From Borat To Queen

Sacha Baron Cohen is to play Freddie Mercury in a film about Queen. The actor who is best known for his comic characters, Ali G, Borat and Brüno, will begin work on the film next year, according to the BBC.

Which is the perfect excuse for us to play this Queen video...

Stranglers' Cornwell on tour

Former Stranglers front-man Hugh Cornwell hits the road for a series of UK dates from April 6th 2011, performing his critically acclaimed solo album Guilty, plus the following Stranglers epics The Raven, Schoolmaam, Down in the Sewer, Toiler on the Sea, Walk on By all performed by Cornwell in their entirety.

"The idea for this tour came from my fans,” says Cornwell. “The requests for Guilty haven't stopped since it was first released. Now the fans have heard my interpretation of Rattus, they're demanding to hear the other Stranglers epics ‘a la Hugh’. I can’t wait to perform them.”

Tickets go on sale from Friday September 17th at 9am by calling the National Ticket Hotline: 0871 230 1101, or book online from www.thegigcartel.com or www.seetickets.com. A 24 hour ticket pre-sale will be launched via Planet Rock Radio on Thursday September 16th at 9am - http://tinyurl.com/322whuo.

Tour dates include: Portsmouth South Parade Pier (April 6), Gasteshead Sage (April 7), Manchester Academy (April 8), Glasgow Academy (April 9), Sheffield Academy (April 10), Clitheroe The Grand (April 12), Leamington Assembly (April 13), Bath Komedia (April 14), Wolverhampton Slade Rooms (April 15), Islington Academy (April 16), Brighton Komedia (April 17).

Tainted Love, three decades later

1981! Can it really have been so long ago? Yes, Soft Cell's Tainted love was Number One this week in 1981. I always loved Marc Almond's wrist movements...