BBC4 will be focusing on Pink Floyd on Friday, 23 May, showing The Pink Floyd Story: Which One's Pink? at 9.30pm, chronicling the band's history including their Live 8 performance in 2005; at 10.30pm showing Classic Albums, featuring their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon; and finishing at 11.20pm with Syd Barrett: Omnibus, profiling the founding member who withdrew from public life until his recent death.

 

The legendary singer/songwriter Neil Diamond will appear and perform on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on Friday, 23 May, at 10.35pm on BBC1, which will be repeated on Saturday.

 

Friday, 23 May's extended repeat of Later....with Jools Holland, which was shown live in shorter form on Tuesday, will feature Martha Wainwright and Paul Weller.  Tune in at 11.40pm on BBC2.

 

The Transatlantic Sessions being shown on BBC4 on Friday, 23 May, at 7.30pm is the old but fine one featuring Eddi Reader and Boo Hewerdine singing a foot-tapping Hummingbird, which is available on the series album.  Nanci Griffiths and Paul Brady also feature in that episode.  It's repeated at 3.20am.

 

The always excellent Boo Hewerdine is not only busy touring with Chris Difford promoting the latter's new album on which they collaborated, but also just released his own EP called Toy Box No 1, which at present is available from Amazon.co.uk for only £6.99.

 

You absolutely must watch BBC2 on Monday, 19 May, at 11.20pm, as they will be showing the BBC4 documentary Edwyn Collins: Home Again, about how the former Orange Juice frontman and solo singer/songwriter of hits like A Girl Like You survived a brain haemorrhage, endured  a lengthy and ongoing rehabilitation, and began re-learning the guitar in hopes of being able to tour again, which he is now doing.  Totally inspirational, it really puts your own problems in perspective.

 

Carlene Carter's gig on 12 May at the Shepherd's Bush Empire had been cancelled.

 

Steve Winwood will be promoting his new album, Nine Lives, at the London Scala on Monday, 19 May.

 

The great Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly aka singer/songwriter Sam Duckworth will appear on BBC Radio 3's The Verb performing and discussing comparisons of his work with that of Billy Bragg.  Tune in at 9.45pm on Friday, 9 May.  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

Beth Rowley will play Dingwalls on 3 June.

 

Robert Plant is expected to appear at 8.45am on Wednesday, 7 May, on BBC1's breakfast programme.  As he is without Alison Krauss, I believe, I expect he will just be chatting and not performing.

 

Brian Wilson will play at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath on 28 June.  Tickets cost up to £36.

 

The Buzzcock's Pete Shelley, the Fall's Mark E Smith, Lily Allen, Don Letts and Phill Jupitus will contribute to BBC Radio 4's programme The Bard of Salford, profiling punk poet John Cooper Clarke, on Thursday, 8 May, at 11.30am.  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

We Are Scientists will appear on the BBC3 music/comedy show The Wall on Tuesday, 6 May, at 11pm.

 

The BBC4 documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, where Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett learns more about his late father, quantum physicist Hugh Everett III, will be shown on BBC2 on Wednesday, 7 May, at 11.20pm.

 

Robbie Williams and Jon Ronson Journey to the Other Side will appear on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday, 6 May, featuring the journalist accompanying the singer to a UFO conference in Nevada.  You can listen online for up to a week.

 

Tune in to Later Live...with Jools Holland on Tuesday, 6 May, on BBC2 at 10pm to see Jools' old Squeeze bandmate Chris Difford promoting his fine new album.  As he's been touring with co-writer and producer Boo Hewerdine, an amazing singer/songwriter in his own right, there is hope we will at last see Boo on Jools' show, though it would be preferable to see him perform his own material as well.  Other guests include the Fratellis, Emmylou Harris and Robert Plant with Alison Krauss.  An extended version of the programme appears on Friday, 9 May, at 11.35pm.  (The Radio Times actually only mentions Difford in the listing for Friday, so it could be that he only performs in that programme, as Liam Finn only appeared in the Friday version of the programme on the previous week.  Frankly, I think that way of doing things is rubbish, that all artists should appear on both shows, but the extended version might include extra songs by them.)

 

BBC Radio 4's Great Lives on Tuesday, 6 May, at 4.30pm will focus on the late Joy Division singer Ian Curtis.   Poet Simon Armitage 'champions' the singer's status as great and will be joined by former Joy Division and current New Order band member Peter Hook.   You can listen online for up to a week.

 

Channel 4 shows Amy Winehouse: What Really Happened on Tuesday, 6 May, at 10pm, which will be repeated on Wednesday, 7 May, at 11.05pm.  In this last of these documentaries, Jacques Peretti seeks "to understand the forces that drive the singer and her troubled private life".

 

The Drifters will be performing on 8 June at Indigo2.  Tickets are £30 to £35.

 

Tune into BBC4 on Friday, 24 April, for a Van Morrison feast.  at 10pm, the station will broadcast BBC Four Sessions: Van Morrison, a concert filmed in the intimate and beautiful LSO St Luke's in London, followed at 11pm with a newly compiled selection of Van The Man's performances on Later....with Jools Holland.  They will be repeated a few hours later at 1.10am and 3.10am, respectively, on Saturday morning, with a great Soul Britannia programme, which will also be shown at 9pm about the impact of black American and Caribbean influences on British music, in between at 2.10am.

 

Seu Jorge, the Brazillian composer/singer who performed the wonderful covers of David Bowie songs in the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall on 21 May.  Tickets are £15-25.

 

Dancer in the Dark, the Lars von Trier film starring Bjork and Catherine Daneuve, will be shown on More4 at 9pm on Friday, 25 April.

 

Impressive singer/songwriter Jael Naim, who performs in both English and Hebrew, will be promoting her lovely album with musician Donald Donatien that includes the delightful song New Soul, used in the Apple Mac Book advert, with a concert at the Scala on 28 May.  Tickets are only £10, which should be definitely worth it.  Visit their MySpace site to hear samples of their work.

 

An extended edition of Tuesday's Later...with Jools Holland, featuring guests Eartha Kitt, Brenda Carlisle, The Pigeon Detectives, the Charlatans, and Was (Not Was), will be shown on BBC2 on Friday, 25 April, at 11.35pm.

 

Madness will appear at The 02 Arena on 19 December 2008.

 

Glen Hansard (of The Frames) and Markéta Irglová, the pair who starred in and performed the lovely music for the film Once, including the gorgeous Falling Slowly, will be playing the Barbican on 3 June.  Tickets are £10-20; surely you can't miss with that one.

 

Channel 4 will be showcasing tracks from the debut album of Foy Vance at 1.15am on Saturday, 12 April.

 

Chris Difford is due to play the Hard Rock Cafe at 7.30pm on Tuesday, 8 April.  Tickets are £25, his new album (in collaboration with the great Boo Hewerdine) The Last Temptation of Chris, released by the legendary Stiff records the previous day, sounds wonderful, and the proceeds will benefit Nordoff-Robins Music Therapy.

 

The important documentary Who Killed Kirsty MacColl? , which follows the campaign of the mother of the excellent and greatly missed singer/songwriter who seeks the truth about the boating accident that killed her daughter in 2000, will be shown again on BBC4 on Friday, 11 April, and repeated the next morning at 3.05am.  Be sure to see that one.

 

The brilliant Joe Jackson will be promoting his new album, Rain, at Cadogan Hall on 22 May.  Tickets are £28.50.

 

Billy Bragg will give a special St George's Day concert at the Barbican on Wednesday, 23 April, at 7.30pm, entitled Looking for a New England.  He'll be joined by Tom Clarke of The Enemy and Kitty, Rachel Unthank & the Winterset, and Daisy & Lewis

 

Karine Polwart is still doing well, having released another highly praised album, This Earthly Spell, on Proper.

 

The final of the current series of Transatlantic Sessions will be shown on BBC4 on Friday, 11 April, at 7.30pm and featuring a collaboration between the sensational Paul Brady and Cara Dillon, with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas also performing a duet of sorts.

 

Boy Kill Boy will perform on 4Music on Channel 4 on Saturday, 12 April, at 12.20am.

 

Richard Thompson and Mary Gauthier play the Royal Festival Hall on 24 May.  Tickets range from £10 to £27.50.

 

Status Quo fans might be pleased to learn that they will be performing at Wembley Arena on Saturday, 13 December, promoting their album Pictures--40 Years of Hits, which will be released in November.  They'll also be playing Fairfield Hall on 7 October.  Tickets are £32.50.

 

Colin Meloy of The Decemberists has released an album of acoustic recordings called Colin Meloy Sings Live!, which is available on CD and download from 7 April.

 

It looks as though BBC4 will be repeating the controversial Proms on Four concert featuring West End star Michael Ball, shown on terrestrial television in August 2007, now on Friday, 11 April at 11pm.

 

Actress Scarlett Johannson is working on an album of covers of Tom Waits songs called Anywhere I Lay My Hat, with David Bowie providing backing vocals on two tracks.

 

Cat Power will play Hammersmith Apollo, with special guests Beach House, on Sunday, 8 June.  Old timers like me will be glad the performance will be all-seated.  Power's promoting her latest album, Jukebox.

 

Johnny Cash's step-daughter and the ex-Mrs Nick Lowe, Carlene Carter, has released her first album since 1995 called Stronger, no doubt referring to surviving a great deal of hardship since we last heard from her.  She also performs at Shepherd's Bush Empire on Monday, 12 May.

 

Midge Ure of Ultravox will present a two-part programme called Rocking Scots on BBC Radio 4, which begins on Thursday, 10 April, at 11.30pm when he returns to Glasgow to explore his musical roots, also looking at other Scottish contributors to rock and pop music.   This first programme will include contributions by Eddi Reader and Jim Diamond and will be repeated on Saturday, 12 May, at 10.30am.  The second programme, which apparently won't be broadcast until 10.30am on Saturday, 19 May,  will include Simple Mind's Jim Kerr, Texas' Sharleen Spiteri, Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross and Proclaimers Charlie and Craig Reid.  No mention of Glaswegian Roddy Frame, but one can always hope.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Former My Life Story frontman Jake Shillingford has released a solo album called A Collection of Acoustic Songs, including his version of the band's pretty Claret.

 

Ravi Shankar's Farewell to Europe tour will reach the Barbican Centre on Thursday, 29 May, and Wednesday, 4 June, at 7.30pm.

 

The Rolling Stones' soundtrack album Shine a Light is available on Polydor.

 

José Gonzalez will perform a live session for BBC 6 Music between 10am and 1pm on Friday, 11 April.  You can hear it online.

 

John Fogerty (ex-Creedence Clearwater Revival) brings his Revival tour to the Royal Albert Hall  on Tuesday, 24 June.

 

TCM will once again be showing the Michael Antonioni classic Blowup, which captures the swinging 60s wonderfully when a fashion photographer played by the late David Hemmings thinks he's stumbled upon evidence of a murder.  The film features a performance by The Yardbirds when both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were in the band.  Apparently their 'part' was meant to be taken by The Who but a contract dispute saw the Yardbirds take their place.  Tune in at 9pm on Thursday, 10 April.

 

Iron and Wine will play the Forum on Friday, 16 May.

 

Paul Weller is in the studio with a new album due out in June.

 

The great Joe Jackson will appear on Soundtrack of My Life on Wednesday, 9 April, at 11.40pm on ITV1 in the London region.

 

Do not miss Wednesday night on BBC Radio 2 on 9 April, as the absolutely magnificent Irish singer/songwriter Luka Bloom (brother of Christy Moore) will be Mike Harding's guest at 7pm, and then Billy Bragg will perform live on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's programme beginning at 8pm.  You can listen online.

 

The Long Blondes have released their second album, Couples, to a fairly lukewarm reception, though it's probably worth hearing and is available at some online outlets for just under £9 now.

 

Later Live...with Jools Holland on BBC2 on Tuesday, 8 April, will feature live performances from Goldfrapp and the Kooks.  The extended version will be shown on Friday, 11 April, at 11.35pm.

 

Loudon's daughter and Rufus' sister Martha Wainwright performs at the Royal Festival Hall on Monday, 19 May.

 

The King of Rock'n'Soul, Solomon Burke, will be performing at the Barbican on 3 July.  Tickets are £20-30.  I saw him at the Albert Hall years ago and he performed dressed in a white hat and suit, sitting on a red velvet thrown, with several James Brown-style attendants, and women from the audience queued up at his feet to receive roses from him as he sang with that incredible voice.  It's an experience.

 

The channel Dave continues to show TOTP2 regularly, usually weekdays at 6pm and 6.30pm and 8am on Sundays.  Tune in for some frequently amazing treats from the Top of the Pops archives (even bands like Split Enz), as well as some admirable modern performances recording when the TOTP2 shows were first broadcast by the BBC a few years ago.

 

Jesse Malin has released a covers album called On Your Sleeve.

 

Paul Gambaccini presents the history of Electra Records in a six-part series on BBC Radio 2, which begins on Monday, 7 April, at 11.30pm.  The first edition includes contributions from Carly Simon, and as the label included artists such as Love, Tim Buckley, Harry Chapin, Judy Collins, the Doors, Tim Paxton and Bread, there should be plenty of treats in store throughout the series.  You can listen online.

 

The archive sessions on BBC 6 Music played at 4am will include Divine Comedy at Glastonbury 2004 on Monday, 7 April; Teardrop Explodes in Guildford 1981 on Tuesday, 8 April; and Kathryn Williams at Summer Sundae in 2006 on Thursday, 10 April.  You can listen online.

 

On the magnificent David Letterman's programme, thankfully now shown in the UK on DivaTV, you can see Counting Crows close the show on Monday, 7 April (shown in the US on 24 March) at 9pm, and the enjoyable A Fine Frenzy do the same on the show broadcast on Sunday, 6 April, at 10pm (originally shown in the US on 6 February).  Additional forthcoming treats are the marvellous Cat Power on   15 April at 10pm, Norah Jones on  16 April at 9pm, and the wonderful Irish singer/songwriter Paddy Casey on  17 April at 9pm.

 

Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra will perform with Marc Almond at Excel on 24 July and 1 August.  Tickets are £25 to £33.

 

Curtis Hanson's 2002 film 8 Mile about a rapper starring Eminem will be shown on ITV2 at 11.35pm on Tuesday, 8 April.

 

Willie Nelson features in the episode of Monk that the Hallmark Channel is showing on Monday, 7 April, at 10am and 6pm.

 

Jools Holland's guests on his radio programme on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, 7 April, at 10.30pm will be Irish rockabilly/blues singer Imelda May and her husband, guitarist Darrel Higham.  You can listen online.

 

Squeeze will play Excel on 26 July.  Tickets are £25 to £33.

 

Singer/songwriter Adam Green will perform live on Tom Robinson's programme on BBC 6 Music on Monday, 7 April, at 7pm.  Some of you will know him from the Juno soundtrack, as half of Moldy Peaches performing Anyone Else But You.  You can listen online.  Green can also be seen at Koko on Tuesday, 8 April, from 7pm.  Tickets are £12.50pm, and the support will be Noah and the Whale and Turner Cody.

 

The original members of Level 42 will perform at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 October.  Tickets are £27-35.

 

Marc Almond plays a few nights at Wilton's Music Hall, from 28 April to 4 May.

 

James perform live on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie's programme on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, 7 April, at 8pm. You can listen online.

 

You can see the legendary Leonard Cohen perform at 02 Arena on 17 July.  tickets cost £50 to £75.

 

ITV3 on Sunday, 6 April, at 9pm will broadcast Paul McCartney: The Space Within US,  a documentary charting his 37-stp US tour in 2005, including concert footage and interviews.

 

Blind Boys of Alabama will be Aled Jones' guests on BBC Radio 2 at 7am on Sunday, 6 April.  You can listen online.

 

Echo & the Bunnymen will be playing the Albert Hall on 16 September.  Tickets are £20 to £37.50.

 

Brian Kennedy has a new covers album out called Interpretations.

 

From Friday, 4 April, to Tuesday, 8 April, BBC 6 Music will continue repeating the ten-part programme In My Life--John Lennon Remembered, usually from 3am to 4am each morning.  That will be followed by a repeat of the Rolling Stones Story from Wednesday, 9 April. You can listen online up to a week after each episode.

 

Martha Reeves will play the Jazz Cafe on15 to 17 August.  Tickets are £30-35.

 

Kathleen Edwards has released her third album, Asking for Flowers, on Rounder/Decca.

 

The Biography Channel will be broadcasting plenty for music fans during the week beginning Saturday, 5 April. Most of the shows are repeated several times, so check their site for listings.  A few to mention: Tom Jones Live from Cardiff on Saturday, 5 April, at 8am, 1pm, and other days; a new profile of Duran Duran at 9pm on Saturday, 5 April, and midnight on Sunday, with other showings; Duran Duran: Extraordinary World on Saturday, 5 April, from 10pm, and other times/days; Pink profile at 5.30pm on Monday, 7 April; Meat Loaf and his Bat Out of Hell album at 6pm on Monday, 7 April, repeated at midnight the next day and other times; Red Hot Chili Peppers profile at 12.30pm on Wednesday, 9 April; John Entwistle of The Who, "Thunderfingers" at 6pm on Wednesday, 9 April, and again at midnight the next day; Child Stars: Kid Rockers including New Kids on the Block, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, the Jacksons, the Osmonds, Hanson and others, shown at 10am on Tuesday, 8 April; Anastacia at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 9 April; Scissor Sisters at 5.30pm on Thursday, 10 April and again on Friday; Led Zeppelin on Thursday, 10 April, at 6pm and at midnight and 8am on Friday, 11 April; Nelly Furtado at 5.30pm on Friday, 11 April; and highlights of performances by Elvis Presley at 6pm that day.

 

REM plays Twickenham Stadium on 30 August.  Tickets are £51.75.

 

The Kooks's second album, Konk, is said to be more of the same as the first, and will be released on 14 April by Virgin.

 

BBC Radio 2 continues to broadcast Theme Time Radio Hour with Bob Dylan, the American radio show hosted by his nibs, at 11pm on Thursdays.  You can listen online for up to a week afterwards.  The programme can also be found on BBC 6 Music at 9pm on Fridays, which can also be heard online.

 

The great singer/songwriter Josh Ritter is expected to be the musical guest on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends on Saturday, 5 April, at 6.15pm. You can listen online.

 

Former Moloko singer Roísín Murphy is Pete Mitchell's guest at 3am on Sunday, 6 April, on BBC Radio 2.  You can listen online

 

Calvin Harris has cancelled his forthcoming UK tour dates, shortly after losing a laptop in the Heathrow Terminal 5 baggage debacle that apparently contained his next album.  The two events aren't meant to be related, and I trust that he had the sense to back up said album before the laptop disappeared....

 

BBC Radio 2 is sensibly re-broadcasting its Radio 2 Music Club Introduces....Duffy now that the Welsh singer is topping the charts, on Saturday, 5 April, at 8pm.  She closes the show with Mercy. You can listen online.

 

What excellent news that Edwyn Collins feels able to treat us with his presence (and what presence!) despite having to re-learn how to walk and many other basic things--never mind how to play basic guitar--after suffering two cerebral haemorrhages in 2005.  (I hope the Beeb eventually screens the touching BBC4 documentary on him, entitled Edwyn Collins : Home Again, the same as his last album, on terrestrial television.) Edwyn will be performing at the Shepherds Bush Empire on 29 April.  The concert will surely be much more subdued than the Edwyn of old but he is always worth seeing and supporting, and it is amazing that we have the opportunity to do so. Tickets are £23.

 

Don't miss the great Paul Brady playing the Royal Festival Hall on 26 May with Emily Maguire.  Tickets are £15-20.

 

The Beat are performing again, this time at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Saturday, 5 April.  Sadly, former Fine Young Cannibals Andy Cox and David Steele have still not joined the reunion, but former frontmen for this band, known to as The English Beat in the States, and to General Public, Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger, will be there, along with Saxa, Andy Pearson and others.  The Specials' Neville Staples will be joining them and providing support with his own band, and apparently the great Jerry Dammers also of The Specials will appear, apparently a nod to the forthcoming Specials reunion.  The mixed bag of Two-Tone heroes should be delightful; when I saw most of them a few years ago, absolutely no one could remain seated even in a usually sedate venue.

 

Tune in to BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 5 April, at 10.30am to hear Phil Jupitus extole the many virtues of the 2Tone (Two-Tone) label, with contributions from members of the Beat, Madness, the Specials, and Pauline Black, lead singer with 80s ska band The Selecter. You can listen online, usually for up to a week afterwards.

 

Chrysalis has released a Specials CD and DVD compilation, even including the Jerry Dammers tracks such as What I Like Most About You is Your Girlfriend.  The CD has 20 tracks and the accompanying DVD has 16 videos.  Amazon.co.uk is currently selling it for only £8.98 and Play.com for £8.95.

 

Tom McRae and the Hotel Cafe will play the KCLSU on 30 April.  Tickets are £15.

 

Tickets for Glastonbury go on sale at 9am on Sunday, 6 April, to those who have already registered, via Seetickets and telephone.  The bill is officially announced nearer the festival date (27 to 29 June) but those expected to perform include Neil Diamond, Leonard Cohen, Solomon Burke, British Sea Power, the Editors, Hot Chip, Kings of Leon, Dirty Pretty Things, the Levellers, Kate Nash, the Verve, Elbow, Estelle and Fatboy Slim.

 

Roísín Murphy plays the Brixton Academy on Saturday, 29 November.

 

The reformed Portishead are playing the Brixton Academy on 17 April.  They will also be premiering their new album, Third, on Sky Digital channel CurrentTV at 10pm on 11 April, three weeks before it is released.  The show may then be available on Current's website for a few weeks.

 

The delightful Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly will play Shepherd's Bush Empire on Tuesday, 8 April, at 7pm.  Tickets are £14.50.

 

BBC Radio 2 is offering a free download of Radiohead performing Videotape live at the BBC Radio Theatre on 1 April 2008, as the voice at the beginning and end of the track (which is easily clipped out with Audacity) tells you.  Visit their site.

 

The Blockheads will be performing with Phill Jupitus at the Electric Ballroom on Thursday, 17 April, with special guests including actor/musician Ed Tudor-Pole of Tenpole Tudor.

 

Beth Rowley and Tom Baxter will, surprisingly, be guests on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night on Friday, 4 April, at 7.30pm, in a special edition celebrating fresh UK talent. You can listen again online for up to a week.  Baxter will also appear at KOKO on Tuesday, 3 June.

 

Matchbox 20 will play Wembley Arena on 1 May.  Even if you think you don't know this band, you probably know lead singer Rob Thomas as the voice and co-writer of the Carlos Santana 1999 Grammy-winning hit Smooth.  Tickets are £27.50.  Santana meanwhile will be playing 02 on 22 June with Beverley Knight.  Tickets are £38-48.

 

K T Tunstall plays Hammersmith Apollo on Friday, 11 April, but even more interesting is her support act: Teitur, a fabulous singer/songwriter from the Faroe Isles who should be a real treat to see and hear live.

 

Play.com now sells MP3 downloads, and without the digital rights management restrictions you get with iTunes.  The first time you use them, there might be a slight delay of a few hours whilst they check your credit card details, but after that, you can download your choices right away.

 

Kylie fans might want to tune into Dancing with the Stars, the American version of Strictly Come Dancing (or whatever it's called here) on UKTV Gold on Saturday, 5 April, at 9am to watch her perform during the programme presumably with dancers doing the tango around her.

 

Supergrass have added a date and will now appear at the London Astoria on both Tuesday, 22 April (sold out), and Wednesday, 23 April.

 

Jens Lekman will play Scala on 20 May.  Tickets are £10.50.

 

One of the more talented reformed 80s bands is Yazoo, aka Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke,  who will be playing the Hammersmith Apollo on 18 and 19 June.  The first date has already sold out.  Tickets are £50.50.

 

The Boomtown Rats, without Bob Geldof, will appear at the Electric Ballroom on Thursday, 7 August, at 7.30pm, with special guests including The Vibrators.

 

Simone White, whose The Beep Beep Song (from her I Am the Man album) most of you will have heard on the Audi advert, will be performing, will be playing the north London Enterprise on 23 March.  Tickets are a mere £7.

 

Seasick Steve plays his blues to the cavernous Albert Hall on 1 October.  Tickets are £15.50 to £29.50.

 

Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan appear on Tuesday, 10 June, at the Shepherd's Bush Empire.

 

Radiohead is expected to be the guest on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on BBC1 on Friday, 4 April, at 10.35pm, which is repeated on Sunday, 6 April, at 1.50am.

 

The unique Hawksley Workman will give a performance--surely like nothing you have seen before, complete with dancing--at the lovely Union Chapel on 3 May.  Tickets are £14.

 

The Stray Cats play the Brixton Academy on Wednesday, 10 September, on their Farewell European Tour.  Tickets are £29.50.

 

The legendary Eartha Kitt will be playing the Pigalle Club on 23 through 25 April.  Tickets including dinner are £95; without dinner, they're £

 

Anyone who likes Mariah Carey can see her on The Friday Night Project on Channel 4 on Friday, 4 April, repeated the next night at 11.05pm.  The latter showing will be followed by 4 Music Presents: Mariah Carey, an interview by Steve Jones, at 12.05am on Sunday.

 

This week's musical guest on Al Murray's Happy Hour is The Enemy; tune in to ITV1 on Friday, 28 March, at 10pm to see that.   Squeeze's appearance the previous week, when they performed Cool for Cats, a version of Take Me, I'm Yours that unfortunately wasn't shown in full to the television audience, and Queen's Seven Seas of Rhye (Murray, who somewhat scarily joins them in that one, requires his musical guests to perform Queen songs), can now be seen on various video sites including YouTube.  Seems a shame they didn't also perform Glenn's Happy Hour, which of course was used for the theme to Jack Dee's Happy Hour.

 

It's time again for Roger Daltrey's Teenage Cancer Trust concerts at the Albert Hall (8-13 April), featuring performances by Madness (8 April), Paul Weller and Duffy (10 April), Joan Armatrading, David Gray and Amy MacDonald (all on 13 April), and the Fratellis (11 April) and Muse (12 April)--mostly sold out .

 

Dr Feelgood is playing Astoria 2 on 10 May.  Tickets are only £14.

 

James Taylor appears on the first of the live series of Later...with Jools Holland on BBC2, which is shown live on Tuesdays (in this case, 1 April) at 10pm and repeated as an extended, obviously not live version on Fridays (here, 4 April at 11.35pm).  The first edition also includes guests Estelle, the Only Ones and Adele.  I think it will work a lot better live.  I never viewed the New Year's Eve Hootenanny programmes with half as much enthusiasm since being offered a ticket to go see one being recorded....in November.  It makes it look ridiculous and so false when everyone's ringing in the new year with champagne and the pipers of the Regimental Scots Guards.

 

The Kooks will be performing on Friday with Jonathan Ross on Friday, 28 March, at 10.35pm on BBC1, which is repeated the next day.

 

Gabrielle talks about her pop career and influences in Soundtrack to my Life, shown in the London region on ITV1 at 11.05pm on Tuesday, 18 March.

 

America's darling folk musician Jewel stars as herself in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in the series eight episode Bull, which Channel 5 will broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday, 18 March.  It's repeated the next day on Five US at 9pm.

 

On Tuesday, 18 March, at 10.35pm, BBC1 will show Help! My Kid's a Rock Star, where parents of musicians including Amy Winehouse, Courtney Love, Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis and Madness' Suggs talk about the effect on them of their children's lifestyles, revealing family photos along the way.

 

BBC1 is showing the Bruce Paltrow (late father of Gwyneth, husband of Blythe Danner) film Duets, which sounds rubbish as it's largely about karaoke competitions, but is actually fairly enjoyable.  It stars 80s pop star Huey Lewis and the director's daughter, and wife of Coldplay's Chris Martin, Gwyneth Paltrow, who will stun you with her vocal talent. She can't just sing, she is a truly impressive belter.  Tune in at midnight on Tuesday, 18 March (ie Monday night).

 

The Biography Channel this week is airing problems on Barry White (Sunday, 16 March, at 11am and repeats), Barry Manilow (Also Sunday, at 5pm and repeated), Bono and U2's The Joshua Tree (Monday, 17 March, 7pm and 8pm respectively).

 

The channel Dave has been repeating the wonderful TOTP2 programmes, which trawl through the amazing performance archives from Top of the Pops and often end with a more modern performance from wonderful people like Paul Brady, although I can't promise that that episode will be shown any time soon.  A double bill of the programme is shown usually at 8am at weekends and at 3pm and 6pm at weekdays.

 

Channel 4 on Monday, 17 March, at 1.35am will show The Album Chart Show featuring We Are Scientists and Boy Kill Boy, followed at 2.05am by 4Play profiling Tom Baxter.

 

The South Bank Show on ITV1 at 11.15pm on Sunday, 16 March, focuses on the theme of revolution in 1968 and has not only Tom Stoppard as a guest, but shows rare interviews with John Lennon and Mick Jagger.

 

The free St Patrick's Day festival in London, held on Sunday, 16 March, will include some fantastic musical performers, as usual.  The sublime Luka Bloom will appear at 2.40pm at Trafalgar Square, following 50s/60s rocker and dad of songstress Sam Joe Brown, who begins at 1.50pm. Ex-Moloko Roisin Murphy follows Luka at 3.40pm, and Aslan follows her at 4.55pm.

 

The track list for the BBC Radio 2 broadcast of the special Van Morrison concert recorded for them on 12 February was Have I Told You Lately? /  Magic Time / Playhouse / One Irish Rover / Precious Time / How Can A Poor Boy / Song of Home / Keep It Simple / Soul / Don't Go to Nightclubs Anymore / End of the Land / Behind the Ritual.  Some of the old favourites were played in new tempos, and the last seven songs were from the new album, Keep it Simple, which is released Monday, 17 March, and has already been ordered....He was in excellent voice, as always.  You might be able to use the BBC 'listen again' function if you missed it, but I'd be surprised if this programme were included.

 

BBC 6 Music is repeating in 6 Music Plays It Again the three-part series Hey! Bo Diddley!, presented by The Who's Roger Daltrey, beginning at 9.30pm on Monday, 17 March.  You can listen online for at least a week afterwards.

 

The great Scottish singer/songwriter Karine Polwart will join Goldfrapp as a guest on Simon Mayo's Music Club Weekly on Monday, 17 March, at 11.30pm on BBC Radio 2, though I'm not suggesting they'll perform together, although that would really be something.  You can hear it online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Paul Jones will follow Van Morrison's appearance on his BBC Radio 2 programme with a guest spot by Van-collaborator and legendary jazz trombonist Chris Barber on Monday, 17 March, at 7pm.  You can hear it online for up to a week afterwards.

 

The great Brian Kennedy will be Aled Jones' guest on BBC Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday programme at 7am on Sunday, 16 March, oddly billed as discussing the forthcoming BBC series The Passion, which dramatises the events of Holy Week.  You can hear it online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Mystery Jets will showcase tracks from their new album, Twenty One, on BBC 6 Music's 6 Mix at 9pm on Saturday, 15 March.  You can listen online.

 

Scouting for Girls will give a live studio performance during Stuart Maconie's live coverage from the South by Southwest music festival in Texas on BBC Radio 2 at 2pm on Saturday, 15 March.  You can hear it online for up to a week afterwards.

 

Neil Finn's eldest son Liam Finn performs on The Late Show with David Letterman show on Diva TV on Thursday, 13 March, at 9pm.  Liam's album I'll Be Lightning, can currently be purchased as an import from either the US or Australia.  Lenny Kravitz performs on the episode that will be shown on Tuesday, 18 March, as does British Sea Power at 9pm on 26 March.

 

More Van Morrison from the Beeb....tune in on Saturday, 15 March, at 8pm to hear Live and Exclusive: Van Morrison, a special concert recorded on 12 February at the BBC's Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House.  You can listen online, but I would be surprised if this concert features on the BBC's 'Listen Again' page, but you might try if you miss it.

 

Billy Bragg, whose new album Mr Love and Justice, his first since 2002, is being well received, appeared on BBC Radio 2's Music Club Weekly on 10 March, as did singer/songwriter Beth Rowley, and you can listen again to that programme online for up to a week.

 

The Beeb did a fair bit to promote Van Morrison's forthcoming album, Keep It Simple, which is released on Monday, 17 March.  The previous week, he was billed to appear on BBC Radio 4's Today show, which was a surprise as I couldn't see Van volunteering to appear at 6am in a sparring match with John Humphrys, and in the end, they just played a clip of the interview that was to be broadcast that night (10 March) on BBC Radio 2's Paul Jones programme.  That was a fairly impressive hour-long interview with live sessions (live in the pre-recorded sense), with Van clearly more willing to interact with someone he viewed more as a fellow musician--and Jones was even asked to join in on the performances--than a journalist, the bane of his existence, particularly when they work for those 'propaganda' magazines, ie the music magazines (I was disappointed when he even named Word).  (Jones fronted Manfred Mann as well as The Blues Band and is President of the National Harmonica League.) You should be able to listen again to Van's appearance on the Paul Jones programme for up to a week.  You can also subscribe to the show's podcast at that site and download a podcast of that show, but as it's only half the length of the show, I suspect it will exclude Van's excellent performances and anything else Van didn't want included.

 

Sorry for the delay and long lack of updates to the site.  The day job crept into night and every waking moment....I hope to return to regular updates now.

 

Morrissey will play the Roundhouse on 21-23 and 25-27 January 2008.  Tickets are £35.

 

A 200th Show DVD  boxset of Later...With Jools Holland will be released on 4 February 2008.  The price is yet to be confirmed.

 

Cat Power, aka actress Chan Marshall, who sadly had a nervous breakdown just as her last fantastic album, The Greatest, was taking off, is releasing another covers album on Matador called Jukebox, which is highly praised by critics.  She actually includes a bit of original material stressing her devotion to Bob Dylan, along with her versions of Joni Mitchell's Blue, James Brown's Need Someone, Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn's A Woman Left Lonely (famously performed by Janis Joplin), Billie Holiday's Don't Explain, and Hank Williams' Rambling [Wo]Man.

 

Santana will play at O2 on 22 June 2008.  Tickets will be around £40-50.

 

Channel 4 on Friday, 7 December, at 11.35pm will show in Transmission performances by Kate Nash, Babyshambles, Stereophonics, Kasabian, Groove Armada and Mutya.

 

You can currently download for free from the Virgin website a video of an acoustic session for Windows Media Player by the talented Canadian singer/songwriter Feist, who's recently received such a boost from her catch song 1234 being featured on an iPod advert.

 

The excellent Kate Walsh (not to be confused with Kate Nash) will play the International Arts Theatre on 2 and 3 March 2008.  Tickets are £14.  Be there.

 

The Killers have released Sawdust: B Sides and Rarities, apparently crucial for the Killers fan, and including Tranquilize with Lou Reed.

 

Paul Morley has published a book on Plexus called Joy Division: Piece by Piece,  a collection of various interviews, reviews, anecdotes and essays by the former NME reporter who championed the band.

 

American Music Club will play Dingwalls on 13 February 2008.  Tickets are £16.