We've got a number of items that may be of interest for you here, covering Papal praise, through to how you could own the legendary Abbey Road Studios, via a live performance by Snowy White and some recording work done by Jon Carin. A varied bunch of items, I'm sure you agree!

Abbey Road
First, you read it right - EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London are indeed up for sale, according to a story in The Financial Times. They report EMI is selling the north London building, where all the world's top musicians (Pink Floyd, The Beatles and many more) have recorded in, to raise money to reduce its debts.

It is unclear if Terra Firma, the owner of EMI, wants to sell the Abbey Road brand as well as the building that houses the studios.

Papal praise
Pink Floyd and U2 have made the Vatican's list of top ten "pop milestones". L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, has published a run-down of approved albums, and "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Achtung Baby" make the list. So does Paul Simon's "Graceland," Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours"... Last year, the Vatican advised the faithful which films they recommend, and included the likes of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Jon Carin records again
David Broza only met the late Townes Van Zandt once, but clearly he made an impression. Van Zandt, who died in 1997, left Broza a shoebox of unreleased poems and lyrics that has now been turned into "Night Dawn: The Unpublished Poetry of Townes Van Zandt", a 12-track album due out on February 23rd on S-Curve.

The album was recorded and completed in just five days, with Broza joined by producer GE Smith, keyboardist Jon Carin, bassist Conrad Korsch and drummer Shawn Pelton.

With Van Zandt still revered in many quarters, the project is bound to be popular, with many eager to hear these rare compositions.

Snowy White live
Finally, two nights ago (February 14th) BD regular Joe McGuire saw Snowy White & his Blues project in Glasgow, on the Renfrew ferry, which is a floating gig venue, and thought he'd share his views on the show, along with a selection of pictures from the show:

Unfortunately the crowd was low in numbers, probably due it being Valentines day and also a Sunday. The gig itself was very impressive indeed, some of the guitar playing was pretty amazing both from Snowy and his lead guitarist, Matt Taylor. Not knowing any his stuff I was a bit indecisive about going but knowing how far back and involved he has been with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters it was bound to be good and quite frankly I was blown away.

The crowd lapped up two hours of fantastic blues numbers from their new album and some older numbers, played with a talent that in today's mainstream music, appears hard to find.

In all it was a very impressive wee gig from a fantastic wealth of talent and next time they come I will be at the front of the queue for my ticket.

Last night saw the last UK date, but until July, they are elsewhere in Europe and well worth looking out for.