While we're working, some Light Music....news

Followers of the old style print JC will remember our ongoing interest in Closed Tags, the Online band. We're sad to report that Closed Tags have gone 404 since last we spoke to them. Manager Clive Kissing told us the band had split over the inevitable OS Superiority argument, which sprang up in early March aroud the release of Ubuntu 8.10; Tony Stones (vocals), a noted fan of Windows, took issue with the position of Carey Sherwin (drums) who insisted that all software - open source or otherwise - was essentially inferior to that on the Mac. The argument spread, drawing in the remainder of the band, who have now mutually unfriended and unfollowed each other. The split between Stones and Sherwin is particularly acrimonious; the pair have allegedly created accounts on AIM, MSN, Google Talk et al specifically to block each other. Their MySpace pages remain cordial, however, fuelling speculation that the band didn't run their own pages in the first place and no one has told the people who update them that the band has split.

Last night saw the first American gig by ...*cough*... , the now infamous art house group who take all of their inspiration from the works of Samuel Beckett. (To properly pronounce the name of the band, you should stand in an empty room with the lights off and allow only the illumination from the windows, if there are any. Clutch your groin, silently count to three, cough, silently count to three and then place your hands on your hips and exit the room.) The audience, unsure of what to expect, were treated to a twelve minute stage presence by a drum machine and a small man in a raincoat who glared hatefully at a guitar on a stand. After a sixteen minute interval, the entire band took the stage and played "Johnny B Good", taking the three minute classic to a full 45 minutes of tension by leaving variable length pauses between the individual notes. Long term fans were disappointed, claiming that the second half had been "a bit Pinter" and not as edgy as their earlier gigs.

South American heavy metal band The Stigmata have hit back at detractors by unexpectedly stopping a gig in Sao Paulo and holding a prayer meeting. The band has come under increasing criticism following comments they made on the state of the relationship between the USA and Mexico. Frontman Enriqu Jarrez stopped the gig and asked the audience to join hands, bow their heads and pray for the continued health of small press journalists and bloggers who had spoken out against The Stigmata's position on international relations.
"We are only some band, they only some bloggers, but God sees us as the same ones" said Jarrez at the conclusion of the impromptu meeting. The Stigmata continue their tour of Brazil, where heavy metal continues to be inexplicably popular.

A Cat Unexpected, the troupe of musicians who have determinedly defied compartmentalisation, have announced that for the period between 08:45 am on Sunday April 19th and Monday May 25th they will officially be "Progressive Power Jazz" in order that a number of online stores can sell their latest release. According to their latest press release, which was stencilled onto the side of a shed just outside King's Cross Station, a list of online retailers will be made available through non-traditional means. Given ACU's reputation for deliberately making things hard for themselves, we do not expect that any of these online outlets will actually have a history of retailing music, or indeed have any capacity for allowing people to download things. Long term followers of ACU remember their sole gig of 2008 where the dress code - enforced on the door by professional security - prevented 99% of ticket holders from actually seeing the gig.