Joe Kavanagh's Music News

Without question, the biggest story in European music this week was the return of disgraced, pedophile singer, Gary Glitter, who eventually wound up in the UK, after his early release from a Vietnamese prison. Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, was deported from Vietnam to Thailand, where he was supposed to board a flight to London, until he feigned a heart-attack and spent some of the week roaming Bangkok airport. He then boarded a flight to Hong Kong but was refused entry by Chinese authorities, forcing him to return to London and the awaiting media circus. Despite his continued protests, his name was added to the Sex Offenders Register, and authorities claim that they will monitor him closely. Glitter's lawyer, David Hawker, claimed that his 64-year-old client is an innocent man that was wrongly convicted of committing sexual acts with nine and 10-year-old girls, and said that they will use the British courts to overturn the conviction, saying that it was a "travesty of justice." I'd agree with the last part but only because I think they should have locked him up for life and as for his plea of innocence; would an innocent man pay the families of the girls in order to get the charges reduced so he would not have to face the death penalty? I suppose he was also innocent when British authorities locked him up in 1999 for downloading thousands of graphic images of children in sexual situations. I feel dirty even writing about the guy. Glitter is now in hiding in the UK over fears for his personal safety and he has been given a date for his next court appearance, she's 10-years-old but looks 12 with makeup... That joke was out before Glitter touched down in the UK...

Former Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr, has confirmed that he has officially joined Wakefield band, The Cribs, only months after wrapping up his stint as guitarist with Modest Mouse. Speaking to the media last week, Marr claimed: "It's totally inspiring as a guitar player because they're my favorite band that I've heard in a long time and I'm still a fan, you know."...

Phil Collins is a little lighter in the pocket this week after he was forced to pay his ex-wife $46.76 million, as part of their divorce settlement. Orianne Cevey and Collins were together for just under seven years, and the couple have two children together. The payment is even higher than that paid by Paul McCartney to Heather 'Cuckoo' Mills, but in all fairness Orianne was married to Phil Collins and you couldn't put a price on how hard he must be to listen to. It's got to be worth a few extra million at the very least. The singer has paid out almost $90 million in three divorce settlements and famously sent a fax to second wife, Jill Tavelmann, announcing his plans to divorce her, in 1994...

Madonna kicked off her Sticky & Sweet world tour last Saturday night in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, to loud protests from environmental groups who claim that the 50-year-old singer is making little effort to make the tour ecologically friendly. According to reports, the 49 date tour will comprise 250 staff members - including nine wardrobe assistants, 12 seamstresses, a personal trainer and a masseuse - 30 wardrobe trunks and see the tour's stage set flown around the world. Environmental group, carbonfootprint.com, asserts that the tour will generate an estimated 1,500 tons of carbon pollution. All of this despite Madonna's solemn pledge to be more conscious of the environment during her performance at last year's Earth Day concert, but Madge has made a career out of talking out the side of her neck and her revisionism is positively Orwellian...

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival announced the winner of the funniest joke of the festival, gleaned from the multitude of performances by comedians at the acclaimed celebration of all things quirky. This year's winner was Zoe Lyons, who observed during her act: "I can't believe Amy Winehouse self-harms. She's so irritating she must be able to find someone to do it for her."... I think the Glitter one's better...

Jon McClure, frontman for UK indie act, Reverend and the Makers, has announced that he is quitting music entirely after the band releases their second album early next year. Speaking to BBC Ulster, the charismatic singer railed: "I'm gonna go out having told the truth and with my head held high and having stood for something. I feel like a sore thumb in a piranha pool in this industry. I don't like the way it's all run by rich men in their 50s who went to private school. It's not something I want to be part of. It makes me tired and it makes me feel ill and I don't want anything more to do with it." Reverend and the Makers' final album will reportedly be titled, French Kiss In The Chaos, and McClure claims that he will become a pedal-taxi driver in his new career. The words 'paint' and 'corner' spring to mind but if there is anyone headstrong enough to do such a thing, then McClure would certainly figure on that list...

Mark Ronson has fired back at Noel Gallagher, after the Oasis guitarist recently cast aspersions over Ronson's talent. Writing on his MySpace blog, the producer claimed: "Noel Gallagher said I should 'learn three chords on the guitar and go write a tune'. So I just wanted him to know that I'm actually taking guitar lessons from Jay-Z right now and he's already taught me both chords to Wonderwall." Pretty good retort and no doubt there will be a few more barbs before this is over...

Finally, as I mentioned a few weeks back when talking about redneck singer, John Rich, I ordinarily stay out of the US music news but this guy just irritates me so much that I simply have to write about him or I might spontaneously combust. After writing an absolutely awful song titled, Raisin McCain, which is apparently a tribute to John McCain, Rich was at it again last week, telling a crowd at a recent Republican convention in Florida: "Somebody's got to walk the line in the country. They've got to walk it unapologetically. And I'm sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around." Unless Rich has the ability to talk to the dead, I am quite certain that a statement like this is a steaming pile of horse s**t, for several reasons. First off, Johnny Cash famously stayed away from endorsing politicians and even if he changed the habit of a lifetime, I'm pretty certain that the Man In Black would have a hard time endorsing the man with seven (or more) houses, given Cash's deeply felt empathy for society's poor and oppressed. Secondly, and more importantly, he is dead and cannot respond to the vapid declarations of a vacuous cowboy, who is a poster child for why we should put lifeguards on the gene pool. To use a dead man's name in some cheap ploy like this is disgusting, reprehensible and an affront to the man and his family. Can anybody else smell smoke or is it just me?