MCCARTNEY TO ISSUE UNRELEASED BEATLES RECORDING
Paul McCartney is set to release a Beatles recording that has never been issued and hasn't been heard in 35 years as a soundtrack to a documentary of his late wife Linda's photographs, the Sunday Times of London reports. "Carnival of Light," a 14-minute piece originally recorded as part of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" sessions, was played in 1967 shortly after it was recorded at a London festival. "It was one of those weird things," Beatles producer George Martin told the Times. "It was a kind of uncomposed, free-for-all melange of sound that went on."
ONO IN COURT SHOWDOWN OVER LENNON MEMORABILIA
Despite a judge's attempts to keep the principals from talking in public, Yoko Ono's testimony this week in her suit against John Lennon's former aide, Frederic Seaman, is hot stuff for New York's tabloids. The New York Post ran a two-page spread on the trial in its Sunday edition, including quotes from both Ono and Seaman. The suit accuses Seaman of stealing 374 family photos, some of which appeared in his book "The Last Days of John Lennon."
"These are my photos," Seaman insisted to the Post. "I had an understanding with John that I could keep the original slides and just give him copies of good shots."
SHORT LIST GOES SHORT
DJ Shadow, Bjork and the Flaming Lips head finalists for the second annual Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music. Organizers announced a 10-best "short list" determined by a panel of celebrity critics. The Knitting Factory in Los Angeles will host the concert and awards presentation show on Oct. 29. Iggy Pop, Alanis Morissette, Beck, U2's Larry Mullen Jr., members of the Strokes, Mos Def, Jill Scott and film directors Baz Luhrmann and Spike Jonze are among the celebrities who selected the finalists from 75 albums released in the United States between July 2001 and August 2002 that sold fewer than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. Last year's winner was Sigur Ros' Icelandic rock album "Agaetis Byrjun" (Fat Cat) as the first Shortlist Music Prize honoree. The group received $10,000 and a $10,000 donation in its name to a Sept. 11 relief charity of its choice.
ZEVON RELEASES GREATEST HITS ALBUM
Warren Zevon, who announced last week he has been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, is releasing a greatest hits album, "Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon," that shows a human skull with a cigarette dangling from its mouth on the cover. Zevon, long known for his macabre humor, also released an album in 2000 titled "Life'll Kill Ya." Rhino records is proceeding with its promotion of the package with Zevon's consent. "Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon" is due in stores Oct. 15. The 22 tracks include Zevon's hits "Werewolves Of London," "Excitable Boy," "Lawyers, Guns And Money," "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" and "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down."
CLIFF AND STEWART SING FOR PEACE
Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart and reggae singer Jimmy Cliff have joined forces to promote a new song, "Peace One Day" on a global scale on Sept. 21, the United Nations-designated International Day of Peace. Stewart and Cliff, who have been working on an album project together, are trying to persuade radio stations around the world to play the song that day. Stewart, who wrote the song in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, will make it available free to radio stations on the Internet via the peaceoneday.org site.
"The idea was to make a song, that on Sept. 21, we'll get as many stations around the world to play and DJs to talk about what it's all about," Stewart said. "We're not really making a single that we're trying to get in the charts.
It's an idea to uplift people."
