Van Tango

Rachel Stevens fancies a non-pop superstar! When Rachel met jazz sensation Jamie Cullum at a recent London gig, she made the first move. What a lucky boy. BUT the shy piano dude knocked her back. The Funky Dory star only had eyes for the 26 year old musician at the private party afterwards. An observer revealed: "She went straight over to Jamie to tell him how much she loved the concert and his music. He was all red and flustered by her attentions, mumbling and grinning at her like a schoolboy. And she wasn't just enthusiastic about his performance - she was being properly flirty with him."
"He was clearly very flattered but he looked like he wished he were somewhere else." Too bad. The twentysomething guy is not willing to 'negotiate with love'. Rachel, 27, has been single since her year-long relt with Gavin Dein which ended in Sept. Prior to that, she was with Holby City actor Jeremy Edwards. The reason for Jamie's reluctance...he has been together with Brazilian lawyer girlfriend Isabella Cannell for more than three years. A pity. Hope Rachel won't play the 'waiting game' on him, which many others would definitely will.

Would Freddie Ljungberg and Rachel Stevens look good on screen together?? Now don't go there.....Rachel plans to add some man-candy to her next saucy video in the form of that underwear model/football star Freddie. Rachel, who's just picked up the Smash Hits award for most fanciable female, plans to release another single, Crazy Boys. It is one of the best up-tempo tracks from the second album. She said: "It's all top secret but my dream is to have the lovely Freddie in the video for the song as my boyfriend." Rachel teased, "I'd like that in real life too, but I'll start with the video." Freddie comes at a price though - the C.K boy could pick up over 10,000 pounds for a video appearance. Think he would do it for free, even if it means feigning an injury to get some spare time from his Highbury training. Hey, it's the Gunners after all, where players know how to fall down from invisible tackles.

Snow Patrol have relocated to Ireland in an effort to finish work on their new album. Singer Gary Lightbody, posting on the band's official site, said they should have completed initial work by Dec 10. He revealed: "This does not include strings and brass in London and a choir in Glasgow, all to be recorded the week following the tenth. These should both take no more than a few days in total...it's all going very good right now." Lightbody said lyrically the new songs could go "either way". He joked: "Don't panic it's still dark as hell in here, it's just sometimes there's a happy ending." He mentioned that new track It's Beginning To Get To Me was originally played on the band's US tour with U2 and sounds "proper monster". The other new song titles he revealed are Make This Go On Forever, You're All I Have, Open Your Eyes, The Only Noise, Warmer Climate, You Could Be Happy and Chasing Cars. One of the 'not bad' indie bands. Hope they can maintain the quality the second time round. Not another X&Y sad type of declining spiral.

Kylie Minogue : Showgirl - The Greatest Hits Tour DVD is due on Dec 12th. Starting the world tour from Scotland in Mar this year; 23 nights at only 4 different venues in the UK. A total of 27 songs from this DVD. The impatient ones out there might want to get it through here. Not really into online purchases. I'll just have to wait a couple more weeks to grab this essential physical item.

Hard-Fi's new video - Cash Machine!! A re-release single on Dec 26. Love the video concept. The band are seen working 'behind the scenes' of an ATM. Ace.

Babyshambles Albion video. A simple, slow melodious track that has a special beautiful meandering quality about it. Released on Nov 28.

Discovered a new band from London - The Dirty Pins. Can sense a lot of influences ranging from The Buzzcocks, The Libs, BShambles, Clash in them.....This particular song 'I Feel So Milton Keynes' is very impressive. Would be wise to take note of them.

Noel G live acoustic sessions! Includes B-side gems such as Whatever, Spaceman and Underneath The Sky.

Richard Ashcroft new single is called 'Break The Night With Colour' . Is he still relevant?


Avril Lavigne the model?
Avril Lavigne made her mark as the idol of disaffected teenagers rebelling against the Barbie doll pop that ruled the early zeroes. Now witness Avril in her new incarnation: glamorous, grown-up and angling for her share of those fashion campaigns currently being coralled by celebrities. And via her reps at Ford, she already has the blue chip editorials piling up. Stay tuned.. An absolute stunner.
More pics :
Cosmo 01 / Cosmo 02 / Cosmo 03 / Cosmo 05
Cosmo 06 / Cosmo 07 / Cosmo 08 / Cosmo 09
Cosmo 12 / Cosmo 13 / Cosmo 14 / Cosmo 16


Supergroup looking for singer
Members of New Order, Stone Roses and The Smiths are in search for a vocalist. Freebass - a supergroup consisting of New Order's Peter Hook, The Smiths' Andy Rourke and The Stone Roses Mani - are on the lookout for a singer. The band are looking to complete their line-up with a fresh face. "We want someone young with something to say. Someone new," Peter Hook said. "I think the problem is that the three of us have such a pedigree of vocalist, that if we come out with someone that's not good we'll obviously be slated! You've got Ian Brown, bloody Bobby Gillespie, Ian Curtis, Bernard (Sumner) and Morrissey. Those are big shoes to fill, especially collectively," he said.
Hooky described Freebass' sound as "(sounding)like New Order with a bit of the Stone Roses and a bit of Smiths and some Northern Soul."
The star went on say the songs the supergroup have been working on contained all three bassists playing together. "Mani does the low part, Andy Rourke in the middle and I do the high bit. But it works out quite well," he said. Any indie uncle who can sing willing to join them??

Is there an 'Arctic Monkeys' clone also hailing from Sheffield? Milburn is another class act not to be missed. Absolutely incredible catchy dancy tunes. Some samples: Lickin' Lips / Storm In A Teacup / Send In The Boys.

For Arctic Monkeys, enjoy this 30 mins+ video stream live studio performance in the US. They played Ritz to the Rubble & personal fav - A Certain Romance!

Kubichek is one to watch in 2006. Hailing from Newcastle, they've got some catchy indie tunes that attracts me ears a lot. Check them out here.

The Departure = super underrated band that has been around since early 2004. They have toured in Japan...but not in here. Don't think the mtv execs even know their existance. We don't have MTV2 like in Europe. Mcflys & Good Charlottes are the 'popular' ones. Some claimed The Departure to be the second reckoning of The Chameleons (80's band), while others pictured their music as U.K's own Interpol (a bit unfair i think..both are superb in their own different styles). Listen to some of their tracks here.

Ever the businessman, 50 Cent is planning to release his own line of condoms and sex toys. (????????????) The star, who already has a clothing line and a range of energy drinks, hopes to branch out into the lucrative sex market He told GQ mag: "I need to make a 50 Cent condom, and a motorised version of me. But I want to do something like that, to create something that's popular and exciting sexually for women." This guy is really in the 'Trump' mode at the moment. Bling-bling add-ons??

Gwyneth Paltrow is not happy with her Hollywood pals who put off motherhood to further their careers. The actress, who is rumoured to be pregnant with her second child, once hit out at workaholic stars who never see their children. Now she is targeting those who delay starting families. She says: "I sort of look at some peers of mine and I think, 'No, you've got it all wrong.' I just want to tell them all to have babies and be happy and not get sucked into that Hollywood thing." It's their own choice and lifestyle. Some will be entangled in the "Carrie Bradshaw / Mr Big" scenario while some are following the 'Paula Abdul' route..

Joss Stone said her parents' split has discouraged her from ever getting married. The 18 year old singer, who recently split from Beau Dozier, said she is having second thoughts about future nuptials because she does not want to risk unhappiness. Joss said: "My parents are much happier now, but it makes me think I don't want to get married and I was really into getting married before. "But if they don't love each other then they shouldn't be together." She must also have taken note of Rod Stewart, Mick Jagger, Eliz Hurley, Bruce Wills, Aniston's....quite a long list for this young lady to ponder on.

The Kooks - 'You Don't Love Me' Out on Jan 9th 2006 from the forthcoming album 'Inside in/Inside Out'.
Wmv Low / Hi
Real Low / Hi

White Rose Movement. Anyone else loving this band at the moment? Quite dancy, and their from Norfolk I think. Current single is called 'Alsation' and is worth a listen. If you don't like it at first, I promise it's a grower.