Damon Albarn ranked 24th in The Music Power 100 - Guardian May 2011

Damon Albarn features in the Guardian's 'The Music Power 100'  (the most influential people in music today), at a rank of 24. The article writes, and I transcribe directly:

24 Damon Albarn

Artist: Blur, Gorillaz, The Good, the Bad and the Queen

Label Executive: Co-founder, Honest Jon's

Far from the knowing, ambitious rock frontman he was in the early days of Blur, Albarn has revealed himself to be one of British music's most invigorating renaissance men. As well as his involvement in Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen, the Honest Jon's label he co-founded has brought African, Caribbean and obscure black American to young, hip audiences, and his experiments in opera are helping to dismantle the barriers between "high" and "low" art.  

Click on the picture below to read the scan full sized (credits to damon4president for the scan). 

I would say it's a pretty accurate and honest description. But he should have been ranked even higher, some of the rankings seem a bit sketchy. And Damon Albarn is definitely help breaking barriers in many many different areas, not just whatever "high" and "low" art is ! Any opinions ? 

Damon Albarn - Doctor Dee Opera 2011 UPDATE

Doctor Dee Opera

Damon Albarn's new opera Doctor Dee has received some press from a double page spread in the 28th May GUARDIAN newspaper, on the guide to Manchester International Festival. 

Quoted from the article, Damon Albarn's new show is a 'modern English opera' directed by Rufus Norris, about Elizabethan thinker and magician John Dee. In Doctor Dee, Damon Albarn will appear as himself, rather than in character, performing with legendary afrobeat drummer (and bandmate in The Good, The Bad and The Queen) Tony Allen. The BBC Philharmonic will be in the pit. There will also be Elizabethan instruments and some ritualistic elements, will be primal, about the life, ambition and belief of John Dee.

Read the whole article by clicking below, thanks damon4president and 2J for the scans.

Alex James talks Blur Reunion 2011

Alex James has spoken on BBC 6 about the possible Blur reunion and whether it's official or not. Looks like it's not, but hey that's not new news. Here's what he said, taken from BBC's twitter account:

Nothing new. Old news. Old news.

Graham Coxon new gigs UPDATE (Summer Sundae + Truck Festival) 2011

Previously I reported that Graham Coxon is going to play Summer Sundae Festival and Truck Festival this year (click on the text to link) and now I've got EXCITING UPDATES for all of you fans reading right now! The lineup and more details have been released by NME yesterday. 

#1 : Summer Sundae Festival

The Maccabees, Graham Coxon and The Bees all among the first acts confirmed forLeicester's Summer Sundae Festival this year.The festival, which takes place in Leicester's Victoria Park on August 12–14, will also see sets from Little Comets, Newton Faulkner and Bellowhead.

Summer Sundae Festival was headlined by Seasick Steve, Tinchy Stryder andMumford and Sons in 2010. See Summersundae.com for more information.

The line-up for the Summer Sundae Festival so far is:

The Maccabees
Graham Coxon
Newton Faulkner
The Bees
Bellowhead
The Cuban Brothers
Wilko Johnson
John Cooper Clarke
Little Comets
CW Stoneking
Liam Bailey
Benjamin Francis Leftwich
Mama Rosin
Raghu Dixit
Skinny Lister
The Black Atlantic
Dizraeli And The Small Gods
Various Cruelties

The Maccabees

#2 : Truck Festival

I covered this in my previous post HERE, but once again, Graham Coxon and Radiohead's Phil Selway are among the latest additions to this year's Truck Festival line-up.

Set to take place July 22-24 at Hill Farm, Steventon, the weekend should be somewhat of a homecoming for Oxfordshire-based musician Selway, who'll play a solo show there.

This year Truck are teaming up with record labels Transgressive, Bella Union andHeavenly to curate the second stage.

Coxon will headline the stage on the Friday, under the Transgressive banner, withSelway appearing on the Sunday, when Bella Union are in charge.

Other new acts on the bill include The Go! Team, Edwyn Collins, Dry the River andGaggle.

See Thisistruck.com for more information.

To check the availability of Truck Festival tickets and get all the latest listings, go toNME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0871 230 1094.

The line up for Truck 2011 is:

Graham Coxon
The Go! Team
Philip Selway
Edwyn Collins
Truck Festival All-Stars
Tunng
Dean Wareham (plays Galaxie 500)
Roddy Woomble
Justin Townes Earle
Admiral Fallow
Dry The River
Pete Molinari
Alessi's Ark
Sea of Bees
Justin Robertson
Richard Norris (Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve)
Mechanical Bride
Gaggle
The Rockingbirds
Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou
James Walbourne
Lanterns on the Lake
Cashier No9
Two Fingers of Firewater
Gruff Rhys
Bellowhead
Saint Etienne
Johnny Flynn
John Grant
The Duke & The King
Cherry Ghost
Fixers
Trophy Wife
Jonquil
Chad Valley
Caitlin Rose
Marques Toliver
Treefight For Sunlight
Marcus Foster
Jonny
Richmond Fontaine
Dreaming Spires

Graham Coxon last year 

Graham Coxon will also play at Camden Crawl this sunday according to the Blur forums. Plus his album will hopefully get released by the summer!