A tremendous lineup headed by Patti Smith and Iggy Pop has been unveiled for this year’s Tibet House benefit concert happening Thursday, March 16th at Carnegie Hall.  Laurie Anderson, Alabama Shakes, and Sufjan Stevens as well as Bernard Sumner, Phil Cunningham, and Tom Chapman of New Order will all perform along with Philip Glass who – besides being a brilliant composer – has been a pillar of Tibet House since its inception.  If you click on that last link you can see how many cool movies like The Hours, Kundun, Dracula and Hamburger Hill that Glass has written scores for as well as what’s brewing for his 80th birthday concert season. Among the offerings of the octogenary celebration is an appealing opportunity to see and hear members of the Philip Glass Ensemble offering a live interpretation of the music he composed for Jean Cocteau’s film La Belle et la Bête at Town Hall.

The beneficiary of the benefit concert, Tibet House US, is located at 22 West 15th Street and include… a gallery, exhibition space, and the spiffy room where Glass generously sat down with me last year to speak about the event and its reason for being.  As the interview with Glass took place not many weeks after the death of David Bowie, I’ve included a bonus video here as his remarks about him are worth sharing.  His relationship with Bowie was such that he based symphonies on two of the albums –Heroes and Low –that Bowie made with Brian Eno in the Berlin trilogy.  In addition, to which he alludes, he crossed paths with him quite a bit in the first few years of the century when Bowie recorded at Looking Glass Studios in Soho.  Glass reveals he may yet complete a symphony for Lodger to complete the trilogy with Heroes and Low…

Iggy Pop Will Spearhead Tibet House Benefit Concert; Philip Glass Interview

A tremendous lineup headed by Iggy Pop has been unveiled for this year’s Tibet House benefit concert happening Monday, February 22nd at Carnegie Hall.  FKA twigs, Sharon Jones, Basia Bulat and Dechen Shak-Dagsay with Helge van Dyk will all perform as well along with Philip Glass who – besides being a brilliant composer – has been a pillar of Tibet House since its inception. who generously sat down with me last week to speak about the event and its reason for being.  Even though Patti Smith can’t make it this year, her band will be on hand so, as seen in some of the video that I shot 2 years ago, Iggy and Lenny Kaye may share the stage again.

In addition to all the other great features of the Tibet House benefit concert, a tribute to David Bowie seems like a natural this year as both Philip Glass and Iggy Pop worked with him intimately.

I’ve included a bonus video here because Philip spoke about David Bowie.  He not only based symphonies on two of the albums that Bowie made with Eno but, as he alludes to, he crossed paths with him quite a bit in the first few years of the century when Bowie recorded at Looking Glass Studios in Soho.  Glass even reveals he may yet complete a symphony for Lodger as well as Heroes and Low!

Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, The National & New Order…