His new Rufus Wainwright biography 'There Will Be Rainbows' is out and given the reviews, let's face it, it's just as likely to burnish the reputation of our main man in London, Kirk Lake, as it is going to enhance the career of the man Elton John describes as the best musician in the world. I mean, for a pop song writing career such kinds words from EJ would mean I think you need little else by way of support. Ask George Michael.

It's said that you can say anything you like about Elton on the web 'cos he has little truck with the whole internet downloading scam which is just about the only thing maintaining the general public's interest in pop music. I mean, look, Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, I bought the LP and then I bought the CD, it would be only natural that I would want to download a recording from the internet with ever diminishing audio-fi* quality. Decades on. The Capital Tower is leaning like Pisa a friend noted recently as we sped past it on the 101 freeway.

Bill Clinton on the other hand has his subjects print and snip items that interest him. So look in some ways Elton, the internet can be a country for old men.

On a recent bank holiday I met with Kirk to talk about that Rufus book, his past work and his future plans. Remember this is the man who singlehandedly devised and popularized two of outsideleft's most enduring columns, Behind The Counterculture and The Happy Shopper. While we were at it, I took a neighborhood kid to paddle in some of Princess Di's stiller waters at the Princess Di memorial fountain.

Look at the composition. That is the photography of Kirk Lake.

*I have never ever noticed the lowering of the fidelity of music over the years caused by compression systems. My hearing is failing faster than scientists can come up with methods of making sounds sound worse than before then selling it on in ever diminishing numbers to the public.

Image above by Kirk Lake, Princess Di Memorial, London, 2009