Kenny Rogers to walk away

Sad news from MegaCountry. Kenny Rogers is retiring:

Rogers, 77, said that has accomplished everything he wanted to achieve as an artist and that he wanted to spend more time with his children, including his 11-year-old twins.

“I’m sure I will miss it,” he said when discussing his retirement. “I swore that I would do this until I embarrassed myself. And I’m getting to where I don’t walk around well … my mobility’s really driving me crazy.” Later in the Today segment, Rogers stated that he felt that he owed the fans who've supported him for so long the chance to say goodbye during the world tour, and that he plans to "go out with a flurry."

Isn't a "flurry" kind of underpowered for a farewell? You might not want to go out with a bang, but a flurry seems only a step up from going out with a shower.

The rural dean lay inert in his John 3:16 shirt

Pope Francis - his chosen Papal name means 'one desperate to be liked' - is going to release an album of rock music.

Or rather, it sounds like some of his god-related-thinkings have been slapped on top of some "contemporary" music. It's Yet More Christian Rock, not Francis going "Holy child" to the tune of "Gangnam Style".

What the pop papers say: Bloodless coup

Last week, the free NME made a semi-decent bid at suggesting there was a life ahead for the title.

This week? Not so much. You could probably just about get away with a Robert Pattinson cover, if you didn't feel the need to allude to Twilight on it. The NME does, so they don't.

There's also three pages on Jeremy Corbyn but it's not clear who it's aimed at - the information assumes so little background knowledge that it's presumably intended as a 'start here' guide, but why would anyone who hadn't bothered to discover that he's the new Labour leader by now give a shit? And who is this audience who need to have Corbyn's voting record detailed for them, but who will know who Tony Benn is? After a summer where young people have been more engaged with politics - and Labour politics at that - this suggestion the kids need a primer is embarrassing at best.

There's a really confused sidebar, too - the "punkest politicians of all time". It includes Berlusconi, calling his dodgy behaviour as being "in the punkest fashion possible". Apparently either the all-new NME doesn't know much about the fraudulent, sexist Italian politician, or it doesn't know much about punk.

They also include Cromwell, but don't manage to squeeze in the whole being the only non-Royal head of state. It also describes him as "extremely unpleasant", which suggests the NME doesn't like punk. (Their inclusion of Andy Burnham reiterates this.)

There are a full four album reviews this week, which is something. But there's only one music feature - Rudimental - and it looks about two hundred words long.

The first issue they had over a month to work on. The second issue, clearly, didn't have as much time, or as much room for thought, and so gives a clearer sense of what the new NME is trying to be.

What it seems to be is a really watered down Shortlist. Which is a blow to those of us who were hoping it might at least be a watered down NME.

Something better: Art Decades**, which has just* launched its fourth issue, with a 20 page appreciation of Lush. There's interviews with both Miki Berenyi AND Emma Anderson. One of the main revelations is that there's a Lush song which rips off the theme of Reggie Perrin.

* - I say "just"; it's dated July 2015.

** - You can get it via ArtDecades.com

Robbie Williams: The Return: The rerun

Robbie Williams is hoping to rejoin Take That again.

The way he keeps popping in and out of the band, and with Gary Barlow's love of ten-pound-note, it might make sense for Williams to be put on a zero hours contract, so we can all skip the tortuous negotiations every time he finds a blank space in his bank statement ("in his diary").

Sunday Mirror seems surprised by children growing up

I know it must be a bore of a job, having to try and interest people in a picture of Mel B, while trying to justify running a photo of a teenager. But... come on, Sunday Mirror:

Mel B's daughter Phoenix continues her grown-up transformation as teen towers beside her mum

"Continues her grown-up transformation". I know teenagers find growing into adulthood can be difficult, but who knew that it was such a struggle for headline writers as well?

This week just gone

Stories from five years ago this week:

Seal puts family ahead of cash
Apple force Harry Hill album name change
Cher auctions follows
Music Week pronounces indie dead; NME kicks the corpse a bit
Carla Bruni did those David Bowie covers
A lovely little story about Peter Skellern

These were already out a week by the time Friday came round:


Welsh Rock For Refugees



Low - Ones And Sixes

Download Ones And Sixes



Nerina Pallot - The Sound And The Fury

Download The Sound And The Fury



Richard Hawley - Hollow Meadows

Download Hollow Meadows



Beirut - No No No

Download No No No

What the pop papers say: The free NME

Well, it even made the news on BBC Radio Bristol, so I suppose claims that the latest NME relaunch was "historic" aren't that overblown.

But what are we left with now?

The first nought-pee NME has bagged a pretty strong cover - Rihanna, with a fairly hefty interview with Peter Robinson. It's eveb got coverage in People and other US titles, and having talk lines picked up by other media won't hurt with getting the magazine picked up in shoes shops.

Editor Mike Williams explains the choice of Rihanna for the cover:

[She] totally embodies the spirit of the new NME. She's individual, she's iconic and, as she tell us in our world exclusive interview: "I just have a way of breaking the rules".

They might have been better getting Madonna, to be honest - her best days behind her, jumping awkwardly onto any fad a little too hard and a little too late, and when your Dad spots you're listening to her he asks "is she still going?"

It's also slightly awkward that Rihanna was on (one of the) covers of the 2010 relaunch, and significantly hasn't turned up since. Until yesterday.

The claim that Rihanna is iconic, and thus like the NME, is a bit weird too, as in Mike's welcome letter it comes just one paragraph south of a claim that:

Whether or not you know that NME launched in 1952 as New Musical Express [...] isn't important (though we're very proud of our incredible history).

If knowing the brand is insignificant, then the obvious question is: why have you slapped the brand on the magazine? If the letters "NME" don't have to mean anything to the reader, and the magazine under the letters is all new, why didn't you just come up with a name that would carry some meaning?

While the Rihanna interview is meaty (and obviously next week we'll get an idea if that scale of ambition is keeping up), the rest of the magazine is quite slight. Chrvches are interviewed, although the resulting piece is two pages, heavily padded out with (what don't appear to be specially shot) photos. Space is found for a tiny box about 'other bands which spell name funny ways' that doesn't mention Pvris, and implies that they're expecting readers to be going 'isn't Chrvches a strange word').

The other feature is even more dispiriting - why Big Bang Theory is the new Friends. Now, if we were in season two of Big Bang Theory, this sort of thing might just pass; if it was an unwatched gem tucked away in the schedules, it might have had something to say. But even on E4, it's getting an audience ten times the circulation of the new NME, so an article saying "hey, they're friends but it's like they're family" is bemusing. Next week: "hey, you guys, there's a series called Hollyoaks and it's a bit like Emmerdale but with a different accent."

It's good to see Peter Robinson Versus is back - although this week it's John Lydon. Asked what he'd tell new readers about the NME, he cracks wise with "you've got a good tractor section", although his more familiar put-down of "not new, not musical, and not particularly express" is now more fitting than ever.

The best innovation is a column by Katherine Ryan - I'm going to call her the new Alan Parker as a result. Other new clutter - a page asking people what they're listening to (currently the only indication that 'ordinary' people will be featured in the magazine, something of a strange decision in the social media era); a 'good week/bad week' ladder; a games page - could have come straight from Shortlist or any Saturday magazine bundled with a regional newspaper.

And what of the music? There's only three album reviews - a few shorter pieces do little more than acknowledge they are now available; a handful of tracks. The live pages are ten big pictures of upcoming gigs. There's no reviews of events that have happened, and one of those gigs is One Direction.

The good news, at least for Time Magazines, is that there's a lot of advertising - pages and pages of live ads (why print a full gig guide when people will pay you to promote their events?). So as it's clear there's barely any editorial budget at all, economically the relaunch appears to be working.

The 1980s NME would have seen you through a decent length train trip. The early 21st Century might have lasted a fast journey between Milton Keynes and London. This new version, if your train was five minutes late, you'd have finished before you got on board.

It's not that it's slight, but - presumably to encourage as many people as possible to pick it up - there's no sense of what it is, or what it believes, or even what it likes.

It's not a great new era for such a venerable title, but on the plus side: you do get a little bit more than what you pay for.

Morrissey, the ray of sunshine, predicts death for Corbyn

Morrissey played Plymouth last night, and took the chance to comment on current events. In particular, he suggested Jeremy Corbyn might want to check his brake cables before cycling:

Fans on Twitter disagree on the exact quote – see tweets below – but all agree that Morrissey said that left-wing Corbyn's vegetarianism and opposition to both war and the monarchy put him under threat. NME has spoken to someone who attended the gig last night and who verifies that Morrissey did say this about Corbyn.

Yes, I'd imagine the All New Free NME went to great pains to verify that Mozzer said something, what with their history.

It's not impossible that the establishment might move against Corbyn - the experiences of Benn and Wilson suggests it's a real possibility - but I somehow suspect it's not going to be over his rejection of sausage rolls. Nobody is going to be meeting in a clean room at MI5 fretting that a leader who won't have a shepherds' pie is going to drag us into a dystopian nightmare. "It's not that he's going to quit NATO and dump the nukes, Commander. It's that he won't be eating a bacon bap while he does it."

Grace Jones dishes it out

Oh, Russell Harty. You thought you got a bashing at the hands of Grace Jones? You got away lightly.

In her new biography, she pretty much slams down everyone who has made music in the last twenty-five years:

Trends come along and people say, ‘Follow that trend’. There’s a lot of that around at the moment: ‘Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna.’ I cannot be like them – except to the extent that they are already being like me.

I have been so copied by those people who have made fortunes that people assume I am that rich. But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money, and too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary.

She then has a pop at Doris:

I remember when one of the singers on the list of those who came after me first said that she wanted to work with me. Everyone around me is going: ‘You have to do it, it will be so good for you, it will introduce you to a whole new audience, you will make a lot of money’. No! It will be good for her; she will draw from everything I have built and add it to her brand, and I will get nothing back except for a little temporary attention. No one could believe that I said no, but I am okay on my own. I am okay not worrying about a new audience. If the fuck don’t feel right, don’t fuck it.

With this one, who I will call Doris, I thought she was trying on other people’s outfits: she’s a baby in a closet full of other people’s clothes, a little girl playing dress-up, putting on shoes that don’t fit. I could see what she wanted to be when I watched her doing something when she started out that was starker and purer. Deep down, she doesn’t want to do all the dressing-up nonsense; she loses herself inside all the play-acting.

Doris, I think you can safely assume, sounds like it's going to be Madge. Or maybe not... as Doris appears alongside Madonna on this list:

I still feel I could go into teaching. What is teaching but passing on your knowledge to those who are at the beginning? Some people are born with that gift. With me, the teaching side morphed into the performing side. It’s in there. And these are my pupils – Gaga, Madonna, Annie Lennox, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Miley, Kanye West, FKA Twigs and... Doris.

I think that's a double burn to Kanye West right there...

My real hope is that Doris turns out to be Doris from Why Don't You. But notably missing from the final list is Nicki Minaj.

The Dancing Baby is free to dance

Eight years after a dancing baby created a shitstorm, a Federal Appeals Court has told Universal that it needs to think things through before issuing takedown notices:

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that copyright holders like Universal must consider fair use before trying to remove content from the Internet. It also rejected Universal’s claim that a victim of takedown abuse cannot vindicate her rights if she cannot show actual monetary loss.

“Today’s ruling sends a strong message that copyright law does not authorize thoughtless censorship of lawful speech,” said EFF Legal Director Corynne McSherry. “We’re pleased that the court recognized that ignoring fair use rights makes content holders liable for damages.”

The baby in question danced for a few seconds while a Prince song played in the background. Universal sued with a straight face claiming that this would stop Prince from being able to make a living.

Sony plotted to buy BitTorrent

Here's a strange little nugget: Torrentfreak has seen documents which show Sony was planning to buy BitTorrent in 2006.

There was a solid business idea behind the scheme (more solid than the botched attempts to turn Napster into a legitimate business) - Sony was going to use BitTorrent to provide a link between their film content and their physical products.

A little creepy, though, to admire a company's software but attempt to destroy the company through lawsuits before making an offer to buy it, isn't it?

BPI want to see the colour of BBC money

Earlier this week Tony "Memorial" Hall made a speech about the future of the BBC where he promised all sorts of entertaining, educational and informative things to come, for all the world like a man whose funding wasn't being choked off by George Osborne.

Amongst the ideas was a music streaming service which would, somehow, offer the last 50,000 tracks played by the BBC for licence fee payers to dip into somehow, and for some reason.

Clearly, Hall was just making up ideas which sound lovely, like news for North Korea and something something Royal Shakespeare Company probably on iPlayer or whatever. Nothing seemed that well thought through, least of all the music streaming.

But this hasn't stopped the BPI from running forward to demand to know the precise financial details of the half-formed idea. Billboard reports:

U.K. music industry body BPI expressed some worries about the plans. “The starting point for some of the BBC’s suggestions, around how such a service might work, involved launching such a service but paying no money for it," CEO Geoff Taylor said, according to music business strategy and information company Music Ally. "I just don’t think that’s viable."

He added: "There will have to be a sensible deal behind it if it is going to happen.”

I wonder if Geoff Taylor was ever asked out on a date:

- Hey, Geoffrey, I...
- Geoff
- Sorry?
- I prefer Geoff. It's funkier.
- Uh... right. Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the cinema with me sometime, maybe to...
- I insist you tell me now how you propose we fund the raising of any children which might result as actions set in train following this proposed event
- What... I...
- Tell me now, or there will be no cinema dates.
- I... uh... how about we make musicians sign punitive contracts which takes huge fees off them for services, one of which could be funding a self-important lobby group that can pretend it speaks for "music" as if it was a democratic body, which you could run for a huge salary?
- Hmm. Good plan. I'll pick you up at seven on Saturday, and we can go see The Goonies.

Tony Hall hasn't yet addressed BPI concerns, but has been heard muttering about "why shouldn't chickens be connected to a creative journalistic nexus?"

"I never touched her bottom" claims ex-radio host

Over two years ago, a breakfast show host on Denver's KYGO was accused of touching Taylor Swift's bottom, and was dumped from his job.

Now, just twenty seven short months later, David Mueller - known professionally as Jackson before the incident, and 'that guy fired for touching Swift's arse' afterwards - has filed a lawsuit.

The crux of his case is that it was a case of mistaken identity:

According to the suit, Mueller posed with Swift and his girlfriend, Shannon Melcher.

After some small talk, "Swift suddenly announced it was picture time" and "quickly put her right arm" around Melcher. Mueller jumped into the photo "at the last second."

Swift cordially thanked the couple and they left, the suit said.

After the photograph, Mueller, in the suit, said he met a co-worker who "excitedly told him about his experience meeting Ms. Swift earlier that night."

The co-worker "described and demonstrated how he had put his arms around her, hands on her bottom," according to the filing.

The lawsuit also makes reference to his lifetime ban from Taylor Swift concerts, but it's unclear from reports if he is seeking to have this overturned.

Robert Forster: Streaming Now

The new Robert Forster album, Songs To Play, is streaming over on The Guardian website right now.

This week just gone

One year ago - popular from September 2014:

1. Apple gave everyone a free U2 album nobody wanted
2. Paloma Faith misses the point of naked photos
3. U2 tell people who didn't want their album they were wrong
4. Bono inventing a new music format
5. RIP: Robert Young
6. Robin Thicke says he was too out of it to take responsibility for Blurred Lines
7. Tatu have shifted their position on gay rights a bit
8. RIP: Peter Gutteridge
9. New Pornographers on David Letterman
10. Neil McCormick, who knows Bono, explains why U2's unwanted spam was alright

These were the interesting new releases:


Suede - Dog Man Star Live

Download Dog Man Star



Giant Sand - Heartbreak Pass

Download Heartbreak Pass



Troy Sivan - Wild

Download Wild



Ane Brun - When I'm Free

Download Wild



Lou Barlow - Brace The Wave

Download Brace The Wave



Steve Earle - Terraplane

Download Terraplane



Helena Hauff - Discreet Desires

Download Discreet Desires

David Cassidy won't be coming back

Sad times for David Cassidy fans, as he's never, ever going to come back to the UK because... well, he he didn't make very much money last time:

Asked by [This Morning] if he would be touring the UK soon, Cassidy, 65, replied: “Probably not. The problem is there is a 20 per cent foreign entertainer’s tax, and with everything else that it costs to go there – no, I don’t think so.
“I’d love to, but I ended up making $630 (£408) last time I went there, so it didn’t make a lot of sense.”

It's true, there is a tax on foreign entertainers, but it only kicks in if you make more than the UK personal tax allowance. If Cassidy ended up with less than five hundred quid, it seems that was less because of the tax regime and more... well, that he didn't make enough money in the first place.

Cassidy also bristled when asked about being bankrupt:

Speaking from the five-bedroom Fort Lauderdale house via video link, Cassidy became irritated when asked about reports that he has filed for bankruptcy.

“Are you trying to rubbish me?” he demanded in response to Holmes’s questions.

“When you declare bankruptcy in this country, it's something you do in order to reorganise what you have, your assets, so I'm not going to discuss that.”

The house sale “has nothing to do with declaring bankruptcy, that was a totally separate issue. I’m doing it because I’m in the middle of a divorce,” he said.

When Langsford attempted to steer the chat into less choppy waters by asking if Cassidy was glad to have the support of his fans during a difficult period, he snapped: “Don’t interrupt me,” before telling her nine times to “wait” when she tried to speak.

What a shame that he won't be coming back to Britain. What a loss.

This isn't made up

Yes, it's true. With "the blessing" of her family, they're going to tour a hologram of Whitney Houston.

Obviously the equipment to create the vision of Whitney Houston performing is very delicate; experts say that even a little crack could destroy the illusion.

Wales versus the humanitarian crisis

Want to help the growing numbers of refugees, and - at the same time - grab some rare Welsh music?

Good news; you really can do both - lob a tenner in the hat, pick up (or rather download) the Welsh Rock For Refugees album, and do some good.

It's for download on Bandcamp, and it's a remarkable collection of Welsh musicians - Mike Peters via Charlotte Church to the Joy Formidable. If you can't find a couple of favourites on the collection, you SHOULD BUY IT ANYWAY OR JUST GIVE A TENNER. Because it's a good cause.

Speedy Ortiz versus the creepers

Speedy Ortiz are out on tour at the moment, and they're looking out for their fans:

You'd hope that bands didn't have to have helplines to stop their fans being groped. But until that moment comes, this is a step in the right direction.

You may Ke$h the groom

Ke$ha, it turns out, is an ordained minster and has already carried out two weddings:

The pop star officiated the wedding of her hairstylist, Vittorio Masecchia, and his husband, Felipe Noqueira – the second time she's done so for a friend.

Now, surely this is a potentially much more lucrative sideline than merely playing rich people's weddings. How much could you make, Elton John, if you married them?

Suede: Filmstars

Four-fifths of me is very excited about this:

One-fifth of me is thinking 'Broadchurch: The Concept Album".

Ed Sheeran makes money like he's a house in Kensington

Ed Sheeran. He makes money. Lots of it:

Ed Sheeran earns a staggering £15,000 a DAY, according to new figures filed at Companies House.

The flame-haired singer, who is listed as a director of Ed Sheeran Limited, made an eye-watering £5,679,456 in pre-tax profits last year - which works out as £15,560 a day. Now THAT is pretty impressive.

Business experts say that the last time something so inoffensive but ultimately pointless had such a huge earning potential compared to talent, it was when that puppy off the Andrex packets made it big.

Man loses hair as he gets older - front pages held; presses stopped

Somebody called Glenn Hadley has somehow squeezed an entire article out of a photo of Stevie Wonder where it looks like he might now have no hair.

But there's a twist in the story (if you can call it a story) as:

Even though Stevie Wonder appears bald from certain angles, he still has his locks in a ponytail towards the back of his head.

So in short, the article on The Inquisitr is:

Is Stevie Wonder bald?
Yes, if you don't look at his ponytail

Coming tomorrow:

Is there any point to The Inquisitr?
No, if you don't look at the mess of ads sold round its non-stories

Helping out Daddy Chester

Back in the 80s, Daddy Chester was doing alright - working with Adamski, building a DJ career. But things don't always run smoothly, and he's now struggling a bit. He's caught in that place where in order to access the services that can help you get back on track, you need an address; but you don't have an address because you need to get back on track to get one.

Some of his friends are trying to help out with a GoFundMe campaign.

This week just gone

The most-used devices by NoRock readers, based on visits this year:

1. iPad
2. iPhone
3. Blackberry Playbook
4. Nexus 7
5. Kindle Fire HD
6. Windows RT Tablet
7. Nexus 9
8. Galaxy Tab
9. Hudl2
10. Firefox for Android Tablet

This week's interesting new releases:


Yo La Tengo - Stuff Like That There

Download Stuff Like That There



Foals - What Went Down

Download What Went Down



Beach House - Depression Cherry

Download Depression Cherry



Georg Holm and Orri Páll Dýrason - Circe

Download Circe

Bruce Dickinson one of those old guys who thinks being disconnected is charming

Don't you hate those people who take some sort of pride in their distance from the modern world? Like hugely-specific unabombers who draw the line at technological developments after an arbitrary point. Amongst their number is Bruce Dickinson:

"I understand that in this day and age everybody has to have a big social media presence, and you have to look after your social media, and blah blah blah — okay, that's great," he said. "We've got a great team and they just look after the social media. I just completely ignore it. It's as if I live in another world, devoid of Twitter, devoid of Facebook, devoid of all the bullshit that gets talked about by all of these people. I just live in my own little head world. That's what makes the records. So I have no idea what's going on on Twitter, and I couldn't care less."

Asked if there is anything in particular about social media that bothers him, he said: "No, because I don't let myself get bothered. I pay no attention to it. I don't even know how to access Twitter. I mean, my mobile phone is a Nokia that I can't even take a picture on. It's held together with tape. That is my mobile phone, and people look at it with horror. People say, 'Well, why don't you have an iPhone?' Because it gets polluted by shit."

Ooh, you've got a Nokia, have you, Bruce? What are you, some kind of teenager with your trendy mobile walkabout everywhere phone? What's wrong with a traditional landline? Obviously not one with a dial, with all that 'having to look numbers up in a phonebook' shit, you just want to blow in a tube and get a telephonist to look after the connections, right?

It's worth remembering that when he's not being Grandpa Simpson or in Iron Maiden, Dickinson flies planes and runs an airline. With a taped-up Nokia which presumably connects through GPRS. He's a pilot.

"This is your captain speaking. Not though the intercom, which is just showy, I'm shouting through a rolled-up in flight magazine. Just so you know,I don't have time for all these bullshit dials and screens in the cockpit. I'm just using a barometer and a map in the back of an encyclopedia. Now, please pay attention to the talk about safety features on this plane, and be assured we haven't been polluted by shit like safety masks or whatnot. I don't even know how to use the switch for the landing gear, by the way."

Temple cast out: Eddy Temple Morris quits XFM

As XFM continues its dwindling days while Capital preps Radio X, station stalwart Eddy Temple Morris has quit and taken his Remix show elsewhere.

His farewell comes via Facebook:

For reasons that are personal, and shall remain private, I've made a very hard decision to resign from the radio station I love.

The Remix has been on Xfm for over 15 years and while I look for a new and more appropriate spiritual home for the show, Soho Radio - the excellent London based internet radio station - have very kindly offered to host the show in the meantime.

You might want to read between the lines:

Right now I'd say to all the doom and gloom brigade that new music and the way it's consumed is at such an interesting and exciting place now. It's a time for positivity and forward thinking, not fear and regret. The landscape is changing so fast. I can see a new level playing field emerging, where record labels aren't beholden to FM radio any more.

The last Remix show on Xfm, show number 797, will be a pre-recorded Best Remixes of The Millennium special broadcast tonight, September 4th. Show 798 will be broadcast live on Soho Radio next week in exactly the same slot. Friday 10pm till midnight on www.sohoradiolondon.com

TwoToneObit: Rico Rodriguez

Rico Rodriguez, who worked with The Specials and led Rico And The Rudies, has died.

Born in Cuba in 1934, raised in Jamaica and settling in Britain, Rodriguez had developed his style working with Oswald 'Count Ossie' Williams, taking part in jam sessions as part of the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari in the 1950s, and living with the musicians in the hills. He would later cite this as his formative experience:

"They're more developed, mentally and musically, than the average musician. When you play with them you can really explore. Most of what I know I learned from playing with them."

In the 1960s, Rico relocated to London and continued to play. There, he came to the attention of Chris Blackwell, landing a contract with Island in 1976. This allowed him his first trip back to Jamaica since leaving for Britain, and the resulting recordings sessions - released as Man From Wareika - set a template for the ska revival which combined the reggae-in-exile developments from the UK with the more traditional take from the Caribbean.

Having helped kick-start a ska comeback, it was appropriate that he would be in demand from the second revival wave acts - most notably joining The Specials on A Message To You, Rudy. He earned a namecheck in Reasons To Be Cheerful Part III; toured with The Police and seemed to be at last on the edge of a breakthrough.

Oddly, though, despite his success, Island lost interest and - besides a half-hearted attempt at recording a live cover of Guns Of Navarone with The Sprcials - the label first withdrew support, and then dropped him. He signed with Two Tone for the That Man Is Forward album, but, tiring of the music industry, in the early 80s, he retired back to the Wareika Hills.

His return to Europe, and European music, was down to the Swizz Heart Beat Band, who - unwilling to accept that such a brilliant musician was no longer working - sought him out, and persuaded him to pick up his career.

He was kept busy - between 1996 and 2012 he was a regular with Jools Holland's Rhythm And Blues Orchestra; he made his own records; and worked with second and third wave ska acts. He was made an MBE in 2007; in 2012, his contribution to Jamaican culture was recognised by a Silver Musgrave Medal.

Rico Rodriguez died on September 4th, in London. He was 80.

Emily Ratajkowski's blurred lines

Emily Ratajkowski, who was one of the models roped in to Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines project, has been doing a bit of an "I don't see what the fuss about" interview.

She was talking while promoting the Zac Effron film We Are Your Friends at the time, so it's almost as if she's drawn to career-limiting moments.

On Blurred Lines, she called it the "bane of her existence":

"Now, it’s the bane of my existence. When anyone comes up to me about 'Blurred Lines', I'm like, are we seriously talking about a video from three years ago?"

Which is ironic, because whenever anyone spots him at his current job at the Chick-fil-a, Robin Thicke hopes someone will ask him about Blurred Lines.

Ratajkowski also spoken about the amount of nudity in the clip, saying, "It's weird to me that the reaction to a woman’s naked body is so controversial in our culture."

"My mum taught me to never apologise for my sexuality. My dad never made me feel embarrassed. I also don’t think I’ve ever had an awareness of my own body as being super-sexual. It was always just my body."

Obviously, yes, being naked isn't a bad thing and being ashamed of your body is terrible. But Emily's being a bit disingenuous here - it's hard to see how she could have been so surprised that the level of nudity was a problem when they had her film a completely separate version with her clothes on.

More importantly, it's the context of the nudity and the way that the women had no clothes on, and the men did. And the way the men interacted with the women. It's such a blatant piece of sexist crap that it could almost have been designed as a starting point for GCSE essays on the male gaze. So clunky and easy to grasp are the problems with Blurred Lines video that it could have been made by Fisher Price as My First Sexist Problems.

It's not that there was a problem with your body, Emily. It's the way it was used. And that's why you're probably going to find people asking you about it for years to come.

Hannah Montana to South Mendips: Check

Now, it's possible that Miley Cyrus is going to play next year's Glastonbury.

On the other hand, this rumour coming a couple of days after the announcement of when the tickets will go on sale makes me wonder if it's not a cunning scheme:

- I'd love to go to Glastonbury next year.
- Yeah, but we can never get tickets. The demand is way too high.
- If only there was some way we could kill demand before people are thinking about booking.
- You mean we need some sort of wrecking ball?
- Yes! Yes, that's exactly what we need.