Well, it's that time again...voting for the Progressive Music Awards 2017 - also known as the Prog Awards - has opened today. The awards ceremony will be held on 14 September at the Underglobe in London. This year, the awards (in their sixth year) will include nine new categories all created with the aim of exploring prog's growing impact in the world of music and culture over the last 12 months. You can cast your votes via the Prog website at progmagazine.com/awards.

As with previous years, there are some Pink Floyd related nominations across a few categories:

EVENT OF THE YEAR - The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains
REISSUE OF THE YEAR - Pink Floyd: The Early Years 1965-1972
BAND/ARTIST - Roger Waters

Votes can be cast by fans worldwide, and of course there are other choices - and other categories - for you to cast your eyes over and make appropriate decisions on. Visit progmagazine.com/awards to see the possibilities that await you...

The new issue of the UK's Mojo Magazine (cover date August 2017, issue number 285) includes - apart from some major coverage of Jimi Hendrix - an interview with Roger Waters conducted in New York shortly before the rehearsals for the current Us + Them tour.

The article has a chief focus on the background to, and development of, the recently released Is This The Life We Really Want?, and also takes a look at the Desert Trip weekends held last year. For those who are wondering if there's been any progress with the long-running saga of theatrical version of The Wall, there's an update (of sorts) on this project. It sounds like not a huge amount of development has occurred with this since the last news trickled through on this front, and the musical is still quite some way off.

There's also an interview with producer Nigel Godrich, talking about his work with Roger on the new album. Interestingly, it also reveals how difficult he found Roger's solo material to listen to, calling Amused To Death, for example, "so much noise and so badly put together".

Almost six years on from the sad news that writer Nick Sedgwick had passed away, and Roger stating his wish at that time to publish a Pink Floyd manuscript that Nick had written, the interview with Roger in the new issue of Mojo now brings the story up-to-date.

Back in August 2011, he said: "One of my oldest friends, Nick Sedgwick, died this week of brain cancer. I shall miss him a lot. I share this sad news with you all for a good reason. He leaves behind a manuscript, In The Pink (not a hunting memoir). His memoir traces the unfolding of events in 1974 and 1975 concerning both me and Pink Floyd. In the summer of 1974 Nick accompanied me, and my then wife Judy, to Greece. We spent the whole summer there and Nick witnessed the beginnings of the end of that marriage.

"That autumn he travelled with Pink Floyd all round England on The Dark Side Of The Moon Tour. He carried a cassette recorder on which he recorded many conversations and documented the progress of the tour. In the spring of 1975 he came to America with the band and includes his recollections of that time also. When Nick finished the work in 1975 there was some resistance in the band to its publication, not surprising really as none of us comes out of it very well, it's a bit warts and all, so it never saw the light of day."

In the new interview, Roger states his intention now to self-publish In The Pink, to include a USB drive within a planned deluxe edition, containing the interview material Nick recorded on audio cassette at the time. He notes that David Gilmour originally blocked the publication back in 2011, feeling it was a very biased account of things, and in this update, Roger notes that "the only thing I've heard from [David] is that it should be called My Friend Roger, not In The Pink". More information on the book as we get it.

The magazine is in UK stores now, and will be available in selected locations worldwide as an import, in due course. Alternatively, you can buy it online through this link.

In what is becoming a regular, annual event, Nick Mason opened his gardens to the public again earlier this month (on June 10th and 11th), to help raise money for the Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust and Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s Airbase Appeal.

As with previous years, a sizeable number of people took the opportunity to have a stroll around Nick's grounds, after paying the modest entrance fee, which went straight to the charities. BD regular Ian McKenzie was amongst those present, and kindly sent over some pictures of the event. The house itself - Middlewick House in Corsham, Wiltshire - was out of bounds, but the public could walk around almost everywhere else.

During the events, many of Nick's cars, and his helicopter, are put on display. In total, there are six different garden areas plus a couple of paddocks with horses, two riding arenas, a football pitch, a tennis court and a woodland area. One of Bath's leading fine art sculptors, Alan Dunn, showcased some of his pieces and there will be a variety of stalls selling unique gifts, foods, and plants. Attendees got to see his pigs too!

Before the event, Nick said: "[My wife] Annette and I are really looking forward to opening our garden again – it's a really great way of supporting two of our favourite and enormously worthy local charities. Our visitors seem to enjoy the experience and it gives us a really good excuse to tidy the garden and polish the odd car!"

Jennie Shaw, director of The Wiltshire Bobby Van Trust, added: "This will be the fourth year Mr and Mrs Mason have supported local charities, they have raised over £60,000. It's a super weekend which thousands of people have attended."

Cheryl Johnson, head of Wiltshire Air Ambulance’s Airbase Appeal, said: "We are so grateful to Nick and Annette Mason. Our Airbase Appeal is raising the remaining £1.25 million needed to complete the building and equipping of our new airbase at Semington, near Melksham. Funds raised at the open gardens event will enable us to save lives for many more years to come, operating from our custom-built new airbase."

Our thanks to Ian and his daughter Neve for the pictures. Their pictures can be seen on the Brain Damage Facebook page, and the collage above gives a flavour of the pictures there.

Another bit of news for our German friends - the German edition of Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains, the official companion book to accompany the exhibition of the same name is scheduled for publication on July 6th 2017.

It's the first book ever produced with full access to the Pink Floyd archive. Published to accompany the V&A's major summer exhibition, Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains celebrates 50 years of one of the greatest bands of all time. Five essays tackle different aspects of their far-reaching legacy in music and the visual arts.

Authors including Jon Savage, Howard Goodall and Rob Young examine what makes the band truly special, from the mythology underpinning their output, through to their experimentation with technology to create new sounds. Their epic staging and performance impact is also explored, along with the anti-authoritarianism that infuses their lyrics.

The book is heavily illustrated throughout, emphasizing the essential role that visual material played in supporting the music and creating the lasting Pink Floyd phenomenon. Obviously, we really recommend it to those who are going to see the exhibition, AND to those who won't be. It doesn't really spoil things for those who are, as it more complements the exhibition rather than repeats what you'll see there. Details of the English version of Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains can be seen here. We suspect the German edition - like the English language hardback - will also feature a spectacular lenticular cover which has to be seen in the flesh.

You can place your order now for this German edition of the book directly from Amazon Germany. Our thanks to Michael Nickel for info about another German publication.