Robert Fripp Steals the Show in David Bowie Documentary

British music journalist and editor of Uncut magazine, Allan Jones devotes most of his recent Editor’s Diary column to my brother Robert Fripp in a piece called, “Robert Fripp steals the show in David Bowie documentary.” Jones writes:

“I don’t know if you saw it, but BBC2’s David Bowie documentary, Five Years, screened at the weekend, was very entertaining. A lot of the archive footage was familiar, but there were also some splendidly unexpected highlights…

…by far the most eccentric contribution to the programme, however, came with the appearance of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, who had some interesting things to say about playing guitar on Heroes and pretty much stole the show in the process…”

Jones continues to recount a 1979 visit with Brother during which he interviewed Robert about his first solo album Exposure. Jones comically recalls dining at a 1970’s-era vegetarian restaurant with Brother and shares some recollections of the interview:

“Thank you so much,” he (Robert) says, and begins to speak directly into my microphone as if he’s addressing a public meeting or a planning enquiry. Fully 40 minutes later, almost without taking a breath, he’s filled almost an entire side of C90 tape and is still going strong, eventually shedding light on what Exposure’s all about…”

Though everyone knows that Robert Fripp is internationally-known for his brilliance with the guitar, it might surprise some to learn that he is a superb and entertaining public speaker as well. Sometimes the two of us team up together to present keynotes like our, “Good to Great—Beginner to Mastery” and “How to Be a Hero for More Than One Day.”

Thank you to Allan Jones for sharing his musings on my amazing brother.

Learn more about keynote presentations with my brother Robert Fripp.

Robert Fripp’s spoken-word recordings are available as CDs and digital downloads.