The screechy one has caused consternation in Chinese officialdom in advance of the Olympics after chanting 'Tibet, Tibet' during a concert in Shanghai.

What a difference a war makes. In 1997, Hollywood was pumping out one 'hoo haa' militaristic army movie after another and looking back it is interesting to see what was included...

Little Steve Van Zandt once got some of his buddies such as Lou Reed and Bono to pledge that they ain't gonna play Sun City. In the aftermath of Steven Spielberg's withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics, is it time to encourage Ireland's athletes to do the same to the Bird's Nest Stadium?

Paul Westerburg, the creative font behind The Replacements, has long been a favourite of Sound Waves. When we got our hands on his album of songs for the animated movie 'Open Season' we were glad to see his muse was intact.

Sound Waves is back for another year and we begin with our first surf music recommendation of 2008, Seasick Steve, an overnight success after a lifetime of music.

Just got this dude's first album and its all grits and honey. Here's a clip of him on the road with some commentary from elder muddy boots balladeer Joe Ely, Ryan is all hat and all cattle. Watch this guy go

Bell X1 front man David Geraghty is getting played in the Woodie on the way to the break.

Sound Waves wishes to congratulate Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who are nominated in the Best Original Song category for 'Falling Slowly' from 'Once'.

Surf Movie producers Globe have partnered with DJ Sasha to produce a tripping new surf DVD for watching during or after an all night party.

Surfing continues its hip revival as MTV airs a new show on sexy, photogenis surfers in Maui.

As Sound Waves makes it to the end of our inaugural year, we look back in a ramshackle manner at the events which shaped this blog's niche interest in 2007.

You might think that surfing, taking place mainly in hot countries that don't understand the concept of snow, does not have a take on Christmas, you would be wrong. Here are some of our favorite Christmas themed vids.

Douglas Adams once wrote that the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything was 42. Now a surfer says he has found the answer, for real.

Well, here it is, my surf music top seven of 2007.

Ok, ok, it does sound grandiose but basically, ever since I started on Cluas none of my submissions to the end of year polls have got a look in because basically I don't listen to Phantom FM (apart from a deadly dull two week research period), I don't much care for indie rock and I don't read the NME.

Phoebe, the fictional chantuese from hit sitcom 'Friends', famously performed her unique brand of music in the plush environment of the Manhattan coffee house 'Central Perk'. Now it appears that she may have been ahead of the curve.

Seven years ago Sound Waves attended a music industry convention in France where DRM was the buzzword de jour. Today, its all change as Apple and Amazon slug it out over song offerings without copy protection.

The Radiohead launch on October 10th is going to be watched very carefully by their old label.

A spate of articles on the blogosphere point the finger of blame for the present slump in the music industry mainly on the shoulders of the internet but Sound Waves feels that commentators might be overlooking the obvious; the teenage girl with twenty quid in her jeans.

Phantom FM claims that they are out to provide, "a rock music format that thousands of Dublin radio listeners have asked for. Isolated by existing stations, our listeners have demanded choice and to hear new music". Sound Waves wonders whether this is US style radio in disguise.

The new Channel 6 surf show 'Cois Fharraige' (hmm, that name sounds familiar) has sent out brochures to advertisers seeking sponsorship. Sound Waves has the lowdown.

A timely article in The Sunday Times Culture section (9/9/2007) on the high profile failures of the Irish music industry leads Sound Waves to ask, "But why does anyone want 10 album releases by The Thrills when the first one was as good as it gets for the band?"

The Guardian today (10/9/2007) has a great article on the Christian Surfer movement.

Thanks to The Irish Times, y'all can get the lead single off Bruce's new album free as a download. Does it rock ? Yeah! Am I excited ? Yeah! Is he still the CEO of Rock? Yep!

Sound Waves has just got in some PR bumpf telling us that Ireland's First Surf & Music Festival has just sold out. Big deal but they did include the final line-up of acts. So, if you are going you should probably read the following. No, you don't need to thank me, it's all part of the Sound Waves Customer Service Charter. By the way, don't miss white hot UK act The Enemy.