Blur’s bassist Alex James is putting on a country style food and music fest - The Harvest festival at his Oxfordshire farm

Musician turned farmer’s four-day event will showcase music and food, with appearances from KT Tunstall and Richard Corrigan.

Full article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/03/alex-james-host-harvest-festival

After a string of Canadian awards for music and aid it has been announced that Neil Young will be collecting the 2011 Allan Waters Humanitarian Award for his contributions to Farm Aid, Live 8 and other fundraising events.

Good old Neil….

Former Happy Monday Bez had a not so happy Wednesday yesterday when he was thrown in jail for a month. The jail sentence related to that previously reported assault conviction dished out earlier this month after an altercation between him and the mother of his two year old son back in May. He would have got away with community service and a fine, but he chose to represent himself in court, which is never a good idea, especially if you’re a space cadet with a vocabulary of just under 60 words.

Van Halen have entered the studio to record their first album in 27 years with original frontman David Lee Roth.

Full article in Rolling Stone - http://bit.ly/fcrE9e

MF Doom will reissue the first complete version of his debut album, Opertaion: Doomsday, this spring through his own Metalface Records. The set will include the “original album, alternate versions, b-sides and instrumentals - 51 tracks total - with all new artwork and two deluxe, metal formats.” The said “metal formats” are a 2-CD lunchbox or a 4-LP metal box, which you can check out on the Stones Throw website.

Don’t know about anyone else but Talib Kweli is dropping 2 albums this year and my toes are curling.

Free download ‘cold rain’ is hopefully a sign of the good good things to come.

http://www.spin.com/audio/download/82387/

Bjork has revealed that she has reached the halfway point in recording her new album.
Speaking in an interview with Icelandic newspaper Fréttabladid, the singer also said she is hoping to showcase the new material live on tour before the end of 2011.

The new release will be Bjork’s first since 2007’s ‘Volta,’ though she claimed to be weary of giving too much detail on what fans can expect, saying, “I have had some bad experiences with a number of things before. I’m very superstitious. I go into the studio with a plan to go do what I have in mind, and then the idea is half-dead.”

However, the eccentric singer did give one clue as to what has inspired some of her latest material: a conference she attended that was organized by National Geographic magazine.

“I saw 100 talks and met eccentric people who had been in Africa for four years with lions and insects,” she said. “Then one night after drinking whiskey with them I began to hear stories. This is one of the collaborations I can talk about.” Right…