So long, I'm off to rejoin a Cult

Ian Astbury, who, lest we forget, has been spending the last four years pretending to be Jim Morrison in The Doors, has had enough. He's heading back off to restart The Cult. There's a statement:

"I have decided to move on and focus on my own music and legacy. I have learned a great deal from the both of them, and it certainly has expanded my abilities as a performer.

"This has been a difficult decision to make but I feel I would be holding them back as well as myself if I did not depart at this time."

I'm sorry, Ian, did you just say you were going to focus on your legacy, like you're Billie Holiday or Malcolm X?

And you've got to love the idea that the continued presence of Ian Astbury might "hold back" Riders On The Storm (they can't actually call themselves The Doors) more than, say, the fact that the whole point of the band existing vanished when a guy ODed in the bath back when Elsie Tanner was a lass.

North Dakota knocks back Bono prize

Are you listening, Tony Blair? North Dakota's House of Representatives has knocked back a plan to honor Bono for being so great.

The idea came from Democrat Scot Kelsh, who thought it would be a great thing to do because, erm, no other state had honoured Vox. The majority of his legislative chums, though, figured there was good reason for that, and voted down the proposal.

And then some attempted to take down Bono's ego, too:

Republican Gil Herbel of Grafton, North Dakota, told the AP that he originally though the resolution referred to the late Sonny Bono, the former singer/actor/ Republican congressman and husband of Cher.

"When I saw the resolution, I was looking for Cher's name in there," Herbel said.

The official reason for the knock back was that Bono had no apparent connection with the State - which isn't usually a problem; he often arranges his tax affairs to be paying in a place with no apparent connection with him.

Fur enough

PETA's campaign to persuade people to not wear anything that's been made by ripping the outer flesh off animals has signed up another famous person (well, alright, Jamelia) to rip off her clothes and be photographed.

We're not sure it's such a good idea. Apart from the feeling that PETA have totally run out of ideas - how many naked people have done versions of this ad now? - it might be a little self-defeating. After all, since it's clear that, as long as people wear fur , PETA will persuade pretty young pop stars, models and actors to do nude photoshoots, isn't that going to make people who like to see Jamelia and others with their pants off actively go out and buy rabbit coats?

All the girls love Alice

This, like you didn't know, is Alice McLaughlin. Rather than sitting and looking at her photo, you're being invited to go and sit and listen to her, at the following places:

21st February The Boileroom, Guildford
1st March Hoxton Bar & Grill
2nd Fopp Tottenham Court Road (for free)
6th Brighton Joogleberry
8th Borderline London (with Po'Girl)
12th Slaughtered Lamb Electroacoustic Club

A party with the Gallaghers

Having performed the vital role as the signal that it was time for everyone to go home at the Brits, Oasis moved on to their after-career party ("after-show party").

Liam, of course, was charm itself, turning his attention to former best pal Robbie Williams:

“What’s his fuckin’ problem, man?

“We all know what it is — he’s a fuckin’ drama fuckin’ queen.

“If you’ve got a fuckin’ problem, why do you want the whole world knowing about it? He has to be on the front fuckin’ pages, doesn’t he? Just sort your fuckin’ self out.

“You make a fuckin’ crap album then want everyone to feel fuckin’ sorry for you. Fuckin’ tosser!”

He added: “If you take drugs you end up in rehab unless you’re a fuckin’ rock like me — and then you just give them up.”

You could just have sent some grapes and a card, you know, Liam.

Curiously, Liam appears to have been involved in some sort of scuffle outside the party, which The Sun doesn't mention at all and the the 3AM girls only make passing reference to:

Liam was causing a riot outside the club. It started with him scrawling on snappers' lenses and bald heads with a permanent marker pen.

An autograph hunter was left concussed, cars were smashed, and punches were thrown as chaos reigned.

It all sounds very interesting. Sadly, though, the girls have no details as they were inside the club, looking at Sadie Frost.

Noel, apparently, had established the door policy himself:

"We're throwing our own party so we can snub people and not let them in."

You are controlling the quality of party people, and yet the 3AM Girls are inside the event? What... how does that... ooh...

Keith's daughter and Winehouse fall out

The trouble with big parties is everyone stays up late, gets over excited, perhaps has a little too much to eat and drink, and, of course, not everyone can win prizes and that causes upset. Many parents will sympathise with Keith Allen, whose daughter ended up having a big falling-out with her friend Amy Winehouse:

Lily, 21, looked devastated in the morning and was consoled by boyfriend Seb Chew outside her hotel - but was still in tears as she later prepared to board a Heathrow jet.

The star sobbed: "I had a real slanging match with Amy Winehouse. We had a really bad row. It was terrible."

When an onlooker asked if she was OK, she sniffed: "No, not really. I'm miserable and don't want to talk about it."

It's not clear who she actually sobbed the soundbite to, is it?

Westlife to reform

Oh... scrub that, apparently Boyzone and Westlife aren't the same band with a name changed to confuse their enemies. Boyzone are a totally different band, and they're coming back.

Although, to be honest, they were so bland it was hard to tell they weren't there in the first place. The Sun has spoken to someone who seems to know a lot about it:

It follows comebacks by Take That, E17 and the Police.

An insider said: “We have no doubt that Boyzone can do as well if not better.”

Since the East 17 comeback was an embarrassing debacle and the Police one hasn't taken place yet, quite possibly.

Nice Myspace You've Got Here: Maggie Horn

The Band: Maggie Horn

At: http://www.myspace.com/maggiehorn

Downloadable tunes? Yes, the rather fine Come Movie Skyscraper

She says: In the same veign of acts such as Portishead, Esthero, Morcheeba and others she sings seductively over moody hip-hop influenced tracks.

She sounds like: Portishead warming up in a deli

She looks like: she could beat you in a drinking contest

How many friends? 1,879, including Prince Charming (not that Prince Charming)

Have they reskinned? She's gone with blue link text on a creamy-brown background, unfortunately

Do they blog? Very infrequently, but with lessons for us all: "i have since begun fantasizing about said danishes and imagined the person that goes in every day to buy the last one up before i get in there EVERY single time. well folks, some days i win.... sort of... today i got in the cafe and to my delight there was one left. i was so excited i could barely wait to chomp down. and when i did. utter dissapointment."

Best comment: "what up ! I aint beatin no ones bush!"

Do we learn anything? The song done with Crunc Tesla will also be on the Tigerbeat6 LP due out this year

Do you really want to add Maggie Horn as a friend? Yes, but bring your own pastries.

Here come the saviours - they've got electric guitars in their hearts

We're not entirely sure that, well-meaning though Al Gore is, holding a massive series of gigs to try and save us from climate change is quite the best way to go about it. Still, nobody wanted to shout down his enthusiasm and so we're now looking at Live Earth on July 7th.

Muse might be on board, but they're at least aware of the inherent contradiction:

Frontman Matt revealed there might be a scheduling problem for the band, which could determine whether they take part or not:

"There's an issue. We've got a gig that same day in Ireland, so we need to work out if we can make it or not, that's basically what it depends on."

The band laughed off suggestions of 'doing a Phil Collins' and chartering a jet or helicopter to ensure they can take part:

"Private jets for climate change?! Not sure about that! That seems a bit on the edge to me. That's actually the issue to be honest, so we need to think about it."

If they really wanted to do something for climate change, they'd hold thousands of microgigs, just round the corner, that you could walk to, instead of seven or eight monster gigs that people will cumulatively travel millions of miles to get to. And we can't wait to see what sponsors get on board to pretend to care - what price "save the world - drink Coke"?