Crop failure

November brought news of another Oxfordshire summer festival which has left debt and angry creditors in its wake. Like Truck, Harvest promoters Big Wheel Promotions have gone to the wall, with Blur's Alex James quick to lash out in what seems like methinks-he-doth-protest-too-much self-defence: "I am appalled by Big Wheel's financial management of the festival held at my farm, which has left many out of pocket. Please be aware that I have no relationship with Big Wheel, beyond allowing them to stage the Harvest Festival at my farm and - regrettably - to use my name to stage the event. At no stage was there ever any indication that they would be unable to meet their costs. The news has come as a complete bolt from the blue."

Among the punters at the bash, you might remember, was none other than local MP and Our Beloved Leader David Cameron. It seems he just can't help associating himself with things that leave loads of ordinary people skint and angry...

In other festival-related matters, my annual December trip to Minehead is nigh so it was good to read explanations from Caribou and Les Savy Fav of their line-up choices for the Nightmare Before Christmas. Less welcome, however, was the news that the Pavilion won't be used as a performance space - instead, all of the action will be restricted to the Centre Stage, Reds and the Crazy Horse, with the odd bit of late-night DJing in the Irish Bar. Which - for someone like me, keen to dip in and out of things and see as much as possible - is very bad news, because the Pavilion has a huge capacity and precious set time is likely to be wasted queuing to get into the smaller venues.

In other ATP event news, they've had to announce the withdrawal of Guided By Voices from next summer's I'll Be Your Mirror on the grounds that they've split, but at least the blow has been softened (or, for me, rendered completely insignificant) by the fact that a reformed Afghan Whigs will now be headlining the Sunday night instead. An opportunity for Greg Dulli to show what he's really capable of, given the relative dullness of both Twilight Singers and his collaboration with Mark Lanegan as The Gutter Twins.

Speaking of Lanegan, and as a big fan of Sweet Oblivion and Dust, how has it taken me a few months to find out that a "new" Screaming Trees album has been released? Last Words is a collection of recordings the band made post-Dust before splitting up - though, truth be told, the Pitchfork review doesn't make me want to rush out and buy it...