DISTANT THUNDER: A few eyebrows were raised...

DISTANT THUNDER: A few eyebrows were raised recently over the similarity between Julie Gold’s Grammy-winning pop hit “From a Distance” and an obscure song of the same title recorded more than 20 years ago by tunesmith legend, P.F. Sloan, best known for the ‘60s protest anthem, “Eve of Destruction” (sung by Barry McGuire). Were the songs really too close for comfort? Gold has said she’d never heard of the song--or its author. And when Pop Eye correspondent Steve Hochman tracked down Sloan, he insisted that any similarities were probably coincidental. “I’m certainly not going to go after her,” Sloan said, having returned to L.A. from a Hawaiian vacation where he first heard Gold’s song. “And I’d be very unhappy if (someone else) went after her. This is her big break. I’m thrilled for her.”