There’s no hot-looking babe covered with a mound whipped cream (or refritos and guacamole either for that matter) on the album cover, and that would be the only idea Richard Davis and the Tequila Brass did NOT borrow from Herb Alpert. But hey, it’s 1966 and a guy’s gotta make a living, right? ...

4) Ultravox, Wembley Arena 5/11/86 Barrel-scraping time. This was Ultravox well after their peak, touring an album (U-Vox) that even their die-hard fans regard as rubbish. I had mixed feelings about going to the gig but said Ultravox fan was well up for it, obviously. And then was hospitalised with ...

  Lily Allen, I don't know your music. Lily Allen, I'm not even sure why you're famous-- I believe there were some hit singles a few years back and your most recent song is #1 in Britain right now. But #1 hits don't mean anything these days... you really need a good topless scan...

I came across this while visiting David Gwynne's weblog Other Stream . The band is known as November Group and David describes them as "Boston-based, vaguely lesbian band who also recorded “We Danceâ€�, and "Put Your Back To It"." This is "Homeland."      All these works d...

Is the news worth this? If so, what value news? I read today on Café Blogas that MTV News has started a new ad campaign featuring popstars getting, for lack of a better word, tortured by faceless individuals. During the torture, a microphone looms, in order to record whatever comes from the person&...

It was definitely Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's night, wasn't it? I was especially pleased to see gay favorite Adele win Best New Artist. I'd never even heard of Adele until seeing her perform at last fall's Out 100 Awards here in NYC. Complete list of winners here. Album of the Year: Robert Plan...

Fifty years ago today, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash in rural Iowa. And this week in 1972, Don McLean's tribute song to the three and to rock-n-roll in general, American Pie, spent the last of its four weeks at #1 on Billboard's pop chart. Clocking in at...

2) Midge Ure Wembley Arena 23/12/85 Back to the Arena, two days before Xmas. I had another school friend who was a big Ultravox fan. He used to regularly curse Joe Dolce whose accordion-bothering “Shaddap You Face� had kept “Vienna� off the number 1 spot in the UK charts. I thought Ultravox ...

So (deep breath) here is the first installment as promised… 1) Howard Jones, Wembley Arena, 17/4/85 My first ever gig, at the tender age of 15. Me and some mates from school. We were all very excited. Howard Jones, though? Well, I’d been obsessed with “synth pop” since seeing...

Boy George has been sentenced to 15 months in prison on last year's conviction for false imprisonment. The judge at Snaresbrook Crown Court said the star, real name George O'Dowd, has used "gratuitous violence." He was convicted last month of false imprisonment by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court o...