For God's sake don't show this to Brian Wilson. The man is still fragile:

Hat tip: http://b3ta.com

Stevie Riks is a one-off – his impression of the rock pantheon are so spot-on they're quite amazing. And, in none-more-modern style, he does it all on YouTube. You can read his story in this month's issue of THE WORD but in the meantime, as promised, here are some of Stevie's finest moments…

Ringo makes toast!

Macca makes a cuppa!

Lennon makes a Pot Noodle!

Keef reads the news!

Mick flogs his old motor!

Elton's tribute to Corrie!

Or just go to his YouTube channel and see the lot.

Happy birthday to MIXMAG, the Raver's Digest, which celebrates its Silver Jubilee this week. You might think THE WORD doesn't have all that much in common with esteemed dance music journal MIXMAG, but they're both magazines for passionate and clued-up readers who don't require mainstream endorsement of the things they love. MIXMAG is thriving here at Development Hell and we know of at least one person who subscribes to both our magazines (anyone else want to out themselves as a member of that elite group?)

Many happy returns to MIXMAG from us next door, and will you please turn that minimal trance down? Thanks.

Here's a "galaxy" of stars in the birthday issue of MIXMAG, via ITN:

You may have read that Radiohead have broken their current single 'Nude' into its constituent parts and allowed people to download these "stems" so they can make their own remixes. They're all up on iTunes (cannily priced at 79p each or £3.95 the lot).

The band have also put up a special site hosting the mixes, where you can hear them and vote for the best ones. It's surprisingly entertaining, particularly Amplive's brilliant hip hop version. No doubt someone somewhere is diligently capturing all the streams and a BitTorrent of all of them will appear somewhere soon.

Meanwhile, the separated tracks for Bohemian Rhapsody and Marvin Gaye's Ain't No Mountain High Enough are now floating around the internet, and more are sure to leak soon. Are we entering an era when no song is ever "finished" and the punter's take on it is as valid as the artist's?

Unofficial DIY video for UK garage chap Wiley's wonderful new tune 'Wearing My Rolex.'

Nice to get a bit of 'What Would We Do' by DSK on the WORD board for we ageing cheesy quavers...

Someone on their subs desk has exquisite taste.

Apropos of nothing, the titles to Star Wars as Saul Bass would have done them.

In the wake of the UN drugs watchdog report, THE WORD's own Rob Fitzpatrick engages in a heated debate on today's Sky News, while wearing a possibly inappropriate t-shirt.

WORD readers: are our attitudes towards drug-hoofing celebrities too lenient? Would Pete Doherty benefit from a short sharp shock? Are people aware of the dangers of "snorting crack cocaine", as the lady from Sky says? What about the children? Or is this another one of those daft questions that comes up on slow news days and makes no difference to anything at all?

I was lucky enough to see Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds supported by Spiritualized (below) at the final show of iTunes Live London Sessions last night. The gig took place in the main room of AIR Studios – workplace of U2, George Michael, McCartney and Coldplay – and we were so close we could have picked the bands' pockets if we'd dared.

Cave in particular was on magnificent form, playing most of the new album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!; making nonchalant use of a lectern for mnemonic purposes (if you're going to do this, it helps if you look like a preacher from Deadwood); and asking audience members to hold his cup of tea for him before launching into another fearsome spate of apparent full-body possession by demons.

What really came across was how special a show is when you can see the whites of the performers' eyes – when you can read the expressions on their faces. Is this a future avenue for the live game, when the enormo-gig and mega-drome experience begins to pall? Just how much would you be willing to pay to be in a room with just 300 people in it, with a band for once not resembling stick figures on the horizon?

Pictures: Robin Lingwood

As you may know, Ron and Russell Mael are playing their entire back catalogue of albums, in order, round the corner from THE WORD office at the London Islington Academy between May 16 and June 11.

They're looking for support bands for the Sparks Spectacular. Could your band, or your mates' band, or just a band you know and like, fit the bill?

There'll be a different support band for each night, commencing with the 1971 album Halfnelson and concluding with 2006’s Hello Young Lovers. Bands who fancy their chances should upload a live performance video to youtube and send the link to info@republicmedia.net with a bit of blurb about themselves. Entrants will be added to the video channel at www.youtube.com/republicmedia and the winning bands will be notified no later than April 30. Good luck…

1] Scritti Politti
2] Milli Vanilli
3] Hayzee Fantayzee
4] Tina Arena
5] Moqtada al-Sadr.

Can anyone think of any more?

We're working on a story about the way concert ticketing has changed for the worse. It used to be a simple matter of either queueing in the rain, or paying 50% over the odds to a Happy Mondays lookalike on the night – now it's an ordeal of jammed websites at 9am on a Friday, fan-site pre-sales, scouring eBay and countless new obstacles. Wasn't the Internet supposed to make these things easier?

Bing! An email arrives!

"Efrim Menuck, of Godspeed You Black Emperor announces that the band have called it a day, citing, somewhat profoundly, "an existential freak-out" regarding the Iraq war as the main reason for their split... 'The last American tour that Godspeed did was in the run up to the current war in Iraq,' he told drownedinsound.com. 'It was very difficult for us to work out a way for us to communicate directly with the audience about what was going on. We would talk to people after the shows, or we could make announcements from the stage but so much what Godspeed was, was one-way communication.'"

Well it beats 'friction in rhythm section' or 'singer goes solo' as a reason to call it a day. Can WORD readers cite any better reasons bands have given for calling it a day?

"Do You Like Pub Rock Music?" as the album title could have it. WORD favourites British Sea Power played Canvey Island last night, accompanied by local legend and pub rock prime mover Wilko Johnson, seen here with guitarist Noble astride his shoulders. Is this a Pet Shop Boys/Dusty Springfield moment which may bear future musical fruit? One can but hope.

Would readers like to suggest other local heroes who should be mandated to appear with any band playing on their "manor"?

Hurrah for WORD favourites Eels for this one-second ad for their b-sides and rarities CD Useless Trinkets, which appeared during a commercial break in Sunday's Superbowl. It's all they could afford and it still cost a hundred grand. But we're giving it high marks for cut-through, blue sky thinking, harvesting low-hanging fruit and being on-message.

NASA are to beam Across The Universe by The Beatles directly into space later today in a transmission aimed at the North Star, 431 light years away. But is this wise?

Assuming that whomever (or whatever) receives the song can decode the lyrics, I wonder how they'll take them. To an alien intelligence, "Nothing's gonna change my world" might sound less of an expression of Zen contentment and more like "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough." I can't see the Cylons, the Daleks, the Treens or the Borg taking that lying down, can you?

And anyway, how is this sending the right message about music piracy to the impressionable extraterrestrial demographic?

Perhaps WORD readers can suggest a more suitable song to beam to our alien brothers, sisters and asexual clone hive minds. The very future of civilisation could be at stake.

This is funny for two entirely different sets of reasons, one of them unintentional. From Walk Hard: The Dewy Cox story.

I'm supposed to be seeing Morrissey at the Roundhouse tonight, if his throat mends itself. Among this morning's frenzy of texts following Mozzer's three-song show on Friday was one saying "listen to j ross on r2 he went hes talking about it now". I don't listen to Radio Two but you have to pay attention at the birth of history so I tuned in.

And what a horrible, self-regarding tale it was. Having related how he, David Walliams, Russell Brand, David Baddiel and a few other great showbiz mates got together to go to the show (don't they know anybody who isn't on TV?) he described Morrissey's voice problems and shortened performance. The audience is getting restive, no-one knows what is happening… what to do? Then David Walliams volunteers Brand, Ross and himself to go onstage and "do a bit" to entertain the punters, advise the retention of ticket stubs and so on.

Is this the preening modern celebrity self-image in a nutshell or what? There isn't a single situation that can't be solved by adding a bit of Brand's cod-Victoriana or him from Little Britain. The crowd, naturally, weren't impressed – they threw coins and plastic glasses, they booed, and good for them.

Whatever you think of Morrissey and his world, it's not the same as 3am and Bizarre. If I'd paid the £80-£120 that tickets were commanding on eBay, I think I'd be pretty riled to see a bunch of great showbiz chums swanning on to make it all right simply by gracing us with the magic of their presence. I might even realise that I go to see Morrissey precisely to get away from people like that.

Ross then said how it all started to get a bit nasty on the way out, with people shouting at him and his poor celeb friends (they thought Brand and Walliams had been mocking them from the stage) and finally a minor scuffle. Thank heavens the celebs had security on hand to protect them! This of course has to be the primary consideration. Rossy seemed genuinely amazed that anyone could be annoyed by a celebrity under any circumstances at all; a tunnel vision of the world perhaps betrayed by the fact that there wasn't single person he mentioned in his anecdote who wasn't famous themselves.

I don't doubt that Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand, David Walliams and the rest of them are sincere admirers of Morrissey's music (although I can't picture them desperately pressing "refresh" on the Seetickets page to buy tickets like the plebs). But the unthinking assumption that of course we'll be glad to see them whatever the circumstances really winds me up. Amazingly, when most people go to a show, they don't want to see who else had turned up – they just want to see the show.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My tickets tonight were paid for with actual money by my good friend David. But I'm going on press tickets on Sunday like the hypocrite I am.

...here is a lovely bit of YouTubery that is enlivening THE WORD's first day back in the office of 2008 (yes, we know, slack and idle and need to get our fingers out etc etc).

Hurrah to WORD contributor Joe Muggs for spotting this.

Far be it from us to suggest that ringing Eno is what bands do when they've run out of ideas (U2, James, Coldplay) but it will be interesting to see if Nick Clegg decides to make policy on the basis of Bri's famed Oblique Strategies cards.

"State the problem in words as clearly as possible" and "What to increase? What to reduce?" seem like sound advice for politicians. You might even be able to get away with "Honour thy error as a hidden intention" – although Mark Oaten might have found that one a tough sell (better than "Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify", though).

Maybe Nick will strike lucky and pull the card that reads "Use your own ideas".