more on blur and pavement

This is like a monthly column now, I know, but I'm duty bound to once more report on the various movements in the Blur camp and the ongoing speculation about a reunion. Damon's obviously pretty busy with his The Good, The Bad and The Queen project (in fact, they're on Jools Holland tonight) but Alex is, as ever, using his time wisely; not just living in a very big house in the country, but continuing to bug Graham about coming back. A couple of months back, he didn't seem to be getting anywhere, so when he said the following on BBC Five Live yesterday, I didn't think much of it:

"I saw Graham last week. There may be some news there but I don't want to rush anything."

But Graham's recent interview with Pitchfork gives much more reason to be hopeful - this is sounding positive:

Coxon was significantly less dour about the possibility of a reunion with Blur. The band's former guitarist admits he hasn't "spoken to them for a bit, [except bassist] Alex [James]. I'm going to see him tomorrow at his birthday...Alex will always be my friend. I guess they all will be in some way, but it's somewhat strange."

"I haven't been approached about it," reported Coxon about getting back together with the Brit-pop titans. But "I think about it, yeah. I think about it: would it be fun? Would it be a bit too scary? What would the dynamic be in a studio? Would I have to do promotion? Would I tour? You know, it's a lot of thinking. So I guess I still mull around and think about it every now and then."

So it's not completely ruled out, then? "No, no."

I know what the nay-sayers will say ("nay"), but having seen an absolutely electric reunion at the Dinosaur Jr show in Brighton this week, I'm feeling good about reunions right now. And Blur reforming is not the only possibility on the horizon either. Also speaking to Pitchfork, this was interesting stuff from Spiral Stairs, too.

So, Spiral, is there going to be a Pavement reunion?

"I guess, yeah, we'll see."

Um, what?

"[Laughs] I mean, I can't tell you. I don't know. I mean, yeah there's been some talk over the last year about kind of getting together eventually. But I think it makes more sense to let more time go past, you know? It would probably work well for a 20 year anniversary or something like that. But I don't know. I'm going to Steve [Malkmus]'s wedding, I think, so we'll see, maybe we'll have a reunion there."

Okay, I kind of need to wangle an invitation to Steve Malkmus's wedding, I think. Any ideas?