POP/ROCK - Dec. 28, 1987

A private organization that monitors human rights policy in the Soviet Union appealed Saturday for Western performers such as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel to do fund-raisers so the unnamed group can continue its publishing and muckraking activities. Lev Timofeyev, editor of the private journal Glasnost, said authorities have blocked the organization’s efforts to rent a hall to hold meetings for groups that want to lobby for reforms. “In our difficult situation we decided to appeal to those performers, musicians and actors in Europe and America who have already stood up for human rights,” Timofeyev said, naming Springsteen, Joel and Paul Simon among the invited. The group did not name Soviet performers in its appeal.