John and Stipe come together for Ashley Diamond

Elton John and Michael Stipe have something important to say:

We applaud the US Department of Justice for supporting Ashley Diamond and the trans community in arguing that Georgia’s policy of denying transgender inmates their medically necessary hormone treatment is unconstitutional,' it read.

'But we must do more to end the culture of violence and discrimination surrounding gender identity and expression.

'We urge the state of Georgia to embrace desperately needed changes to their correctional system.'

The forced dehumanizing of Ashley Diamond was called "cruel and unusual punishment" by the DOJ last week; The New York Times wrote about her brutal treatment:

“During intake, I kept saying: ‘Hello? I’m trans? I’m a woman?’ ” Ms. Diamond recounted in a phone conversation from prison a few weeks ago. “But to them I was gay. I was what they called a ‘sissy.’ So finally I was like: ‘O.K., I’m a sissy. Do you have a place where sissies can go and be O.K.?’ ”

They did not provide one, she said. A first-time inmate at 33 whose major offense was burglary, Ms. Diamond was sent to a series of high-security lockups for violent male prisoners. She has been raped at least seven times by inmates, her lawsuit asserts, with a detailed accounting of each. She has been mocked by prison officials as a “he-she thing” and thrown into solitary confinement for “pretending to be a woman.” She has undergone drastic physical changes without hormones. And, in desperation, she has tried to castrate and to kill herself several times.

It's good that Stipe and John are working together for something more important than who controls the cents coming from music streaming; it's unconscionable that it should take pop stars to teach the state of Georgia how you treat people.

Embed and breakfast man: Magnapop

Somehow, the return of Magnapop had passed me by - they'd vanished in 1999 with a contractual obligation to not use the name for seven years hanging over their heads; they'd re-emerged in 2005 and relifted the flag with Mouthfeel - which seems to have never got a UK release.

This year, there was another new album, Chase Park, which only got a digital release. I say "only" like the prospect of new material from Magnapop is ever going to be underwhelming, which is, of course, wrong.

But this story is getting itself round the wrong way - forgetting to mention the roots in that primordial soup of guitar bands, Athens, Georgia; the spell trading as Homemade Sister and Swell; demos produced by Michael Stipe; tour supports for Sugar and Juliana Hatfield and The Lemonheads. The ceaseless touring in the 90s and the big break that broke them, opening for REM on the Monster tour. The strains weren't helped when their record label collapsed.

But they were special - they are special, and have remained special in the intervening time.

And this is what they sound like:


More Magnapop informations
Magnapop official site
Magnapop on MySpace
Magnapop on Twitter

Buy Magnapop
Mouthfeel
Chase Park
Hot Boxing
Rubbing Doesn't Help

A little more Magnapop to come this weekend
Lay It Down
Skin Burns live
Open The Door

Liveblog: Michael Stipe on The One Show

Somewhat oddly, Michael Stipe is guesting on NuNationwide this evening.

Adrian Chiles - freshly back from Beijing - asks Stipe about the Olympic legacy in Atlanta: Have they forgotten about the Olympics?

"Yeah, pretty much... I know The rents went up and didn't come back down again..."

TVAM veteran and Tory teddybear hugger Giles Brandereth has delivered a report on rich people who give away their fortunes rather than pass the money on to their kids.

Christine Blakeley says how much she admires people who give money secretly; Giles says that entrepreneurs think their kids would be better off without anything. Adrian points out that giving away "all" but fifty million isn't really leaving yourself short, while Stipe looks awkward.

"I give away money but don't talk about it. I'm not a christian but I come from a Christian background and you don't talk about your philanthropy..."

"So, what do you give to?" asks Adrian.

Stipe vaguely says they do a lot here and there, before flashing up a photo of him and Bono. "We're great friends" says Stipe "and through him I've met people like Bill Gates."

They play a video to get Brandereth off the sofa; Chiles chides Stipe over an anti-TV line in the new single. "It's about our president" says Michael, explaining it's about GWB "desecrating" the memory of Martin Luther King.

Blakeley leads him into a few blandishments about Michelle Obama before pronouncing Barack "exceptional". "I think he's going to make it" to the White House "and it will be a better day for all of us."

There's some nice Old Grey Whistle Test clippage - "I remember that... I had hair - it covered the scars..."

"It doesn't take you long to get ready in the morning" chirrups Christine.

Adrian asks if the appetite is still there for touring - luckily, yes, says Michael. Who's here to sell tour tickets, of course. But this is all a lead-in to a piece by Phil Tuffnel on red sheep by the side of the M8.

Tuffers complains that most road statues are up north. Stipe is starting to look like he wishes they'd checked the programme before signing up to come on, as they show him some on the road pictures and ask him to comment: "do you shave all your head before you go on stage?"

Miranda thingy off Coast rolls round for her series on butterflies - "this is the bad boy of the butterfly world" warns Adrian. It's "the dreaded cabbage white", it turns out.

Michael Stipe is now blinking at the gardening woman who follows the film about how great cabbage whites are by saying that she squirts them.

I think he was trying to stay awake - he looks like he could quite easily drift off. Adrian makes a good attempt to include him in things - "would you like to sniff a budleia?" - before giving him a chance to plug the next date in Twickenham.

Michael doesn't have to play, though - they've got a tribute banned (called Stipe) in to do the honours. They do That's The End Of The Show As We Know It. Stipe looks like he hopes he looks like he's enjoying it.

And that's it... on with EastEnders.

Stipe is haunted by Kurt

Michael Stipe has trouble shaking off the blues when he tries to listen to Nirvana records:

"He had reached a point where he was about to push through to something that was so phenomenal and so beautiful.

"It was all written, it was all right there and it was so obvious where he was going, and then he didn’t make it.

"I still have trouble - I can’t listen to an entire Nirvana record."

Similarly, these days most people have trouble making it all the way through an REM album.

Go and see REM (take binoculars)

REM have announced a bunch of stadium dates this Summer. Here's where the sharp-eyed might be able to make out Michael Stipe jumping up and down:

August 24 - Lancashire County Cricket Club, Manchester
25 - Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
27 - Rosebowl, Southampton
30 - Twickenham, Twickenham

Please try and act surprised when they add an extra date in London, okay? Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday this week, and then through eBay about twelve seconds later. The cost? £45 before booking fees. Loyal to the Bank of America indeed.

Michael Stipe nips out of jury duty

Michael Stipe wasn't much interested in being considered part of peers of a man accused of sneaking into a High School:

Stipe told Clarke County Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens on Monday he could not be fair and impartial in the case because he has been the target of stalkers and death threats, the Athens Banner-Herald reported.

Apparently, this was enough to get him off. Although I'm a little confused as to when being a victim of crime made you incapable of being on a jury, we're sure Stipe didn't make an excuse simply to avoid doing his duty.

REM: Pay to watch our practice

The music industry is always looking for new ways to squeeze a few quid out of people - but who knew that REM would come up with a new way of fleecing the audience: they're charging fans to watch them rehearse.

As the Guardian blog observes, while even a warming-up REM might be worth watching, it's a little bit alarming as a precedent - if, say, Dave Matthews sees Michael Stipe opening up this new revenue stream, how long will it be before there's a charge to watch his guitar tech putting towels on the amps?

[Ta again to James McCabe]