AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: Acclaimed avant-garde...

AND NOW HERE’S THE NEWS: Acclaimed avant-garde film maker Les Blank (who’s been at the helm of documentaries about such musicians as Lightnin’ Hopkins and Clifton Chenier) is at work on a film about Huey Lewis & the News. The documentary will include footage from the band’s Paris concert jam session with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Geldof, clips from Lewis’ series of Christmas concerts in Oakland as well as a comical account of a Lewis golf outing in Texas where he was pursued by a pack of teen-age girls. . . . The new Heart album, which could be out as early as April, has a working title of “Bad Animals.” After that’s out, expect a solo record from Heart’s Ann Wilson later in the year. . . . The Textones’ Carla Olson and Gene Clark have finished an album together, titled “So Rebellious a Lover,” which will be out in Europe next month on Demon Records (with a U.S. release to follow). The album, produced by Michael Huey (drummer for both the Classics IV and the Swinging Medallions) will feature new versions of Joe South’s “Don’t It Make You Want to Go Home,” Gram Parson’s “I’m Your Toy” and Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee,” plus a half-dozen originals. . . . Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s longtime songwriting partner, has signed with RCA Records, with an album due out later in the spring. . . . The critically beloved dB’s are back, newly signed to I.R.S. Records after several years without a label deal here. The band is at work on a new album, scheduled for early summer release.