Michael Jackson's life and work is to be celebrated by the unveiling of a plaque at London's Lyric Theatre this week.

The ceremony and unveiling will take place on June 24, the eve of the first anniversary of the singer's death.

The Lyric Theatre, in the capital's West End, is the home of the Jackson musical 'Thriller Live'. Dance group and TV talent show winners Diversity will appear at the ceremony, and the cast of the musical will also perform.

Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles in 2009, just before he was due to begin a 50-date residency at London's O2 Arena.

Source NME

Snoop Dogg spent several years fighting for his right to party in Britain. But the hip-hop star now finds himself not welcome in the Netherlands, where authorities had him removed from the lineup of a free concert planned on June 27, according to BBC News. Snoop Dogg was scheduled to perform at the Parkpop festival, but the mayor and law enforcement officials asked its organizers to find an artist of more "open and friendly character" to play the event.

In a statement, Snoop Dogg's management said that the rapper "is astonished by the decision of the Mayor of The Hague, a town in the south of Holland, to not allow him to perform. There's been much speculation that, given the enormous response by Snoop's fans to the free festival, the local authorities would not be able to provide sufficient security.

"Mojo, the largest concert promoter in Holland says, 'We have never had any issues with Snoop, who has played magnificent shows at many of the festivals we promote such as Lowlands, North Sea Jazz and at several other promoted shows by Mojo.' Snoop is a mainstay at music festivals all over the world and has performed at all of these without incident."

Snoop Dogg is scheduled to perform at the Glastonbury and Wireless festivals in Britain this summer, after a ruling in March by a tribunal there that said the rapper should not have been denied a visa for entry in 2007 after a public disorder at Heathrow Airport in 2006, involving members of his entourage, resulted in Snoop Dogg's arrest.

Source billboard

Beck has recorded a session with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and Chicago's Tortoise for his next Record Club instalment.

The ongoing musical project sees various musicians going into the studio with Beck to record a reworked version of an entire album in a day, with nothing rehearsed or arranged ahead of time.

The album for the latest instalment is yet to be announced, though Tortoise's guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs told TimeOutNY.com that their session saw them play a "broad spectrum of music that was sort of appropriate".

When completed, the results of the recordings will be posted at Beck.com/RecordClub.

Other acts to have joined Beck previously include Liars, MGMT, Devendra Banhart and members of Wolfmother and Little Joy.

Source UNCUT

Fool’s Gold, the eclectic LA collective, will be headlining Club Uncut in August.

The date for your diaries is Monday, August 16, and the venue will be Club Uncut’s regular home of The Borderline in London’s West End. Tickets are priced at £8, available as usual from www.seetickets.com.

Fool’s Gold’s excellent debut album was released early in 2010, receiving a lot of love for its mix of various African styles with dance music, indie rock and Yiddish lyrics. To read more, check out our Wild Mercury Sound blog here .

The next Club Uncut is on June 24, when The Strange Boys play at the Borderline.

Source UNCUT

Radiohead drummer Phil Selway is to promote his new solo album with a UK tour.

The drummer releases 'Familial' on August 30 through Bella Union, and he heads out on the road the following month.

Selway will play a string of dates supporting Wilco, as well as appearances at Bestival, End Of The Road and Electric Picnic festivals.

He plays:

Electric Picnic Festival (September 4)
Bestival (11)
End Of The Road Festival (12)
London Royal Festival Hall (with Wilco) (14)
Newcastle Academy (with Wilco) (15)
Glasgow Barrowlands (with Wilco) (16)

Click here to buy tickets for the gigs.

Source UNCUT

Simon & Garfunkel have postponed their summer tour indefinitely, the duo announced on its official website.

Art Garfunkel continues to recover from vocal paresis, a serious condition that affects vocal chords, and while he is expected to make a full recovery, the dates have not been rescheduled.

The duo were originally schedule to perform a string of arena dates in Canada and the U.S. in April, but those shows were rescheduled to July.

In 2009, Simon & Garfunkel toured in Australia, New Zealand and Japan and appeared alongside Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Eric Clapton at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th Anniversary Concert at Madison Square Garden.

But the last time North American audiences got the duo together for proper shows was during the wildly successful "Old Friends" tour, that ran for two months in 2003 and an encore month in 2004. Those shows led a double live album and DVD called "Old Friends: Live on Stage." Their most recent release is "Live 1969," which culled together 15 unreleased performances from their November 1969 tour.

Source billboard