In an upcoming auction at Cheffins Auctioneers in Cambridge a range of Syd Barrett items are going on sale. One of the items - a 12-string Yamaha acoustic guitar - is being sold with all proceeds being split between Mind, the mental health charity, and the Arthur Rank Hospice. It's being sold by his nephew Mark Barrett.

Mark said the guitar was stored with his father, Alan Barrett (Syd’s brother) after the Hills Road house was sold in 1974 but Syd "never collected the guitar". Alan continued to store it over three subsequent house moves, eventually offering it to Mark after Syd's death. Mark told the Cambridge News that "I finally collected it from my father's house in November of 2020, shortly before he died. Unfortunately, I never got to know my uncle Roger, though I would have loved to, but he was a recluse in his later years." The guitar has a serial number of 1090448 with a date code for October 21st 1969. There's a (surely extremely low) selling estimate of £5,000-10,000 for this instrument.

There are five other, quite diverse items for sale in the auction. There's a mono copy of Piper given to Viv 'Twig' Brans, Barrett's girlfriend in the mid-1960s (estimate £300-500); a pair of wall-mounted spotlights from Barrett's basement studio in Hills Road (estimate £100-200); a garden table and two folding chairs (estimate £200-400); a programme for a school production which included Barrett as 'Tom Twist' along with a school photo from May 1959 featuring Barrett, Roger Waters and Storm Thorgerson.

The last of the six items is believed to be the final artwork created by Barrett before his death in July 2006. The watercolour and pencil drawing - Still Life With Lemons And Green Bottles - is initialled and dated "RB Jan '06", and measures approximately 30cm x 42cm. It was found at his home in St Margaret’s Square, Cambridge, where he lived for the last three decades of his life. Initially sold during the auction of the contents of his home in 2006, it is now being sold by a private collector. It has a pre-sale estimate of £4,000 - 6,000, again a figure we suspect is extremely low and expect it to sell for much more than this.

There's also another item that might be of interest - a pair of Jokers Wild business cards, one with David Gilmour's name and old phone number on it. These have an estimate of £100-200, and can be seen here.

The auction will take place on Thursday October 28th at 10am. For more details visit Cheffins.co.uk. Our thanks to all those who contacted us about this sale!

As we're now in the final quarter of 2021, it's that time of year again...now available to buy is the Official Pink Floyd 2022 Calendar!

A perennial Floyd fan favourite - particularly as a gift at Christmas time - is this annual official wall calendar. An item which has been produced for many years now, the standardised format is roughly the same size as a vinyl album - roughly 12" (or 30cm) square, with the calendar opening up to have a double page spread per month; like a gatefold sleeve but vertical rather than horizontal.

The calendar this year is a celebration of the band in the late 1980s, and in particular the Delicate Sound Of Thunder album release, via various images, record sleeves, passes and suchlike. The images to the right show all twelve monthly images, along with what the double-page layout looks like on a typical month.

The calendar each year is often squirrelled away as a collectable for the years to come, and earlier examples are now quite sought after.

If you want to place your order now, you can do so through these direct links: Amazon UK, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, and Amazon Italy. At present, Amazon Spain, Canada and Amazon.com aren't showing the item as available to order, but we will keep an eye on this. Thanks to Erik de Bloeme for his help with this story!

Today we have some more new music from respected guitarist Chester Kamen. We know that a good number of you have been enjoying these songs. Amongst many other artists, Chester has toured with Roger Waters, joining his band in 2002 and playing on subsequent tours, and with David Gilmour on his 2016 Rattle That Lock tour. He first played with David back in 1985 during the Live Aid show - David and Chester were both part of Bryan Ferry's band for that show (as was Jon Carin).

Chester has, like many musicians, kept himself busy whilst lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid-19 have called a halt to many things - in particular, live performance. Last October, he shared his new piece of music called Take This, that runs for over 23 minutes. Chester told us that Take This is the first side of an album he is currently working on - following, or inspired by, the old Floyd blueprint of one long piece and several songs on the flip side. Since then we've seen the first songs on the second side of the album: Brand New Day, Swimming, I'd Love To Turn You, Lover's Lane, Come The Revolution, Child Of The Damned, Stories, and The Wife Of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold.

The new song from Chester is called Coat Of Many Colours, and takes a departure in style from some of the other recent songs. Chester told us that he's "been busy rehearsing and gigging with my rock and roll band The Loves. This [new] song relates to the fall from grace, or maybe demise, of a hero or love once held in the highest esteem. It's a little darker than some of the others… I couldn’t find a nun to sing the nun’s part so had to [use my wife Sarah] who did a great job. I played all the instruments though to be fair, there aren’t that many."

We'll update you as he progresses with the rest of the album, as we know from feedback we've had that the songs are proving very popular.

On November 19th, 2021, a new album from Jools Holland is released, featuring a song with David Gilmour.

The album, Pianola. Piano & Friends is described as a "loving tribute to the black and white keys, celebrating the community and conviviality that the piano inspires and the spark of Jools' deep love for music. The album showcases the vibrant versatility and virtuosity of Jools Holland and his lifelong friend, along with a truly unique line-up of some of the world's greatest artists: Rick Wakeman; David Gilmour; Ruby Turner; Herbie Hancock; Booker T.; Tom Jones; Gregory Porter; Mousse T.; YolanDa Brown; Dr. John; Joe Bonamassa; Trombone Shorty and more..."

Recorded through the lockdown period and from many corners of the world, the album has been produced by multi-instrumentalist Nitin Sawhney and Jools' longtime producer Laurie Latham. Jools said: "I'm humbled to have made this record with the greatest instrumental and vocal artists of our day. And so grateful to my lifelong friend the piano for making it possible."

David features on track 5, Blues For The End Of TIme, which features "sonic space design" By Dhani Harrison (no, we're not totally sure what this is, either!).

To order the album, you can do so from the following Amazon stores thus helping Brain Damage with a much needed contribution towards site running costs, at no extra cost to you! You will also have the advantage of the Amazon Price Promise where you automatically pay the lowest price they charge between the time you order something, and release.

The album isn't currently being listed on Amazon's US and Canadian stores, but other stores will ship worldwide, so worth considering them if you wish to add this to your collection.