It looks as though the BELLE AND SEBASTIAN U.S. tour is back in full swing. Two dates over the weekend had to be cancelled when cellist Isobel, fighting the stomach flu, had to be rushed to the hospital due to an allergic reaction to her antibiotics. David and Katrina at Jeepster report that everything appears to be back on track, and the remainder of the tour dates should be fulfilled.

NOEL GALLAGHER has fessed in an exclusive interview with NME that the OASIS version of the Beatles' classic "I Am the Walrus" was NOT recorded live at the Glasgow Cathouse as it states on Oasis' releases. Apparantly the band intended to release the Glasgow show version... until they realized their performance was "rubbish!" The group's released version was in fact taped at a soundcheck prior to an Oasis promotional stop at the Gleneagles Sony Seminar, and the "crowd noise" present on the recording is actually nicked from a Faces bootleg.

First off, let it be known that the rumour racing about the Internet that BLUR have split appears to be, at this phase, totally false. A forwarded so-called "press release" making its way through the UK-indie-related mailing lists is claiming that a rift between Graham and Alex has split the band. After 24 hours, there has been NO official word from Food Records or from Blur management to suggest this rumour as being true. So until WE tell you otherwise, all is fine and dandy at Camp Blur.

UNCONFIRMED RUMOR! We here at Excellent Online have to take a very cautious approach to unconfirmed rumors. Every few months we come across a major rumor- sometimes they turn out to be true, but often they turn out to be pure fabrication. Having said that, the rumor surfacing out of the STONE ROSES mailing list is that BLUR have officially split up, due to conflict between Alex and Graham. Frankly, this rumor seems doubtful at best, given the confirmed reports that BLUR's next album has already been recorded without incident.

IAN BROWN, of course formerly of the STONE ROSES, was sentenced last week in Manchester Magistrate's court to spend the next four months imprisoned, due to that infamous air scuffle earlier this year, where he threatened to cut off the hands of a flight attendant while onboard a British Airways flight from Paris to Manchester. Thoughts of the post-jail, hard-edged, street-savvy New Millenium Monkey are disturbing indeed, but perhaps we can hope that he'll use his newfound spare time to learn to sing, eh?

Some good news for a change. The ever classy SAINT ETIENNE , now signed to Sub Pop in the U.S. are set for a brief U.S. tour in December. The tentative dates are up in Tours. Prior to this jaunt, the band have only played two U.S. dates in their nearly ten year history, both of which were in conjunction with the CMJ conference in 1994.

Guitarist Tony Grantham has reportedly left MARION. A temporary guitar player will be filling in for the band during their upcoming L.A. show.

The short career of KENICKIE has come to an abrupt end, as the band announced their split at the end of their show last week at the London Astoria.

The Candyskins first American tour in years is now official. Click on Tours for the itinerary. Also, it appears that the E.A.R. tour has been postponed for about a month.

More bad news to report. While we still haven't seen an official source for this news, it seems clear that the EMBRACE tour of the U.S. is off, at least for now. There's been some talk that the band will set new U.S. dates in January. In happier news, THE CANDYSKINS look to be touring the U.S. briefly in late October. As soon as we get the details, we will post them in tours. Finally, top U.S. popsters PAPAS FRITAS are set to hit the road in anticipation of their third album. Click on tours for all the details.