A few years ago, Ashanti was the name on everyone's lips. A few years in the music biz, however, can be a kiss of death to a burgeoning recording career.

Although local radio is only just picking up on single Black And Gold, Sam Sparro is already massive in the UK. The Aussie native grew up in a musical family who introduced him to soul music at a young age.

Only a few weeks after we reviewed her previous single, the godawful UR So Gay, same-sex obsessed Katy Perry is back for more. Having previously taken aim at gay-acting men, Perry now tries party lesbianism on for size.

A few things you may not know about the new, improved, Vanessa Amorosi:

1. She's buff. She sauntered on stage at the Trak Centre last Friday night sporting a pair of guns to rival Madonna's.

There's something about the music of ABBA that fits snugly into any love / relationship scenario. Money, Money, Money, SOS, The Winner Takes It All - who can't relate to those stories?

Unfinished Sky is the story of two damaged people whose lives intersect on a Queensland farm. Based on a 2007 Dutch film called De Poolse Bruid (The Polish Bride), it is an Australian-Dutch co-production, and the first through New Holland Productions.

The Beckett Theatre at the Malthouse was packed to the rafters for Shaun Parker's Blue Love last weekend.

After the bloated excesses of previous album XY, Coldplay again find the beauty of brevity in Viva La Vida - over 10 tracks and 45 minutes, they revisit the knack for melody that made them huge in the first place.

She Said Yes is the evolution of three separate musical entities: Tania Doko (Bachelor Girl), Karl Lewis (Savage Garden) Irwin Thomas (Jack Jones), and DJ Rexx Fernandezand.

Grammy Award-winner Dianne Reeves certainly has one of those distinctive, silky jazz voices. When You Know is her first album in five years, covering both new material and a few well-chosen covers that are performed with her trademark passion.

You'd be pretty happy if David Williamson offered to write a new play for you. You'd be over the moon if he came out of retirement to do it. So it is with the Melbourne Theatre Company production Scarlett O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot starring Caroline O'Connor.

Gosh, it's great to see the fab four back on our screens - albeit a little larger than last time (the screen that is!). Best of all, a sequel must be a no-brainer, given how much moolah the first Sex film has already made.

Why is it that in most photos of singer songwriter Carly Simon, she has her head thrown back, eyes closed and is laughing her head off? There she goes again, on the back cover of this album.

Katy Perry has already copped a lot of flak for this single. It's about a lame boyfriend who acts 'so gay', and opens with the line 'I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf.'

A diverse crowd braved the cold, wet Melbourne weather last Friday night and flocked to Hamer Hall seeking warmth from a soul diva double-bill.