TMDR] #TotallyTubular
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Nearly 50% of eligible voters don't turn out for presidential elections.
If the outcome is not to your liking, do you really want that on your conscience?
VOTE!
There's no such thing as a wasted one. A high turnout could be the difference between a tight race and a landslide.
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Nothing now separates DT from the kind of evil dictators that we fight to depose. He is indistinguishable. As this man chips away daily at our democracy + all standards of truth and decency, are we too numb to ever draw a red line beyond which we step up and reclaim our liberty?
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I have a new remastered compilation double CD out, 'Hyperactive' on BMG Records. Here's a glowing commentary from Coachella Valley Review
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"I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like… tears in rain. Time to die."
RIP #RutgerHauer theguardian.com/film/2019/ju…
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Pleased to see an upsurge of interest in classic ringtones. Ingenious creations with very limited resources. One day they will be highly prized and studied by musicologists! @ringtonebanger has dug up some real doozies like this one I wrote for Sony/WebTV piped.video/-EFi8P5enUY
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An interesting conversation between me and Martyn Ware (Human League/Heaven 17) aca.st/2a6800 about analog synths, the early days of synth pop etc.
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Unless America comes to its senses and rallies round its founding principals, I fear the November election may boil down to whether the US military chooses to obey or disobey presidential orders tweeted from a White House bathroom locked from the inside.
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Proudly heading out to see #BladeRunner2049. Saw the original on opening day in 1982 and my life has never been the same since!
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Rolling into Chicago for gig 26 of my 26-gig North American tour! At the #HouseOfBlues tonight at 8pm, co-headline with Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey. Sad, but triumphant.... We'll have been seen by about 90,000 fans over the last six weeks. Let's make tonight one to remember!
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Did you see the press conference? Asked to produce evidence to back his claims, he just spat vitriol and made a mockery of the whole system. We're being governed by a petulant child.
GOP, shame on you for supporting this narcissistic buffoon! #FAKENationalEmergency
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Great review from Shepherd's Bush Empire two nights ago--still tickets available for tonight's last minute gig at O2 Academy Islington, my last show of 2024.
London, hyperactivate! [TMDR]
louderthanwar.com/thomas-dol…
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It’s 8/08 ie National TR808 Day! I’ll be programming my TR-08 live onstage tonight to celebrate at Baltimore Center Stage
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Happy Halloween! The ‘Blinded By Science’ EP has been digitally reissued today and includes three bonus live recordings not previously available, including live version of ‘She Blinded Me With Science’. I hope you enjoy it, stream or download the EP here - thomasdolby.lnk.to/BBS
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For my wife's 64th birthday, we took her on a Magical Mystery Tour. Stops included a Submarine escape room + a live performance of The Rocky Horror Show, where Kathleen got a surprise in the interval: her husband serenading her with a certain Beatles song! piped.video/watch?v=H03xqL4t…
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In 2016 the UK public were asked simply ‘Do you want to leave the EU?’ Now they know what that actually looks like, the right thing is to ask them ‘Do you still want to leave the EU?’
What could be more democratic than that!
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First sail of the year in front of magnificent Baltimore ‘ruin porn’... what a glorious afternoon!
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All you Brexiters that didn't like being governed by someone you didn't vote for.... How's that going?
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Funny how things come back to you. I just recalled that @MatthewSeligman and I once played a game of mental chess, on my tour bus. The others thought we were faking it. I check-mated him in about 25 moves. But right now I would happily turn back the hands of time and lose.
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I'll be doing a short set supporting Blondie at Annapolis Docks on Sept 15th. Come! axs.com/events/493208/blondi…
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If you are a US citizen, you have a unique privilege (and responsibility) to exercise your right to vote. Understanding that your vote DOES matter is central to your existence in a ‘free’ society. Why forego that freedom? Is apathy preventing you? VOTE!!
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Hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving!
“Brits don’t have a holiday to celebrate conquering a country by stealing it from the natives because they would always be on holiday.”
Anon.
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Hey UK, it's nice to be back! I am playing six solo gigs this month
Glasgow St Luke's 14th
Newcastle O2 16th
Manchester O2 17th
Wolverhampton Wolfrun 18th
Brighton Concorde 21st
London Empire 22nd
... plus W Fest in Ostend on 24th.
ThomasDolby.com/tour
See you there! [TMDR]
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When a Twitter user makes death threats and promotes violence, they get automatically banned, right? Close his account now #BanThePOTUS
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The rain forest’s on fire. Coral reefs dying, earthworms and honeybees dwindling. Both my native countries are ruled by dictators. And I’m equally ashamed of those who defend them, and the feeble opposition. Don’t they realise none of this will matter? Silence=assent
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This Sat Nov 17th at 2.15pm PST I'll be performing my first ever 45-minute live concert in cyberspace. A 3D-scanned Dolby avatar will play a Roland virtual keyboard rig in front of an audience of several hundred other avatars from all over the World!
highfidelity.com/futvre-land…
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So sad to hear of the loss of Ecstasy Fletcher who (along with @JalilHutchins) founded Whodini in the early 80s. I co-wrote and produced their record ‘Magic’s Wand’ which was the 1st rap 12” to go platinum, and 1st ever hit rap MTV video. rol.st/2WJuJoV
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The USA is now officially a dictatorship, of the exact type we decry in some African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Communist countries. The path was cleared by the partisan majority in our elected government. The system of checks and balances put in place by the Founders has failed.
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This nation is obsessed with a noble but naïve document written 100s of years ago that invites re-interpretation to fit today’s agenda of corporations, politicians, and fringe religious cults, under the banner of a ‘democracy’ they can bend and twist to mute the voting populus.
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I’m pretty tired of people ripping off Bernard Herrmann’s classic score for ‘Vertigo.’ First it was The Artist, which won a Best Score Oscar. Now Ratched, a Netflix ‘Original’, in which Mac Quayle is credited as Composer, though Herrmann is quoted verbatim with zero attribution!
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Waiting for my lunch in a takeout, they played in sequence Prince, Bowie, Michael, Marvin. Now my day is lapsing into deep melancholy.
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So sad to lose one of the world's greatest songwriters: sublime lyricist and guitarist, longtime Scorcese collaborator, and reluctant frontman of The Band with no frontman, Robbie Robertson. So many beautiful songs, but here's one of my favourites piped.video/watch?v=NIj2Vp…
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Setting up in the beautiful #ChicagoHouseOfBlues for my show tonite. Come!
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Hey, fans of @ArsenalFC: do you think that the club's prospective buyer Daniel Ek, who became a billionaire at Spotify by violating songwriting copyrights while paying artists a pathetic $.005 per stream, gives a toss about you, the loyal supporters?
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A kindly Canadian fan sent me this reminder of a rare #1 hit.
Did you notice how many of the acts in this chart I have direct connections to? I counted at least 7.
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Should have known Western democracy was f****d when Bowie let his fans pick songs for his final tour and top choice was The Laughing Gnome.
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RIP Ennio Morricine, beloved film composer nitter.app/i/events/1280037317361…
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