Balkan festival bangs on Brussels' door

Balkan music festival campaign calls for free movement to Europe > Balkan festival bangs on Brussels' door

Dusk descends over the River Danube and the volume of music pumping out of two dozen sound-systems soars steadily.

Among the revellers attending the annual Exit festival in Serbia this year are an unprecedented number of visitors from western Europe - English, French and German voices ring out above the clamour.

Freedom of movement campaigner Rajko Bozic welcomes the new influx - because, he says, it demonstrates just how unfair western European visa restrictions against his fellow Serbs are.

The fortress versus the festival

Can an old fortress withstand thousands of revellers in Serbia?

Two Serb jet fighters swivel in mid-flight over the ancient fortress, playfully pursuing each other along a bend in the Danube river. >The fortress versus the festival

"Our history has, at times, prevented us from seeing clearly into the future," says Vladimir "Vlidi" Jeric, perched on the ramparts of Novi Sad's Petrovaradin fortress.

The softly-spoken guitarist and sampler from legendary Belgrade band Darkwood Dub is in town to play at the annual Exit music festival. Formed in 1988 - "more than a lifetime ago", according to Vlidi - the band's career has spanned the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

Photo of Mozart's widow found

A print of the only photograph of Mozart's widow, Constanze Weber, has been found in Germany. The photograph was taken in 1840 in the Bavarian town of Altoetting when she was 78. She died two years later. > Photo of Mozart's widow found

The local authorities say detailed examination has proved the authenticity of the image, which is a copy of the original daguerreotype.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died at the age of 36 in 1791, when Constanze was 29. She later married a Danish diplomat.

MTVN adds more shows to Apple's iTunes

MTVN adds more shows to Apple's iTunes: Apple iTunes expands core offerings with more TV

The range of video offerings on Apple Computer's iTunes Music Store has expanded with the addition of various shows from MTV Networks' Spike TV, Logo, Nick at Night and The N.

The new downloads include the two-hour premiere episode of Spike's new "Blade: The Series," which will be available for free until July 11.

Model citizen

A legendary marching band director has been inspired by a passion for model soldiers: He is a Model citizen fanatic.

Toy soldiers have an ancient history. Toy soldiers seem to have been around for as long as there have been toys. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian rulers had collections that have been unearthed by archaeologists, the Greeks and Romans had tiny bronze soldiers, Kings of medieval Europe had tiny armies of wood and pottery, and monarchs of the 19th century had glittering collections sculpted of gold and silver.

Young viewers clicking on YouTube, not reaching for clicker

Young viewers clicking on YouTube, not reaching for clicker, but For young, checking YouTube becomes a habit.

YouTube.com, which now has 12.5 million visitors each month and ranks among the top 50 most visited Web sites, is symbolic of a shift in TV habits among mostly younger viewers away from the traditional small screen to digital counterparts on their computer desktops, laptops and iPods.

What's your favorite band?

A test version of the niche social networking site MOG.com launched on Tuesday with the aim of hooking up people based on their taste in music -- a sort of Myspace for music junkies.

The free site, started by former MTV marketing executive David Hyman with $1.4 million from private investors, requires users to download its application, mog-o-matic. The application catalogs the music on users' computer hard drives and monitors what they play the most and what new tunes are added through online downloads and portable music players.

The data is analyzed several ways and is posted to users' MOG web pages, which are open to inspection by the online world at large. Users also are encouraged to create blogs on their pages about their favorite music. The company does not generate music recommendations from the data but does provide 30-second sound links to all users' collections as well as links to Apple's iTunes Music Store and online music retailer Amazon.com.

Sprint teams with Interscope for music promotion

Sprint teams with Interscope for music promotion.

According to this report Sprint Launching Interscope Music Series Sprint and Interscope Records are scheduled to launch a mobile video series tomorrow that will offer exclusive audio and video clips of music artists' studio sessions.

The companies plan to highlight a new artist every Friday for the next nine weeks.

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine for Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, who penned the Beatles' song When I'm Sixty-Four, is celebrating his 64th birthday spending a quiet day with his family at his farm in England, news reports say.

Birthday greetings, bottle of wine for Paul McCartney and the song famously begins "When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now, will you still be sending me a Valentine, birthday greeting, bottle of wine?"

It also contains the refrain "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?" — and for many McCartney fans, the answer has been a resounding "Yes."

Happy Birthday Sir Paul!

The Who live at Leeds, again

The Who recreated its legendary 1970 Leeds University concert in England by playing in the same venue as it kicked off a European tour.

The Who live at Leeds, again > The Who's tour will take them to Germany, France, Spain, Austria and then to North America in September. The band's new studio album is expected to be released in late June.

The Boys Are Back

While their popularity has declined since their late-'80s peak, the Pet Shop Boys have retained a steadfast following.

Fundamental entered the British charts at No. 5 and made the Top Ten for album downloads for iTunes subscribers in Canada, Germany, Spain and Scandinavia. Those numbers are healthy enough to spare Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from the fate of many of their one-time contemporaries, doomed to relive past glories on shows such as VH1 Bands Reunited.

However, The Boys Are Back once more. The influence of gay culture has never been hard to find in the music biz, an industry that has long traded on the allure of young men in tight trousers.

In the early '60s, impresario Larry Parmes built up a stable of prefab stars with vigorous names such as Tommy Steele. Nearly 40 years after his death, Beatles manager Brian Epstein is still the subject of innuendo concerning his interest in the Fab Four. Openly gay music acts were rare even amid the rampant hedonism of glam and disco, the real shocker was that David Bowie and most of the Village People would eventually be outed as straight.

Well, times are changing so does culture, pop or gay.

Heather Mills McCartney: I'm no prostitute

Heather Mills McCartney has denied claims she worked as a £5,000-a-time prostitute.

Read this article to find out more about what she claims > Heather Mills McCartney: I'm no prostitute

The 38-year-old former model, who separated from husband Sir Paul McCartney last month, has furiously rubbished allegations made yesterday branding them rehashed and false stories from four years ago.

A statement released by her lawyers said: "Heather Mills McCartney strongly denies the allegations. These are not new stories".

Kylie Minogue makes stage return

Pop star Kylie Minogue has made her first stage appearance since being diagnosed with breast cancer last year. So, actually Kylie Minogue makes stage return

The singer, 38, came on stage at the end of a gig by her younger sister Dannii at GAY in London's Astoria.

Tiscali attacks music industry

Tiscali executives have attacked the European music industry after being forced to close its filesharing service.

Tiscali attacks music industry saying record labels had made it "virtually impossible" to promote legal music online after being forced to close its filesharing service after just five weeks.

EMI to offer content on ad-driven Qtrax network

EMI to offer content on ad-driven Qtrax network >

In this article EMI Agrees to Make Content Available on Ad-Supported P2P Network EMI Music has inked a deal with Qtrax to sell its catalog on the ad-supported peer-to-peer network.

Users can choose between two versions of the service, a free, ad-supported one with a five-listen limit for any one track, and a premium version with paid downloads available on a per-track or subscription basis.

Rolling Stones rescheduling European gigs

A couple of weeks ago all European dates were cancelled.

Now they will then travel through Austria, Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain.

Their UK dates in London, Glasgow, Sheffield and Cardiff in late August remain unchanged. Stones star given tour all-clear But gigs in Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels, Gothenburg, St Petersburg, Brno, Warsaw, Athens, Zagreb and Frankfurt are still to be rescheduled.

Originally the Athens concert was set on 25th June at the Olympic Sports Complex Stadium. This is their third live gig in Athens. Now we have to wait for the new date. Better late than never! Tickets for the postponed concerts will be valid for the rescheduled dates.

The really small screen may be future for MTV

The really small screen may be future for MTV. I

n this article The Shorter, Faster, Cruder, Tinier TV Show as it turns the mature brand-age of 25, MTV is thinking small, as in the small screens of mobile phones, iPods and game players, as a way to stay current with today's 15-year-olds.

Leading the effort to develop this cutting-edge programming is Dave Sirulnick, the network's newly appointed EVP for multiplatform production, news and music.

Keep it simple Mr Paul Simon

Do you remember Mr Paul Simon?

What? You said "No! Who is Mr Simon?"

Can you recall the days when you were younger, back in the 60's and the 70's?

This is who Mr Simon is. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Oh, yes! You do now remember him! Well, Mr Simon played live his first solo London gig in six years, a strange thing happens.

Read this review Paul Simon Bloomsbury Theare, London

Virtual nightclubs have bottom line in mind

At Interscope Records' Pussycat Dolls Lounge on the Web community Doppelganger, users, via an avatar, can talk and "dance" with club-goers, interact with the performers via chat sessions and, most importantly, buy music and other merchandise.

The interactive lounge is the latest attempt by the music industry to tap the popularity of social networking sites to raise their artists' profiles and boost sales.

Read this to learn more > Net nightclubs, virtual venues generate real dollars

Telegraph | Opinion | You need friends to win in Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest finally proved to be a Eurometal one but this article Telegraph Opinion You need friends to win in Eurovision looks at the contest from a different angle, of view, that is.

An interesting one though.