All of us at Brain Damage offer our heartiest best wishes to Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason, who celebrates the very special occasion of his birthday today, January 27th.

The cornerstone of the band, he had his first drum kit at the tender age of 13. A member of Pink Floyd since the earliest iterations, he is the only one to have appeared on every one of their albums. Thanks to his late father Bill, he has been a "petrol head" from a young boy, and cars have been - and remain - one of his major passions in life. His most recent book, Passion for Speed, is worth checking out, as is the first of a series of DVDs focusing on his cars (with Nick heavily involved). Hopefully more of these DVDs are in the works!

Nick has contributed to a number of magazines on motoring issues over the years (including a fascinating monthly column in Octane Magazine), and four years ago became president of the Guild of Motoring Writers. He is a trustee of the Beaulieu National Motor Museum, and a life member and Guardian of the BRDC (British Racing Drivers Club). He has been involved in motor racing since the early 1970s and has entered Le Mans five times.

Obviously more recently there has been the release of The Endless River, which has had Nick back on the drums in David Gilmour's south coast studio, augmenting the existing recordings with some new drumwork. He is also lined up to work with David on his new album: "David is making a solo album and he's asked me to play on that..."

Many happy returns, Nick - hope you have a great day!

The well-respected UK radio station Planet Rock are broadcasting a new episode of their one-hour show, My Planet Rocks, now in its tenth series, tonight at 7pm UK time.

In this week's My Planet Rocks, Aubrey 'Po' Powell, now creative director of Pink Floyd, and, with his colleagues such as the late Storm Thorgerson, formed an integral part of design team Hipgnosis, talks to PR presenter Liz Barnes about his life and career thus far, and much talk of Pink Floyd is promised. You can hear the interview tonight (Sunday, November 16th) at 7pm, and again on Thursday, November 20th, at 8pm.

Those in the UK can tune in on DAB radio, via Sky satellite TV (channel 0110), Virgin Media digital cable (channel 924), or Freesat (channel 730). Alternatively, fans worldwide can listen in via their website: PlanetRock.com. They also have a "Listen Again" facility online but we cannot guarantee that this new show will be available through that route - although it should be there soon.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the show, Eagle Rock Entertainment are releasing the Live at Knebworth concert film on SD Blu-ray on March 16th, 2015. Their SD Blu-ray range presents upscaled standard definition original material with uncompressed stereo and DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound for the best possible quality, so should show the recording off the best it has ever been.

As background, for our younger readers, on June 30th 1990 in the grounds of Knebworth House, in Hertfordshire, England, a concert was staged to raise funds for Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and the Brit School For Performing Arts. It has since been heralded as one of the best British rock concerts of all time. The incredible line-up was drawn entirely from acts who had been recipients of the prestigious Silver Clef Award presented annually by Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy for outstanding services to the British Music Industry: Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant (with guest, Jimmy Page), Elton John, Phil Collins, Genesis, Dire Straits, Tears For Fears, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, and Status Quo.

All the artists gave their time and performances for free in order to support the charity and this SD Blu-ray edition will continue to raise funds so that they can continue their invaluable work.

The Blu-ray, which has no region coding, so playable on equipment across the world, has a running time of around 180 minutes, and comes with DTS-HD Master Audio and LPCM Stereo soundtracks. The tracklisting is as follows:

TEARS FOR FEARS: 1) Change 2) Badman's Song 3) Everybody Wants To Rule The World / CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS: 4) On The Beach 5) Good Golly Miss Molly 6) We Don't Talk Anymore / PHIL COLLINS & THE SERIOUS BAND: 7) In The Air Tonight 8) Sussudio / PAUL MCCARTNEY: 9) Coming Up 10) Birthday 11) Hey Jude 12) Can't Buy Me Love / STATUS QUO: 13) Whatever You Want 14) Rockin' All Over The World 15) Dirty Water 16) In The Army Now / ERIC CLAPTON: 17) Before You Accuse Me 18) Tearin' Us Apart / DIRE STRAITS: 19) Solid Rock 20) Think I Love You Too Much 21) Money For Nothing / ELTON JOHN: 22) Sacrifice 23) Sad Songs (Say So Much) / ROBERT PLANT: 24) Hurting Kind 25) Tall Cool One 26) Wearing And Tearing (with Jimmy Page) 27) Rock And Roll (with Jimmy Page) / GENESIS: 28) Mama 29) Throwing It All Away 30) Turn It On Again Medley: Turn It On Again / Somebody To Love / Reach Out, I'll Be There / Pinball Wizard / In The Midnight Hour / Turn It On Again (reprise) / PINK FLOYD: 31) Shine On You Crazy Diamond 32) Run Like Hell

You can place your pre-orders for the Blu-ray now, automatically qualifying for Amazon's pre-order price guarantee so you pay (on release) the lowest price they've advertised it for, since the time you ordered it. All these Amazon stores will ship the disc internationally. Please use these direct links: Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, and Amazon Espana. We expect other European Amazon stores to sell it too, in due course.

Just published is an absorbing new book, The Night Of Wonders: Pink Floyd a Venezia, from the Italian organisation, Floydseum.org.

As with the exhibition which ran from July until October last year in the Italian municipality which was the site of the original concert, the book was clearly put together as a real labour of love.

With perhaps also some interest for Venetian historians, the main audience for The Night Of Wonders is the more committed Floyd fan. Presented unexpectedly in landscape format, entirely suitable for the photos chiefly in the same format, it will of course not sit on Floydian bookshelves so traditionally. It is also presented in Italian, but you really shouldn't let that put you off.

The very nature of this concert, held on July 15th 1989, as part of the Another Lapse tour - in front of an audience there of at least 300,000, along with an estimated global audience of 100 million via the live television broadcast - elevated it to an unique experience for fans, crew, management and band. The story of the show is well told elsewhere so I won't repeat it here. However, visually, coverage of the event as a whole - particularly from around the concert viewing area - has been pretty sketchy, until now.

The authors have gathered together a wonderful array of shots from professional and amateur sources, covering all aspects of the event - pre, during and post concert, with a particular focus from the fan's point of view. These pictures are coupled with recollection of those there, including the concert promoter, Fran Tomasi, along with various of the band members. Finally, there's a small section looking at the aforementioned exhibition held in 2014, which was also focused on the event.

The book is now available in all good Italian bookshops. It can also be ordered across the world via this direct link at Amazon.it (their Italian site, who ship books internationally), or if you have difficulties, you can also write to the publishers direct at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it