Out today in the UK is the new issue of Record Collector magazine (cover date March 2011, issue 386). The main feature - from the eye-catching cover portrait, to the well-illustrated seven page article, is a look at Barrett, the new book by Russell Beecher and Will Shutes, and "Syd Barrett: Art and Letters", the exhibition to be held between March 18th - April 10th, 2011.

The article includes the introduction from the book itself, written by Beecher, and an interview with Beecher giving some background to the material he has managed to gather and include in the book.

Alongside the magazine text is a selection of pictures from the book to give a taster of what they've uncovered - from a young Syd in his back garden in early 1964, to pictures of the Tea Set concert in autumn that year, and live shots of the early Floyd at various venues.

The magazine is in all good UK stores now, and will be available as an import in selected international outlets. Alternatively, you can order it online worldwide from www.RecordCollectorMag.com.

On Tuesday (February 22nd), author, journalist, broadcaster and friend of Brain Damage Ronan Casey decided to take the plunge and have a Pink Floyd tattoo - live on Ireland's most popular breakfast radio show. With close to 150,000 listeners to 'Breakfast with Hector' on RTE 2FM, Ronan had the Floyd 'boatman' logo tattooed onto his arm as part of a February First series the show has been doing. They believe it is the first time a tattoo has ever been done on live radio in the UK and Ireland, and therefore it had to be a Pink Floyd one to make the event even more special!

Ronan told us: "The February First series has people doing things they would never have agreed to do in the past, and I threw it up to them to play some Floyd and I'd get a Pink Floyd tattoo on live national radio. Hector agreed instantly."

The live tattooing got a huge reaction on the show with texts, emails and Facebook comments flying in from around the world. Tadgh Kelly from Clowntown Tattoos of Ennis, Co. Clare - a Floyd fan himself - did a sterling job on Storm's beautiful boatman design, which now takes up permanent residence on Ronan's arm.

The show's podcast channel is on iTunes where you can hear him suffer! Sadly, for copyright reasons they don't play the songs played during the show so the first airing in many years for 'See Emily Play' on any mainstream commercial radio station isn't part of it. The show's blog is here and they have promised to play more Floyd for the remainder of the week.

Back in October 2008, as part of The City Wakes festival celebrating Syd Barrett, five people who knew Syd in Cambridge in the sixties staged a happening as they had done forty years before, radical Beat poetry, free improvisation, words, sounds and people all in the moving womb of a Floydian light show by Pete Wynne Willson.

This was so much fun, and people seemed enjoy the experience so much, that they did it again, albeit completely differently (of course - that being the nature of a happening) in Bath, in May 2009. With that being so well received, they are returning to Bath for the 2011 event, which is bound to be as popular as the 2008 and 2009 stagings.

Again, Pete Wynne Willson will be doing the light show for All at Once Again: Life, but Improvised. Other people who'll be there will include experimental filmmaker Anthony Stern, Tom Bailey (once of The Thompson Twins), James Mickelson of the UFO Club, legendary beat poet Michael Horovitz, Nigel Lesmoir-Gordon on film, poems and words of mouth, William Pryor, and others. Taking place again at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath on the evening of June 3rd, 2011, as part of the Bath Fringe, tickets for this truly unique event are now on sale from the Arts Centre itself through this link.

In the meantime, here's a glimpse at what happened at the first happening on October 28th, 2008:

Capitol Records have just announced that it will release a limited edition vinyl set of "An Introduction to Syd Barrett" on April 16th as part of its participation in the annual Record Store Day. The sets will be sold only at participating independent music retailers across the United States, and possibly selected outlets in other countries.

The Syd set will consist of two 180-gram vinyl LPs with a gatefold jacket and printed inner sleeves. Released on October 11th, 2010 on CD and downloadable from iTunes, "An Introduction to Syd Barrett" on EMI/Harvest Records is a new collection that has brought together for the first time the tracks of Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett on one compilation. Check out our review here.

For more information on Record Store Day, visit www.recordstoreday.com.