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.

Elton John is a bad influence, says imam

Elton John's decision to play Russia not exactly going down well with everyone there. Seidzhagfar Lutfullin isn't a fan:

Denouncing the British superstar as "the devil's work in the shape of a pederast," the imam warned that God could rain destruction on cities in the style of the Old Testament's Sodom and Gomorrah as punishment for John's sexual delinquency.

"Sodomy...is what the world famous homosexual Elton John, (sic) who recently wed a man in public, is promoting," the imam said in remarks published on the Web site of Kazan's Thousandth Anniversary of Islam Mosque.

He then checked his notes, and said "oh... actually, he's promoting his extensive back catalogue of solo albums. But they're probably about sodomy."

Lutfullin hopes that everyone will respond to his concern by staying at home the night John plays Kazan. At their own homes. Alone. WITH THEIR PANTS ON.

It's interesting that the devil chose to shape John like a pederast. Isn't Lutfullin the same sort of basic shape - round head at the top; pair of arms; pair of legs; long, glistening cock; a pair of delicious, yearning, sweat-gleaned testicles swinging free underneath loose cloth?

PRobit: Norman Winter

Norman Winter, former head of Press for MCA/Universal and the PR to Michael Jackson, has died.

Winter was doing the press for Jackson at the time of Thriller, which would be enough for a career in itself; but his client list just rolls on and on:

Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Janet Jackson, Queen, Rick James, Barry White, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Who, AC/DC, Steppenwolf, Meatloaf, Johnny Rivers, the Jefferson Airplane's Marty Balin, Christopher Cross, Bobby Ross Avila, Donny Osmond, Garth Brooks, Herb Alpert, Paul Anka, Phil Ramone, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Bootsy Collins, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Brian McKnight, Outkast, Usher, Jimmy Cliff, Steve Martin, Joan Collins, Arsenio Hall, Morris Day and gospel luminaries Jennifer Knapp and Deniece Williams.

And that's before you get to the rap artists.

Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Babyface and Bangin' On Wax (the Bloods & Crips collaboration), Domino, Bone Thugs - N - Harmony and Eddie Griffin.

And the Latin artists.

Emmanuel, Lucia Mendez, Chichi Peralta, Renegade, Luis Cardenas and the Golden Eagle Awards

I've lifted those client lists from Billboard; it's worth noting that Billboard merely cut and pasted a big chunk of them direct from Winter's own website.

That website also recalls the time Winter introduced Elton John to the US:

A real London bus. Whoever would have thought?

Norman Winter died from complications related to Lewy Body dementia on Thursday, 22nd August.

Grammys 2013: The winners in full

So, the defining battle of our time has been fought, and won, and now it's official:



is better than



Or, at least, Somebody That I Used To Know has bested We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together for Record Of The Year at the Grammys.

For reasons that have never been convincingly explained, of course, the 'record of the year' isn't the same thing as 'song of the year' - and here, We Are Young (or 'We Are Writing The Song So We Can Live Off The Royalties For The Next Ten Years Whenever A Lazy Montage Sequence On The TV Features People Who Are Young', to give it its full name) bested Call Me Maybe.

Yes, you read that right. The Grammys jury went with the wispy beard over the obviously great song.

The best album went to Mumford And Sons for Babel. With every high-profile award, the whole point of the band seems harder and harder to discern. They're a bit like Ben And Jerrys now - you might like to read the homespun, earth-friendly packaging, but you can't ignore that it's being dumped into cartons by Unilever.

Adele managed to get an award in a quiet year - not for Skyfall, even the Grammys wouldn't push it that far - but for a live track from Live At The Albert Hall. That sounds a bit like chearing.

Forbs tracked the people who needed a box of some sort to carry their multiple prizes:

In 2013, Dan Auerbach and the Black Keys were the biggest winners, taking home four trophies. Skrillex claimed three, as did Gotye, Jay-Z and Kayne West.

Black Keys did at least bring Dr John on for their 'surprise! we're doing a collaboration' bit, which was a way of sneaking a true legend onto prime time CBS.

At the more hackneyed end of s!wdac was Ed Sheeran coming on with Elton John, which I think makes Sheeran the new Pete Doherty.

The Wall Street Journal's description of the closing number sounds like the sort of thing that would have been tolerable if you were a bit drunk:

The show closed with another performance that brought together unlikely, if aging, pioneers of different genres. A pair of rap icons who rose to prominence in the 1980s—Chuck D, of the group Public Enemy, and LL Cool J, also the show's host—was backed by a band that included hard rock musicians from the 1990s: Guitarist Tom Morello, of Rage Against the Machine, and drummer Travis Barker of Blink-182.

As is now traditional, Chris Brown marked the event by being an enormous asshole. Dawn reports:

R&B singer Chris Brown showed up smiling at the Grammy Awards show on Sunday, saying he was just a little banged up after crashing his car into a wall on the eve of the annual music industry awards.

“Little bit of bumps, I’m good though,” Brown, 23, dressed in a white Lanvin suit, told E! News on the red carpet.

Brown crashed his Porsche into a wall in Beverly Hills on Saturday and told police he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi.

“I’ll get another one,” Brown, laughing, told E! News on Sunday. “Insurance is good.”

Of course he's not worried about smashing his car to pieces on the way to the awards. He did the same thing to Rihanna en route a couple of years back, and that didn't cause him any problems.

Best line in all the coverage goes to the New York Times, and Ben Ratliff:

Taylor Swift opened the CBS telecast performing “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” — with freaky clowns, stilt-walking experts, parasols, a large white rabbit, like a well-coordinated Burning Man happening or a late-period White Stripes photo shoot.

Without any further ado, here's the names and details of the winners:

1. RECORD OF THE YEAR
Somebody That I Used To Know
Gotye Featuring Kimbra
Wally De Backer, producer; Wally De Backer & Francois Tetaz, engineers/mixers; William Bowden, mastering engineer
Track from: Making Mirrors
Label: Universal Republic

2. ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Babel
Mumford & Sons
Markus Dravs, producer; Robin Baynton & Ruadhri Cushnan, engineers/mixers; Bob Ludwig, mastering engineer
Label: Glassnote

3. SONG OF THE YEAR
We Are Young
Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost & Nate Ruess, songwriters (Fun.Featuring Janelle Monáe)
Track from: Some Nights
Label: Fueled By Ramen; Publishers: WB Music, FBR Music, Bearvon Music/Rough Art/Shira Lee Lawrence Rick Music/Way Above Music/Sony ATV Songs

4. BEST NEW ARTIST
Fun.

5. BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Set Fire To The Rain [Live]
Adele
Track from: Live At The Royal Albert Hall
Label: XL/Columbia
6. BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Somebody That I Used To Know
Gotye Featuring Kimbra
Track from: Making Mirrors
Label: Universal Republic

7. BEST POP INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Impressions
Chris Botti
Label: Columbia

8. BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
Stronger
Kelly Clarkson
Label: RCA Records/19 Recordings LLC

9. BEST DANCE RECORDING
Bangarang
Skrillex Featuring Sirah
Skrillex, producer; Skrillex, mixer
Track from: Bangarang
Label: OWSLA/Big Beat/Atlantic

10. BEST DANCE/ELECTRONICA ALBUM
Bangarang
Skrillex
Label: OWSLA/Big Beat/Atlantic

11. BEST TRADITIONAL POP VOCAL ALBUM
Kisses On The Bottom
Paul McCartney
Label: Hear Music

12. BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE
Lonely Boy
The Black Keys
Track from: El Camino
Label: Nonesuch

13. BEST HARD ROCK/METAL PERFORMANCE
Love Bites (So Do I)
Halestorm
Track from: The Strange Case Of…
Label: Atlantic

14. BEST ROCK SONG
Lonely Boy
Dan Auerbach, Brian Burton & Patrick Carney, songwriters (The Black Keys)
Track from: El Camino
Label: Nonesuch; Publisher: McMoore McLesst Publishing

15. BEST ROCK ALBUM
El Camino
The Black Keys
Label: Nonesuch

16. BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM
Making Mirrors
Gotye
Label: Universal Republic

17. BEST R&B PERFORMANCE
Climax
Usher
Track from: Looking 4 Myself
Label: RCA Records

18. BEST TRADITIONAL R&B PERFORMANCE
Love On Top
Beyoncé
Track from: 4
Label: Columbia Records

19. BEST R&B SONG
Adorn
Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)
Label: RCA/Bystorm Entertainment; Publisher: Art Dealer Chic

20. BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
Label: Def Jam

21. BEST R&B ALBUM
Black Radio
Robert Glasper Experiment
Label: Blue Note

22. BEST RAP PERFORMANCE
N****s In Paris
Jay-Z & Kanye West
Track from: Watch The Throne
Label: Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC

23. BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
No Church In The Wild
Jay-Z & Kanye West Featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream
Track from: Watch The Throne
Label: Roc-A-Fella Records, LLC

24. BEST RAP SONG
N****s In Paris
Shawn Carter, Mike Dean, Chauncey Hollis & Kanye West, songwriters (W.A. Donaldson, songwriter) (Jay-Z & Kanye West)
Track from: Watch The Throne
Label: Roc-A-Fella Records; Publishers: Hit-Boy Music/Very Good Beats, Hip Hop Since 1978, Dean’s List Productions, Unichappell Music

25. BEST RAP ALBUM
Take Care
Drake
Label: Cash Money Records

26. BEST COUNTRY SOLO PERFORMANCE
Blown Away
Carrie Underwood
Track from: Blown Away
Label: 19 Recordings Limited/Arista Nashville

27. BEST COUNTRY DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE
Pontoon
Little Big Town
Label: Capitol Records Nashville

28. BEST COUNTRY SONG
Blown Away
Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins, songwriters (Carrie Underwood)
Track from: Blown Away
Label: 19 Recordings Limited/Arista Nashville; Publishers: Global Dog Music/Lunalight Music, Big Loud Songs/Angel River Songs

29. BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Uncaged
Zac Brown Band
Label: Southern Ground/Atlantic

30. BEST NEW AGE ALBUM
Echoes Of Love
Omar Akram
Label: Real Music

31. BEST IMPROVISED JAZZ SOLO
Hot House
Gary Burton & Chick Corea, soloists
Track from: Hot House
Label: Concord Jazz

32. BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM
Radio Music Society
Esperanza Spalding
Label: Heads Up International
33. BEST JAZZ INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
Unity Band
Pat Metheny Unity Band
Label: Nonesuch

34. BEST LARGE JAZZ ENSEMBLE ALBUM
Dear Diz (Every Day I Think Of You)
Arturo Sandoval
Label: Concord Jazz

35. BEST LATIN JAZZ ALBUM
¡Ritmo!
The Clare Fischer Latin Jazz Big Band
Label: Clare Fischer Productions/Clavo Records

36. BEST GOSPEL/CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
Matt Redman
Track from: 10,000 Reasons
Label: sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records

37. BEST GOSPEL SONG
Go Get It
Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell & Warryn Campbell, songwriters (Mary Mary)
Label: Columbia; Publishers: EMI April Music, It’s Tea Tyme, That’s Plum Song, Wet Ink Red Music

38. BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC SONG (TIE)
10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)
Jonas Myrin & Matt Redman, songwriters (Matt Redman)
Track from: 10,000 Reasons
Label: sixstepsrecords/Sparrow Records; Publishers: Thankyou Music/sixsteps Music/worshiptogether.com Songs/Said And Done Music/Shout! Publishing

Your Presence Is Heaven
Israel Houghton & Micah Massey, songwriters (Israel & New Breed)
Track from: Jesus At The Center Live
Label: Integrity Music; Publishers: Integrity’s Praise! Music/Sound of the New Breed, Regenerate Music

39. BEST GOSPEL ALBUM
Gravity
Lecrae
Label: Reach Records

40. BEST CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC ALBUM
Eye On It
TobyMac
Label: ForeFront Records
Come To The Well
Casting Crowns
Label: Beach Street/Reunion Records

41. BEST LATIN POP ALBUM
MTV Unplugged Deluxe Edition
Juanes
Label: Universal Music Latino

42. BEST LATIN ROCK, URBAN OR ALTERNATIVE ALBUM
Imaginaries
Quetzal
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

43. BEST REGIONAL MEXICAN MUSIC ALBUM (INCLUDING TEJANO)
Pecados Y Milagros
Lila Downs
Label: Sony Music

44. BEST TROPICAL LATIN ALBUM
Retro
Marlow Rosado Y La Riqueña
Label: Pink Chaos Productions

45. BEST AMERICANA ALBUM
Slipstream
Bonnie Raitt
Label: Redwing Records

46. BEST BLUEGRASS ALBUM
Nobody Knows You
Steep Canyon Rangers

47. BEST BLUES ALBUM
Locked Down
Dr. John
Label: Nonesuch

48. BEST FOLK ALBUM
The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile
Label: Sony Classical

49. BEST REGIONAL ROOTS MUSIC ALBUM
The Band Courtbouillon
Wayne Toups, Steve Riley & Wilson Savoy
Label: Valcour Records

50. BEST REGGAE ALBUM
Rebirth
Jimmy Cliff
Label: UMe/Sunpower

51. BEST WORLD MUSIC ALBUM
The Living Room Sessions Part 1
Ravi Shankar
Label: East Meets West Music

52. BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM
Can You Canoe?
The Okee Dokee Brothers
Label: Okee Dokee Music LLC

53. BEST SPOKEN WORD ALBUM
Society’s Child: My Autobiography
Janis Ian
Label: Audible, Inc.

54. BEST COMEDY ALBUM
Blow Your Pants Off
Jimmy Fallon
Label: Warner Bros. Records/LoudMouth Entertainment

55. BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM
Once: A New Musical
Steve Kazee & Cristin Milioti, principal soloists; Steven Epstein & Martin Lowe, producers (Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, composers/lyricists) (Original Broadway Cast With Steve Kazee, Cristin Milioti & Others)
Label: Masterworks

56. BEST COMPILATION SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Midnight In Paris
(Various Artists)
Label: Madison Gate Records, Inc.

57. BEST SCORE SOUNDTRACK FOR VISUAL MEDIA
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, composers
Label: Null/Madison Gate

58. BEST SONG WRITTEN FOR VISUAL MEDIA
Safe & Sound (From The Hunger Games)
T Bone Burnett, Taylor Swift, John Paul White & Joy Williams, songwriters
(Taylor Swift Featuring The Civil Wars)
Label: Big Machine Records/Universal Republic; Publishers: Sony ATV Tree Publishing, Taylor Swift Music, Sensibility Songs, Absurd Music, Shiny Happy Music, Baffle Music, Henry Burnett Music

59. BEST INSTRUMENTAL COMPOSITION
Mozart Goes Dancing
Chick Corea, composer (Chick Corea & Gary Burton)
Track from: Hot House
Label: Concord Jazz

60. BEST INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
How About You
Gil Evans, arranger (Gil Evans Project)
Track from: Centennial – Newly Discovered Works Of Gil Evans
Label: ArtistShare

61. BEST INSTRUMENTAL ARRANGEMENT ACCOMPANYING VOCALIST(S)
City Of Roses
Thara Memory & Esperanza Spalding, arrangers (Esperanza Spalding)
Track from: Radio Music Society
Label: Heads Up International

62. BEST RECORDING PACKAGE
Biophilia
Michael Amzalag & Mathias Augustyniak, art directors (Björk)
Label: One Little Indian / Nonesuch

63. BEST BOXED OR SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION PACKAGE
Woody At 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection
Fritz Klaetke, art director (Woody Guthrie)
Label: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

64. BEST ALBUM NOTES
Singular Genius: The Complete ABC Singles
Billy Vera, album notes writer (Ray Charles)
Label: Concord

65. BEST HISTORICAL ALBUM
The Smile Sessions (Deluxe Box Set)
Alan Boyd, Mark Linett, Brian Wilson & Dennis Wolfe, compilation producers; Mark Linett, mastering engineer (The Beach Boys)
Label: Capitol Records

66. BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, NON-CLASSICAL
The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Richard King, engineer; Richard King, mastering engineer (Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile)
Label: Sony Classical

67. PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL
Dan Auerbach

68. BEST REMIXED RECORDING, NON-CLASSICAL
Promises (Skrillex & Nero Remix)
Skrillex, remixer (Nero)
Joseph Ray, Skrillex & Daniel Stephens, remixers
Label: Cherry Tree/Interscope

69. BEST SURROUND SOUND ALBUM
Modern Cool
Jim Anderson, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; Michael Friedman, surround producer (Patricia Barber)
Label: Premonition Records

70. BEST ENGINEERED ALBUM, CLASSICAL
Life & Breath – Choral Works By René Clausen
Tom Caulfield & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Charles Bruffy & Kansas City Chorale)
Label: Chandos

71. PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, CLASSICAL
Blanton Alspaugh

72. BEST ORCHESTRAL PERFORMANCE
Adams: Harmonielehre & Short Ride In A Fast Machine
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor (San Francisco Symphony)
Label: SFS Media

73. BEST OPERA RECORDING
Wagner: Der Ring Des Nibelungen
James Levine & Fabio Luisi, conductors; Hans-Peter König, Jay Hunter Morris, Bryn Terfel & Deborah Voigt; Jay David Saks, producer (The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra; The Metropolitan Opera Chorus)
Label: Deutsche Grammophon

74. BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE
Life & Breath – Choral Works By René Clausen
Charles Bruffy, conductor (Matthew Gladden, Lindsey Lang, Rebecca Lloyd, Sarah Tannehill & Pamela Williamson; Kansas City Chorale)
Label: Chandos

75. BEST CHAMBER MUSIC/SMALL ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Meanwhile
Eighth Blackbird
Label: Cedille Records

76. BEST CLASSICAL INSTRUMENTAL SOLO
Kurtág & Ligeti: Music For Viola
Kim Kashkashian
Label: ECM New Series

77. BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL SOLO
Poèmes
Renée Fleming (Alan Gilbert & Seiji Ozawa; Orchestre National De France & Orchestre Philharmonique De Radio France)
Label: Decca Records

78. BEST CLASSICAL COMPENDIUM
Penderecki: Fonogrammi; Horn Concerto; Partita; The Awakening Of Jacob; Anaklasis
Antoni Wit, conductor; Aleksandra Nagórko & Andrzej Sasin, producers
Label: Naxos

79. BEST CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL COMPOSITION
Hartke, Stephen: Meanwhile – Incidental Music To Imaginary Puppet Plays
Stephen Hartke, composer (Eighth Blackbird)
Track from: Meanwhile
Label: Cedille Records

80. BEST SHORT FORM MUSIC VIDEO
We Found Love
Rihanna Featuring Calvin Harris
Melina Matsoukas, video director; Juliette Larthe, Ben Sullivan, Candice Ouaknine & Inga Veronique video producers
Label: Def Jam

81. BEST LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO
Big Easy Express
Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros & Old Crow Medicine Show
Emmett Malloy, video director; Bryan Ling, Mike Luba & Tim Lynch, video producers
Label: S2BN Films

Madonna cares not for Elton John's opinions

Madonna has apparently shrugged off criticism from Elton John.

Too right, Madonna - who cares what a once-mighty pop star who has been in something of a creative decline since the 1980s has to say about anything? It's best to not waste your time on such opinions.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Sorry, for some reason this post started to vanish as we were typing it. We regret the technical problems, and hope to return to normal service shortly.]

Videobit: Ken Russell

Ken Russell, the film director, who has died at the age of 84 had more than a few links with the music world.

Perhaps most famously, he filmed a pop video for his lawyer as payment for a court case won, but it went much deeper than that. His day job saw him turn Tommy into a film, the only movie ever to use Quintaphonic sound. He also had a chance to create an even bigger part of British pop cinema, when he was offered the chance of directing Summer Holiday.

Although that was not to be, he would work with Cliff later. He did the video for She's So Beautiful, which escaped from the soundtrack of Time: The Musical, and looked like this:

It's probably safe to say that wasn't his greatest work.

There had been talk of him producing a Hamlet with David Bowie and Elton John. In fact, there was a lot of talk of Russell and John doing something more substantial than John's appearance in Tommy, but all that came of it was a video for Nikita:

There's nothing that unlikely about a girl called Nikita, is there? Russell appears to have made a Cold War Boy Named Sue.

Perhaps the most frustrating lost music project, though, is the proposed video as part of a Sgt Pepper collection. Different directors would have a go at each song; Russell was supposed to do When I'm 64.

Still, there's always The Boyfriend to enjoy:

Elton dumped and fuming

Hell hath no fury like a fabulous celebrity scorned. Elton John was supposed to go on a dinner date with a banker, Spencer Lodge.

Not in a skulky, behind David Furnish's back sort of date. This was one that Lodge had bought in one of Elton's charity auctions.

But it turns out you can't trust Lodge. Imagine that - a banker who doesn't stick to his word. The money never turned up, and now Elton is pursuing legal action:

[A] source close to Sir Elton said: ‘Both David and Elton, and everyone involved with the EJAF are really angry about this.

‘Elton is not personally hounding the man and demanding the cash, but he is fully supportive of the legal proceedings to benefit the charity,’ the Daily Mirror reported.

I love the reassurance that Elton isn't personally turning up at Lodge's house, yelling through the letterbox.

[Thanks to Michael M]

Gordon in the morning: The child in focus

Does nobody police the Press Complaints Commission code of practice any more? Has the rotten performance of Buscombe And Her Editor Chums been so dispiriting they've even stopped pretending they're keeping an eye on thing?

For why else would Gordon be running a picture of Elton John and David Furnish's kid, which is there for no reason other than his parents being famous?

Oh, there's a horrible joke, too. The child is wearing a lifejacket, and the Bizarre team have come up with this headline:

Don’t let the son go drown on me, Elton

It's a great pun. It's just, being based around the idea of a small child dying, it might be a bit off-colour for a "family" newspaper.

Bookmarks - Internet stuff: Elton John

Does every single charity shop in the country have a copy of A Single Man? A Single Tumblr believes so, and is setting out to find out.

Darkness at 3AM: Kanye and Elton

The Mirror looks on in Cannes:

Kanye West drives to Elton John party in $1.7 million limited edition Mercedes sports car

You know, Elton would have been just as happy with a bag of chips and a bus trip to the pictures, Kanye.

Elton John successfully contrasts two events

I'm not sure if NME.com have cut off half his quote, or if their story about Elton John is as complete as it could be:

Elton John has had his say on the Royal Wedding after attending Prince William and Kate Middleton's nuptials in London this morning (April 29).

The Rocket Man attended the ceremony at Westminster Abbey with his partner David Furnish as the happy couple tied the knot in front of 1,900 guests.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5Live on his way out of the venue, John said: "It's not the Oscars."

Really? Saying - somewhat bemusingly - that a wedding is not like a prize giving was "having his say", was it?

Was he angry at it not being like the Oscars? Because there were no goody bags and only one person got a kiss out of it?

Or was he delighted it wasn't like the Oscars - no awkward chit-chat with Joan Rivers on the way in?

Perhaps he was trying to send a coded warning - "Victoria Beckham, if you hear this, please, for god's sake remember: IT'S NOT THE OSCARS"?

Really, he didn't "have his say". A more accurate lead-in would have been "Elton John has said a thing".

Gordon in the morning: Sometimes Gordon can surprise us

Whoever would have thought that Gordon Smart would find space to cover the story about the Arkansas supermarket covering up the Elton, David and child cover?

A MAGAZINE showing SIR ELTON JOHN with his gay partner and their baby is CENSORED at a supermarket - sparking uproar.

Of course, Gordon had recycled the OK cover story a few days back, but who would have thought that he'd have chosen this as something his readers would like to read between photos of Megan Fox and lots and lots of stuff about X Factor contestants?

He can't quite bring himself to endorse the sentiments of the protests, though:

Gay campaigners were outraged at the "homophobia".

Much as the supermarket couldn't quite stomach the photo without a protective cover, Gordon can't quite talk about homophobia without the protection of a strong pair of industrial quotation marks.

The good news is that the store HQ stepped in and told the outlet to not be so bloody prissy, or words to that effect.

Although the ending isn't quite as happy as Gordon seems to believe:

Yesterday the mag was OPENLY on display at the store in Mountain Springs, Arkansas – on orders from HQ.

Yesterday, Gordon, the Elt and David issue wasn't on sale any more, what with Ok being a weekly, so the store would have been selling an issue with Brad from The Bachelor on it.

Melanie Phillips apparently works in an Arkansas supermarket

It must be. For why else would the Elton John, David Furnish and child copy of OK have been hidden behind a Family Shield "to protect young shoppers"?

Gary Barlow marks his 40th

I suppose when you reach 40, you might start to feel your age, and perhaps even worry that you have little time left before you feel the hot breath of death upon your neck.

TAKE THAT star GARY BARLOW enjoyed a memorable 40th birthday on Thursday (20Jan11) - he performed with CHRIS MARTIN for a star-studded audience and received a special message from SIR ELTON JOHN.

Or, perhaps, if you're Gary Barlow, you might feel that it can't come quickly enough.

Gordon in the morning: Elton John makes a few quid

While I'm sure Rupert and James Murdoch will be delighted to see Gordon giving masses of free advertising to Richard Desmond's print empire this morning, why on earth has Elton John flogged his kid to Ok!? I know a new father has things to buy, but is John really so short of a few quid that he needs to do this to keep the family in nappies and romper suits?

Gordon in the morning: Feeling Supersonic

Gordon tuned into Absolute Radio and heard Elton John talking about Oasis:

He said: "They were enormous in Britain, they were enormous in America and they went over there and argued between themselves and cancelled the tour and they never broke America.

"You only get it once, and if you blow it, it's gone. You can't not regret that.

"I always thought, 'You stupid sods. You'll never get that opportunity again'."

If they were already enormous in America, then surely they'd already broken the country?

It doesn't seem to occur to Elton that, actually, Americans wouldn't have been interested in Oasis in anything like large enough numbers to have made worthwhile their effort in plodding round the country and that the silly hissy fits were really a cover for thwarted ambition. Oasis are the band who squabbled and never tried, rather than a band who tried and flopped.

Half a million quid will get Elton John to make you cry

It's possible to defend the idea of spending a lot of EU money on a very high-profile concert to promote cohesion. It gets a bit harder when the money in question reaches half a million quid. And it turns into an uphill struggle when that money had been earmarked to promote Italian culture and defend traditional music and ended up going on an Elton John gig.

Still, I'm sure the Campania tourism exec who helped plan the event, Dario Scalabrini, can explain exactly how Elton John is promoting genuine Italian culture, and what the people of the region got for half a million:

"Elton John sang the Neapolitan song O Sole Mio for the first time ever. The audience was crying with emotion."

Ah, that old emotional crying. So different from other types of crying, like crying with algebra, or crying with a side order of chips.

You'll note that Dario didn't say whether the emotion was a positive or negative one. Maybe the idea was that if you don't protect your own culture, it'll end up being mangled in the hands of Elton John. That could be half a million well spent.

Elton John retires from pop

Given that he's only managed a top ten hit once in the last five years, and his best chart position he's managed with the last five singles was 138, Elton John's 'retirement' from pop is a bit like a three-legged horse ruling itself out for the National. If you don't count Candle In The Wind Diana Remix, he's not managed to make the US Top Ten since 1994.

Still, it's time, says Elt:

He told GQ: "Look, I'm 63. I don't want to be on VH1 or MTV. I'm not going to compete with JLS or Lady GaGa. I'm at that stage where I don't think I can write pop music anymore. I can't sit down and do a proper rock song. It was okay when I was 25 or 26, but not anymore.

"I like to do my little side projects like Scissor Sisters and have fun, but I don't think Elton John will be putting any pop singles out."

Amusingly, given that Paul McCartney is in today's Sun saying how brilliant modern music is, Elton disagrees:

John recently claimed that modern-day songwriters are "pretty awful" and that current pop music "isn't very inspiring".

I wonder how Elton John and Paul McCartney can have such differing views of the state of modern music? (Clue: sales of The Captain And The Kid v Memory Almost Full).

Elton's friends: Playing for Rush

It comes to something when even the Daily Mail can smell that there's something badly wrong with Elton John playing Rush Limbaugh's wedding.

Furnish later revealed to People magazine that John justified his appearance by telling him: 'Life is about building bridges, not walls.'

Is it, though? Sure, it's good to be generous, and perhaps make a pointed point about how you're playing the wedding of a man who believes you shouldn't have the right to get married; even taking a fee from someone who uses his platform to rail against AIDS charities, to give to an AIDS charity.

But on the other hand: that's just self-justifying rubbish, isn't it? Limbaugh believes that money can buy anything - even a gay man's conscience - and you've proved him right. The "build bridges not walls" argument could cover any sort of dealing with the enemies.

It's true that both Limbaugh and John support civil unions but not gay marriage, so on that they're not so very far apart - Limbaugh has a "they can't help it" attitude, and John fears that the idea of marriage is a demand too far. He's keen to stress that he isn't Mr Furnish: "We're not married. Let's get that right. We have a civil partnership. What is wrong with Proposition 8 is that they went for marriage. Marriage is going to put a lot of people off, the word marriage."

Yes, Elton, god forbid you should be treated equally if it might upset some people.

Perhaps it's this pissweak spirit of worrying more about upsetting rich bigots than fighting for civil liberties that makes John tinkling over Limbaugh's big keyboard not so surprising.

But only a fool would believe that a right-wing friend of Rush would be sat listening to Crocodile Rock thinking "you know what, maybe we should be helping fight the AIDS crisis..."

[Thanks to Michael M]

Morocco welcomes Elton John

Religious screechers' attempts to get Elton John disinvited from playing Rabat's Mawazine World Rhythms festival have been rebuffed, and he'll still going to go.

"We asked the government to exclude this person from the list of artists invited to this festival. This man -- sorry, I should say this person, not this man -- is known for bragging about his homosexuality," said Mustapha Ramid, a leading parliamentarian from the opposition Islamist PJD party.

"Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform because we have to shield the young from such influences," said Ramid.

Given that Morocco is known as the place where Joe Orton would go to pick up young men, it might be a bit late to start trying to salvage the image of the country.

You've got to love Mustapha's "this man, oooh, no, he's not a man at all" gag. Although if John isn't a man, then surely there's no way he could cause a problem having sex with men? Hasn't really thought this through, has he?

Still, the festival is having none of it:

"Elton John is one of the best artists in the world. He is great and extraordinary when he appears on stage. That's why we invite him and welcome him to the Mawazine festival," festival director Aziz Daki told Reuters.

"The private life of a singer is not our business. We do not invite singers and artists after assessing their private lives."

That's great - although, apparently, they don't invite singers on the basis of their recent work, either.

Happy IDAHO, everybody. Happy IDAHO.