With apologies for the short notice (we've been away for a much-needed rest) tonight (Tuesday, June 2nd) on the Biography Channel (Direct TV channel #266) there will be a one hour documentary on Pink Floyd. It's music week this week on the channel, which is also featuring shows on acts such as Genesis and The Rolling Stones.

The show airs at 10pm ET, and runs for one hour. For those who miss tonight's airing, it is repeated tomorrow (Wednesday, June 3rd) at 2am ET. The listing at Biography.com hints at it being the excellent Classic Albums documentary on Dark Side Of The Moon... Our thanks to Nick Urmston and Rod Siciliano for the head's up on this show.

Tickets for the unique collaboration which sees David Gilmour performing with the very well-respected Malian husband and wife musical duo of Amadou & Mariam, in aid of Crisis, the homelessness charity, have now all sold out.

The concert takes place in central London on Monday, May 25th, and is one of the 'hidden' Crisis gigs being staged in London until June 17th, where details of the venues involved will be revealed to ticket-holders the day before the show - this is to draw attention to the uncertain reality of the UK's hidden homeless. This particular show will include support acts, after which Amadou & Mariam will play with their electric band for around an hour, including a portion with David Gilmour on guitar.

Watch out for our full report from the evening, and in the meantime, why not consider making a donation to Crisis? It is a charity that David has supported for some time, for good reason. Your help could make a big difference to some of the most vulnerable, scared and at risk people, many of whom are homeless through no fault of their own. More details of Crisis can be found at www.Crisis.org.uk.

Back at the start of January, a new book was announced that appears to take a slightly different angle on Pink Floyd's history, and the facts, figures and trivia relating to the band.

Pink Floyd FAQ, by Stuart Shea "tells the band's story, dissects their most popular work, and provides little-known facts, all adding up to a provocative must-read for fans. With 400 pages of stories, history, observation, opinion, photos, and reminiscences from those who were there, Pink Floyd FAQ will discuss frankly what made the band great - as well as note their not-so-great moments - and their place in modern pop culture, giving credit where credit is due - and maybe puncturing some inflatable pigs along the way".

Sounds like it could be interesting, and we hope to have more information soon. In the meantime, the scheduled release date of June 1st 2009 has slipped, and it is now looking to be published on July 31st instead. Amazon are taking pre-orders (at a discount in some stores cases) through these links: Amazon UK, Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, or Amazon France.

Gerald Scarfe is staging three more of his unmissable illustrated talks, including one that we've mentioned previously that is being held this coming Sunday (May 24th) at the Barclays Wealth Pavilion, as part of the Hay Literary Festival. The show takes place at 11.30am, and tickets are now available from the Hay Festival booking office.

If you aren't able to make this, then there are two other upcoming opportunities to see, hear and meet Gerald - both of which are north of the border (in Scotland). First, he appears at the Dundee Literary Festival on June 25th at 10:30am - tickets from the Dundee Festival booking office. The other event is at the Edinburgh Book Festival on August 19th at 3pm - tickets will go on sale at 8.30am on June 22nd from the Festival booking office.

We've had the pleasure of attending a couple of Gerald's illustrated talks (in London, and another in Brighton), over the past few years, and both were fascinating and amusing looks at his career, including his work with Pink Floyd. Definitely worth going to, if you can!