News

Neil Young took part in a Twitter Q&A session yesterday (October 24), in which he asked his fans "who is Bono?". Young made the comment about the U2 frontman after he was asked what his opinion was of the band Foster The People. Young was asked by @akemi99 "what do you like about foster the people? #askneil btw, bono said he likes them, too... it is surprising two super stars like them..". Young replied: "who is Bono?".

P Diddy has been involved in a car accident outside a hotel in Beverly Hills, according to US reports. It is believed that the rapper was being driven into the Sunset Boulevard entrance to the Beverly Hills hotel in California overnight when his chauffeur-driven Cadillac Escalade came into contact with a Lexus RX. It is not yet known who was driving the Lexus.

Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon is auctioning a guitar made from a whiskey barrel. The custom axe is called The 1608 and was made by Vernon in conjunction with master luthier Gordy Bischoff. Crafted from white oak wood taken from Bushmills Irish Whiskey barrels, the guitar came about as a result of Bon Iver's advertising deal with the drinks brand. The volume and tone control knobs are made of bottle caps and whiskey was added to the guitar humidor during the making process, so the instrument smells every so slightly booze-y.

A month after he joined the social networking site, Neil Young is set to answer questions from fans on Twitter. Young will participate in a live Q&A on Twitter later today [Wednesday, October 24], as part of the site's #LegendsOnTwitter series. Young will respond to questions tweeted to his Twitter account, @NeilYoung, and flagged with the hashhtag #AskNeil. Previously, The Beach Boys took part in #LegendsOnTwitter on September 18. Meanwhile, Neil Young & Crazy Horse release their new album, Psychedelic Pill, on October 30.

The Rolling Stones will play small warm-up shows, possibly to take place in Paris, for their forthcoming sold-out dates in London and New York, Ronnie Wood says. Speaking to NME, guitarist Ronnie Wood said the band may perform under their Cockroaches guise in breaks from rehearsing in Paris.

Allan’s off today – something about a cat in the well, I think – so he’s asked me to write this week’s newsletter blog. It’s not an especially difficult task seeing as a new issue of Uncut goes on sale this week. You might have already caught some of our recent news stories on www.www.uncut.co.uk, in which case you’ll already know that our cover stars this month are the Rolling Stones.

Mick Jagger is to help turn James Brown's life story into a movie. The Rolling Stones frontman has joined Hollywood veteran Brian Grazer as a producer on the upcoming biopic. Grazer has been working on the project for some time, hatching plans with James Brown himself before the singer passed away in 2006.

Crosby, Stills & Nash are releasing the first subscription-based iPad app for a recording artist. According to a post on the group's website, for $3.99 a month/$39.99 a year subscribers will have access to exclusive content, updates, and premium fan features.

Concert promoter Live Nation is pulling out of Hyde Park after more than a decade of putting on events there. The live music company, which has hosted a raft of concerts and festivals including Hard Rock Calling, Wireless and the Bruce Springsteen concert this summer, has cited issues including noise restrictions and curfews for the decision, The Guardian reports. The company has reportedly written a formal letter of complaint to the Royal Parks Agency over the tender process for the new five-year contract for the central London site, dubbing it "flawed".

The new issue of Uncut, out today (October 23), features The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Donald Fagen and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. The Stones are on the cover, and inside, Mick Jagger talks to us about the band’s new film, Crossfire Hurricane, their two new songs, and the future of the band. The story of the group’s groundbreaking, debauched 1972 tour of the US in support of Exile On Main St is also told by the people who were there on the inside.