Blur star finds window

BLUR bassist ALEX JAMES has spent the afternoon (June 21) pretending to be a shop dummy in a central LONDON record store!

James spent over an hour in the window of the Tower Records store in Piccadilly Circus to promote the current issue of lifestyle magazine The Idler, to which he contributes.

The bassist, dressed in a pink shirt and green combat trousers, spent the first 25 minutes sleeping in a leather armchair, before picking up the latest issue and reading it from cover to cover.

James' appearance in the window came to general bemusement of many onlookers. Of the thousands of people who passed by the store, only a handful noticed his presence, with even less recognising him as famous.

One onlooker told NME.COM: "It seems a strange way for anyone to spend an afternoon, let alone the bassist in Blur!"

However, a grinning James told NME.COM after he finished that it was an experience he had enjoyed. Joking that sitting around smoking and reading was what he had done all his life anyway, he commented: "It's nice and warm in the window. There's a bit of a piss smell when you put the fan on, but that's just Piccadilly Circus for you, isn't it?!"

"I just love The Idler, It's been going for eight years and it's ideologically very sound. They've never compromised anything. It's got a small circulation but all the people wrote for it in the beginning have gone on to big things. People like Damien Hirst and Louis Theroux."

In the current issue James interviews astrologer Patrick Moore in a brief overview of the solar system.

Various other stars will be sitting in the window of the store this evening and tomorrow, including John Moore from Black Box Recorder. Tomorrow, comedians Adam and Joe will make an appearance.

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