Ruby retro scooter helmets

If you have cash to burn and want to invest it in some stylish headwear for your scooter or motorbike, you should check out the retro Pavillon scooter helmets from Ruby.

Designed by Jerome Coste and available online from high-end Parisian retailer Colette, the helmet range has vintage looks, a carbon exterior and plush leather interior. And there's a range of classic and bold designs, including the one above, all with the vintage-style Ruby plate on the front.

Various sizes available, all retailing for around £443.

See the full range at the Colette website

V&A's Supremes Love Child t-shirts

In 1968, The Supremes had something of a makover - ditching the ball gowns for 'street' styling and going for a grittier sound for the Love Child album. And you can get that look with the V&A's exclusive Love Child t-shirt.

Based on the top worn by Diana Ross on that album sleeve, the t-shirt is being made available in limited quantities by the V&A to coincide with The Story Of The Supremes exhibition being held at the museum.

You can pre-order now, with the shirts shipping from mid-May. Could be one of the t-shirts to be seen in this summer - and it retails in various sizes for just £18.

Find out more at the V&A website

Via Retro To Go

New band: Beggars

Beggars come from Reading, but we doubt be there for much longer. Only a few months after forming they had landed a record deal with Heavenly Recordings and, having already supported Babyshambles a few months back, are about to embark on a nationwide tour in May supporting Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong.

Musically Beggars mix Britrock swagger with the pop-art beat sound reminiscent of The Creation and The Who. The songs are encased in the raspy blues vocals of singer Justin Girdler, which recall Lee Mavers, or more recently the 22-20s.

Clearly they are the '60s-meets-Britpop sonic brothers of northern contemporaries The Troubadours. They have a Beatles-in-Hamburg vibe to their look (plenty of moody shots of them dressed in all-black) which should endear them to the all-important teenage girl demographic. Poster boys for UK guitar rock they may eventually become, but they aren't all arrogant bluster; as shown by their choice of covering Leonard Cohen 'The Future' in their live set (and now available as a limited edition 7" and download). The debut album has already been recorded, with Brendan Lynch producing, and will be out in the autumn.

Hear Beggars on Myspace here. Below is a taster from the debut album.

80s mod scene stories wanted for book

Help is needed for the compiling of a photo book of the '80s mod scene.

Photographer Darren Russell is publishing a book of the photos he took of the '80s mod scene. It is to be titled 'Saturday’s Kids: Mod Life in Camera'. Claudia is helping Darren to edit it, and they are looking for people to tell of their stories of "buying clothes, going to clubs/rallies and seeing bands". If you are interested in contributing to the project then write your memroies down (up to 200 words) and email them to Claudia at Tinymod@hotmail.com.

Note this project has nothing at all to do with Modculture, so please do not contact the site,

Win The Who's Magic Bus

The Who - in conjunction with the Teenage Cancer Trust - is currently running a competition to win The Who's Magic Bus - and it is a real bus.

Well, it's actually an original (but customised) Volkswagen T1 panel van from 1965, signed by both Roger Daltrey (patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust), and Pete Townshend.

You have to pay £5 to enter (with proceeds going to the charity) and answer a ridiculously easy question. And as a bonus, all entrants get a free download of a previously unreleased live performance of The Who's 'Magic Bus' performed during the International Bus Meeting in Hannover in October 2007. If you are feeling lucky, the link below takes you to the band's competition page.

The Who's Magic Bus competition

Mick Hucknall does Bobby Bland

Following Chris Rea's reinvention as a beat artist, another '80s star, Mick Hucknall, is paying tribute to the 1960s by recording an album of Bobby Bland songs.

The Simply Red man is to begin releasing music under his own name, and to kick it off he's made 'Tribute To Bobby',  a 12-track album of Bland covers set for release on May 19th. Hucknalls' tribute to the Lion of the Blues comes from Bland being one of his 'inspirations and music idols' apparently. The album is available to preview until May 1st on Hucknall's official site here. The CD release will feature a bonus DVD containing a 'making of' documentary shot in Memphis (a preview is also on his site).

And should you be moved enough to want to hear Mick perform these tracks live, here are his upcoming UK tour dates:

Bristol Colston Hall (June 29th)
Wolverhampton Civic Hall (30th)
Liverpool Summer Pops (July 1st)
Manchester Apollo (3rd)
Newcastle City Hall (4th)
Oxford New Theatre (5th)
Leicester De Montfort Hall (7th)
Ipswich Regent (8th)
London IndigO2 (9th and 10th)

Tickets for the tour are available to buy here. 'Tribute To Bobby' is available to order from Amazon here.

Numark TTi USB/iPod Turntable

Never mind plugging a deck into a computer and loading up a pile of software to transfer your vintage vinyl to MP3 - the Numark TTi USB Turntable with iPod Dock makes it all redundant.

Well, if you have an iPod that is. That's because it has an iPod dock, recording your vinyl tunes straight to the miniature player. Or if you want to tinker with the audio quality, you can still hook it up to the PC (to the USB port) and load up one of the three types of software sold with the deck.

The turntable itself is belt-drive, with playback at 33 or 45 and line-level RCA outputs (with built-in phono pre-amp). Available now for £149.

Find out more at the Advanced MP3 Players website

Via Electric Roulette

Weller: winter tour and in Mojo

Always looking to bring you exclusive news on Paul Weller, Modculture can reveal details of his UK winter tour.

Paul will be doing 11 dates in November, for which there is a pre-sale, allowing you can get your tickets before the general public. The dates are:

Crawley K2 (November 6th)
Southend Cliffs Pavillion (8th)
Aberdeen Press & Journal Arena (13th)
Glasgow SECC (14th)
Newcastle Metro Radio Arena (15th)
Liverpool Echo Arena (17th)
Manchester Evening News Arena (18th)
Cardiff International Arena (20th)
Birmingham NEC (21st)
Nottingham Arena (22nd)
London Brixton Academy (24th)

Tickets cost £30 (£35 for London) and go general sale on Friday, but you can order them from this Wednesday (the 30th, from 9am) by clicking here.

Meanwhile the new issue of Mojo magazine sees editor Pat Gilbert interviewing Paul to mark his 50th birthday. The magazine also comes with a covermount CD of music that inspired his songwriting, plus 3 Weller rarities. There is a photo gallery of Weller (including the cover shoot) on the Mojo website here.

Paris 1968 street posters re-printed

Great street design and a piece of social and political history too - these extremely limited edition prints of original Paris 1968 street posters are well worth a look.

They are available to coincide with the Hayward Gallery's May 68: Street Posters from the Paris Rebellion exhibition, which celebrates the artwork that inspired the social uprising in May 1968.

The Hayward Gallery is selling a limited edition book containing hand screen printed reproductions of 40 original May 68 posters, but the Keep Calm Gallery has a limited number of printer's proofs of each design, available individually as hand-pulled screen prints on recycled paper. Less than 10 of each one and each selling for around £30 per print. Get them while you can.

Find out more at the Keep Calm Gallery

Via Retro To Go

Armchair Thriller DVD winners

One last competition to draw for now - for a pair of Armchair Thriller DVDs.

Three winners, each receiving the first two volumes of this cult 70s TV series. They are:

Alex Baxter - London
Jane Bullough - Derby
Keri Vagges - Glasgow

A number of new competitions will be starting soon.