Ever Present Past is on the way.

Ever Present Past, the second single from Paul's current album 'Memory Almost Full' is now set to be released on Monday 22nd October. More details soon.You can see a clip from the video shoot of EPP on www.meyesight.com.

Paul on Fats Domino Album

Next Monday sees the release of 'GOIN’ HOME: A Tribute to Fats Domino' through EMI. Paul features on the double CD with a version of I Want To Walk You Home.Monies raised from the sales of Goin’ Home will also go toward the rebuilding of Fats Domino’s home and to create a community centre in the Crescent City’s still ravaged Lower 9th Ward. Proceeds of Goin’ Home will fund additional community related programs.For more information go to www.tipitinasfoundation.org

Macca signs guitar for charity

He's played a fair few guitars in his time - but a hand-painted, 10-foot Gibson Les Paul was special even by Sir Paul McCartney's standards.



The former Beatle paid a personal visit to the Gibson Guitartown London exhibition to sign the replica instrument.



The free-standing guitar, named And The Crowd Goes Wild, was hand-painted by visual artist Rosie Brooks.



The guitar, and 59 others, will be auctioned off in London later this year to raise money for the three charities.



Sir Paul said: "I just fancied playing with a big guitar! I think this one will hopefully catch the imagination of the public and whoever is going to buy it at the auction and raise money for The Prince's Trust, Teenage Cancer Trust and Nordoff Robbins - which are all great charities."



Artist Rosie added: "It's complete honour. It's brilliant. I was really touched when I found out he had chosen my design."



All the guitars in the exhibition have been signed by famous names, including Noel Gallagher, Robert Plant, Paul Weller, Ozzy Osbourne, Rod Stewart, Keane, Stereophonics, James Blunt, Razorlight, KT Tunstall, Magic Numbers, Kasabian, The Kooks and Dirty Pretty Things to name a few.

Chris Knight, The National Post
Published: Thursday, September 13, 2007

Every filmmaker worries about pleasing the critics. The two most worrisome and influential for Julie Taymor and her Beatles musical Across the Universe weren't Ebert & Roeper, however, but Sir Paul and Ringo.

"I was sitting right next to Paul McCartney," says Taymor, remembering an early screening, "and so scared and nervous, and he really liked the movie and under his breath he started even singing one of the songs. I could feel him moving to All My Loving."

Ringo Starr took in the film in Los Angeles at a screening attended by Evan Rachel Wood and Jim Sturgess, who play the lead characters of Lucy and Jude in the film. "We spent the whole time watching him watching the film," says Sturgess, "and we're like, 'Yes! He's tapping his foot!' "


Sturgess, a 26-year-old from London, got to meet Starr after the screening and says: "The biggest compliment of all was he didn't realize that I wasn't from Liverpool. If Ringo Starr bought it, that was good enough for me."

Across the Universe had a gala screening at the Toronto International Film Festival Monday and opens in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver tomorrow, with wider release to follow. The movie uses Beatles songs to tell of a group of young people in the '60s: Jude, who travels from Liverpool to America to find his father; Lucy, with whom he falls in love; and Max (Joe Anderson), Lucy's carefree brother, who gets drafted and sent to Vietnam.

Minor characters such as Prudence, Sadie and JoJo allow for more lyrics and songs to be used; in all, 33 of the group's numbers saturate the picture, and the two-hour-and-13-minute movie has only about a half hour of actual dialogue.

Taymor won two Tonys -- direction and costume design -- for her Broadway adaption of Disney's The Lion King. Both those talents are on display in Across the Universe. "You'd be walking around one day and suddenly you'd see this giant puppet being built in the next studio," Sturgess recalls.

For Taymor, part of the appeal of Across the Universe was its epic nature. "You have a love story but you also have a story of ambition," she says. "You can't just do the hippies and the psychedelics without doing the race riots and the darkness."

The original idea from screenwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais was to use 15 songs, but the concept kept growing. "The story was created by listening to 200 songs and choosing songs that could lend themselves to this basic story," says Taymor, "and then the story was created around the songs. It was a round robin that way, one thing inspiring another."

In addition to his powerful singing voice in Across the Universe, Sturgess stars in the upcoming films The Other Boleyn Girl with Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Eric Bana; and 21 with Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne. He also has a role in Crossing Over, starring Harrison Ford, Ashley Judd and Sean Penn.

"I had a great time because I had the privilege of discovering him," says Taymor proudly.

The film held open casting sessions in London, Liverpool, Manchester, Blackpool and America, but when she saw Sturgess, "I knew right away. There was no doubt. He had the edge. He had the voice. There's no disconnect between his speaking voice and when he starts to sing, he's a consummate musician."

She says Sturgess got an early taste of fame at a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which has yet to be broadcast. "It was like being at an early Beatles concert," she says. "The swooning ladies!"

God Only Knows, Why McCartney Cries

Sir Paul McCartney breaks down in tears every time he hears the Beach Boys' song "God Only Knows".

The 65-year-old Beatles legend has confessed he can't control his emotions whenever he hears the Brian Wilson penned track.

Speaking on a special Radio 1 show to mark the British station's 40th anniversary, Paul said, "'God Only Knows' is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It's really just a love song, but it's brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian.

"I've actually performed it with him and I'm afraid to say that during the sound check I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in, and to stand there singing it with Brian."

During the hour-long show, Paul played a selection of his all-time favourite songs, including The Guillemots' "Little Bear", Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" and Beatles classic "Hey Jude".

As part of the fortnight-long birthday celebrations, Blondie singer Debbie Harry, Oasis star Noel Gallagher and Gwen Stefani will be taking to the airwaves to host their own hour-long 'Legends' shows.

Offical Help on DVD details

Official Details: Help! on DVD



Apple Corps Ltd have announced the eagerly anticipated DVD release of The Beatles' second feature film 'Help!' on October 30th (October 29th ROW) which will be marketed and distributed by EMI Music.
The DVD will be a 2-disc set. Disc 1 will feature the original film digitally restored with a newly created 5.1 soundtrack, while Disc 2 contains an hour of extra features, including:



The Beatles in Help! - 30 minute documentary about the making of the film with Richard Lester, the cast and crew. Includes exclusive behind the scenes footage of The Beatles on set.
A Missing Scene - Featuring Wendy Richard
The Restoration of Help! - An in depth look at the restoration process.
Memories of Help! - The cast and crew reminisce
Theatrical Trailers - 2 US trailers and 1 Spanish trailer.
1965 US Radio Spots - Hidden in disc menus.



There will be 2 editions of the DVD - a standard digipack and a deluxe boxed set that will contain a reproduction of Richard Lester's original annotated script, 8 lobby cards and a poster, plus a 60-page book with rarely seen photographs and production notes from the movie. Both the deluxe book and the standard booklet feature an introduction by Richard Lester and an appreciation by Martin Scorsese.

'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' - PRESS RELEASE

'THE McCARTNEY YEARS' - PRESS RELEASE - 24.08.2007

NEW McCARTNEY DVD SET FOR RELEASE - THE McCARTNEY YEARS

FEATURES EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY, BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE, OVER 40 MUSIC VIDEOS AND TWO HOURS OF HISTORIC LIVE PERFORMANCES
‘THE MCCARTNEY YEARS’ IS SET FOR RELEASE NOVEMBER 12th 2007

On November 12th 2007, THE McCARTNEY YEARS, will hit the stores. This first time ever DVD includes the definitive visual collection of Paul McCartneys amazing career featuring solo music videos, career-spanning live performances, personal commentary by Paul McCartney and exclusive footage that tracks his incredible musical journey as never before.

Spanning four decades THE McCARTNEY YEARS is a three volume DVD collection, featuring some of the worlds best-loved music that has become the soundtrack to all our lives.

VOLUME ONE and VOLUME TWO contain the definitive collection of McCartney music videos. Starting in the 1970s with Paul McCartney's first solo single Maybe I'm Amazed, the DVD includes the Wings promo video for Band On The Run as well as hits from the 1980s such as Say Say Say, and the 1990s with Biker Like An Icon. It finishes with 2005s Fine Line. The films can be viewed either in chronological order or as play-lists that have been personally arranged by Paul featuring his exclusive voiceover commentaries.

VOLUME THREE includes live performances taken from three classic McCartney live shows; ROCKSHOW filmed on Wings 1976 World Tour, new edits of Pauls seminal UNPLUGGED in 1991 and Pauls now legendary headlining performance at 2004s GLASTONBURY Festival.

THE McCARTNEY YEARS is also packed with bonus features and extra never before seen footage and performances, including Let It Be from LIVE AID, archive interviews with Melvyn Bragg and Michael Parkinson, alternative versions of music videos and the full-length 2005 documentary Creating Chaos at Abbey Road. Paul has recorded exclusive commentary and personal introductions for each promo video and each live concert.

This collection has been meticulously restored and all films polished, re-graded and given a new lease of life in Widescreen format with re-mastered stereo audio and for the first time the original recordings re-mixed into 5.1 surround sound. THE McCARTNEY YEARS includes over 40 promo videos and over two hours of live performances.

Paul on Radio 1 and ICA LIVE EP

Paul on Radio 1

Paul will be presenting his own show on Radio 1 on Monday 17th September at 9pm. It's the first in a series of 'Radio 1 Legends' shows that Radio 1 are running to celebrate their 40th year. Paul will play tracks from some of his current favourite artists, his favourite all time tracks and songs by the artists and bands that inspired him.

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ICA LIVE EP Today sees the iTunes Exclusive release of Paul McCartney 'Live At The ICA Festival!

The 6 track live EP includes four new tracks taken from Paul's current album Memory Almost full, plus two classic McCartney cuts in 'Coming Up' and 'Jet'. The tracks were recorded at Paul's July 5th show iTunes Festival in London.

˜Live At The ICA Festival"
1. Coming Up
2. Only Mama Knows
3. That Was Me
4. Jet
5. Nod Your Head
6. House of Wax

Now available through itunes.

PAUL TO PLAY AT THE ELECTRIC PROMS

PAUL TO PLAY AT THE ELECTRIC PROMS - 07.09.2007

Paul announced this morning that he is confirmed to play at this year's Electric Proms. Paul will be playing at Camden's world famous Roundhouse on 25th October.

Festival Director Lorna Clarke added, "It's a real coup to have a true legend and one one of the world's most creative artists performing for us at the festival. We are delighted that he has embraced the spirit of what the Electric Proms are all about - creating new moments in music - I can't wait to hear what he has come up with."

Tickets will be on sale from September 12th.

For further ticket info please visit:
bbc.co.uk/electricproms
BBC Electric Proms info hotline: 08703 333432