Mercury News, California — The Specials, Nick Cave and Oakland acts Warm Soda and John Murry have local concerts booked. more info

Mercury News, California — Legendary ska revival band is a hit at South by Southwest festival. more info

ContactMusic — The Specials singer Terry Hall has quit smoking after surgeons removed a cancerous growth from his mouth.The Ghost Town hitmaker, 53, was given the... more info

Guardian Music — The British artist picks the music that means the most to him as part of our Six Songs of Me projectWhat was the first song you ever bought? Gangsters – The SpecialsI was 14 and I bought it on 7in. I thought they were great. I got into mod musi... more info

Brooklyn Vegan — photos by Dana (distortion) Yavin Blur/The Specials/New Order, Hyde Park 8/12/2012 Blur's frontman and driving force, Damon Albarn, had said this might be the band's final performance. But then Albarn has always been a competitive soul, and you wonde... more info

DrownedInSound — So that’s it for the Olympics. In Hyde Park, we get BT London Live's Hyde Park Closing Ceremony Celebration Concert (ahem) with an incongruously brilliant line-up: Blur, The Specials, New Order. Across town, there’s the Spice Girls and Ta... more info

Consequence of Sound — Hour-long mix features tracks from Fleetwood Mac, The Specials, and Hot Chocolate. more info

Guardian Music — Danny Boyle's track selections for the Olympics opener ranged from the Sex Pistols to Elgar, and all points in betweenA wide variety of different British musical styles provided the soundtrack to the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.Here ... more info

Prefix — We've known since February that the Rolling Stones  chose not to play at the "Best of British" concert ... Read the full article at http://www.prefixmag.com/news/the-rolling-stones-arent-ready-to-play-the-olympic/67143/ more info

Stopcryingyourheartout.com — The Sex Pistols’ song appears on a leaked list of music proposed for the ceremony on July 27, alongside some more notable classics.The song includes the lines: “God save the Queen, the fascist regime...God save the Queen, she ain’t ... more info