Joe Kavanagh's Music News

Boy George went on trial in London last week, charged with false imprisonment after allegedly holding a male escort against his will, in April of last year. According to reports, the singer, real name George O'Dowd, made contact with Audun Carlsen, in a chatroom on prominent gay website, and the pair initially met up at the singer's east London home in January. According to Carlsen, he posed naked for a photo shoot and the two men took cocaine, before parting on amicable terms, although O'Dowd did briefly accuse him of tampering with his computer. In the following weeks, Carlsen claimed that the singer bombarded him with emails accusing him of stealing personal data and pictures from his computer. Despite this, Carlsen agreed to participate in another photo session but after the shoot, O'Dowd ushered him into his bedroom, where he and another man set upon him and handcuffed him to a hook on the wall. He claims that O'Dowd continued to beat him with his fists and a chain until he freed himself and ran out onto the street wearing only his t-shirt and boxer shorts. O'Dowd's side claim that Carlsen was a willing participant in an S&M photography session and sensationalized the matter in order to sell his story to the papers. He subsequently went on to sell his story for a measly £5,500, which really isn't a whole lot considering the entire world now knows him as the "male escort guy". He could probably discover the cure for cancer and he'll still be known as the "male escort guy that liked a bit of rough"...

U2 guitarist, The Edge revealed some details of the band's imminent follow-up to 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, which is slated for release early next year. Talking to the UK media, he claimed that the band had scrapped all of their sessions with producer Rick Rubin, and returned to working with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, who have been at the helm for most of the band's albums. He also revealed details about the album itself, saying: "It's an image, Bono tells me. It's like when you're moving forward, but you're not exactly sure what you're heading towards - that moment where the sea and the sky blend into one. It's an image of infinity, I suppose - a kind of Zen image." Although he did not reveal the name of the album, rumors online claim that it will be called No Line On The Horizon. U2 were also mourning the loss of a friend and business acquaintance, with the death of Rob Partridge, who succumbed to cancer after a two-year battle. Partridge was the man who signed U2 to Island Records in 1980, and went on to work as the band's publicist. Bono paid tribute to him, saying: : "He not only had an eye for upcoming talent, he was a nurturer... a person who would educate you about the kind of obstacles you were going to meet and how to get over them... a rare human being."...

Irish television and radio personality, Terry Wogan will attempt to top the charts this Christmas with a version of Little Drummerboy/Peace On Earth, which he has recorded with Welsh singer Aled Jones. The song was originally recorded in 1977 by an equally unusual pairing in the form of David Bowie and Bing Crosby. All the money from Wogan's version will go to the charity Children In Need and it does not represent the Irishman's first foray into singing. In 1978, Wogan cracked the charts with the super schmaltzy cringe-fest, Floral Dance, and sufficed to say that his singing makes William Shatner look like Frank Sinatra...

Damon Albarn has confirmed that Blur are reforming and will definitely tour at some point next year and they are set to begin rehearsing together in the coming weeks. Albarn and former Blur guitarist, Graham Coxon, put their differences aside over dinner in a London restaurant several weeks ago, marking the first time that the two had spoken in over five years...

While Blur are reforming, Australian act, The Vines may on the verge of a breakup after the band cancelled a string of dates and announced that singer Craig Nicholls is leaving the band temporarily to deal with problems stemming from his battle with Asperger's Syndrome. A sober statement on the band's website declared: "Craig Nicholls' mental condition has deteriorated extremely rapidly over the past month to the point where he requires immediate help over an extended period of time. On behalf of The Vines we would like to extend our sincerest apologies to those of you who have bought tickets to see us perform and will not get to do so. We are all absolutely devastated that we've been forced to cancel all upcoming shows as there's nothing we love more than playing on stage before an enthusiastic audience. We ask for your understanding in this situation." Nicholls famously had a meltdown of sorts when the Australian band performed on the Letterman Show several years back and has struggled mightily with all manner of head issues stemming from his condition...

The parents of missing Manic Street Preachers guitarist, Richey Edwards were granted a court order last week that officially declared their son dead, putting an official stamp on what everybody has long believed. Edwards, who suffered from depression, went missing in February of 1995 and his car was later found near the Severn Bridge. The remaining band members are said to be "hugely emotional" at this latest sad development, made all the more poignant by the fact that they are currently recording new material, some of which uses lyrics written by Edwards...

New Order have been forced to recall the recently released collector's editions of their back catalog due to issues with sound quality. Complaints poured in from fans in the US in particular and the following statement was released by the band: "Warner Bros UK, Rhino and New Order regret that the initial pressings of the collector editions of 'Movement', 'Power, Corruption And Lies', 'Low Life', 'Brotherhood' and 'Technique' contain some minor audio problems on the bonus discs." New Order don't have much luck with recordings. The elaborate cover for their seminal single, Blue Monday, was so expensive that the band actually lost money every time they sold a copy, which turned out to be quite expensive, given the fact that it became the highest selling 12" of all time...

Coventry band The Enemy have finished recording their second album and singer Tom Clarke spoke of the results in an interview with the BBC last week. The singer bizarrely claimed: "Imagine cloning a woolly mammoth and an elephant then gluing the two together and then getting AC/DC to ride the back of it with Noel Gallagher sitting on the trunk just having a little sing song with [Paul] Weller." What the heck? Get off the drugs lad...

Speaking of whacky words, a poem that Paul McCartney wrote for Spike Milligan sold at auction for almost $10,000 last week. McCartney and Milligan were good friends and the former often visited Milligan's Essex home for tea when he was using a local recording studio. The poem titled, The Poet of Dumswoman Lane also contains drawings by the former Beatle and the poem itself could as easily come from the pen of Milligan himself, such is its daftness. "The voice of the poet of Dumbwoman's Lane/Can be heard across vallies [sic] of sugar-burned cane/And nostrils that sleep through the wildest of nights /Will be twitching to gain aromatic insights. The wife of the farmer of Poppinghole Lane/Can be seen from the cab of the Robertsbridge train/And passengers comments will frequently turn/To the wages the wife of a farmer can earn/The poet of Dumbwoman's lane sallies forth/He is hoping for no-one to see." I'm guessing that this was written during Yellow Submarine-era Macca rather than Hard Day's Night Paul.