Cool Britannia

America wanted her for American Idol. Simon Fuller, Beckham’s current manager, said the show tried to nail her for the forth judge. However, Beckham was “too busy” to accept.

Rumors were flying that she was expected to replace Dannii Minogue on the British version, X Factor, but Fuller said that is entirely untrue.

“We didn’t really thing about her for the UK,” Fuller said, “It was more for her here (America). WE toyed witht he idea, but she is just so busy with her fashion.”

Chris Martin and company are touring for their latest release, Grammy winning “Viva La Vida” throughout July and August.

July 10 Portland, Oregon
July 11 George, Washington
July 13 San Francisco, California
July 16 San Diego, California
July 18 Carson, California
July 21 Dallas, Texas
July 22 Houston, Texas
July 24 Maryland Heights, Missouri
July 25 East Troy, Wisconsin
July 29 Toronto, Ontario
August 3 Manfield, Massachusetts
August 6 Raleigh, North Carolina
August 7 Charlotte, North Carolina
August 9 Tampa, Florida

Belle & Sebastian are back! “God Help the Girl” is the project- a soundtrack for a movie. The 12 song album was recorded in Glasgow and features reworkings of Belle & Sebastian tunes including “Act of the Apostle” and “Funny Little Frog.” The premiere single is “Come Monday Night.” Stuart Murdoch described it as “a lullaby for an overworked boy.”

The project should be expected by the end of the Spring.

Thom Yorke and company donated song “Videotape” to a television campaign to raise awareness for the homeless.  Shelter, a charity that makes a difference in the lives of the homeless by providing help, is putting out television adverts to draw attention from politicians and the public.

The band stated, “We ahve always been big supporters of Shelter and blieve that now more than ever Shelter urgently needs help and support to keep up its vital work.

While the band is promoting homeless awareness, Thom Yorke is also rumored to be working on the soundtrack for “Terminator: Salvation.”

Reports are circulating that Yorke will be contributing a few tracks according to the film’s director.

The festival that made its first appearance in 2007 has been canceled for the up coming year.  The event that has been held the last two years at the Inverary Castle is expect to be held again in 2010.

Creator Geoff Ellis said, “We still want to do the even in future years, but our business plan was always to build on the audience year-on-year, and last year we didn’t really see any increase on the year before.”

Ellis and company are not willing to risk investing in an event that could easily flop in the current economic recession.  Organizers blame the limited increase in popularity due to locations and increased costs for the summer.

Franz Ferdinand, Bjork and Glasvegas are just a few names that have played the festival in the past.

In other news… 

T in the Park is clearly still underway. Razorlight, Pete Doherty, Elbow, Yeah Yeah, yeahs, Pendulum and White Lies have all signed on for the event.  Kings of Leon, Snow Patrol and Katy Perry were already announced for the Scottish Festival.

You have to love the British for their wacky polls.

 2,000 Specsavers fans named Elton John the most iconic specs wearing based on his flamboyant eye wear.  Sir Elton John has owned over 20,000 pairs of specs over the years. At times he was even known as “Queen Mum of Pop” for awhile based on his goofy eye wear. 

John Lennon, Dame Edna Everage, The Queen, Johnny Depp and Jarvis Cocker were runners-up. 

The first ever census of United Kingdom concert tickets sales was conducted by Tixdaq.  The in-depth analysis is based on concert and festival tickets sold throughout 2008.

EVP Steve Machin said that emergence of online tickets makes the market an increasingly complex place.  He hopes that the research will help people to make better-informed decisions when it comes to purchasing tickets for live events.

Reviewing the information it seems that boy band phenoms, Take That were the top sellers, but Coldplay was the highest value artist leading the way.  Other pop superstars included Kylie Minogue and American rockers, Kings of Leon.   One can also see that iconic performers including Stevie Wonder and Tina Turner were also among the top runners.

Madonna was the highest grossing individual show and George Michael’s two dats at Earl’s Court had the highest average resale price.