One for budding sound engineers to note on the back of a cigarette packet: Dublin’s Sound Training Centre holds open days on June 28th and August 23rd.

What vinyl countdown? US record industry scorekeepers the RIAA say vinyl shipments were up a staggering 36 per cent in 2007 compared to the previous year.

The Flat Lake Festival in Clones, Co Monaghan, on August 23rd-24th will feature loads of literary types (including Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon) plus music from Henry McCullough’s Flat Lake All-Star Band and others.