Thousands of music fans descend on Somerset for the 40th anniversary Glastonbury Festival which begins tomorrow. Snoop Dogg,pictured, will perform on Friday. Other acts include Gorillaz and Stevie Wonder. Hot weather is forecast - a far cry from the rain and mud associated with the event

From London Evening Standard

Bernie woke up suddenly and looked at the beside clock. It was 9.30AM. The teacup was filled with water when he pushed the button. He was a criminal on death row and he’d been in the small spaceship for three days. In 2084, the world had been overpopulated so the UK decided to bring back capital punishment. Criminals had been dumped into outer space. The government gave them a teacup with button. If they pushed the button, they’d get an electric shock which could cause death or the teacup would be filled with water.

Bernie had not pushed the button for three days but he didn’t have enough strength left to hold out much longer. He decided to push the button, and finally did it. There was a cup of water in front of him and no sound. He’d been thinking of his life. He’d killed 7 people to use his favorite gun S&W M10. He didn’t have a reason to kill people and thought it was easy to kill himself. He always said he didn’t want to live long. However he had wanted to live in front of death. He realized he had pretended to be a rebel. He drank a cup of water and cried ‘Mother, help me! I wanna drink some tea!’

Bernie woke up suddenly and someone asked ‘how are you doing?’ He said ‘I’ve been in a nightmare. The plot was quite cheap. Have you got any good dreams?’ The assistant said it was sold out for today and gave him a cup of tea.

RADIOHEAD frontman Thom Yorke has warned budding music stars to abandon any dreams of signing with a major label, claiming the mainstream recording industry is dying.

Yorke, 41, who made his fortune from six albums recorded with EMI, has told talented young musicians to make it on their own without the help of massive recording contracts.

He offers the pessimistic advice in a rare interview for a new school textbook in which he is asked what advice he would give teenagers who wanted to make a difference with their music.

Yorke claims the mainstream music industry is dying and that this will be “no great loss to the world” before telling aspiring musicians not to tie themselves to the “sinking ship”.

Yorke suggests it will be “only a matter of time — months rather than years — before the music business establishment completely folds”. After recording six albums with EMI, Radiohead split acrimoniously from the label when they failed to agree new terms.

In 2007, the band released their seventh album, In Rainbows, as an internet download for which fans could pay whatever they felt was appropriate.

Yorke was speaking to the authors of a new textbook for citizenship studies, The Rax Active Citizenship Toolkit, which aims to inspire young people to become more politically literate.

EMI’s new executive chairman today claimed the label was on a “firm foundation for growth” despite its debts. Charles Allen said EMI, which owes its bank, Citigroup, about £3 billion, has more than trebled cash generation at its recorded music division.

From London Evening Standard

Ronnie Wood shows he’s still a hit with the ladies, escorting a party on an evening out. The Rolling Stone and former member of The Birds was spotted with Brazilian girlfriend Ana Araujo and glamorous friends as he left Mayfair restaurant Zuma. Wood, 63, has put drugs and alcohol behind him, attributing this to the support of polo coach Ms Araujo, 30.

From London Evening Standard

FORMER Stereophonics drummer Stuart Cable has been found dead at his home after a suspected drinking binge.

Police confirmed the musician’s body was discovered at his large house in the Welsh valleys at 5.30am today. It comes just days after his former band played a huge home-coming concert.

Father-of-two Cable, 40, was a founder member of the chart-topping Stereophonics who had hits including Have a Nice Day, Local Boy in the Photograph, Just Looking and Bartender and the Thief.

But he was ousted from the band six years ago after falling out with singer Kelly Jones and missed out on the Stereophonics gig at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday night when 30,000 fans cheered on his old band.

Cable  who has admitted he was a hard drinker and drug-user  was found dead at his home in Aberdare, South Wales.

He had vowed to give up his rock’n'roll lifestyle after bringing out his biography called Demons and Cocktails  saying fame turned him into a coke-taking zombie.

His mother Mabel, 79, said: Stuart has travelled all over the world with the band and I have worried myself silly. He is now settled down and then this happens. It has not sunk in yet.

The drummer told how he went off the rails drinking and snorting cocaine after the Stereophonics hit the big time.

He told how he would get plastered on two-day drug binges and once found a girlfriend naked after collapsing from an overdose like a scene from Uma Thurman film Pulp Fiction.

His fellow bandmates Kelly Jones and Richard Jones were unhappy with Stuart’s drug-taking and their relationship deteriorated. He was eventually kicked out of the band in September 2003 after the bust-up with Kelly.

Cable, whose autobiography is due out on Friday, carried on partying and taking drugs but finally cleaned up his act after moving back home.

Cable had been playing with his new band Killing for Company which supported The Who last year.

He had also established himself as a media personality for BBC Wales, hosting his own radio show Cable Rock.

Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles said: He was always lovely when we met. Love to his family and friends. RIP.

From London Evening Standard