Last night in London's east- among fashion stylists, paperback enthusiasts and ha'penny students - some of the coolest names in UK music began their descent on Daltson's Oxfam charity shop.
For four evenings shelves of Da Vinci Code castaways and Kamahl xmas vinyl will make way for the likes of The Kooks, Jamelia, Fat Boy Slim and Hot Chip. Jarvis Cocker, the doyen of charity shop chic, has already dashingly spun some records, much to the delight of all in attendance no doubt.
The shows launch Oxfam's awesome month-long Oxjam festival, which will feature 3,000 events in venues right across Britain. A sterling reminder to us all that there are many other, much more altruistic, ways to pass on your material surplus than ebay.

After a couple of false alarms, Radiohead have officially revealed their seventh album, 'In Rainbows', is finally ready and will be available for download in just ten days' time!
As if that news wasn't enough to give you a kind of pleasant version of a heart attack, there's more to it yet. The ever generous and tradition shunning band have not set a price for the download version of the album, leaving the 'price' field blank. This means they are letting YOU decide how much to pay for the release. Cripes. The eagerly awaited album is available to pre-order as a download and a discbox here, while the discbox - containing  'In Rainbows' on CD and on two 12" heavyweight vinyl records, plus digital photographs and artwork - will be ready by December 3.
Have mercy.

It’s been going for ages now, the murder trial of Phil Spector, the pioneer behind the 1960s Wall Of Sound technique and producer for seminal albums like John Lennon's Imagine. Accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson at his Los Angeles mansion on February 3, 2003, no one knows what really happened, especially, it seems, the courts. It’s been kind of like the OJ Simpson case, but for the noughties. Yet this time, after all the to-ing and fro-ing (no pun intended) it’s all ended in a mis-trial rather than an acquittal. After 12 days of deliberation, the jury were hung. Deadlocked. So he’s off...for the time being anyway.
Famed for un-nerving and slightly insane misdemeanours – he once held the Ramones captive in his Californian Mansion at gunpoint during the recording of the 1980 album End Of The Century - there’s certainly been alot of smoke around, but apparently, no fire.

Have all you budding artists out there ever wondered what the secret is to making great art? Where that skeleton key to the door of imagination and endless talent lies? Well look no further...Being seen publicly for the first time in nearly 70 years, a collection of the most frank, honest and exciting letters, by the hand of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, are about to go on display at New York's Morgan Library and Museum. Showing until January, these telling communiqués to his counterpart, the French artist and poet Emile Bernard, were written between 1887 and 1889, during the height of his creativity. Containing many pearls of wisdom regarding art, love, health, sex and religion, it's his rather simple method and philosophy for producing "good work" that takes the cake...

"Eat well, be well housed, have a screw from time to time, smoke your pipe and drink your coffee in peace".

There you go then.

"Ever yours, Vincent".

It's been a long winter hearing how much fun friends and colleagues have been having at the North's seemingly endless run of music festivals. The Coachellas, Glastonburys, Roskildes and Benicassims. Every year more and more fantastic events pop up in the most picturesque of locales. Lucky. Well, damnit, finally it's our turn. With lineups for the epic Meredith and bi-state Falls Festivals already announced and sold out - feat. the likes of the Black Lips, Kings of Leon, BRMC and Gossip - at this stage it's the Big Day Out that looks to be offering the juiciest rumours. Just as a teaser, it seems Bjork, Rage Against The Machine and, wait for it, the Candian-folk-rock-heroes-who've-never-yet-toured ARCADE FIRE will be visiting our fair shores. This means side shows, too, people! Start saving your pennies...

If us Melbournites don't watch our manners around this fair city during the next couple of weeks, we're going to get a wee tap on the shoulder and a polite but firm, public dressing down from the Perth-based moral vigilante group, the Loyal Citizens Underground. The LCU, part of the visiting performance art group PVI collective (Performance and Video Installations) - uniformed in fluoro shirts, radio headsets and an authoritarian air - are in
town to officiously persuade the public to curb their littering, help nana's across the road, stop swearing and generally just be better citizens. They do have an ulterior motive...they¹ll also be airing their show Reform, a rollicking, discussion engendering, police state night out. Buck up your ideas people!

Sydney:
Sydney was quite a marathon. Our Spectrum show was sold out and such a good night! Our friends from NZ, Surf City opened and then Alex from Red Riders' side project, Straight Arrows played - they were all awesome! After the show we ended up next door at Vegas drinking sambuka and tequilla shots all night. Finally found a bed to sleep in at 11am on Sunday morning and managed to get 3 hours sleep before rushing over to the Annandale to play at 2.30 pm.
The Annandale drew 50 or 60 kids and although were totally tired we had a sweet time playing. Ricky (Mikey the guitarist has been rechristened Ricky!) used a bass amp for his guitar as the guitar amp blew up the night before at Spectrum.
We then headed straight to Bondi for the Beach Road Hotel gig during which an abnormal looking female stood still at the front and eye-balled Ricky while waving at him non-stop for 30 mins. Not sure what she was expecting to get back as Ricky's hands were kinda tied up. After the show we climbed up to the roof with teenagersintokyo. Ricky got smashed and was break dancing on cobble stones! Awesome.
On Monday we went to Sydney zoo! It was amazing! Check out the pics yo.