First off, a happy new year to one and all. We just hope that 2010 is as good as 2009! It'll have to be going some though, for 2009 was one hell of a special year. There was that thing that happened, another thing that made us chuckle a bit, I think we went out a few times, and there were one or two records that didn't completely suck balls. So many memories!

Fittingly, we'll start with a band that by now must simply be grateful to be alive - literally - come January 1st. Yep, The Rolling Stones have told our good friends at NME.com that they have no intention of playing this year's Glastonbury, after rumours spread like wildfire (I don't even think we started these ones while bored, either) that the band with the biggest combined age in history (483,721 years and rising. Though it may stall soon) were to headline along with (* sniggers *) U2.

"Following recent UK media speculation, The Rolling Stones would like to make it clear there are no plans at the moment for the band to tour in 2010," a spokesperson for the band said. They have, however, announced a reissue of their brilliant Exile on Main Street album, which will be out later this year including several previously unreleased tracks which will no doubt be shit.

Well, from a bunch of has beens to a bunch of, well, twats. Yep, The Courteeners are back. Did you even noticed they'd been away? In fact, did you ever notice they existed in the first place? For those not aware, they make lumpen northern dad rock par excellence (assuming 'par excellence' means 'god awful'). Their first album was one of the first album reviews in Flashlight history. Crikey, we gave it a whole two out of five? Anyway, the new single, 'You Overdid It Doll' is released on February 15th, with new album Falcon set to follow a week later. We'll probably review neither.

Slightly - though I do stress, only slightly more interesting is the announcement that our beloved Pavement have announced the inevitable money spinning compilation album in time for their money spinning reunion tour. That's a whole lot of money being spun. The album is called Quarantine The Past: The Best of Pavement and is to be released on March 8th.

The band also are asking fans to guess the tracklisting for the album in order to win prizes. The fan who comes closest to the actual tracklisting will win a pair of tickets ( with flights and hotel rooms included) to see Pavement at Central Park Summerstage on September 21, along with a set of Pavement 12-inch vinyl.

There are other prizes available as well; in order to enter check out Matador records for further information. Knowing Pavement, just about anything could end up on there, though we'd be disappointed if this little gem didn't make it..

Right, back to the crud, with the news that Lil Wayne's ill conceived rock album Rebirth has been delayed once more. Originally scheduled for April last year, it now looks like we'll have to wait until June before finally getting to see what happened when - one can only assume under strictly controlled conditions - scientists attempted to combine some of the crappiest rapping known to man with the crappiest guitar known to man, courtesy of Lenny Kravitz, Travis Barker and some other fools. I may just write a blog about this, so I'll keep it brief, but what makes rappers who aren't produced by Rick Rubin think they are going to be able to merge the genres when they seem to have such god awful taste in rock 'n' roll?

Finally, and this is probably for one reader and one reader only, but L.A. space rockers Nebula have announced a UK tour taking place this February to promote their recently released Heavy Psych LP. They play the following dates, all of which are rescheduled from October last year:

Nottingham Rock City - February 10th
Bristol, The Croft - February 11th
London Underworld - February 12th