Blur vs Oasis...

Noel Gallagher has revealed that he has finally made up with Damon Albarn over their spat with Oasis during the height of Britpop in the mid-'90s. The pair haven't spoken in over 15 years following the war of words between the two bands which kicked off in 1995 when they went head-to-head in the UK's singles chart with Blur beating the Manchester band to Number One with their hit 'Country House'.

Noel said: "Funnily enough, when I was out last night, I bumped into him. I literally haven't seen the guy for 15 fucking years and I bump into him in some club. We both went, 'Hey! Fucking hell!' and then he said, 'Come on, let’s go for a beer.' So, we're sitting there, having a beer, just going, 'What the fuck was all that about 15 years ago? That was mental.' Then he said, 'It was a great time, though,' and I was like, 'Yeah, it was a fucking good laugh'." 

Noel has previously said of Damon: "He's different from me. I'm not an artist – for me, it just comes out. He does Chinese operas and that kind of thing, he's got more strings to his bow than I'll ever have." 

V for Vendetta...

From New York, to London, to Sydney, to Cologne, to Bucharest, there has been a wave of protests against politicians, banks and financial institutions. Anybody watching coverage of the demonstrations may have been struck by a repeated motif - a strangely stylised mask of Guy Fawkes with a moustache and pointy beard. "The Guy Fawkes mask has now become a common brand and a convenient placard to use in protest against tyranny - and I'm happy with people using it, it seems quite unique, an icon of popular culture being used this way," says its author David Lloyd "and my feeling is the Anonymous group needed an all-purpose image to hide their identity and also symbolise that they stand for individualism - V for Vendetta is a story about one person against the system."

Sonja Savić...

"Moji prijatelji nisu bili od ovog sveta. I meni se sviđao taj svet koji smo izmišljali...Po stepenu samoće i upravo Patosa.Vidiš čoveka i obraduješ se,  kažem „to je taj čovek koga smo videli u SKC-u“, za Vlajka, on stoji na 24ci, i on se smeje. Kaže „gde ti živiš?“, ja kažem „ovde, na trećem spratu“. „Imaš pijanino u sobi“, ja kažem „imam!“. „Je l’ možemo da dođemo ja i moji prijatelji da sviramo kod tebe?“. To je najveća radost u mom životu."

King of the Limbs TOUR...

Ed O'Brian emphasized that the group will shy away from playing simply the hits and their new record, and will instead dig deeper to focus on the songs that work best alongside their new material:  "I think the important thing is that it's got to be a set in itself, it's got to work. Last time we went out, it felt very much like In Rainbows plus the greatest hits. And it's not going to be like that this time. I guess it's going to be predominantly from this record and the last record, and then see which songs fit around that."

Progress... Gary Barlow

Gary Barlow, man of the moment, is sitting opposite me in his private recording studio, telling me how he once felt so full of self-loathing he would disguise himself on train journeys to avoid being recognised. This was during the period when Take That first split up, Barlow's solo career had tanked, he had not become "the new George Michael" as predicted, and his old bandmate Robbie Williams's career had gone stellar, with Williams attacking Barlow in the press as variously "selfish, stupid and greedy", "a clueless" and "really dated".

"I was living in Cheshire at the time, going to London and back on the train," says Barlow, a mug of tea perched on his knee. "I used to heavily disguise myself, with a hat and everything. I was overweight, I wasn't feeling great. I was embarrassed to be me, to have people recognise me. I did this for about three years, every day."

The night before the reformed Take That put out tickets for its comeback tour, a nervous Barlow went out with a friend and got drunk. "I'm not a big drinker, so it's rare I start feeling tipsy. But this night I went for it. I woke up the following morning and I had 27 missed calls. All the tickets had sold out. That was the moment I realised: shit, this is big; we're back." How did he feel then? "Amazing. That day was the first time in years that I got on the train, took my hat off and just sat there. People were coming up and being so nice. It felt so good. I felt so, I don't know…" Barlow pauses, searching for the right word, "valid again."

This charming man...

"I think if I'd led an acceptably frivolous teenage life I wouldn't be singing in this group. I'm sure if you have a great time and get everything you want, all the friends you want, then you tend not to be so ambitious. If you're deprived of certain things it makes you very resilient and you kick very hard for what you want. And I wanted something very special because I'd led such an unspecial life previous to the Smiths." young Morrissey

I almost went to bed...

I almost went to bed

without remembering

the four white violets

I put in the button-hole

of your green sweater

and how I kissed you then

and you kissed me

shy as though I'd

never been your lover

Leonard Cohen

Patti Smith i Robert Mapplethorpe...

"Bio je to naš prvi i zadnji zajednički show. Rad s ekipom iz banda tijekom sedamdesetih odveo me daleko od Roberta i našeg malog svemira. Krstareći svijetom na turnejama, imala sam vremena razmišljati o tome kako Robert i ja nikad nismo putovali zajedno. Nikad nismo sjedili u avionu držeći se za ruke da bismo uzletjeli u novo nebo i spustili se na neku novu zemlju. Stupajući na pozornice cijeloga svijeta, zatvorila bi oči i zamišljala ga kako skida svoju kožnu jaknu i zajedno sa mnom kroči na zemlju tisuću plesova." Patti Smith 

Ne mirim se...

"Ne mirim se s time kad se naracija približava tv sapunici, kad se likove objašnjava njihovim djetinjstvom, kad se situacija upotrebljava kao ljepilo koje na okupu, kao u kokošinjcu, drži likove koje bi pomeo i ventilator, kad su opisi pejzaža stanke kad autor hvata dah i priprema sljedeći prizor. Ne mirim se s djelima koja olako preuzimaju  umjetničke ideje drugih autora, koja voljko prihvaćaju jezik kao sredstvo koje ne smije privlačiti pozornost na sebe, koja vjeruju u sretne završetke, laka razrješenja i ugodno bolne trenutke spoznaje. Ne mirim se s djelima koja je mogao napisati bilo koji drugi pisac."

Ben Marcus, predvodnik američke inovativne proze

...for each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth...

...[she takes a drag on her cigarette and pauses reflectively]... I never wanted any of this and that’s the truth. I would have been happy to sing in a cover band for the rest of my life. And I wouldn’t have gone on one of those (talent) shows in a million, billion years, because I think that musicality is not something other people should judge you on. Music’s a thing you have with yourself. Even though the people who go on those shows are shit, it’s really damaging to be told that you are... Amy Winehouse...