Thom Yorke, the latest pop star turned green warrior, has himself been found wanting in his efforts to save the world from global warming. His band Radiohead are significant contributors to greenhouse gases, according to an environmental audit of their recent tour and record production.
Last week the singer fronted a new Friends of the Earth campaign that seeks to make the government legally responsible for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3% a year.

Climate change is indisputable and we have to do something dramatic. You have a certain amount of credit you can cash in with your celebrity and I’m cashing the rest of my chips in with this, Yorke said.

The music industry is a spectacularly good example of fast-turnover consumer culture. It is actually terrifying. Environmental considerations should be factored in to the way the record companies operate.

His words were a hostage to fortune. The Sunday Times enlisted the services of the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM) to assess the scale of his band’s pollution.

It found that 50,000 trees would need to be planted and maintained for 100 years in order to offset the amount of CO2 produced by Hail to the Thief, the group’s last album and tour. Trees neutralise the effects of emissions by absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen.

The figures are not unusual for a pop band but they highlight the complexity of seemingly simple arguments on protecting the planet.

To attract a younger crowd and celebrate his company's fifth decade, choreographer Merce Cunningham let his general manager Trevor Carlson invite two bands, Radiohead and Iceland's Sigur Rós, to each create 20 minutes of music for a new dance.

Cunningham's "Split Sides" debuted in 2003. The choreographer has long been known to roll dice and flip coins to determine the order, content and participants of his performances, and in "Split Sides," dice determine not only which 20-minute dance begins the show, but which lighting design, backdrop and costumes will be used.

Anyway, I had pretty much forgotten about them since then, and was enjoying it, too. Then I had the misfortune of reading music news and noticed that Thom Yorke is campaigning extensively in England against global warming. Great, like we need another Bono getting in our face about issues that were tired in the '90s. And it's not like "climate change" is something you can campaign against, since it's going to happen naturally no matter what. So please, artists, concentrate on what you can actually have an impact on, like your art that's suffering under the weight of your overbearing political messages.

Radiohead are texting the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs. Thom Yorke, Radiohead's Chief Black Pencil, is campaigning for Friends of the Earth's The Big Ask - a crusade for a new law to force the government to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 3% each year - and, as tactics, he is frightening Margaret Beckett.

"Margaret doesn't want to debate carbon emissions or climate change with Thom on Channel 4 News because she had a very bad experience with Boy George on Question Time," says a press officer. "So he's texting her."


Yorke is wearing black leather and a badge that says, "DUMP NUCLEAR". His text lobbying was a triumph; Beckett has collapsed. "Climate change is indisputable and we have to do something dramatic," he sighs. "There is no way climate change will be dealt with unless it's structural - as a law. We can't address the issue of climate change on a voluntary basis.
"You have a certain amount of credit you can cash in with your celebrity, and I'm cashing the rest of my chips in with this. But I like to worry. I'm a neurotic. And instead of internalising it, I'm lucky I can externalise it in this way."

I fear for Mr Yorke. What with all his brooding, introspective music, can he afford to worry about the destruction of the planet? Don't Radiohead ever titter? Yorke looks hurt. "I have a perverse sense of humour. It's a bit dark, that's all." He offers, as evidence, a list of things that make him laugh. "Dead Ringers." Oh, the film about the people with deformed genitals? "No," he says sternly. "Dead Ringers, the bloody comedy thing. And that thing Help, the psychiatric thing."

The list grows. "Have I Got News For You. I also find my music very funny. Paranoid Android, to me, was hilarious. People took it very seriously, but never mind." Is it true that Arthur, in which John Gielgud dressed up as Santa Claus, is his favourite film? "Dudley Moore's very good. Manic. Whatever." He stares into the void, remembering Arthur jokes. I think I see a spectre of a smirk. His head swivels. "How's this related to climate change.

Xfm spoke exclusively to Thom Yorke about his involvement in the newly launched Friends Of The Earth 'Big Ask' campaign as the organisation’s ‘Special Representative’ and got four words about Radiohead’s new material.


Yorke has joined the Friends Of The Earth’s 'The Big Ask' national campaign, launching a nationwide petition to make the government legally responsible for reducing the UK's impact
on global warming. The campaign aims to bring about the cutting of emissions of carbon dioxide by three per cent every year.

Speaking exclusively to Xfm, Yorke explained his reasons for getting involved, and his belief in preventing an increase in global warming.

I think it was because it became increasing obvious that the science behind climate change was proven now and there’s no way back. I’d been involved with Friends Of The Earth on and off for a few years and when they asked me to get involved with this, it was ‘This is the time to do this right now’ and it seemed to be the only reasoned approach to a problem that is almost impossible to comprehend.

The IPCC – the intergovernmental panel on climate change – issued a report, and the projected consequences that have been written up by the climatologists are just, just mind boggling. And the public are just seeing the surface of this.

If we put this problem off we are all bringing disaster on ourselves, we are all bringing disaster on ourselves and our children. There is actually a way out of this; unfortunately it’s the governments that we have to persuade to administer it. It cannot be done on a voluntary basis. It’s gotta be a law.

Oxford's live music scene has received a welcome boost thanks to the restoration of the once legendary Jericho Tavern. A decade on from being consigned to the theme pub wasteland, what is currently known as the Jericho is going back to its roots as the city's indie haven of the 90s and from 27th April will no longer trade under the 'It's a Scream' banner.

This is bound to please Oxford dons Radiohead, whose early gigs at the venue helped put them on the path for super stardom. Originally called 'On a Friday', Radiohead made their debut at the Jericho Tavern in 1987 and four years later, the all-important record company A&Rs flocked to the very same spot to snap up the promising five-piece.

The Jericho Tavern was also instrumental in turning Supergrass from Oxford scamps to Britpoppers extraordinaire. The band got signed to Parlophone after wowing a veritable herd of A&Rs at a Jericho Tavern gig back in 1994.

Of course, no mention of Oxford's music scene would be complete without the original shoe-gazers, Ride. They were the first to benefit from the Jericho Tavern's winning streak by signing to Creation following a few gigs at the pub in the early 90s.

Now, indie die-hards and indie kids alike can follow in their heroes' hallowed footsteps by checking out the lovingly restored Jericho Tavern. Taking pride of place in the upstairs room where many a local band has played over the years is a giant hand-painted mural of Radiohead, Supergrass and the much-missed champion of new music - John Peel.

The Jericho Tavern will be open from 12pm-11pm Monday to Wednesday, an hour extra 'til midnight Thursday to Saturday and until 10.30pm on Sundays. Food is served until 10pm Sunday - Wednesday and until midnight Thursday to Sunday. Sunday roasts with all the trimmings are served all day Sunday.

Radiohead frontman and active supporter of the Make Trade Fair charity Thom Yorke has joined a new Friends of the Earth Climate campaign calling for the government to change their current policies on global warming.

Yorke is backing the organisation in calling for thousands of people across the country to back 'The Big Ask' a new national climate change campaign to make the Government legally responsible for reducing the UK's impact on global warming

The press, cinema and television campaign launches on May 25 and centres around reports that the UK is failing to meet its climate change targets and will challenge the Government to bring in a new climate change law.

This would aim to cut emissions of carbon dioxide by three per cent every year, thus making it easier and more affordable for the UK to meet its previously set target of cutting 1990 carbon dioxide levels by 60 per cent by 2050.

Christopher O’Riley isn’t nearly as famous as the things he does. In fact, he’s probably most often described in casual coffeehouse conversation as that Radiohead piano guy. I mean, that’s who he is. He’s the guy who plays earnest, classically inspired renditions of Radiohead songs on the piano, which you may have heard on NPR. (See his 2003 release, True Love Waits, and the new Hold Me To This.) He’s also the guy who does the public radio show From the Top, which spotlights young classical musicians from around the country. He’s also an L.A. resident, an accomplished soloist on the classical circuit, a voracious rock & roll fan and a Comedy Central devotee.

He’s darn near a postmodern Renaissance man, gently but relentlessly promoting a worldview and approach to culture that rejects received boundaries of definition: O’Riley judges Tears for Fears and Shostakovich by the same basic yardstick, and has no shame in his pop-cultural obsessions. (He loves South Park, detests I ♥ Huckabees.) He’s the best kind of historian and musician: a lover, a student, a geek. (He’s even published transcriptions of his Radiohead arrangements in book form, okay?) In short, Christopher O’Riley is the ultimate anti-snob.

Most recently, O’Riley has been obsessing over Elliott Smith’s entire recorded output — bootlegs, B-sides, concerts and all — and will perform at a tribute to Smith next week. I wanted to check in and see what was turning O’Riley’s crank these days, what it’s like to “work with” Elliott Smith, and what he wants played at his own funeral.

To be blunt, does it make you sad spending so much time with Elliott Smith’s music?

Yeah, it does. I never met him. I’ve listened to 60 live concerts, and the big difference between him and Radiohead [is that> you can listen to five live versions of “Paranoid Android,” and none of them are much better or worse than the others. But as emotionally available as Elliott Smith was, he gives every performance a different flavor. As a performing artist he’s still incredibly alive — you’re hearing the permutations, and it’s as if he never left. And on the last record (From a Basement on the Hill), he doesn’t sound like a dying man.

Are you focusing on any particular era or album?

I think I’ve done a pretty wide cross-section — more than my share of the B-sides that a lot of fans won’t know about. The early version of “Pretty (Ugly Before)” . . . one of the first songs I did was “Roman Candle,” and “Not Half Right” was something he played solo early on? but was a Heatmeiser song.

New Radiohead Material to Be Debuted at a Benefit Show to Protest Privatization of the Postal Sector

By Jez Burrows and Michael Jenkins

"You and Whose Parcel Force?"

"Life in a Sorting Office"

"Subterranean Homesick Postmaster"

"I Might Be Wrong-ly Addressed"

"Recorded Delivery ... I Wish I Was"

"Packt Like Parcels in a Crushd Post Bag"

"I Can't (Stress Enough the Importance of Clearly Printing Postcodes)"

01 Nina Simone - Feelin' Good
02 Coldplay - A Rush of Blood to the Head
03 Sia - Breathe Me
04 Phoenix - Everything Is Everything
05 Irma Thomas - Time is on My Side
06 Radiohead - Lucky
07 Jem - Amazing Life
08 Bebel Gilberto - Aganj??
09 Interpol (Exclusive New Track)
10 Caesars - Don't Fear The Reaper
11 Death Cab For Cutie - Transatlanticism
12 The Arcade Fire (Exclusive New Track)

The second chapter of My Giro will be available to download as a PDF from www.slowlydownward.com from the 12th May.

The first chapter will still be available too. In case you missed it.

For those unfamiliar with the term, 'giro' is short for 'girocheque', which is what you get every fortnight if you are on the dole in the UK.

If you're lucky.

-Stanley Donwwod, prop. Slowly Downward Manufactory.

bye

Radiohead - they may like to keep themselves to themselves but darn it they're good at this old music malarkey. Radiohead have been thrilling, and yes - depressing, music lovers worldwide since the early 90s, having produced a whopping six landmark albums to date.

Radiohead's highly acclaimed artwork is the product of artist and long-time band pal Stanley Donwood. That's 'The Bends', 'OK Computer', 'Amnesiac', 'Kid A', 'Hail To The Thief' and countless other images from 'Head web designs to posters and tees.

The Grammy Award winning Stanley Donwood has returned to the studio to hand-produce a limited edition series of screen prints based on all his famed Radiohead designs and you could win one!

NME have got a one-off print, 'Operation Phantom Fury', so-called after the codename for the US military assault on Falluja, painted, hand-gilded and then signed by Stanley, to give away. A similar print recently auctioned for Ł1,800 so you could wind up owning something very special indeed! What's more - we've got a second prize of a set of two prints, 'Escape' and 'Alarm' to give away, again, both hand produced and signed by the artist.

To enter this competition answer the question printed on page 20 in this week's issue of NME, dated May 14, on sale across the UK from Wednesday May 11.

Click here to enter

Early May will see the re-launch of Stanley Donwood's website and a range of limited edition prints will be available to buy from then in his new online shop, Slowly Downward Manufactory. For more information on Stanley Donwood click here.

Classically trained pianist Christopher O'Riley came to the attention of the pop music world when he released Like True Love Waits: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead back in 2003.

He followed up his dramatic interpretations of the band with the 2005 follow-up, Hold Me To This: Christopher O'Riley Plays Radiohead. For each album O'Riley meticulously transcribed the Radiohead songs he chose to perform on piano.

In addition to the CDs, O'Riley will be releasing True Love Waits: Radiohead Reimagined For The Piano, a 208 page paperback of all the original piano arrangements of his transcriptions.

While his Radiohead arrangements have brought him much notoriety within the pop music world, O'Riley has a thriving concert career and will be touring throughout much of the summer. Here is his confirmed schedule thus far.

May
1 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival, C O'R, Artistic Director
2 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
3 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
4 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
5 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
6 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
7 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
8 Hilton Head International Young Artists Festival
13 Bartlesville Symphony, Bartlesville, OK - Rachmaninoff: rhapsody on a theme of Paganinni
14 Bartlesville Symphony, Bartlesville, OK
16 Irvine Barclay Theater, Irvine, CA w/Miro String Quartet
22 FROM THE TOP, Danny Kaye Playhouse, New York, NY
24 FROM THE TOP, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
26 UCLA, Royce Hall: 1st Half: Home to Oblivion-an Elliott Smith tribute; 2nd half: Radiohead repertoire
29 Thousand Oaks, CA, benefit concert for New West Symphony - recital with violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn

A N N O U N C E M E N T

SLOWLY DOWNWARD MANUFACTORY

The Manufactory is open at www.slowlydownward.com

From 1st May 2005

You are invited to visit the Manufactory, either to peruse the Library or browse the Shop, where a Selection of Items are offered for Sale to the Publick.


http://shop.slowlydownward.com/Email/shopmailer.pdf

http://shop.slowlydownward.com/Email/mygiromailer1.pdf

You can download the free acrobat reader here :
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

helo i went and redid my site without making sure everything worked ho hum but youll get an email release soon saying that it all will work
i hope

apologies for any confusion

salut!
stanley

bye

In case you haven't noticed, Radiohead's extensive catalog of music is not available on iTunes, Napster or any other for-profit download site. Recently, however, the band gave Warchildmusic.com, their entire back catalog. The website supports War Child, a British charity devoted to providing food, medical care, reconstruction, and educational and social welfare programs to children in war torn regions. Currently War Child is active in Iraq, Afghanistan, The Congo and Bosnia Herzegovina.

The website offers exclusive tracks from hundreds of artists including Bjork, Tom Waits, Uncle Tupelo, The Dandy Warhols, Iron Maiden and Bloc Party. They have tens of thousands of tracks you won't be able to find anywhere else, including: covers, acoustic versions, live recordings, alternative mixes, remixes, and previously unreleased material.