Come 4 September, one lucky bidder will lay claim to a scorched Fender Stratocaster once owned by Jimi Hendrix. The guitar is expected to fetch £500,000 (S$1,355,239), second only to Hendrix’s Woodstock Strat (sold for US$1.8 million [S$2.54m] at a previous auction). This Holy Grail of instruments is fully intact; he notoriously torched it at a 1967 London gig and ended up in hospital. Also up for auction at London’s Idea Generation Gallery: Jim Morrison’s final poems and John Bonham’s (of Led Zeppelin) last drumkit. Follow the auction at www.thefamebureau.com.

Second Life blues guitarist Von Johin has become the first virtual musician to score a real record deal with Reality Entertainment, which represents artists like KC & the Sunshine Band. In virtual world Second Life, players assume avatar personas and use real money to buy land and services. Johin, a real musician based in Tennessee, USA, ‘plays’ every week at his club ‘in the Yudasin Sim’. Under his contract, Johin will continue to play free shows online and ‘tour’ across the world. Check it out at www.secondlife.com.

Plan your next vacation at the Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. This over-the-top rock ’n’ roll wonderland is packed with rollercoasters, like the 15-storey-high, Led Zeppelin-themed ride that loops in tune to ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and the Eagles ride ‘Life in the Fast Lane’.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker will score Wes Anderson’s adaptation of the beloved Roald Dahl tale Fantastic Mr Fox (2009). George Clooney and Cate Blanchett will provide voices for this stop-motion animation fi lm, along with Anderson regulars Anjelica Huston, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman.

Move over, Rock Band 2. Now Nintendo wants a piece of the musical gaming pie and is developing a new product for the popular Wii console. Wii Music will allow even the most uncoordinated gamers to rock out on 60 different instruments (including the cowbell) using the Wii remote.

New releases
• Fujiya & Miyagi, Lightbulbs, 1 Sep
• Metallica, Death Magnetic, 12 Sep
• Mogwai, The Hawk is Howling, 22 Sep
• Kid Sister, Dream Date, 23 Sep
• Mercury Rev, Snowflake Midnight, 29 Sep
• The Qemists, Join the Q, 29 Sep
• Travis, Ode to J Smith, 29 Sep