From BBC News:
Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50.

Paramedics were called to the singer's Beverly Hills home at about midday on Thursday after he stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead two hours later at the UCLA medical centre. Jackson's brother, Jermaine, said he was believed to have suffered a cardiac arrest. Jackson, who had a history of health problems, had been due to stage a series of comeback concerts in the UK on 13 July.

Speaking on behalf of the Jackson family, Jermaine said doctors had tried to resuscitate the star for more than an hour without success. He added: "The family request that the media please respect our privacy during this tough time."

TV footage showed the star's body flown from UCLA to the LA County Coroner's office where a post-mortem is expected to take place on Friday. Concerns were raised last month when four of Jackson's planned comeback concerts were postponed, but organisers insisted the dates had been moved due to the complexity of staging the show. A spokeswoman for The Outside Organisation, which was organising the publicity for the shows, said she had no comment at this time.

Broadcaster Paul Gambaccini said: "I always doubted that he would have been able to go through that schedule, those concerts. It seemed to be too much of a demand on the unhealthy body of a 50 year old. I'm wondering that, as we find out details of his death, if perhaps the stress of preparing for those dates was a factor in his collapse. It was wishful thinking that at this stage of his life he could be Michael Jackson again."

Uri Gellar, a close friend of the star, told BBC News it was "very, very sad".

Speaking outside New York's historic Apollo theatre, civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton paid tribute to his friend. "I knew him 35 years. When he had problems he would call me," he said. "I feel like he was not treated fairly. I hope history will be more kind to him than some of the contemporary media."

Melanie Bromley, west coast bureau chief of Us Weekly magazine, told the BBC the scene in Los Angeles was one of "pandemonium". "At the moment there is a period of disbelief. He was buying a home in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles and the scene outside the house is one of fans, reporters and TV cameras - it's absolute craziness. I feel this is the biggest celebrity story in a long time and has the potential to be the Princess Diana of popular culture."

Music Icon
Tributes from the world of music and film have already flooded in from celebrities including Madonna, Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Large numbers of fans have also gathered outside Jackson's home and at the UCLA medical centre with lit candles to mourn the star.

Paramedics were called to the singer's house in Bel Air at 1221 (1921GMT) following an emergency phone call. They performed CPR on Jackson and rushed him to the UCLA medical centre.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department said the robbery and homicide team was investigating Jackson's death because of its "high profile", but there was no suggestion of foul play.

Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5. He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as Billie Jean and Bad. Thriller, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, shifting 65m copies, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. He scored seven UK number ones as a solo artist and won a total of 13 Grammy awards.

"For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don't have the words," said Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, Bad and Off The Wall. "He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I've lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him."

The singer had been dogged by controversy and money trouble in recent years, becoming a virtual recluse. He was arrested in 2003 on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, but was found not guilty following a five-month trial.

The star had three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II. He is survived by his mother, Katherine, father, Joseph and eight siblings - including Janet, Randy, Jermaine and La Toya Jackson.

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Say what you will about Michael Jackson, he was an awesome entertainer, and you have all heard of him and his music. He had a great talent and inspired others to succeed. It is a great shame. RIP.

From BBC News:
Three people were injured when part of a stage collapsed at a music festival near Ashbourne in Derbyshire.

Strong winds lifted part of the roof off the stage at The Bearded Theory event in Hulland Ward, police said.

Mandy Stocks, from Yorkshire, said she fled after she felt the tent she was dancing in shake and saw the stage on its side, adding it was "very scary".

The event went on despite the incident which included neck, back and shoulder injuries and a suspected broken wrist. A number of people were also treated for shock at the festival at Bradley Nook Farm Estate.
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There we go, all you made religious people who force men to have beards (and don't force hairy women to shave theirs...), 'God' really doesn't like people with beards.

(Yes, it's tenuous, but it's a Sunday and I'm bored.)

Get them here! Individual tracks are from about 59p, and albums are about £3. BARGAIN!

From BBC News:
Singer Amy Winehouse has the lung disease emphysema, possibly caused by smoking crack cocaine and cigarettes, her father has said. Mitch Winehouse told the Sunday Mirror his daughter has early stage emphysema and an irregular heartbeat. "Doctors have told her if she goes back to smoking drugs, it won't just ruin her voice, it will kill her," he said. Emphysema is a progressive lung condition which leaves sufferers struggling for breath. "She's got emphysema - it's in its early stages, but had it gone on for another month they painted a very vivid picture of her sitting there like an old person with a mask on her face struggling to breathe," Mr Winehouse said.

'Stay away'
"With smoking the crack cocaine and the cigarettes her lungs are all gunked up. There are nodules around the chest and dark marks. She's got 70% lung capacity." Mr Winehouse also called for his daughter's drug dealers and circle of drug addict pals to stay away from her. "I'm saying to those drug dealers, and they know who they are, if they are supplying crack to Amy, then they've got to take responsibility," he said. "I don't want her hanging out with her mates like Pete Doherty either. What hope does she have if people are taking drugs around her?"

A spokesman for Winehouse said: "If that's what Mitch says, that's what he says. It sounds right."

The 24-year-old fell ill last week after fainting at her London home. She is due to perform at the Glastonbury Festival and Nelson Mandela concert this weekend.

Emphysema is caused by gradual damage to the structure of the lungs, which makes it harder to exhale. It usually affects older people as it is due to culmulative damage over a long period, such as a lifetime of smoking.
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The best thing Amy Winehouse can do right now is to get off the drugs and quit smoking. The world is all the better for her being in it. She has an incredible talent, and to see it disappear like this, is a waste. How come things like this don't happen to people we really don't like to hear sing, e.g. Danial O'Donnell, Cliff Richard, and any of those bad ass 'gangsta' rappers.

Amazon have dropped the price of the new Guillemots album, "Red", to just £6.47!!!

(I'm not actually annoyed.) This is an absolutely fantastic album. Get it here NOW!!!



UPDATE: It's £6.98 now...

THe UK finished in last place of the Eurovision 'music' competition last night. Here's how our entries have fared over the last few years:
2008 - Andy Abraham, 25th place
2007 - Scooch, 22nd
2006 - Daz Sampson, 19th
2005 - Javine, 22nd
2004 - James Fox, 16th
2003 - Jemini, 26th

Russia won last night. Can someone please explain to me how Russia is in Europe? And Israel? Turkey? Armeina? Azerbaijan? Morocco? Iceland?

Wasn't Eurovision once a competition about music? I think it was, but it's now all about politicking. All those former soviet countries vote for their neighbours because they want to appear friendly toward them. You have a million other ways of being friendly to them every day, why hijack a music competition?

I would support Terry Wogan in his decision to quit it next year. It's no longer about music, but about how many political points you can score. I say we withdraw altogether. We can use the many millions we spend in helping to stage it every year on something more pressing, like removing VAT on fuel so old people can afford to live during winter...

The new version of the Guillemots website has gone live! Get to it here.

You can also watch the video for their new single, "Get Over It", from the forthcoming album, "Red". The single's out on 17th March, and the album a week later.

Guillemots have a new album out in a few weeks' time on 24th March. It's called "Red", and the album artwork is below. You can also buy the new album for just £8.99 from Amazon.co.uk.

They've also released one of the new songs off the album for free! It's called "Kriss Kross", and it's fantastic!!! An awesome song. Google for it and you'll find a link to download it from somewhere.

From AppleInsider:
Those looking for Jay-Z's latest album, American Gangster, will have to skip iTunes if they want to buy it online, the rap artist says.

In a statement provided to the press this week and reported by Ars Technica, the musician known legally as Shawn Carter describes the concept of per-song downloads as illogical.

"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Jay-Z says.

Instead, iTunes users and iPod owners looking to buy the album will have to turn to CD shops and competing online stores that will sell only the complete album, such as Amazon MP3 or RealNetworks' Rhapsody.

The move adds Jay-Z to the ranks of other artists that insist on whole-album downloads for artistic reasons, which includes Radiohead and other high-profile groups. This resistance is often credited to an insistence on the part of Apple chief Steve Jobs that every song shorter than ten minutes must be available as a stand-alone download.
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So, each song on the album is part of a whole album? Okay, makes sense. However, I trust Jay-Z won't be releasing an individual song on that album as a single, even a CD single? If you can't download an individual song off the album, he shouldn't be allowed to sell an individual song in a high street store, surely? Hypocrite.

* Note: I don't actually like Jay-Z's music. I'm really not into that gansta rap cr*p.

Sean Kingston is at Number 1 in the national charts with "Beautiful Girls". Can I just point out that some of the lyrics are:
"It was back in 99
Watching movies all the time
Oh, when I went away for doing my first crime."

So, back in 1999, Sean Kingston committed a crime. And it was his first crime, which means he's probably committed others? And his first crime was so severe that he was put into prison, so it wasn't something like graffiti or pinching a Marathon from the sweet shop.

Fabulous role model for the kids...