Place and men

Americans who love a spot of bloke-in-eyeliner and the merest whiff of male-pattern baldness will be crackling with delight at the announcement of Placebo tour dates:

Fri Apr 6 Roxy Boston, MA
Sat Apr 7 Metropolis Montreal, QC
Mon Apr 9 Guvernment Toronto, ON
Tue Apr 10 Theater of the Living Arts Philadelphia, PA
Wed Apr 11 Roseland New York, NY
Fri Apr 13 House of Blues Chicago, IL
Wed Apr 14 Beaumont Club Kansas City, MO
Sun Apr 15 Pizza Hut Park Frisco, TX
Wed Apr 18 Fillmore Denver, CO
Sat Apr 21 The Fenix Seattle, WA
Sun Apr 22 Roseland Portland, OR
Mon Apr 23 Fillmore San Francisco, CA
Thu Apr 26 House of Blues Las Vegas, NV
Fri Apr 27 Marquee Theater Tempe, AZ
Sun Apr 29 Empire Polo Field Indio, CA (Coachella)

[Via Brooklyn Vegan]

Avril promises to cheer up a little

Having seen her profile dip when she tried a "grown-up" (i.e. mainstream emo) album, Avril Lavigne has decided to not make that mistake again:

"I was just so over writing such serious songs," Lavigne told Billboard. "Even though they really weren't that serious, I went through a little dark phase when I was 18 and wrote Under My Skin. But I grew out of that. Lyrically, I didn't know where I was going to go on this record. I totally did not even think about it. I had no theme. I was thinking more about the music and the vibe.

"My favourite stuff to play live has always been Sk8er Boi and He Wasn't, the faster songs. When I was on tour, I realized I need to write more of this kind of stuff. Those songs come alive onstage, and I feel like that's the most me."

Yes... you're at your most alive when you're selling records, Avril.

Robbie Williams is not going to be bothered by his mam telling all

Were we locked into some sort of American spa, desperately trying to beat our love of Junior Disparol, we'd be desperately hoping that someone close to us would be busily flogging stories of our shit life to all and sundry.

We're sure that's what's motivated Jan Williams to flog her story to The Sun. Curiously, Jan is an addiction counsellor, but happily, since it would be unethical for her to have her own son as a patient, she's not bound by any worries about confidentiality.

So, who's to blame for Robbie's addictions, Jan?

She blamed the pressure of Robbie’s 12-month world tour on his latest problems — and revealed that turning 30 began the new crisis as he questioned his lifestyle.

But she also revealed being thrust into pop stardom as a teenager with TAKE THAT left him mentally scarred and sowed the seed for his addictions.

Work, time, Take That. Jan's not afraid to share the blame around, is she? We can't help but wonder if there's someone missing off that list, but... no, can't quite put our finger on it.

So, what's the solution? The love of a good woman, apparently:

She said Robbie’s eventual salvation could be meeting his perfect woman.

She revealed: “He has said he would like a family. A lot of people around him have got married but it’s difficult in the industry he’s in.”

It's curious that "a lot of people around" him manage to get married despite it being "difficult in the industry" - it's not like he's in the sodding army where forming a relationship can be hard because of the upheaval and constant, gnawing threat of a partner being killed by plans to surge into a civil war or whatever. Tom Jones has managed to be married for fifty years; countless musicians make good and strong marriages. The ones who don't tend to have character flaws which the entertainment industry finds too easy to excuse - but the original problems aren't created by being a singer.

Every ADF CD comes with Free Satpal Ram... and their other tracks

We're a little surprised at the very idea of an Asian Dub Foundation best of album, but if anyone deserves a career-spanning retrospective, we guess they do. And it'll be a handy 'start here' point for newcomers. Time Freeze: 1995- 2007 The Best Of is out at the end of April; a useful corrective for people who think that London sounds like Lily Allen.

Bragg prepares nice surprise for Pete Doherty

It's all a good cause, really: Billy Bragg is launching an appeal to get musical instruments into prison:

Aware that this year sees the fifth anniversary of the passing of Joe Strummer, I was hoping to be involved in more than just another tribute gig. Hearing the Clash as a 19-year-old had changed my life, so I guess I was looking for a project that underscored the transformative power of music.

"I'm asking musicians, particularly those of you who were inspired by the Clash, to raise the money to provide a prison with enough equipment to help inmates find that same sense of release."

The jail doors initiative would like to hear from you on billy@jailguitardoors.org.uk if you can help.

Brown's saviours

We'd not hold our breath if we were WIHT - they apparently stumped up the cash to get Bobby Brown's ass out of jail, thinking they'd get something in return:

In a statement, the station says the deal was brokered by morning deejay Kane and Brown's lawyers. Kane says Brown will work at Hot 99.5 for a week, beginning Monday, discussing his trangressions onair and promoting the station off.

"Bobby deserves a clean slate," said Kane. "He has agreed to be a positive role model for the Washington, D.C., community and we look forward to welcoming Bobby to the staff at Hot 99.5. This is something positive, and while he is in town with us, we will be giving back to the community."

Except, of course, he's doing the job because you've paid his child support for him. Assuming he turns up - he's not entirely known for keeping to his side of the deal.

I'm buss-ted

Kelis has managed to get herself into something between a pickle and a problem as she's been charged with disorderly conduct:

Kelis Rogers-Jones, 27, was detained at 4:30 a.m. and charged with the two misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence, a Miami Beach police arrest report said.

The arrest report said the officers were posing as prostitutes along a main avenue in the South Beach nightclub district when Kelis started screaming racial profanities at them. She then rushed toward them and had to be restrained by her friends, the report said.

It's far from clear if she was shouting at them because she thought they were hookers, or because she knew they were police. Hopefully that one will be sorted out before they get to court.

EMI rebuffs would-be suitor

EMI and Warners would dearly love for us to view their long relationship as one of the great romances of our time, but it's endless sniping, disappointments and failure to consummate makes it more like Frasier and Lilith. Although they, at least, did manage to get into bed together. Perhaps its more Sam and Diane. Whatever ill-considered pairing they resemble, though, it's all gone cold again as EMI's board formally rejects Warners' takeover bid:

"The board concluded that it is not in the best interests of EMI shareholders to entertain a pre-conditional offer which would entail prolonged regulatory uncertainty and unacceptable operational risk at a critical time for the company," EMI said in a statement.

The implication seems to be it's not worth the trouble it'd bring for the size of the offer on the table.

Jarvis in Meltdown

What surprises us is not that Jarvis Cocker is curating the Meltdown festival on the Southbank this year, but that they've done it for thirteen times before without asking him.

No word yet as to who he'll be inviting along to the Royal Festival Hall, but he's got until June to come up with a convincing line-up.

Re-living The Legend!

We're not quite sure if Everett True realises or not, but his guest dj slot at How Does It Feel To Be Loved (March 2nd, Canterbury Arms, Brixton) is being promoted under his old indie-pop/NME name, The Legend!

We're using the word "under" in the same sense as "a pile of unsold CRE001s under Alan McGee's bed", of course.