Yes, the Blue Rock Festival is this weekend, but I'm fed up of going on about it so I've got a couple of other things for you. There are some big acts worth getting excited about hitting the county in the next few weeks. Gordon Brown has addressed the UN, trying to save the world, but I am here to save the weekend. Things can only get better.

As those who know me will have already grasped, I love my tunes. I love classics, grunge and indie.

However, one thing I also have a soft spot for is girly pop music, and the British queen of the genre is coming to the county - Sophie Ellis Bextor.

Born of Blue Peter and a former member of mediocre 90s indie band theaudience, Bextor has a desirable prim and proper demeanour that makes you want to don a tuxedo and smoke cigars.

Britney Spears she isn't, but is this a bad thing?

Let's face it, when Paris Hilton is telling you to cover yourself up it's a sign that the train has resolutely left the tracks and is careering at breakneck speed into Hicksville, leaving a trail of devastated redneck boyfriends, ex-husbands and empty bottles of alcopop behind it.

Sophie has worked with Bernard Butler and Alex James and has refined her genre-hopping, nagging pop tunes into a clubby, indie sound that doesn't quite slot in comfortably anywhere, but has sold millions of records.

She says: "I never felt like a bona fide indie kid and I never felt quite cool enough for the whole Ibiza scene. It's not meant to sound snooty, I loved my time in each camp, it's more the case that I never quite felt like I belonged anywhere."

You belong here dear Sophie, and don't worry about being snooty, get the posh frocks out and do your thing.

See Sophie Ellis Bextor at the Queens Hall, Narberth on Wednesday, August 15. Doors open 7.30pm, tickets £15. www.thequeenshall.org.uk.

The Queen's Hall has always been the venue that everyone wants to play. With a capacity crowd it's as exciting as it gets in Pembrokeshire.

On the August 17 chart-toppers Unklejam will be topping the bill in Narberth.

Taking their name from a 1979 Funkadelic album Uncle Jam Wants You, the band list an inspiring discography of artists from Prince to Gary Numan.

Unklejam look like they just stepped out of a Delorian, but I have a suspicion that the 1980s fad is coming to an end - bad timing.

Fusing soul with electro admittedly sounds like it could go one way or another - Destiny's Child or Gnarls Berkley. This band could prove to be neither.

It should be an interesting set - the promise of Sly and the Family Stone-influenced music has got my foot tapping and my collars growing into obscene fighter jet wings already.

Band founder Tyson Speede says he played his ideas to his friends before the band started and they didn't get it. They told him he should do stuff like Usher. "There is already an Usher," he replied.

Let the music do the bragging. Jury is out on Unklejam, I suppose we'll soon see.

See Unklejam at the Queens Hall, Narberth on Friday, August 17. Doors open 8pm, tickets cost £10. www.thequeenshall.org.uk.

Contact Cocktail: HAVE you got an event or a show kicking off this summer? Do you know a good band playing in the area? Get in touch by email: adam.barrah@gwent-wales.co.uk