Ash are to mark their 20th year as a band with a party at The Garage in London. Taking place on 17 Jun, the night will feature comedienne Josie Long as compere, plus a list of special still to be announced guest performers, one of whom may or may not be former Ash guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, who briefly re-joined the band on tour last October to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their ‘Free All Angels’ album.

Tickets for the show are divided into various price bands, with premium VIP passes (pitched at a mere £80) granting extras like early entry, after show access and an additional set of Ash rarities.

Further details at www.ash-official.com

Tom Jones has been announced for one of the free shows due to take place in Hyde Park this summer as part of the London 2012 entertainment programme, which will run across the Olympic fortnight.

Feeder, Dodgy, Levellers, Cast, Amy Macdonald, Paul Carrack, Kenny Thomas, and the cast of West End Queen-fest ‘We Will Rock You’ will all also do free stints in the park parallel to the Games, while Duran Duran, Stereophonics, Paolo Nutini and Snow Patrol will soundtrack an opening ceremony event as part of the festival on 27 Jul.

You may as well go to the BT London Live website and see if you can work out who’s playing when. I couldn’t.

TV journalist Louis Theroux has been named as a co-curator of the cinema stage at ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror, which takes place in London later this month, directing the festival’s Friday film programme while Mogwai and the Prince Charles Cinema team will direct Saturday and Sunday proceedings respectively.

Amongst Theroux’s selections is a preview of director Mark Cousins’ ‘What Is This Film Called Love?’, which features new music by PJ Harvey and Soundescape.

As well as looking after one day of movies, Mogwai are curating the whole music programme for the event (with the ATP team), and on that side of things have scheduled performances from the likes of Slayer, Sleep, Melvins, Dirty Three, Codeine, Mudhoney and The Afghan Whigs.

It takes place from 25-27 May at Alexandra Palace. And you can download a free two-hour mixtape including tracks by all of the above, and more besides, here.

The festival’s second section (18–20 Jul) will feature the likes of Rich Hall, Al Murray and Abandoman.

Discover more about the Ealing Comedy Festival billing, plus how to purchase tickets for the event, here.

If you fancy taking in a stint of mid-week theatre in a casual setting, then a three day run of short plays hosted by the Sebright Arms might be the very thing.

Once a derelict shell and now a hive of live goings-on, the Bethnal Green-based venue will present an after-work bill featuring August Strindberg’s ‘The Stronger’ and a smoking ban special in the form of ‘On The Harmful Effects Of Tobacco’ by Anton Chekhov. With a total running time of 45 minutes, this is bite-sized drama at its most palatable. And speaking of bites, famed foodie pop-ups Lucky Chip and Homeslice London will share catering duties throughout.

Find box office details for the event, which runs nightly up till and including 17 May, here. Or alternatively, peruse the Sebright’s forthcoming listings here.

Brand new comedy vehicle ‘Strap In – It’s Clever Peter’ airs for the first time on Radio 4 this Wednesday, broadcasting in the very same experimental late-night niche once occupied by ‘The Mighty Boosh’.

A Python-esque sketch collage written by and co-starring ‘Cabin Pressure’ players Richard Bond, Edward Eales-White, William Hartley and Dominic Stone, the show will give voice to “a pygmy hippo, some house eyes and The Pope”. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see – or rather, hear – just what “house eyes” are supposed to be.

Full details of first episode ‘Nigel’, which plays on 16 May between 11.15-11.30 pm, here.

Well, this sounds hilarious. Two of TV comedy’s most illustrious writing types – ‘Father Ted’ scribe Graham Linehan and ‘The Thick Of It’ creator Armando Iannucci – are to guest on Richard Herring’s semi-regular podcast.

Sure to lend a certain extra panache to proceedings, both will feature on the 25 Jun edition of Herring’s regular audio series, which will be taped in front of a live audience at the Leicester Square Theatre.

Since such a strong triple-bill all but sells itself, the only thing left to do is to supply this link for tickets to the live recording. That, or this link to Herring’s official site, where you can listen to and download his past podcasts.

When he’s not busy perfecting his Cheryl Cole impersonation, erstwhile comedy panellist Rufus Hound will be appearing in the upcoming ‘Utopia’, which is being produced in partnership by the Newcastle Live Theatre and Soho Theatre.

Working to a script created by a collective that includes Dylan Moran and Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson, the show’s cast – which also includes Sophia Myles of ‘Spooks’ fame – will portray “six characters in a world of blueprints in search of Utopia”.

Adds the show’s cryptic blurb: “From spaceships and retirement homes, to political rallies and facebook, no stone has been left unturned in our collaborative quest for paradise”.

Following its Newcastle premiere on 31 May, ‘Utopia’ will then visit the Soho Theatre from 2 Jun to 14 Jul. More info here.

As the title of this item suggests, London’s very own Other Art Fair, an alternative expo first staged last year, begins today. Taking place at the University Of Westminster’s Ambika P3 space on Marleybone Road, the exhibition will host (and attempt to sell off) over 1000 works by 100+ artists, with prices beginning at a fairly accessible £50.

Art fans have only till 13 May to browse and buy, so why not make sense of the melange by first taking a look at Dazed Digital’s illustrated guide to its top three recommended exhibitors.

In addition to preparing for the debut of his forthcoming single ‘Jupiter’, electronic producer Kieran Hebden – aka Four Tet – has also shared details of a live date taking place at South London’s Brixton Academy.

Tickets for the show, which will run throughout the night and feature marathon DJ sets by Four Tet, Caribou and tbc extra guests, are priced at £5 each (plus £1.60 booking fee) in fond memory of the time Hebden says he “saw Fugazi at Brixton in the 1990s… £5 ticket, no light show, no bullshit… one of the best things I’ve ever seen”. Snap them up right here.

The aforementioned ‘Jupiter’ will be released with its B-side ‘Ocaras’ via Hebden’s own Text Records on an as-yet unspecified date.

As you speculate on exactly what that date might be, listen to the former track here:

Tim Minchin is to take the part of Judas Iscariot in the revival of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ that will star the eventual winner of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s televised talent search, ‘Superstar’.

It might seem a contentious choice for Minchin, self-confessed atheist and in-demand writer of the wildly popular ‘Matilda’ musical, to commit to an association with such a controversial franchise as Webber’s latest money-spinning ITV venture; but it seems the musi-comic just loves to sing the ‘Superstar’ score, so it’s possibly not an opportunity he felt he could turn down.

Minchin selected Judas’s solo ‘Heaven On Their Minds’ during a recent appearance on Radio 4′s ‘Desert Island Discs’. Speaking to presenter Kirsty Young, he explained: “I reckon I sang this song standing in my parents’ living room, to the vinyl original recording, about 500 times, and subsequently got to understudy the role of Judas in two separate Perth productions of ‘JC Superstar’ but I never played the role and I keep thinking one day I’m going to play Judas. I just love it because it is just pain and rock”.

The production, which will also feature ex Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger as Mary Magdalene, opens at the O2 this Summer.

Call them ‘intimate’, ‘low key’, or whatever you like, but a cluster of newly announced ‘work-in-progress’ shows featuring big-time comedians Mark Watson and Harry Hill are set to be very small in capacity, and thus very swift to sell out.

Both appearing at the 100 Club on 3 Jul (and with a further cameo by Harry the following night), Watson and Hill are set to test the stand-up waters with brand new comic fodder, which may or may not feature in their TV franchises and/or live routines.

So, if you’d like to be the one to witness future comedy classics right now (well, in early July), I’d recommend racing to secure tickets at www.the100club.co.uk

Proceedings at this year’s London-located Bloc Weekend will now feature a DJ set by Arpanet, aka Drexciya/Dopplereffekt man Gerald Donal. He aligns with the superlative and already confirmed likes of Snoop Dogg, James Blake, Orbital, Flying Lotus, Nicolas Jaar and Battles at the electronic-centric event, whose extra attractions will now include the MS Stubnitz, once a deep sea fishing trawler and now a “moving platform for the sonic and visual arts”. Basically a vast, industrial party boat.

You can see Swiss sonic artist Urs Blaser discussing the ship below, and read up on its illustrious past on this page.

The Southwark Playhouse is poised to recieve a Thom Sutherland-directed production of all singing, all tap-dancing Broadway favourite, ‘Mack & Mabel’.

Staged at the theatre’s Vault from 11 Jul – 25 Aug, the musical will star West End mainstays Norman Bowman and Laura Pitt-Pulford as its tempestuous title characters, a movie director and his funny girl muse. The play is set in the celluloid-clad sphere of 1920s Hollywood, so it’s probably a good time to stage it, given the recent success of the similarly-set nostalgia fest ’The Artist’.

The Southwark Playhouse site has all the info you’ll ever need.

The idea of seeing Richard Herring – not customarily a cabaret star – amidst the “shocking, hysterical and downright weird” goings on of the infamous Friday Night Freakshow might seem more bizarre than the theme of the night itself, though we guess his more explicit patter will be perfectly in keeping with FNF’s over 18s-only policy.

Topping the comedy contingent of this dark and dangerous cabaret line-up, Herring will appear alongside juggler Mat Ricardo, confrontational ‘car crash’ comic Nick Helm, Canadian stand-up Pete Johansson and the evening’s S&M MC, Miss Behave.

Friday Night Freakshow is staged on 11 May as part of the Udderbelly festivities – as take place at the Southbank Centre until 8 Jul – and you can book for it here.

This is all very hush hush, but ITV’s own king of surreal televisual satire, aka Mr Harry Hill, has booked four very exclusive and low-key evening slots via the Monkey Business Comedy Club (a regular haunt of Hill’s)  in Camden.

The first of these takes place on 30 May, with three consecutive shows from 13-15 Jun also in the works.

But be aware, Monkey Business divides its regular nights between The Oxford pub in Kentish Town and The Sir Richard Steele in Chalk Farm, so make sure to check listings for Harry’s precise whereabouts on each date. But I’d do it quickly, if I were you.

‘Crystalised’ three-piece The xx have announced a three-date, London-exclusive micro tour, which will serve as a live primer for the band’s busy festival season. Given that demand for the shows is anticipated to be high, spaces at each date are available via an online lottery closing on 8 May. Successful applicants will be contacted with a code, and can then purchase tickets for their chosen event. This isn’t a free-for-all sort of lottery, mind, passes are priced at £19.50 plus a booking fee.

And said dates are:

14 May: Islington, Electrowerkz
15 May Hackney, Chats Palace
18 May Battersea, Battersea Arts Centre

Boutique projectionists the Flicker Club have carved a niche within London’s well populated pop-up cinema realm, staging a  fortnightly run of classic cinema at Stoke Newington Town Hall.

With screenings taking place in the building’s art deco-style Council Chamber, Flicker’s first event, on 10 May from 7pm, will feature 1948 Ballet melodrama ‘The Red Shoes’, plus a reading of the Hans Christian Anderson fable upon which the movie is based. There’ll also be champagne and cocktails galore, not to mention retro popcorn provided by Dragons’ Den’s very own Love Da Popcorn team. Tickets are priced at a reasonable £8.

Full details on this and future films are available via theflickerclub.com

The Independent Label Market will hit East London’s Spitalfields market for a second time next month, this time joined by four new labels: Because, Phantasy Sound, Transgressive and Warp. Many of last year’s shopkeepers, not least Ninja Tune, Wichita, Fire Records, Critical Heights, Lanark Records, Full Time Hobby and XL, will also host stalls.

Speaking about last year’s event, held in December, Stephen Bass – boss of 2011 ILM participants Moshi Moshi – told ThisWeek: “This turned out to be the surprise most fun and satisfying event of the year so far. With the atmosphere of the best festival and a real sense of heart and purpose this simple but effective idea seemed to hit the nail on the head when it came to ideas about how the music industry might actually be able to start re-igniting the imaginations of the British buying public again”.

The market will take place on 19 May. More information from the ILM Tumblr.

Festifeel is a non-profit live music event, which was first staged last year, and  is hosted by the Boob Team at breast cancer charity CoppaFeel!

With Fearne Cotton appointed as its curator (no, really), Festifeel 2012 – which takes place at The Queen Of Hoxton on 4 Jun – will feature artists including Slow Club, The View, Newton Faulkner, The Milk, Jamie N Commons and Chew Lips across its all-day roster. You can preview tracks by the booked acts via this Spotify sampler.

All proceeds from ticket sales will go towards  CoppaFeel!, of which Cotton is a patron (see, now it makes sense).

Full Festifeel details here.