Beatles News Roundup

By: Howie Edelson

Paul McCartney -- and possibly other members of the extended Beatles family -- will be on hand for the February 19th Las Vegas opening of Viva Elvis, the new Elvis Presley stage extravaganza Aria at City Center is produced by the same Cirque du Soliel team that co-produced The Beatles LOVE. Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley will attend and walk the red carpet -- which will in fact be a blue carpet, in tribute to "The King's" legendary hit "Blue Suede Shoes." (The Las Vegas Sun)

In quite probably the classiest move by the Lennon Estate so far this year, a new British commercial featuring 1968 footage of John Lennon has been digitally tampered with to promote the UK automobile the Citroen DS3. In the ad premiering on Sunday (February 14th), a "digitally enhanced" Lennon will argue with Marilyn Monroe "against dwelling on the past for inspiration." Lennon is heard to say to Monroe -- whom he never met during his lifetime: "Once a thing's been done it's been done, so why all this nostalgia? I mean, for the 60's and 70's, you know, looking backwards for inspiration, copying the past. How's that rock and roll? Do something of your own. Start something new. Live your life now." (Campaignlive.co.uk)

Wings cofounder Denny Laine will be one of the headliners for a memorial concert in Vegas in May for Peter & Gordon's Gordon Waller. Joining Laine will be Peter Asher and the Peter Asher Band, Chad & Jeremy, the Hollies'Terry Sylvester, Ian Whitcomb, John Walker of the Walker Brothers, and legendary Elvis Presley drummer D.J. Fontana. The tribute will take place on May 29th at the Cannery Casino & Hotel. Additional performers are scheduled to be announced shortly. Waller died last July of a heart attack at age 64. (Examiner.com)

Legendary Beatles producer George Martin has executive produced a heavy metal track for Arms Of The Sun -- a project featuring Rex Brown (Pantera, Down), John Luke Hebert (King Diamond), Lance Harvill, and Ben Bunker (Gryn). The track, which was produced by Terry Date, is part of the Grandmaster Series, which features works by four of the world's top producers from the '60s through the '90s, including Martin, Jack Douglas (Aerosmith, John Lennon, Cheap Trick), Hugh Padgham (the Police, Genesis) and Terry Date (Pantera, Soundgarden, Limp Bizkit, Korn).

The Grandmaster Series productions are set for a late February release through Extreme Music, which provides "class-A production music to all major networks and studios, ad agencies and production companies." (Antimusic.com)