Radiohead aren't, in the normal run of things, a band I have much time for, but I applaud their efforts on behalf of fans via this initiative.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/radiohead-try...

Whether or not it will succeed, remains to be seen. I'm not sure it will. The problem as I see it is that touts seem better able to get hold of tickets before fans. Preventing that happening is the key. How it's done is another matter, but more power to them for trying to do something.

logged on at 12.00 for the opening and got told allocation exhausted

multiple entries same result

others got tickets then the T & C tick box aborted the process

Lot of unhappy campers on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/chuggentertainment/posts/10150645046426952

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201202/programs/ZX6049A001D2012-02-1...

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/abc1/201202/programs/ZX8696A001D2012-02-1...

Went to the premier of "Anyone Can Play Guitar" - a documentary on the Oxford music scene. Thoroughly recommended as:
-an absorbing version of the last 25 years of an arguably over-performing music scene.
-it contains 100% of your RDA of cliché rock anecdotes, even for Word patrons.
-Mr Big make an appearance

I believe screenings are planned with a DVD out in October.

More at the website:
http://www.acpgthemovie.com/

The last Word email had a link to robin pecknold as a 17 year old doing a radiohead song.

Robin responded in the comments. I clicked on his name and he has posted this SEGA version of the Fleet Foxes classic . Mykonos is listed too.

http://www.youtube.com/user/robinpecknold

With the opening of the Olympic Games just over a year away, I thought that the readers of Word should get together and organise the opening ceremony.

We don't need acrobats, dancers, choirs of children or hordes of animals. What Britain does best is music, so let's have an opening ceremony that is a great big concert!

A couple of songs each from the biggest British artists of the last 50 years.

Obviously we need acts who are recognised the world over and it would be good to get a representative sample across the decades, so here is my suggestion for the running order for the Olympic opening ceremony 2012 (by the way, I may be a bit biased as I have got 2 tickets for it!)

Starting with the 1960's,
Paul McCartney (maybe with Ringo on drums)
The Rolling Stones

1970's
Led Zeppelin
David Bowie
Elton John
Pink Floyd (if they can stop arguing)

1980's - a bit tricky this one, but how about
George Michael
Duran Duran
Maybe U2 as well - they're nearly British

1990's
Radiohead

2000's
Coldplay

2010's
Adele

And all finished off with the full line up reconvening on stage for a rendition of One Day Like This with Elbow (not an internationally recognised act yet, but the song seems an appropriate choice).

Any views, comments, suggestions?

From Follow Me Down the new album by Sarah Jarosz

She does a good Decemberists cover too

She visits the UK next month and I'm looking forward to her Glasgow show.

http://stereogum.com/714152/download-radioheads-20-best-cover-songs/fran...

marvellous stuff!

... Has 'The King Of Limbs' grown on you? ... gathered dust? ... gone to Oxfam?

Directions for a potential buyer welcome.

Radiohead provides an alternative to the Metro tomorrow at these locations.Not in my city though.

http://www.theuniversalsigh.com/locations/

Saw this in the B3ta newsletter, I thought it might be enjoyed.

I've been listening to a fair bit of Eagles' "Desperado" album this week as well as the new Radiohead marmite opus. Mixed in with blog pictures for the new Johnny and the Razorlights, there seems to be an increasing trend for anyone and everyone to go through a cowboy phase.

Certainly the Beatles had theirs around 1969/1970 when recording Abbey Road and promoting Let it Be (or being photographed in a park with cowboy hats on...) The new Razorlight clearly has somebody pretending to be a cowboy. When the second Raconteurs album came out (that sold about 5 copies), it was accompanied by cover artwork that depicted the band as a western saloon band. The Eagles seemed to base their entire career around it.

So why oh why do bands seem to think that rummaging around in the dressing up box, pretending to be Ned Kelly (*cough* Jagger *cough*) or some other misbegotten ruffian in a western (*cough* Dylan *cough*)? Surely times have pushed forward to the state where dressing up like an alien sex pest in the style of Bowie or a carnivore's wet dream like Gaga is to be praised? Its just a bit more inventive than simply donning a stetson, recording a muffled guitar and creaking for that good ole southern muzak realism, surely?

Maybe I missed the memo. I thought musicians liked to posit themselves as purveyors of the real. But dressing up like a cowboy to further your art when you're a Samaritans worker from Abingdon, or a former French school art student from Muswell Hill, is just a bit sad isn't it?

Ah, the wonders of modern technology. No sooner is it announced that there is a new Radiohead album, it is upon us, available for download almost imediately, with the physical version merely a few days away.

I listened to four times consecutively yesterday and whilst initially slightly disappointed its now started to ingrain itself into my brain.

Standout tracks at the moment are the throbbingly hypnotic 'Morning Mr Magpie' and the frankly glorious 'Little By Little'. The single 'Lotus Flower' is almost be-bop in its construction.

Even though each new Radiohead album is starting to sound very similar to the last its still refreshingly ace. Repeated listening will inveil a cornucopia of delights.

It really is a masterstroke - If you love them you'll love this; If you think they're pants you'll love it, too.
Everything admirable or despicable condensed into five minutes of song & dance. Enjoy.

Radiohead - Lotus Flower

The new Radiohead album is available for download from Saturday, and can be pre-ordered now from their website.

Enjoy.

Now, back to my self-imposed blog holiday.