In other tour news white boy soul man Mayer Hawthorne and his band The County return to New Zealand for shows in February.

The controversial rap crew kicked off the Big Day Out bill because of their homophobic and misogynistic lyrics will perform a show in Auckland the night before the one-day festival.

Hours before Black Sabbath played their first New Zealand show, young Kiwi promoter Barry Coburn was summoned to a makeshift dressing room where Ozzy Osbourne said, "When we come on, we want a burning cross - make it happen".

"Pretty bad-ass". In the short time speaking to Austin, Texas-based Black Joe Lewis, he uses the term several times to describe his horn section in his band, The Honeybears, their live show and his influences.

Disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed, London label/collective On-U Sound has been dishing out the dubwise damage for three decades, with Adrian Sherwood always at its core.

He's a man of few words, but on the eve of his first visit to New Zealand, rock 'n' roll blues artist Black Joe Lewis shares some of them with Scott Kara.

The summer tour dates just keep on coming, and local lads The Datsuns are getting on board with a trip round the country, starting at the Waihi Beach Hotel on January 18.

The distinctive Senegalese voice of Baaba Maal has been added to the line up for Womad in March.

International hip-hop and R&B stars Game and Lloyd are set to play select New Zealand shows early next year.

William Bensussen AKA The Gaslamp Killer doesn't even need to think about his answer when I ask him about his preferred rhythm structure.

The second consecutive night of Flying Nun's Nunvember celebrations saw a crowd filled with characters from Dunedin's musical history and father/son combos ready to celebrate the label's 30th anniversary in the historic Flying Nun home of Sammy's.

Te Kupu and Upper Hutt Posse travelled to Detroit in October 1990 at the invitation of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.

New dad Sir Elton John is being bombarded with Kiwi offers to babysit during his one-off gig in New Zealand.

The mega-selling Irishman with the golden voice and occasional quavering lilt is heading to New Zealand this summer.

Renowned British producer, mixologist and solo artist in his own right, Adrian Sherwood is something of a dub guru.

Lydia Jenkin's week of movies, music and television.

Three of the fastest - and frilliest - guitar slingers in the world are heading to New Zealand for an axe-wielding frenzy.

Yet another incarnation of the Barnaby Weir-led musical supergroup Fly My Pretties returns for its fourth tour of duty around New Zealand. Lydia Jenkin was at their first show in Dunedin.

Rounding out the announcements for next year's Splore festival is the addition of powerful Texan neo-soul diva Erykah Badu.