Hey, Blur fans! Looking forward to another Blur album soon? Well you may have a some time to kill as Blur bass player Alex James is rumoured to have signed up for the ‘reality’ TV series, ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’.

In a move that’s sure to divide Blur fans (and severely piss off bandmate Damon Albarn), Blur’s rakish bassist James is rumoured to have signed up to appear in the new series of ‘My Career’s Going Nowhere, Please Love Me (Or At Least Allow Me To Promote A Product For You)’, also known as ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’.

James was reportedly inspired by Johnny Rotton’s time shouting profanities on live television (who wouldn’t be?) and is said to fancy some time away from his normal life surrounded by vacuous Z-listers and a shed load of creepy-crawlies.

Various tabloid sources have also pegged Hollywood actor George Hamilton, Ian Wright and Rodney Marsh to appear.

James’ other TV appearances have included his longwinded series about how great Soho is, and the Beagle science lectures in which he talked a bit about telescopes.

Xfm

Graham confirms that his new “sentimental, despondent, whiny, stingy, horrible” record is finally finished. And while the new album may not be in the shops yet, there’s already talk of another “more acoustic” album in the pipeline.

Speaking to Xfm Online, Graham explained that he has all the tracks for the follow-up to ‘Happiness In Magazines’ in the can. All he has to do is select the final cut, and decide what the hell it’s about�

“It’s all done,” the singer and guitarist confirmed. “I finished it in May and then it was another ten weeks of grafting, and 20 songs later it’s all done. I’m just deciding on the running order and I’m doing my drawing, thinking about the visual.

“It’s something to do with love going very fast, policemen chasing it,” he continues, confusingly, before admitting, “I’m not sure really. I’ll find the proper words soon. I’m going to have to really ’cause I’m going to have to write it on the sleeve!

“All of the songs are about love in some sort of way, whether negative of positive. So there’s some sentimentality on there, and some others that are very despondent and whiny and stingy and horrible. I like those extremes.”

Coxon also confirmed he’ll be, once again handling the visual aesthetic side of the album-making process.

“I’ve been doing my normal sketchy thing and mucking about on computers and canvases, yeah. This autumn I want to get more into that sort of thing, shutting myself away in the country and getting on with it.”

Speaking about the sound of the record, Coxon admitted that while he was still writing more acoustic-sounding material, this may be stored up for a folk album.

“It’s not that I haven’t stopped writing that kind of thing, but it’s what to focus on and whether to put very different styles on one record,” he explained. “It’s whether I want to focus it in more an electric way, and save my other obsessions like folk and blues and jazz for another thing LP.

“I’m thinking maybe to put a few things by, and after a while collect them to make a more focused acoustic record. I’ve always been a bit of a fan of folk music and traditional music traditional English music, so who knows.”

Xfm

In a world first, Gorillaz’ smash hit second album Demon Days will be performed in its entirety across five consecutive nights (November 1st - 5th) at the Opera House, Manchester - as part of a series of trailblazing events ahead of the inaugural Manchester International Festival in late June and early July 2007.

The album’s guest musicians will descend on Manchester to take on the task of recreating the three-million selling Demon Days live onstage. The two-dimensional band members will take a back seat as their musical collaborators are brought together for the first time ever, in five remarkable and unrepeatable performances. Guest musicians will include Happy Mondays front-man Shaun Ryder and UK hip hop artist Roots Manuva, with further names to be announced in the run-up to the event.

Set against a backdrop of vintage grandeur, the intimate 2,000-anight capacity audience will be the first to experience the full Demon Days set performed by all the contributing musicians with the band expected to put in an appearance. Details of when tickets go on sale will be announced at a later date - register at www.gorillaz.com and the festival website www.manchesterinternationalfestival.com to receive details as they are announced.

www.gorillaz.com

Blur are amongst the stars of fashion, film and music who have donated items of their clothing for an online auction to support Oxfam’s lifesaving work around the world. Several of the motorcyle helmets, motorcyle gloves and dancers’ costumes used in the band’s ‘Music is my Radar’ video, along with over a hundred other eminently collectable fashion items, will feature in an online auction during London Fashion Week - 18th to 25th September.

Celebrities were asked to donate their ‘favourite item of clothing’ to the project. These items, many of which were designed by top names, are made even more special by their unique history. Winning bidders will receive a handwritten note with the story behind the item, and details of why it was so important to its previous owner.

The project is a collaboration between top photographer Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio, and i-D magazine. Knight captured images of the items, which had been customised by a team of superstylists, in a fashion shoot featuring stars such as Naomi Campbell, Erin O’Connor, and Karolina Kurkova.

You can see a preview of the items going under the hammer on the SHOWstudio website at: www.showstudio.com/projects/bringandbuy/auction/. and for a chance to win these utterly unique fashion items, log on at: www.oxfam.org.uk/bringandbuy/

There is no reserve on any of the items and the auction begins at 8pm (GMT) September 18, and ends at 8pm September 25.

Thanks to Daisy @ Oxfam

Gorillaz are in a Hong Kong studio today recording a new track for the latest War Child album “Help: A Day In The Life”.

Find out more about the album including the track listing over at NME.COM

You can download the album for £7.99 or each track for 99p each from midday tomorrow (Sept 9, 2005) from www.warchildmusic.com

A official CD release of the album will be in stores on Sept 26.