Stone Roses reform

After much speculation, rumours and denial over the past few days, The Stone Roses have finally confirmed  a reunion to play at least two concerts next summer. The Manchester group originally split-up 17 years ago. after boyhood friends Guitarist John Squire and singer Ian Brown, stopped speaking to one another when Squire left the band.

After releasing a much hailed debut album The Stone Roses quit their record company Silvertone, and following an acrimonious and lengthy legal dispute they signed a multi-million pound deal with Geffen, but,  As a result of this delay, their second album Second Coming was not released until December 1994. by which time Oasis had arrived on the Manchester Music Scene and things had moved on.

The two next met recently at Mounfield’s mother’s funeral this is believed to be the first time the pair have met since 1996, and Squire set about re-building his relationship with Brown. The band’s four original members – John Squire, Ian Brown, bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield and drummer Alan ‘Reni’ Wren – recently sat side-by-side in a London hotel to make the announcement that they were reforming to play two shows at 75,000-capacity Heaton Park, in Manchester, on Friday June 29 and Saturday June 30, 2012.

Previously Gary dismissed reports that the meeting had paved the way for the band to re-form labelling it ‘total fantasy island gear’ and In June, Squire also dismissed rumours of a reformation, commenting that the idea of bands reforming for a cash windfall was ‘tragic. But at the recent press-conference The band, also said that today’s music was ‘boring’ and ‘corporate’, and that their intention was to ‘uplift’ the national mood in hard times.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, October 21, at 9.30am.- where from? I want one, lol

The Smiths

It’s  been 25 years since the Smiths released their classic album The Queen Is Dead so to celebrate it has been reissued.

Meanwhile Morrissey, former Lead singer of the Smiths,  is also currently pursuing a libel case against the NME over an article they published in November 2007, in which he claims, they deliberately tried to characterise him as a racist, because of  his attitude towards immigration. But because Morrissey was not present in court to hear the magazine’s counsel  The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday 19th October.

Here are some classic songs by The Smiths, courtesy of YouTube

• Ask
• Panic
• Heaven Knows I’m Miserable now
• This Charming Man
• How soon is Now

Booker Prize Short list for 2011

Julian Barnes – The Sense of an Ending
This is the story of a chap named Tony Webster whose comfortable middle age is suddenly thrown into disarray when a lawyer’s letter arrives which forces him to address an early memory.

Carol Birch – Jamrach’s Menagerie
Inspired by Charles Jamrach and the sinking in the 19th century of Whaleship Essex, Jamrach’s Menagerie tells the story of the 19th century legend of a Bengali tiger who broke free of his shipping crate and prowled the streets of Bermondsey, apparently gobbling up a small boy. Birch imagines the life of this child, John Wade, and weaves a tale of seafaring adventure for the boy.

Patrick DeWitt – THe Sisters Brothers
This novel is the tale of two brothers – Eli and Charlie Sisters, who are henchmen to a notorious and enigmatic criminal known as The Commodore, and is set in the underworld of the 1850s frontier. One of the Henchmen, Eli Sisters,  starts to question his profession, and his mysterious boss and undergoes a journey of discovery and enlightenment.

Stephen Kelman – Pigeon English
This novel is about A family from Ghana who move into the same kind of housing estate that the novelist Stephen Kelman  grew up on himself . It provides an insight into the Peckham gangs and an actual portrayal of those behind them.

Esi Edugyan – Half Blood Blues
Half Blood Blues is the story of a black, German jazz musician, who is arrested in a Paris café in 1939 and never heard from again. It is told, fifty years later, from the perspective of Sidney Griffiths, the only witness of that day. It is a tale of music, race, loyalty and sacrifice.

A.D.Miller – Snowdrops
This Novel’s title Snowdrops, derives its name from Moscow slang; meaning a corpse that lies hidden beneath the snow, emerging only in the thaw. Miller makes this the premise of his debut novel, which tells the story of Nick Platt, an English lawyer living in Russia who becomes embroiled in the lives of two sisters and a web of deception and crime.