Russell Brand carries the can

Russell Brand has resigned from his BBC Radio 2 show following the furore surrounding his and Jonathan Ross's moment of (recorded, cleared for broadcast) madness involving an answering machine, an actor and Brand's rampant... ego.  "I got a bit caught up in the moment," he said in a statement that was signed off with "Hare Krishna".

Ross had already apologised for his "juvenile" behaviour and sent flowers to Andrew Sachs, aka Manuel from Fawlty Towers.  But over a week after the original broadcast on the station's The Russell Brand Show, which reportedly attracted just two complaints, the Mail On Sunday racheted up the temperature on the presenters with a front page splash.  Cue horror, outrage and even David Cameron and Gordon Brown weighing in with opinions.  Headlines across the BBC and beyond have been impossible to ignore.  Last we looked, over 18,000 complaints had been logged.

The final straw seems to have come today when the BBC's Director-General Mark Thompson was forced to cut short his holiday (the horror!) to respond to the whirlwind. His statement was unequivocal, and he announced that both presenters would be suspended from broadcasting across the BBC while an internal investigation was carried out into how the situation happened.

As well as the presenters' Radio 2 shows, this week's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, which was to feature The Killers and Miley Cyrus, has been cancelled.

With Brand gone, will Ross ride the lightning and emerge into calmer waters?  It's certainly been an extraordinary set of events.  And the whole episode underlines the continuing power of the Mail papers in influencing events and careers. 

Grace Jones is in the house

Grace Jones, that infamous Slave To The Rhythm, is all set to Pull Up To The Bumper, Baby.  

Hurricane, the legendary, iconic former Bond villain's first album in ages, is out on Monday. Have a peek at our album review why don't you, and discover why you need to own a copy.

Her Graceness headlined Later... With Jools Holland this week too, complete with a characteristically stunning, fan-assisted outfit; you can watch the live version of the show for the rest of the week on the iPlayer or catch the edited edition on Friday night.  

After her one-off gig at Massive Attack's Meltdown over the summer (I was out of the country and missed it, natch), she returns to the capital for a spell at the Roundhouse in January.

Break out your best accessories.

BBC Electric Proms: over for another year

The third annual BBC Electric Proms is done and dusted for another year.  

We didn't go to Liverpool so can't say what the reaction was to Auntie's jambouree heading north for the first time, and unlike in previous years, for various reasons (floods, double bookings, "reallocations", you name it) we were sadly thin on the ground at the gigs.  

As we write up and publish the last of our reviews, we wondered what you made of it all.

Were you in Camden, Liverpool or sat in front of the telly watching it all in a time-delayed world all of your own?  Did you catch Burt Bacharach, Goldfrapp, Oasis, Glasvegas or the Saturday Night Fever night?  Was it as impressive as in previous years?  What were your highlights?  Or did it all simply pass you by on a wash of Concert Orchestra strings?

Chinese Democracy played on Radio 1

Today BBC Radio 1's Sara Cox played the title track from the long-delayed Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy. The show can be heard over at the iPlayer.

As most of Guns N' Roses long ago left to form Velvet Revolver, this album is, infamously, something of an Axl Rose solo project, albeit with a revolving door of new band members.

The Roses have, in their various guises, been on the road between album releases; a Europe and North America tour in 2006 included a spot at the Download Festival.

The album, the first original studio material since Use Your Illusion back in 1991 and first album of any kind since The Spaghetti Incident, is expected in November. In the UK it will be released on Polydor.

So. Are you waiting with baited breath? Can it possibly live up to the self-generated hype? Does the world in 2008 really care about Guns N' Roses? What do you make of the single?

The Long Blondes call it a day

After just two albums, artsy rockers The Long Blondes have decided to call it a day. But the decision was not because of artistic differences, solo careers or label shenanigans.

The main reason is that guitarist/keyboardist Dorian Cox suffered a stroke in June. "Unfortunately I do not know when / if I will be well enough to play guitar again," he said in a statement on the band's official website.

"On behalf of the band I'd like to say a big thank you to anyone who ever came to one of our shows, bought one of our records or danced to one of our songs in a club. Thank you, if it wasn't for you the whole thing would have been pointless."

Where this leaves the remaining four members of the Sheffield five-piece is not yet clear.