CORR blimey. Isn't that Caroline Corr, the drumming one from Irish rock superstars The Corrs among a group of happy, smiling gents? Quite so, and those men in black are none other than the far-travelling Selby and York party band The Bogus Brothers, who had the privilege of playing at Caroline's wedding-day celebrations a couple of weekends ago.

The Bogus lads jetted off to Mallorca to fulfil the engagement they had been asked to keep hush-hush for three months: the secretly-planned wedding of Caroline and her property tycoon fianc, Frank Woods.

Bogus Brothers manager Tony Williams says: "It was absolutely fantastic. Everyone there was close family and close friends, and it's really weird seeing people like Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr from U2 and Eddie Jordan from Formula One motor racing dancing to you.

"All the members of The Corrs were brilliant; I got on really well with Jim Corr, the guitarist and songwriter, who thought we were amazing."

The Bogus Brothers have been concentrating increasingly on corporate and celebrity entertainment. "We're really starting to get our name around and create a real buzz," says Tony.

Apparently, the Corr-Woods wedding is not the end of the Bogus boys' star engagements. "The lads flew off to Ireland last weekend for another high-profile concert at a secret location," Tony says. Was it more Corrs for celebration? Watch this space.

STILL with pop legends, York's dynamic guitar duo, Flaming Pie, featuring bus driver Paul Leetham and gardener Dave Powell, decided to hit the city streets on Thursday and do a bit of busking. Paul checked if they needed a licence and was told "no" by a council apparatchik (he's right, you only need a licence if you selling merchandise such as your CDs or cassettes). So off they went with booming amps, backing tapes and shiny guitars the Beatles/Elvis/Shadows sound-alikes set up in King's Square around noon.

They lasted 20 minutes!

As the crowds grew to Woodstock proportions they were first told to keep it quiet by a passing parking attendant then a council meanie turned up and told them, in Paul's street parlance, to "knock it on the head lads" because they were too loud and fans were clogging the pavements.

"It were great," says Paul "we really had 'em rocking - they loved us! It was like the Beatles' Apple Corps roof-top performance back in January 1969."

So how much did the Pies make during their short-lived stint busking?

"Nothing, we were so nervous and excited at first that we forgot to put the cash box out," says Paul. The hassle that superstars have to put with!

Catch Flaming Pie at the Melbourne, Cemetery Road, York, tonight from 9pm and the Cock And Bottle, Skeldergate, York, tomorrow night. They really are good, I've heard 'em.

MADNESS descended on the City of York's Planning and Transport (City Centre Area) Sub Committee - what a mellifluos mouthful that is - as they debated, among other things, applications for longer opening hours of a pizza palace in Gillygate, signs in Stonegate, a new snooker centre in Tower Street, a new shopfront in Tanner Row and longer hours for the skateboard park at Foss Bank.

One objector got on his hind legs to complain that the proposed Tower Street snooker centre would only add to the noise levels already suffered by local residents because of nearby hostelries, eateries and a night club.

It was a delicious irony when he said they also had to bear the melodious din from Ouse riverboats when, right on cue, the strains of It Must Be Love swept through the open windows of committee room two.

The young woman sitting next to me had been so interested in weighty planning matters she had almost finished reading her OK magazine, but when Madness broke out she left off reading about baby Romeo Beckham and beamed at hefty Coun Nick "Ballroom" Blitz who was also clearly amused by the musical distraction.

As each designated speaker - for or against - got up for their maximum of three minutes to argue their case the proceedings took on air of a Ready Steady Cook TV show.

As the speaker began to run out of time, committee chairman Terry Walker intoned solemnly: "You have ten seconds Mr....."

I felt like standing up and leading the entire crew with: "Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two, one,- STOP talking!"

I left the meeting uplifted and upbeat. If this warm up is what a sub-committee is like I can't wait for a full council meeting.

Forget Ziggy's, Ikon and diva and Toffs - get yourself along to Guildhall for a real night out. And if they sold John Smith's hand-pulled and put out some pool tables, I wouldn't miss a meeting.

But then again, they would need planning permission under rule D2 - change of use legislation...

Those who were at a dead end and stuck for something to do today were not facing a grave dilemma.

Dig this: all they had to do was get themselves to the Stonefall Cemetery and Crematorium at Harrogate before 3.30 this aft.

The crem de la crem was having an open day, which promised to be full of interest... if you're interested in that sort of thing. There were tours of the chapel and crematory, of the grounds and the offices and bereavement suite.

And it looked set to prove a popular day-out, with organisers warning that numbers will be restricted to a maximum of 15 on each crematory tour "to give everyone a chance to see behind the scenes".

In the grounds, visitors were getting a chance to see the cremated remains burial areas, the "disposal of cremated remains garden of remembrance and new memorial gardens, Columbarium Building and Sculptures etc."

In the offices, there was an explanation of the computerised administration processes, grave search and interview room facilities. A spokeswoman said they wanted to see the response to today's open day before organising any more. But they are open to inquiries for visits, all you need to do is ring 01423 883523 for more information.

FAST forward 18 years and Romeo Beckham gets his first chance to play for Manchester United at Old Trafford.

He asks his dad David what number he should wear.

David thinks for a minute and says: "Wear 4 out there Romeo".

OVERHEARD in the York Marks & Spencer clothes department the other day... "Excuse me, are these jeans bisexual?"

It is not known whether the woman searching for the word "unisex" was then too embarrassed to buy the bewildering item or just zipped her lips and slunk out of the store.

Updated: 11:45 Saturday, September 07, 2002