Chatterbox: City braced for Le Bon Voyage

They might be screaming for hobbits and elves and a certain short-panted, bearded film genius in Wellington on Monday. But next week in Auckland it's going to be Duran Duran fever with the classic line-up of the 80s band here to support Robbie Williams at Western Springs next Saturday. Williams' people say he will not be doing any media while he's here, but Duran Duran will be doing a press conference after they arrive mid-week. Simon Le Bon will probably go and buy a new yacht or two, and he and Nick Rhodes and the three Taylors will be hanging about the city, making the place look a bit more glamorous for a few days before the show.

Meanwhile, the band are to be honoured by the British record industry in February with a lifetime achievement award, following a couple of similar gongs they've collected this year, which marks their silver jubilee as a band. Being a hasbeen doesn't get any better than that, huh?

MANY MORE: Here's a good stocking-filler if you're too cheap to buy the album. Scribe is releasing 5000 copies of a double A-side special edition single of Not Many the Remix/Stand Up. The collector's item features the same remix from his double platinum album, The Crusader, plus acappella and instrumental versions previously available only on vinyl. Meanwhile, that highly rhetorical single is still at number one. No one, it seems, has come up with the right answer to the question of "how many dudes?"

SLOPE LESS SLIPPERY: Dance event Alpine Unity will definitely go ahead, promise new organisers New Zealand Entertainment Services, despite serious doubts from the police.

The company - which owns K Rd dance music store Cyberculture Records - was originally hired to look after production at the South Island New Year dance festival at Flock Hill Station near Arthur's Pass. But they have taken over the entire party after two of the original organisers were arrested on drug importation charges. They say they'll do a good job - they've been putting on dance parties for eight years, including the annual outdoor night, Dreamweavers, and other international dance events.

LIVE AIDS: As you read this, some of the world's biggest music stars are getting ready for a concert in Cape Town, South Africa. Artists including Anastacia, Beyonce, Pink, Bono and Peter Gabriel will join Nelson Mandela to help to raise awareness for World Aids Day. It's also an important day for music with both the Eurythmics and the surviving members of Queen reforming for the occasion - 12 years after Freddie Mercury's death. The gig is also being touted as the most widely distributed media event in history and is expected to reach more than two billion people. C4 will screen it on Monday at 8.30pm.

TOURIST DEPT: Another one to add to a heavy summer touring schedule - Brit folk-rock duo Turin Brakes will be playing at Auckland's Regent Theatre on Friday, January 9 and Wellington's Indigo Bar the following night.

VIN WITH A GRIN: Well, we know one band who might be able to help with the soundtrack - Vin Diesel's next flick is to be called The Pacifier. It's a Disney action-comedy in which he plays an undercover agent who must protect the kids of an important government scientist. Apparently it's designed to show his soft side.