Sir Bob rallies the retail troops.(Dooley's Diary)

Remember where you beard it:

Sir Bob Geldof was in fine form when he launched the Live Aid DVD to retailers last week, urging his audience to help save lives in Africa by doing all they can to promote the four-disc set. He confessed he had stretched the truth to their forebears to help the Band Aid single 20 years ago. "With Band Aid, I rang around retailers and managed to convince one of you that the others had agreed to give up their margin and convinced you to do the same. Thanks to you, the others followed suit." ... One of the wilder merger rumours of last week: Clive Calder to buy back parts of his Zomba empire from BMG; a little more likely is the one about Roger Ames resurfacing at the merged Sony BMG ... Apparently last week was the first time Sir Bob had watched the Live Aid footage ... Just when Johnny Vaughan must have thought his Rajars hangover couldn't get any worse, Kiss 100 rival Bam Bam popped up to rub it in. The Bamster showed up at Capital's Leicester Square headquarters last Friday in, of all things, an old fire engine he'd bought for ten grand and extended its ladder to the studio window, which he plastered with Kiss stickers. "I've never spent a better 10,000 [pounds sterling]--I knew it would come in handy," Bam Bam helpfully added ... He may have moved on to international pastures, but ex-WEA London chief John Reid was most definitely in the house for the drink-up to celebrate the chart-topping double by former charge The Streets last week. With the album beginning to move internationally, he may be spending more ...