Joss Stone, Brighton Centre, Brighton

Joss Stone has crammed a lot into her short life. The 18-year-old soul sensation from Devon has duetted with everyone from James Brown and Gladys Knight to Mick Jagger, bagged several awards and memorably confused Bob Geldof with Gandalf while recording the Band Aid single.
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Kiss me lots, pay me more

Gene Simmons reckons to have slept with 4,600 women in his 32-year rock career. Fiona Sturges wasn't 4,601
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Tom Waits, Hammersmith Apollo

At £65 a ticket you'd hope to be left slack-jawed in wonder by stage hydraulics, flame-throwers, dancing girls and at least a dozen costume changes. But supply and demand being what it is, instead we get an old goat in a dusty suit shaking a pair of maracas.
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Brian Eno: The professor of pop

Brian Eno's reputation as the egghead of contemporary music precedes him. But while he can explain the links between architecture and doo-wop, he doesn't have a clue how to write a hit. Read more...

Natalie Merchant: the thinking man's Madonna

'You can be well known but still live under the radar,' the songwriter tells Fiona Sturges
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Lemmy: Motor mouth

For 30 years, Lemmy has been famous as the bourbon-swillin', fast-talkin' frontman of Motorhead, the world's loudest band. And it's not just an act, as Fiona Sturges discovers when she met him at his local in LA Read more...

Goldfrapp, Brighton Dome, Brighton

One thing's for sure about Goldfrapp, they certainly know when they're on to a good thing. Whatever misgivings you might have about their latest sound (think Gary Numan meets Erotica-era Madonna), they've clearly backed a winner with the whole sex bomb thing.
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Ms Dynamite: Mother courage

Having a baby might mellow some artists. Not Ms Dynamite. She's keener then ever to tell us what's on her mind - and get something done about it. Fiona Sturges meets her
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The Dandy Warhols: The big picture

The Dandy Warhols may have sold their music for a mobile-phone commercial and sparred with their rivals on the big screen, but they haven't sold out. Fiona Sturges hears why
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The reluctant revolutionary

Tracy Chapman was an Eighties staple, usually seen at political events. Although the spotlight has come off her, she's been quietly making music all the while. By Fiona Sturges
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Princess Superstar: The X-rated princess diaries

By rights, Princess Superstar, aka Concetta Kirchner, should be bestriding hip-hop like a platinum-haired, stiletto-heeled Colossus. Widely, if unimaginatively, touted as "the female Eminem", the New York rapper's sound is one part Peaches to two parts Missy Elliot, while her look - all fishnets and red nails - is more "Holiday"-era Madonna.
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The original shark tale

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the cinema... Fiona Sturges on the anniversary of the first blockbuster
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A life of grime

A vibrant sub-culture is emerging from the tower blocks and clubs of some of Britain's most deprived areas. Fiona Sturges charts its rise
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Theatre review - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others, Lyric Hammersmith, London

It was always going to be a risk. If ever there was a group whose songs should not be tampered with, it's The Smiths. The band are viewed as the most influential act of the Eighties and Morrissey one of its icons. Mess it up, and the Morrissey mafia will come down on you like a ton of bricks.
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Sleepover: Hotel Triton

A bed for the night in San Francisco
By Fiona Sturges
Sunday, 3 July 2005
The Independent on Sunday

The location

In the heart of Downtown between the Theater District and Chinatown and with Union Square nearby.

The USP

Celebrity-designed suites courtesy of Carlos Santana, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' Anthony Kiedis, the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and actor Woody Harrelson. Designs vary from zebra-print headboards and burnished orange walls to more tasteful brown and cream. "Eco rooms" have air filtration units, energy-saving lighting and organically grown linens and towels. All rooms have recycling bins and even the cleaning products are kind to the planet.

The comfort factor

All the rooms are sound-proofed, air-conditioned and have huge, low beds. Guests can send for a free yoga kit and tune in to the 24-hour Yoga channel. Zen Dens are primed for full relaxation with incense sticks, mechanical chimes and The Book of Buddha on the bedside table. Satellite TV and the internet are in every room.

The bathroom

Small but sparklingly clean, with Aveda toiletries and your very own rubber duck.

Food and drink

There is no restaurant. Early evening drinks are served amid the golden columns and plum-coloured sofas in the lobby. The European-style Café de la Presse next door does a good breakfast.

The people

Definitely a young person's hotel, it's a favourite among musicians and media types. The staff can take the relaxed ethos a bit too far, however: checking in and out took ages and a white shirt was bundled up with the bed linen, never to be seen again.

The area

Should all your clothes go, the streets around Grant Avenue are stuffed with boutiques, lurking in the shadow of Union Square's bastions of consumerism: Macy's, Saks 5th Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman. Across the street is the entrance to Chinatown. You will have to hop in a cab to seeGolden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

The access

All the rooms, except the designer celebrity suites, can be reached by wheelchairs. Children and pets welcome.

The damage

Rates start at $124 (£68) per night though check the website for special offers.

The address

342 Grant Avenue, San Francisco (001 415 394 0500; www.hoteltriton.com)

Roisin Murphy: Dressed to kill

Moloko's singer Roisin Murphy - almost as famous for her clothes as her music - is back as a solo artist.
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Ry Cooder: Mexican blues

Ry Cooder's latest inspiration is the story of a lost Hispanic neighbourhood. Fiona Sturges meets the legendary guitarist
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Motley Crue: Full Metal Racket

Mötley Crüe are back - rich, arthritic, face-lifted, telling Fiona Sturges that the party days are over. Then Tommy Lee arrives... Read more

Billy Corgan: The smashed pumpkin

The trouble with selling 25 million records is the fallout. Billy Corgan tells Fiona Sturges about the human cost of stardom
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Appetite for destruction

Lydia Lunch has been provoking audiences with her anger-fuelled songs and spoken-word performances since the Seventies. But as the punk icon tells Fiona Sturges, no pain, no gain
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The House of Love: Bless this house

Fifteen years after an acrimonious split, The House of Love are making music once again. Terry Bickers and Guy Chadwick tell Fiona Sturges how they kissed and played on
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Dancing in the street

Brighton is a fickle place. At once highbrow and lowbrow, it has a way of adapting its identity to fulfill the desires of its visitors. For day-trippers, it can be a clubber's heaven, a romantic retreat or simply a breath of fresh air away from the heaving metropolis. For the Prince Regent it was an extravagant bolt-hole, though for the writer Graham Greene it was synonymous with depravity and crime.
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The Traveller's Guide To: Historic Brighton

From Regency spa to modern city by the sea, Brighton's story is written through it like a stick of rock.
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'When it comes to music, Brighton knows its stuff'

In a city that has a reputation for being so hip it hurts, planning a night out can be a daunting prospect. Best start with a drink, then
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Resurrection shuffle

As Queen step out on tour with Paul Rodgers at Freddie's mic-stand, Fiona Sturges explains why a singer's death needn't be the end of a ban
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More to life than football

Zoë Lucker stole the show as trashy, tawdry Tanya in Footballers' Wives. But she's giving ITV's hit series the boot. Fiona Sturges cheers her on
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Shirley temper

Shirley Manson has a reputation for being a little ... difficult. But she's not scary. OK? Fiona Sturges gets behind the mask of Garbage's lead singer
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Just good friends

Already alt.rock darlings in the US, Rilo Kiley are making waves here. Fiona Sturges meets the one-time lovers - separately
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Gentleman Sam

Fiona Sturges meets Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, a folk artist on the archetypal US grunge label
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The egos have banded

Carl Barât is tempting fate by spawning a supergroup - history has shown, time and again, that such collaborations are fraught with peril and, says Fiona Sturges, shouldn't be allowed
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The Dears, Concorde 2, Brighton

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Alexander Kapranos: The art of being clever

Pop's a fickle business. One minute you're playing to an audience of 10 in a friend's living room, the next you're picking up prizes at the music industry's most glittering office party.
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Stars in her eyes

The singer-songwriter KT Tunstall has taken the long way round to success. It's been worth the wait, she tells Fiona Sturges
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The Chemical Brothers: Packing serious beats

The new album contains their most political moment to date. Even dance music can't ignore the real world, they tell Fiona Sturges
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Velvet Revolver, Hammersmith Apollo, London

Comprising three battle-scarred members of Guns N' Roses and a former Stone Temple Pilot, Velvet Revolver are living relics of the late Eighties - a time when eyeliner, leather trousers and porn-star girlfriends were a prerequisite for any self-respecting rocker.
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