RICHARD ASHCROFT is ready to release his first solo single, "A Song for the Lovers" on April 13th. His solo album is apparently set for a release later this year.

Some bad news today, as it has been announced that SYMPOSIUM have split up. Apparently tensions arising from the lack of a current record deal had something to do with it. The band was among the best live acts of recent years and were also some of the friendliest people you could hope to meet. An interview with the band from 1998 is available here. We will keep our ears open for word as to the future musical endeavors of Ross, Will, Hagop and the other former members of Symposium.

Some news directly from Karen at the SUPER FURRY ANIMALS camp: The video for the new SFA single, "Do Or Die" is expected to be the second clip played on this Sunday's episode of 120 Minutes on MTV. The band's new Welsh-language album, "Mwng," is to be released in April, and Flydaddy is expected to release the album in the States. A short U.S. tour is expected to follow in May.

Excellent Online can exclusively reveal a bit of bad news: THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH have been dropped by their record label, Virgin. In a post to the band's mailing list today, drummer Nigel Powell says the band "only found out a couple hours ago. The immediate effects of this are, of course, there is [sic] no release dates for anything, and we're cancelling [a scheduled] gig.

OASIS just added yet another fan, as Noel Gallagher and Meg Matthews are today the proud parents of a 7 lb., 2 oz. baby girl. The newest Gallagher is to be named Anais Nin (after the French author.) The band, meanwhile, are taking flak this week because sources are claiming that the new Oasis single, "Go Let It Out," borrows heavily from the Beta Band's "Dry the Rain." While Noel Gallagher has publicly admitted that the group was an influence to him during writing, Beta Band frontman Steve Mason seems less than impressed. "A compliment that people steal your ideas?

It's been a fairly rough and tumble week in the world of technology, and we've got three separate stories to report on:

First off, a judge this week issued an injunction blocking STREAMBOX from including technology on it's Ripper software that enables the user to save streaming audio files. RealAudio claimed it was a copyright violation, and that streaming audio files are not meant to be saved, and the judge agreed. Streambox is appealing.

The Associated Press is reporting today that TIME/WARNER and EMI RECORDS are to formally announce their merger as soon as this week. The long-rumoured merger will create the combined WARNER/EMI label. So what does it mean for fans like us? Well, the positive angle of the merger is that the new label will likely make gigantic strides towards Internet sales, as both Warner and EMI have been two of the most outspoken advocates of using the Internet as a sales tool. The bad side?

SHED 7's guitarist, Paul Banks has quit. He will be forming his own band while the rest of Shed 7 are looking for a replacement. Thanks for Keven Green for the update.

Word on the rumour mill is that RADIOHEAD are planning yet another live webcast from their site (www.radiohead.co.uk) sometime in the near future, possibly as early as this week. Last month, Radiohead took to the 'Net in an unannounced surprise webcast where the band played and DJ'ed live for over an hour. Last we heard, Radiohead were publicly asking for demo tapes of unsigned bands to be sent to them -- it could mean that they'll play these tapes during the webcast.

DJ SHADOW has assembled the score to a documentary on the homeless entitled, Dark Days. First-time director, Marc Singer, followed a group of homeless people for two years to make the film. It will debut this month at the Sundance Film Festival.