(Early in my Prince fandom, that is. Not early for him. He'd been around for years already.)

Prince - The Beautiful Ones from Purple Rain HD YouTube video by elihu62

Ten years ago, a radio station phoned me. "We're hearing reports of a death at Paisley Park." They asked me to come on air. I barely had time to process losing the greatest musical genius of all, before going live. Fucking Hell.

An early favourite of mine: "The Beautiful Ones". youtu.be/Ti0JAumfDME

Satellite images reveal scale of Israeli demolitions as Lebanese villages destroyed BBC Verify analysis found more than 1,400 buildings had been destroyed since 2 March.

It's easy to succumb to outrage fatigue. But this was four days ago. 2,000 killed. 1.2 million displaced. Entire villages demolished. A 40km 'buffer zone' (10% of Lebanon's territory) annexed. It's barely raised a resigned shrug, but it meets the criteria for war crime. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Outrage over Israeli soldier's vandalism of Jesus statue in Lebanon The Israeli military says it views with

US politicians outraged that a statue has been attacked.

Not outraged that thousands of innocent human beings have been slaughtered, Christians, Muslims and atheists among them.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Boys next door and zoo-music girls... Hands up who wants to dance?

Brighton! It's @spellboundclub.bsky.social's 17th Birthday Party at Komedia TOMORROW! Advanc3 t!ck3t5 are now 50ld 0ut, but don't worry - we've held enough places back for walk-up so you can pay at the door (CASH ONLY) and join us for a night of Alt-80s bangers! www.facebook.com/events/86255...

Reissue of the Week: The Beastie Boys' To The 5 Boroughs | The Quietus The grown-up Beastie Boys addressing 9-11 should have been a chore but instead was a late period gem, says Simon Price

I've written about late-period Beastie Boys album To The 5 Boroughs, released in the aftermath of 9/11 and now getting a triple-disc deluxe reissue, for @thequietus.com (as well as recapping how the Beasties got there). It's an LP that's way more fun than you'd expect. thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

BIG SEASIDE TRASH CAN

Brighton! It's @spellboundclub.bsky.social's 17th Birthday Party at Komedia THIS SATURDAY! Advanc3 t!ck3t5 are now 50ld 0ut, but don't worry - we've held enough places back for walk-up so you can pay at the door (CASH ONLY) and join us for a night of Alt-80s bangers! www.facebook.com/events/86255...

I'm an admirer of the works of both Rene Magritte and Gary Numan, but only today have I found out about this.

L: Le Principe du Plaisir, 1937
R: The Pleasure Principle, 1979

Cureheads of Ireland! I'm doing an afternoon CUREPEDIA talk (and book signing) at @paviliontheatre.bsky.social Dún Laoghaire at 2pm on SUN 14 JUN with writer Paul McDermott @learnandsing.bsky.social ahead of The Cure's Dublin show later that month. Tickets from www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/...

Goodbye to the just-retired Aaron Ramsey, tongue-out titan of the Wales midfield in the new Golden Age, and one of the nation's all-timers. Beset by injury but bloody unstoppable when fit. Fine words here by Elis James. www.theguardian.com/football/202... Diolch Aaron. We'll always have Toulouse.

BABY IS A COOL MACHINE

Brighton! It's @spellboundclub.bsky.social's seventeenth Birthday Party at Komedia on Sat 18 April, and remaining tickets are down to single figures! Grab yours here www.komedia.co.uk/shows/spellb... and see you on the floor for a night of Alt-80s classics!
Full info www.facebook.com/events/86255...

Trump says 'a whole civilisation will die tonight' if Iran doesn't make deal, as US hits Kharg Island Trump says

“A whole civilisation will die tonight”.

I know we’re unshockable now, but still sometimes we need to pinch ourselves and think - this is the American President, saying this.

It’s like he doesn’t know what words mean. Or he does. Which is worse?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c5...

Calling all Cureheads, Goths & Alternative Rockers of BELFAST! On Fri 5 Jun I'm doing a CUREPEDIA talk at Empire Music Hall (with book signing), followed by a @spellboundclub.bsky.social Alt-80s DJ set! (Ticket includes both.) See you there, spread the word! www.thebelfastempire.com/music-hall/c...

This was good fun! Thanks to everyone who came along.

The media obsession with the missing/rescued American airman is gross. Literally thousands of humans have died in this war, but they only count in bulk: waved away as a vaguely regrettable statistic (if it's mentioned at all). Only US lives matter. It's Saving Private Ryan/Black Hawk Down bullshit.

Mott The Hoople - Roll Away The Stone (Live TOTP 1973) YouTube video by MrHaggis64

youtu.be/yKmvTcSzcE8?...

Whitey’s Near The Moon.

Ah, maybe people were more refined where you grew up than they were in South Glamorgan.

This is a good shout.

Actually, now you mention it, there's an enclosed wooden one in Brighton which still smells of piss (but not cigs).

Which itself raises a question. Where has it gone, and why? Nobody smokes, sure. But why were people pissing upstairs on buses, and when did they stop?

Stale piss and fag butts. The olfactory sense is powerfully Proustian, and I can still vividly conjure that precise combo of stale piss and fag butts in my mind. The background scent of British life in the 1970s, especially phone boxes and upstairs on buses. You never actually smell it any more.

You're a man of fine taste.

The Assembly - Never Never (Extended 12" Version) YouTube video by The Assembly

Tonight is brought to you by my recurring thought that I wish The Assembly had made an album. (I mean entirely with Feargal, although I’m sure the multi-vocalist thing Vince had planned would also have been amazing.) youtu.be/BDOF23sd-Bs?...

The Damned Hotspur.

No, for the same reason that I didn't want China. I want the weird, seemingly inexplicable ones.

Yeah but 'The Isle Of Man' is a logical piece of grammar. 'The Gambia' is not. I'm after the weird ones like that.