Tony Wilson's world: Northside

We liked Northside - we saw them, on that slightly mismatched package tour they did with the Pale Saints, the night they actually signed for Factory, and they were alight. They were never going to change the world, but neither were they Flowered Up. And for that we should be offering a silent prayer.

Aretha can't stand heat; gets out of the, erm, Ampitheatre

Aretha Franklin's hometown gig in Detroit is the latest victim of global warming, as she pulls the daye on Weather Channel advice:

"Following the Weather Channel and the daily reports in the news via television and newspaper publications, I see that the temperatures in Detroit have been very similar," she said in the statement. "I am exhausted from the heat and cannot tolerate heat in these extremely high numbers and being in concert simultaneously."

Ironic footnote: The venue she was due to play is sponsored by DTE Energy, currently being accused of being a major polluter in Canada and was involved in lobbying to reduce the effectiveness of clean air legislation. Maybe if Aretha wants to have a cooler time onstage, she should choose venues which don't encourage the sort of environmental damage which is making it so damn hot.

Tony Wilson's world: The Railway Children

Their very early stuff - including Brighter - came out on Factory; before they were tempted to head off to Virgin. Virgin, it's fair to say, were never quite sure what to do with the band, hoping that their poppy sound and Gary Newby's cheekbones would be enough for them to carve out a kind of Haircut One Hundred style niche for themselves - certainly, Newby would pop up in Jackie magazine from time to time. Had they stayed on Factory, of course, the lurching crises in the label's finances might have sunk them just as surely as a marketing team which didn't understand them, but better, surely, to die on your feet as a British Go-Betweens than fade away as Modern Romance with A-Levels?

Go West

We wouldn't normally suggest buying a record whether you intend to listen to it or not, but the pledge from 50 Cent that he'll retire if Kanye West outsells his album surely makes the Kanye album a tempting purchase.

We are enjoying this strange, one-sided feud - does Halfdollar realise just how ridiculous he looks throwing down all these gauntlets which West is just ignoring?

Facebook gets its Arctic Monkeys

One of the key moments in turning MySpace (remember that?) into a brief phenomenon was the discovery that bands were using it as a kind of hothouse fan-growing environment. It made the Arctic Monkeys and Lily Allen what they are today. Or rather it didn't, but it made for good copy to pretend it did.

Now that Facebook is enjoying its growth spurt, it's little wonder that it, too, is now being credited for making stars out the otherwise obscure:

Facebook band to sing World Cup anthem

A band formed on the internet site Facebook have been plucked from obscurity to play England's official rugby World Cup anthem.

Blimey - so is it really true that Facebook works as such a super-networking space that it can even make you official musically anthemites?

Erm, not quite:

Blake, a four-piece of ex-choristers, got together online four months ago after discovering a shared interest in classical music.

Last month, they signed a £1 million, five-album deal with record giant Universal.

So, in effect, Facebook played little more than the role an advert in the Melody Maker would have done 20 years ago, and the rest of the heavy lifting has been done by an old-fashioned record label.

Even that much isn't entirely true:

The band had mutual friends but had never met as a group before they discovered a shared background in classical music.

Still, it's surprising to see a fusty old institution like the English rugby team going with a new band rather than just dusting off Swing Low Sweet Chariot for the umpteenth time, eh?

Their version of Swing Low will be the England rugby team's official anthem for the 2007 World Cup.

Oh.

Tony Wilson's world: The Wendys

Some saw The Wendys as being the vital bridge between the Thames Valley Scene and Madchester. Others, as a band which couldn't decide quite what bandwagon they were trying to jump.

Can anyone suggest another way Blunt could remain in the background

James Blunt - he's just like you or me, says a simpering profile in The Sun:

You might think that would be tricky for a singer whose debut album sold a staggering 12million copies and turned him into a household name.

Yet James dresses down, regularly takes easyJet flights to Ibiza, gets the Tube in London and refuses to have bodyguards — and he reckons blending in lets him lead as ordinary a life as possible.

Generally, ordinary blokes don't give interviews to the papers about how ordinary they are; not-having-bodyguards-and=pointing-it-out is just another form of showing off.

After all, this is hardly a man given to blending in, is it:

He dated a supermodel, stunning Czech Petra Nemcova, and has been linked to party girls Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.

He is surrounded by a gaggle of gorgeous girls wherever he goes.

James jokes: “It’s a hard life, isn’t it?

“There’s a song on the new album, One Of The Brightest Stars, which is about dealing with all that. It’s like I am an observer, I’m seeing it all and experiencing it for its good bits and all the rest. And yeah, of course, there are some benefits along the way.

“I’ve definitely met lots of people — both male and female — and yeah I’ve met more women in these last three-and-a-half years than I’ve met in my entire life.”

Blunt is attempting to palm himself off as an average Joe while getting himself palmed off by a parade of supermodels and starlets.

But if he does want to return to obscurity for real - and, oh, how sweetw ould that be - it's really in his power. James, you know what to do. Of course, it would involve less sex and money. So you won't. But let's stop pretending that flying EasyJet makes you down to earth.

Winehouse offered rehab; responds with catchphrase

Victoria Newton's notoriously unreliable Bizarre column has attempted to scoop the others with its Amy Winehouse coverage:

AMY WINEHOUSE fears she is on the verge of suicide – but still won’t go to rehab, I can exclusively reveal.

I can also disclose the disturbing development that the star had been smoking HEROIN on the night she overdosed.

Contrary to reports, Amy, who collapsed this week following a three-day drug and booze binge, is desperately ill.

It's all a bit of an embarrassing gear-crunch from Newton's now-forgotten Wino Watch, which attempted to make watching a woman drink herself to death into light entertainment.

Embed and breakfast man: Tony Wilson

It seems appropriate this weekend to spend some time looking at some of the more obscure corners of Tony Wilson's legacy.

First, here's a slice of Remote Control:



More video stuff will appear over the weekend; a small menu will, as ever, appear here
The Wendys
The Railway Children
Northside
Durutti Column

Impressobit: Tony Wilson

There will be, of course, much written about Tony Wilson elsewhere today, focusing - we guess - heavily on Factory, New Order and Joy Division, Granada Reports; perhaps In The City.

Here's some of them:
BBC News Online
Wired
Manchester Evening News
Associated Press