This 3 day festival of far-out fuzz and fun is happening over August bank holiday at the Firebug in Leicester, perfect for getting hot and bothered to a host of unruly and rulin’ bands and rowdy record wranglers. With the guys from Biff Bang Pow bringing the left-field indie and garage, and the girls from The Lava Lounge bringing the rock’n’roll and trash, this festival is an exciting mix of the finest vintage and new sounds!

Friday 27th (8pm-4am) sees the folks from the Biff Bang Pow club spinning up the soul, psyche, 60s garage, funk and left field indie, whilst the stage will be swinging to the hip sounds of:
THE SEE SEE / WE THREE & THE DEATH RATTLE / JAMIE SAYS / KICK IN THE EYE
Saturday 28th (8pm-4am) is helmed by the Lava Lounge who’ll be twistin’ and shakin’ ‘till late to wild R&B, sloppy soul, Rock n roll, garage, punk, surf, beat & other choice tunes, with four riotous live bands:
KING SALAMI and the CUMBERLAND THREE / THE HANDSOME DICKS /
THE DESPONDENTS / THE NO-BRAINERS
Sunday 29th (1pm-6pm) is a child-friendly affair with a record fair & retro market, fantastic fete with foolish games, beer garden BBQ & bands:
THE LONELY TOURIST / PLAYER PIANO / CHRIS OLLEY / CHARLES RANDOLPH RIVERS SLIM RYTHM REVUE
As well as the superb:
DJ WHEELIEBAG
Sunday 29th (7pm-3am) will be an adult aural blowout including:
DAVID PETER AND THE WILDE SECT / THEE VICARS / THEE LUDDS / DAYLIGHT FREQUENCIES / THE VITAMIN SEES
With DJs across 2 rooms, more fun, drinking, merriment, stupidity, thrills and wild dancing! A real blow-out finale…you’ll be stirred, shaken and stimulated! NOT TO BE MISSED!!! And remember, you’re not at work on Monday so it’s going to be a real party! Come down and LOSE YOUR COOL!

And even though Englebert will NOT be playing, It’s the hippest, hottest happening Leicester has ever seen!
Advance price for each day is £5 or £10 for a weekend pass, available from We Got Tickets: Lose Your Cool!
All festival profits go to Macmillan Cancer Support and Alzheimer’s Society.

The free picnic will take place in Spinningfields from 12.00pm to 2.00pm on Wednesday 28th July and TV presenter and adventurer Ben Fogle will be there, encouraging everyone to take a break from their busy day. As well as free lunches for the first 2,000 people, there will be entertainment including a live jazz band and giant garden games, as well as the chance to have your picture taken with Ben himself. Or, if you prefer just to kick back and relax, there will be a ‘chill-out zone’ with hay bales to rest on and books and magazines for you to read.

The event is being held by Nature Valley, one of the UK’s favourite snack bar brands, and has the support of urban dweller, Ben Fogle, who is encouraging as many Manchester folk as possible to come along.

So, whether you can escape for a full hour, or only spare a few minutes, make sure you sign up to receive full event details at www.facebook.com/NatureValleyUK, where you will also be able to vote for the flavour of Nature Valley snack bar that goes into the picnic lunches. And if you don’t get down to Spinningfields in time to grab a free lunch, there will still be plenty of Nature Valley snack bars to feast on!

To discover more places in Manchester to take breaks during your day, visit www.secretspots.co.uk where you can also get loads of information about ‘secret spots’ in urban areas (not just Manchester), including leafy hideaways and lesser known corners near you!

Ibiza Rocks have announced the launch of an exclusive app for BlackBerry smartphones, which provides the ultimate guide to getting the most out of your holiday in Ibiza with listings, gig reviews, interviews with Ibiza Rocks talent and the latest news on trends throughout the season.

Stay up to date while on the move; the app will unlock all of Ibiza’s best kept secrets exclusively for BlackBerry users. The full Ibiza Rocks line up is just a click away, and the Ibiza Rocks team of intrepid island reporters will be updating the app every week with exclusive interviews with some of the bands performing at Ibiza Rocks, along with reviews of all the gigs.

There is also a handy guide to all Ibiza’s must-visit destinations – from choosing the best beach for a spot of sun-worshipping, to planning the restaurants, bars and clubs to hit on a night out, the app brings together loads of insider knowledge about the island.

Users will also be able to create their own Ibiza Rocks guide via the ‘Your Ibiza Rocks’ feature, which allows you to upload your own place recommendations and photo galleries. And to make sure everyone at home knows just how much fun you’re having, this feature can be linked up to your Twitter page so that all your friends can follow your Ibiza adventures.

Ibiza Rocks takes place every Tuesday until 14^th September; highlights include Dizzee Rascal, Florence and the Machine, Maximo Park, Ian Brown and Calvin Harris with The Prodigy, LCD Soundsystem, Kele, Delphic and DJ Rob da Bank playing the Ibiza Rocks 5^th Birthday Party in July.

The official Ibiza Rocks BlackBerry application is available to download from BlackBerry app world or www.ibizarocks.com

Described by organisers as “an outbreak of cheeky, thought-provoking and sometimes raunchy spree of eccentricity (sounds like the 69 office), turning the city into a playground and the people into performers. HAZARD MMX sets out to both amuse and entertain whilst showing people that contemporary art need not be po-faced or exclusive.”

Launching the programme on Friday 16 July is the return of “Odorama” or scratch’n’sniff cinema – with British classic, My Beautiful Laundrette being given the fragrant treatment.  Friday’s screening at HUB M3 gallery in Salford will be accompanied by an exclusive question and answer session with the film’s star Gordon Warnecke.

The two previous outings of Hazard have seen the bold and the beautiful, eccentric and extreme crop up in every possible location. Cathedral Gardens swaddled in Hazard Tape, gothic clog dancers and giant dancing traffic cones have all featured in Manchester’s micro-festival of incidental intervention and sited performance.

A flash of yellow and black might be all you need to realise that you have become part of HAZARD MMX, but if that whets your appetite, then Larkin’ About offers a full programme of pervasive gaming – computer games brought to life in the city – all kicking off from Manchester Arndale’s Hallé Square.

Further outbreaks of mischief and mayhem will see a man recreate every demonstration he has ever been on, a group of Liverpudlians land on the moon and a faded aristocrat give the image of banking a make-over.  With over 20 events taking place throughout the City Centre, it will be hard to avoid some form of hazardous activity.

To keep up to date with information and the inside knowledge on Hazard, visit:

www.hazardmcr.org or follow @hazardmcr on Twitter.

On Friday 25^th June – for one day only – the entire Pandora shop window will be adorned with beautiful gold jewellery boxes.  The first 90 customers to make a purchase will have the chance to win a piece of Pandora jewellery from a life-size jewellery box. Prizes include a charm bracelet, a LovePods ring and selected charms.

If you can’t make this special event – fear not, as Pandora certainly has something for everyone, no matter when you visit.  Pandora’s signatue charm bracelet is a big favourite of ours and makes the most extraordinary gift, as no two beads or bracelets are ever the same.  Choose from thousands of handcrafted sterling silver and 14-carat gold charms, including stunning diamond-encrusted beads, Murano glass or wooden beads, a little suitcase to remember an exotic holiday, a plump heart for your loved-one, or a beautifully decorated cake to celebrate a special someone’s birthday.  It’s bespoke jewellery that is as invidual as you are – and can be added to over the years to make it really special.

The new Leicester store will also offer a beautiful array of 18-carat gold jewellery including Pandora’s LovePods collection; an exclusive premium jewellery range in yellow or white gold, inspired by the simplicity and purity of nature.

Pandora is now open at Humberstone Gate, Haymarket Shopping Centre, Leicester.

www.pandora-jewelry.com

The likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Beverley Knight, Ellie Goulding, Robyn, Train, Gabriella Cilmi and Scouting For Girls are the latest celebrities to sign up for Birmingham based radio station BRMB’s Celebrity Trainer auction to raise money for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity.

The charity supports injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan and hopes to develop a new military rehabilitation facility. This facility will assist military patients to cope with their injuries whilst creating a ‘home from home’ where they can relax with their families and fellow soldiers.

A very special online public auction will open for bidding on Monday 24^th May and will feature a signed collection of trainers by all of the above celebs   as well as international tennis star Maria Sharapova and chart topper Tinchy Stryder. Ex-Busted bassist Matt Willis and his ‘Live From Studio Five’ presenter wife Emma Willis have also lent their signatures to the cause.

The highest bidder on the Ellie Goulding trainer will receive the trainer custom made in their size. All other celebrity trainers will be in a standard size.

The auction is part of BRMB’s campaign to ‘build a home for the brave in Birmingham’ which includes a twenty-six mile Walkathon taking place on Sunday 6^th June. It is hoped that 10,000 people will take part in the BRMB Lookers Vauxhall Walkathon which is also being sponsored by the Midlands chocolate institution, Cadbury World.

To bid on the trainers, go to myworld.ebay.co.uk/brmb_walkathon/

For more information about how to bid for the trainers or participate in the BRMB Lookers Vauxhall Walkathon please visit www.brmbwalkathon.co.uk.

Take a look in our gallery for a few of the celebs signing the trainers!

The National Space Centre in Leicester has been voted the East Midland’s Large Visitor Attraction of the Year (by Visit Britain and Enjoy England) so if you haven’t been before what better time to go along and see the six interactive galleries, Rocket Tower and UK’s largest planetarium than this Bank Holiday weekend when they have even more fun for all you space cadets to enjoy.

This month the European Space Agency will be celebrating 35 years of space exploration and as well as telling the exciting story of the past, present and future the National Space Centre will be inviting visitors to take a trip back to the 70s with an interactive Retro Gaming exhibition. What? Games are very intellectual. Try your hand at Pong, Asteroids, Space Invaders or even the 1979 classic Pac Man! Not that any of us here is old enough to remember those. *cough*

Visitors will also be able to find out how the UK leads the world in space and meet real Rocket Scientists as the National Space Centre team are joined by Professor George Fraser from the Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester.

There will be free ‘Build your own Martian Rover Robot’ in the craft sessions and even a Mars Yard robot challenge using the unique test facility built to put multi-million pound robots through their paces prior to heading off to Mars in 2018. Wow.

Even better, anyone who buys tickets in advance can upgrade to a FREE annual pass at www.spacecentre.co.uk

The celebrations take place from Saturday 29th May to Sunday 6th June 2010.

Standard entrance charges apply and some activities will incur a small charge. Details at www.spacecentre.co.uk

The interactive entertainment experience which has put thousands of potential CSI Agents forensics skills to the test is making a last call for members of the general public who wish to earn their stripes, have a fun day out and learn more about life as a CSI agent.

Inspired by the global hit TV sensation, CSI: The Experience allows visitors to take on the role of forensic scientist for the day, utilising the latest in toxicology, entomology, and DNA technology to crack three grizzly cases.

Upon arriving at the Experience, visitors will be ushered into a briefing room with Las Vegas boss, Gil Grissom who will introduce you to three highly confidential cases. It is upto the trainee agents to decide which of the three cases they wish to solve before moving onto the crime scene itself. It is here where they will pick up all the vital clues needed to solve their chosen case.

Rob Dudley, General Manager at CSI: The Experience says:

“We’ve been blown away by the response from the general public. On numerous occasions we’ve found queues outside the shutters when we’ve come to open up. We have had a fantastic response from schools across the region, with many asking if we’d be back next year as they’d like to integrate it into their science courses.”

You won’t be able to see the CSI experience anywhere else in the UK, and not for much longer, so if you fancy playing ‘Forensic Scientist’ get yourself down to the Bullring Shopping Centre in Birmingham before the 31st.

CSI: The Experience is open at Bullring Birmingham until Monday 31st May on the Middle Mall West.

Price: Adults £9.75, Children [ages 5-17] £7.00, Children under 5 Free.

Group bookings discounts and concessions are available. Minimum age of the exhibition is 12 years of age unless supervised by an adult. Parental guidance is suggested for children below the age of 12 years of age.

Monday – Saturday 11am – 8pm ,Sundays 11am – 5pm.

For more information about CSI: The Experience log onto www.csibirmingham.co.uk or www.csiexhibit.com.

Athlete join the previously announced Reverend Soundsystem, Liam Frost, Karima Francis, The Longcut and Lowline on the 2nd year of Manchester’s Hungry Pigeon Festival which takes place between May 28th-30th in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

The Manchester date for Athlete follows a sell out UK tour at the end of 2009 and is the bands only date before their much anticipated US tour Since bouncing to prominence seven years ago with the spirited, electro-tinged, indie-pop of their Mercury-nominated debut, Vehicles And Animals.

Entry to the Piccadilly Gardens stage is free but indoor events require either a day / weekend ticket which are available from www.ticketline.co.uk and www.seetickets.com.com where Hungry Pigeon is featured on the homepage of both sites (NOTE: Tickets are also available in person at Piccadilly Records)

Find out loads more info about Hungry Pigeon at www.hungrypigeon.com