As we’ve said on numerous occasions, we’re heading off to spread the Owngig gospel at the New Music Seminar in New York in July. Well the organisers have very kindly given us invites to anyone who wants to attend. You’ll have to pay (and get to New York) but if you’re a budding musician, it’s worth stumping the cash up. To get hold of the invite, click here to download the PDF.

This week on the web we’ve been loving…

Unless you’ve been living in a shed with no access to any media or the internet (in which case, how are you reading this newsletter?), the news of the sad death of Michael Jackson can’t have escaped your attention. Rather than dwell on this sad fact, we’d rather celebrate some of the best of Michael Jackson’s life with a few quirky links.

Firstly, this has to be the best portrait ever. It’s from a sale of his stuff when Neverland was shut – there’s more interesting relics from the sale here. One of the things about Michael Jackson is how many artists he influenced. This is something hip hop DJ Yoda did in a set in 2003 was play 25 minutes of rap tracks sampling Michael Jackson. Check it out here…

Finally… it’s worth remembering that Michael’s own influences were wide and varied. From wanting to work with Kraftwerk (how we’d love to have heard that) to being influenced by Fred Astaire for Billy Jean. This classic mashup of Michael Jackson and Fred Astaire certainly proves the point.