Allman now co-defendant with film company he's suing

There's a new, grim twist to the ill-fated Greg Allman movie. You'll recall that cameraperson Sarah Jones was killed in an accident during filming by a railway line, leading Allman to launch a lawsuit to take back the rights to his life story.

Now, Sarah Jones' parents are launching a scattergun lawsuit which includes Allman amongst those being sued. (Somewhat oddly, they're also suing the railroad, while admitting that the railroad never gave permission for any filming to take place. The descendants of Robert Louis Stevenson should expect a writ soon, on that basis.)

Pete Doherty is set to offer us a new album

You'd have hoped that juicing what's left of The Libertines' mystery for cash would have kept Pete Doherty busy enough for the time being, but... oh, no. There's a secret solo album coagulating somewhere. He's told NME all about it:

The album will be titled 'Flags From The Old Regime'. "I've got 10 tunes done now," he says. "There's that one song 'Down For The Outing', which I've had for a while now, but it's incredible - Johann's made it sound like a brand new song."

Doherty also announced that the album has been recorded without his Babyshambles bandmates and instead with "kids around the studio". "There just seems to be a blockade against it, which I don't understand," he says.

He also admits that his record label don't yet know that he is recording the new material. "I don't know what the deal is with EMI Publishing," he says. "I've been told not to tell anyone about the album, but I'm supposed to be someone who writes songs and makes records."

Perhaps EMI is taking part in some sort of set-aside project for musicians, where governments pay the label not to make records with certain artists. You could be putting a large cheque from Brussels at risk, Pete.

Print's not dead: Horse Party want to give you a fanzine

What's the equivalent of the fanzine/flexi combo which so delighted us in the late 1980s? Probably a fanzine with a download "attached", which is what you get from "the Fugazi-channeling" Horse Party, if you're happy to give them your address.

They insist they will turn up at your house and demand toasts and other breakfast goods. But you do get a free zine, and a free download of Inbetween.

Which sounds like this:

Digital Spy boosts Janet Jackson's love for freaky brother slide-show stunt

It must be tricky, discovering that someone is going to project a film of your dead brother on stage and pretend that somehow he's "performing". And yet you can't really scream "why are you doing this, like some odd cross between Frankenstein and Barnum?" because that'd cause a shitstorm, too.

So, on Facebook, Janet Jackson's people issue a polite, but non-comital statement:

Janet wishes rumors she'd be at the ‪#‎BillboardAwards‬ were right. She never confirmed as her schedule would not permit. She sends wishes for a great event.
-Janet's Team

To me, that sounds like discussions about taking part happened, possibly up until the bit where Billboard wheeled out the overhead projector and said "... and we'd like you to duet with some photos of your dead sibling."

Afterwards, again on Facebook, Janet was being polite and still non-comital:

My brother, Michael, was, is and always will be a genius. I love you, Mike. Janet

Now, she doesn't say that she really loved that sub-Derek Acorah resurrection routine. It's possible she forgot to mention how brilliant it all was.

Regardless, it's a long journey from those two terse tweets to Digital Spy's interpretation of what they meant:

Janet Jackson "wishes" she'd performed with Michael Jackson hologram

Not only does she not mention performing at all, she expressly, and clearly, makes no mention at all of the unsettling hologram o'resurrection. I think the wishes for the shared stage might be Digital Spy's, rather than Jackson.

Allan Jones leaves Uncut

Allan Jones - launch editor of Uncut - is leaving the job.

Yes, launch editor.

Yes, it's been publishing now for 17 years.

Jones' success at Uncut is all the more of a triumph as it launched at something of a torrid time for the IPC stable (okay, it's always a torrid time at IPC; their clocks are actually set to Greenwich Torrid Time) as the other monthly music title, Vox, was seeing its readership move from 'dipping' to 'diving' and was just about to have its short, eight-year life snuffed out. To launch into such a market, and to manage to keep a magazine alive for 17 years, is an amazing piece of work.

In 2007, Jones explained the reasoning behind Uncut to the UK Press Gazette:

The idea for Uncut came from my own disenchantment about what I was doing with Melody Maker. There was a publishing initiative to make the audience younger; I was getting older and they wanted to take the readers further away from me. It seemed like an impassable bridge.

Given what happened to MM, and what happened to Uncut, it might seem Jones had more sense than many people at IPC at the time.

The question, though, is what future there is for Uncut - it hasn't been immune from the general droop in music magazine sales, and is now selling something around half of its 2004 peak sale. Can a new editor - John Mulvey - bring some of the passion, and some of the sales back?

Rita Ora goes to Cannes; opens bottles

Rita Ora has gone to Cannes, and wants to enjoy it:

Rita Ora has been to Cannes before, but she can't tell you much about it because it felt like a blur.

"I've never been to Cannes properly. I've been one time to perform, and then I left, so I never really experienced it," she said.

So how will she stop it feeling like a blur this time?

The 23-year-old British singer was back to perform Friday night for an intimate party thrown by Belvedere Vodka.

Oh, yes. Nothing like a gig where there's free vodka on offer to ensure that things won't pass in a blur.

And how did the IBN choose to headline this vodka-floated trip to Cannes?

British singer Rita Ora plans to 'soak up' Cannes this time

I guess it depends how much voddy there is to be soaked up first, though.

Is Bieber a Hustler?

Leaving aside all the other concerns about the "business" for just a moment, why would Larry Flynt even think of approaching Justin Bieber to be the face ads for the Hustler club?

It's hard to imagine how you can make the idea of shuffling through a spunk bedribbled floorspace carrying overpriced drinks to watch commodified people miserably grinding to terrible music seem worse, but surely the thought that Justin Bieber might be sat at the table next to you with a halfcocked lob-on would be the way?

Brian May: Taking guns off the estate

You can throw a lot of things at Brian May - and, periodically, I do - but you can't accuse him of not being prepared to put his money where his mouth is.

According to the Western Morning News, he's considering buying a hunting estate on Exmoor. And turning it into a nature reserve.

It's especially sweet because the estate is in part of the country where DEFRA is keen to carry on killing badgers because, as Owen Paterson told MPs "they might spread TB to cows, or be witches in disguise, or just generally up to something dodgy. Probably it's badgers dumping fridges and what-not in pretty hedgerows."

I'm not sure it makes listening to Fat Bottom Girls on repeat a social good, but... well, watching this video might save a badger's life.*

* - Sounds like the worst telethon ever.