Hey guys, I just got back from a vacation to the North Shores for the Memorial weekend holiday. I have been up there several times, mostly for hiking purposes. This time around, we spent a chunk of the day in Duluth, which has this small touristy section (exit 256B), which may turn around that my opinion that Duluth has nothing to offer (other than the band Low and Bob Dylan).

Anyway, although fun and exciting, I'm an old man and will be recovering from my trip - so I actually have no reviews prepared. So, you know what that means? News and gossips!

KATE MOSS TO WRITE NOVEL

Whoa, supermodel Kate Moss is literate? Well, she won't be doing all the writing, she's hiring Louise Wener (ex singer/songwriter of my favorite band Sleeper) as ghost writer. All this was first reported by the "highly reputable" the Sun.

As soon as the story was published in late Monday (May 25, 2009 at 6:17 PM), the story was picked up by a ton of "newspapers", including the NME, which Christopher said was "the musical equivalent of the sun".

Talking to Jon Stewart (Sleeper's guitarist), he basically could not confirm (or deny!) this, so in my opinion this gossip sounds legit.

So where are they now? Last month, Q Magazine, ran a story on Sleeper - lots of new details, including the elusive Diid Osman. I knew a lot of post-Sleeper split stories, but I'm not sure if it was public knowledge.

In addition to Stewart's jokingly regretful cover of Blondie's "Atomic" and working at the Brighton Institute of Music, his latest project is as the musical supervisor for the movie Telstar the Movie.



THE PIRATE BAY THEME SONG
Swedish "pirates" from the Pirate Bay was recently found guilty for, er, piracy and plunder. Although they have appealed the case, I don't think it will end in their favor.

Anyway, I got news from respected Swedish record label, Hybrism that Montt Mardié (monttmardie.com/myspace) have written an anthem for the Pirate Bay. You can torrent the song from thepiratebay.org/special (if you don't have bittorrent, you can find it online!)

An artist has got to make a living just like everybody else, there's no doubt about it. And these are tough times, believe me I know. The thing is though, if I were to go back in time, 10 years or so, and tell the 15-year-old version of myself that over a night, 60 000 people had heard one of my songs, the first question I'd throw back at myself wouldn't be "how much money did I make?".

Don't get me wrong, I love money and I want to make a lot of it. Bathe in it just like Uncle Scrooge. But money isn't the main reason why I write songs. First and foremost I want people to hear them.

Times are so strange at the moment and a lot of people are angry and upset. Still, for each day that goes by I get more and more convinced that we shouldn't try to fight the future, we should embrace it. Try to see opportunities instead of catastrophys.

I've written a song. I call it "We're All The Pirate Bay". It's free and nobody will ever have to pay for it, though if you incist you are welcome to make a donation!

Take care, Monty

Ironically, the theme song doesn't sound like it was stolen from anywhere else.