Joe Kavanagh's Music News

It announced itself with a plume of smoke from a little-known volcano in Iceland, with a name like a tongue-twister, but by the time the great ash cloud of 2010 began to recede, it was responsible for over 63,000 flight cancellations, at a cost to the airlines of some $200 million. It also played havoc with the world of music as numerous acts were forced to cancel appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, and a clutch of music festivals were cancelled. In true showbiz fashion however, the show went on for some acts, as bands took the rail systems and highways of Europe in an effort to meet their adoring public. Even Metallica jumped into a tour bus in order to meet their commitments, something they had not done since 1986, when bassist Cliff Burton was killed upon being thrown from just such a vehicle. The travel chaos forced Sting to step in for wife Trudie Styler, who was unable to make it to New York for the premier of Wake Up, a movie upon which she acted as co-executive producer. Styler relayed the message that she had been "detained in Europe by Mother Earth", which I'm sure she meant metaphorically, although considering how Sting has used the environment to keep his name in the spotlight down the years, I wouldn't be surprised if Mother Earth actually does apprehend him one day, and give him a ruddy good water-boarding...

To her credit, Whitney Houston also got on with things, traveling back and forth a couple of time on a ferry between Ireland and the UK, as she managed to make all of her dates on either side of the Irish Sea. Houston also thrilled Irish fans, when she invited a young girl up on stage to help her sing The Greatest Love Of All, during one of her Dublin performances. Reviewers reported that the audience went wild for the youngster's performance, which is a better reception than the troubled singer has been used to on her current tour, given the critical savaging she has received of late...

Golden oldie rockers Status Quo were also caught short by the travel turmoil gripping Europe, as the band were unable to fly out of Russia, after a gig in Moscow. Faced with the prospect of no air travel, the group made the decision to drive to Poland in time from their next gig, and then continued by road all the way back to the UK. I'm guessing that's one bus you would not want to be stuck behind all the way across a continent if the band's driver is as old as they are. Can you imagine the complaining that went on during that trip? Speaking of their dilemma last week, singer Francis Rossi claimed: "We've enjoyed spending extra time in Moscow but, after all we've been through over the years, I never thought that our touring schedule would be threatened by a volcano." And that's saying something because Status Quo have been around so long that they've probably had to face down dinosaurs and outrun Nubian chariots during the course of their extensive career...

With controversy still simmering as a result of Yoko Ono's recent decision to allow John Lennon's voice and image to be used on a gauche European car commercial (for a price of course), the late-Beatle's widow claims that she would never consider performing a duet with her dead husband. Talking to Indie Rock Cafewebsite, she declared: "I respect too much John's music (sic) to do something like that." Perhaps I'm a little skeptical but something about that rings a little hollow. Anyway, adding Yoko Ono's voice to John Lennon's music is a pure case of subtraction by addition, as I can't imagine her shrieks and caterwauling would be all that popular. I wouldn't think there's much of a market for: "Imagine there's no heaven"/"Ayeeeeee, shitakeeeeee" "It's easy if you try"/"Waheeewockawockawocka" ...

Speaking of shilling yourself, Kelly Clarkson has come under fire from anti-tobacco advocates, due to the promotional activity in Indonesia surrounding a gig by the singer. Apparently an Indonesian cigarette company had placed their brand name prominently on every poster advertising the American Idol-winner's Jakarta gig, which took place over the weekend. The move drew the fire of several US anti-tobacco groups that were outraged by the act, although Clarkson has denied that she knew anything of the decision. Writing on her blog last week, she claimed: "Unfortunately, my only option at this point was to cancel the show in order to stop the sponsorship. However, I can't justify penalizing my fans for someone else's oversight. This is a lose-lose situation for me and I am not happy about it but the damage has been done and I refuse to cancel on my fans. I think the hardest part of situations like this is getting personally attacked for something I was completely unaware of and being used as some kind of political pawn." If she really wanted to please both sides then surely she could have just donated a good portion the cash from the gig to a charity dedicated to fighting cancer, instead of giving the whole 'I''m just a little old cog in a wheel' speech. As a Christie Todd Whitman once said: "Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference has never tried to fall asleep with a mosquito in the room."...

While we are on the subject of manufactured pop stars, Damon Albarn was the latest musician to blast Simon Cowell's star factory production line, decrying it as an affront to the artistic way. Speaking to MTV last week, Albarn stated: "I can't really engage with the stuff that comes out of Simon Cowell's imagination. I really don't want to share it, because it's - his imagination is sort of, by a pool, where he's endlessly looking at a rubber duck, just floating from one side to the other, pulling his trousers up a little more. And someone brings him a drink, then he goes back again to watching the duck. I feel I deserve a little more than that. So all the music that comes out of that entire culture, that's what I think of it. I want no part of it, really." Oooookaaaay. I'm guessing from that statement that when it comes to his own creative process, Damon uses a bong instead of a rubber duck...

Staying with off-kilter musicians for a moment, Adam Ant is due to make his return in the coming months, with his first album in 15 years. The 80s legend (real name: Stuart Goddard) has endured a well documented battle with mental illness during the course of the past decade or so, which saw him participate in several violent incidents that eventually forced authorities to have him sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The Stand And Deliver singer now looks set to return with an album tentatively titled: Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar in Marrying The Gunner's Daughter. The record will feature a song named Who's A Goofy Bunny Then? which is dedicated to the late Malcolm McClaren, who briefly acted as Ant's manager in the 1970s. Given that the last time Adam Ant was heard from, he was strolling around the streets of London in a cowboy outfit threatening to shoot people with a fake gun, I'd say that this represents a move in the right direction, irrespective of how the album turns out...

I read last week where Sophie Ellis Bextor is anxious to change her sound in an effort to get her career back on track. The Groove Jet singer says that she would like to work with either the Killers, Kings Of Leon or Daft Punk, which is a little ambitious, given how far her career has fallen in recent times. I mean, I'd like to be 6' 4" and drive a Bentley but it doesn't mean it's going to happen any time soon...

Sticking with the Killers for a moment, word emerged last week that the Las Vegas band's drummer, Ronnie Vannucci has decided to team up with Keane songwriter, Tim Rice-Oxley, to participate in a new musical project. If they manage to talk a member of Kaiser Chiefs into joining and take their songwriting in a disgustingly bigoted direction then I think we have a name for them, and a few pillow cases would do the job when it comes to picking stage gear...

Pete Doherty may be one of the most troubled, confused and downright unreliable people in music, but despite all of his woes, he was always known as a nice guy and the personification of 'his own worst enemy'. That reputation might be set to take a bit of a hit, after he played a gig with Babyshambles in London last week. Nothing too strange about that, but for the fact that he apparently arrived on stage with a host of new band members, without telling the old members of Babyshambles that they were no longer part of the group. If true, then such an act would do much to undo his nice guy image, as not even Pete Doherty can get smashed enough to forget to tell his drummer and bassist that he had replaced them. His former band mates found out about their replacements by reading about it online, but while Doherty's act is pretty spineless, it's certainly not the most memorable way that a band member has been told that they are no longer wanted. For pure coldness, it's hard to look beyond Andy Rourke, who found out that his services as a bassist were no longer required after a decade as a member of The Smiths, by virtue of a note that Morrissey left pinned to the wiper on his car windshield. The most bizarre band breakup probably goes to Killing Joke, who dissolved after singer Jaz Coleman allegedly became obsessed with a prophecy that talked of an island at the end of the earth. I'm guessing he was on something a little stronger than Damon Albarn's bong. Perhaps the best breakup - or would-be breakup at least - was the time Kinks front man Ray Davies announced the band's split during a gig in 1973, which surely would have been a dramatic moment but for the fact that somebody had just switched his microphone off, so the band continued on...

The man responsible for breaking three of Noel Gallagher's ribs, has been sentenced to a year's house arrest by Canadian authorities. Daniel Sullivan caused Gallagher the injury when he invaded the stage and pushed the guitarist into the crowd during a 2008 performance by Oasis, in Toronto. The 48-year-old defendant was convicted on a charge of grievous bodily harm, but not before he claimed to be "profoundly sorry" for his actions. Ironically, if he had somehow traveled into the future and pushed Liam Gallagher off stage this summer, he would probably put himself in line for a medal...

Finally, on a somewhat more serious note. While my main remit in this column is to cover the goings on in the world of music outside the US, I feel it is important to at least acknowledge the untimely passing of preternaturally talented hip hop pioneer, Guru, who succumbed to cancer one week ago. As an artist of the highest caliber, his work intrigued, moved and beguiled down through the years, as he gave freely of a fiercely-cerebral gift that was singularly his own. In a time when hip hop specifically - and the music world in general - is rightly criticized for its increasing celebration of vacuous, materialistic mores, which aspire to nothing more than perpetuating their own myopic mythology, his was a voice that challenged, provoked and dared us to want more. Like a hero of the low mimetic, he was distinctly of the people but blessed with a gift that elevated him far above anything that most of the rest of us could ever aspire to, and he leaves us a loquacious legacy that will surely burn more brightly with every day. He may have set down a path, but nobody will ever fill his shoes. R.I.P.