HOT STREAK: The Red Hot Organization, with...

HOT STREAK: The Red Hot Organization, with five anthology albums having raised $5 million for AIDS awareness and research, is gearing up for its busiest stretch ever. The organization, which began with the Cole Porter tribute “Red Hot + Blue” in 1990, has five albums planned for 1996, with an emphasis on cross-cultural projects, including forays into rap and Latin American music.

Sting, David Byrne, Bjork and Vanessa Williams are among those lined up for “Nova Bossa: Red Hot + Rio,” which will “take the spirit of the bossa nova period and update it,” says Paul Heck, Red Hot music director. In the planning stage are rock en espan ~ ol and salsa albums, as well as a rap project that has the Wu-Tang Clan, De La Soul, Mobb Deep and others on board.

“It’s important for us to follow the course of the epidemic,” says Heck of the new directions. “Now that we’re doing the rap album we will have covered the world of Western pop and it’s important to address other parts of the world.”

First, though, will be the January release of an all-star musical tribute to the ‘50s Beat literature movement. “The Beat Experience,” associated with the current Whitney Museum exhibit honoring the Beats, is scheduled to be released in January and features original songs by Byrne, Me’Shell NdegeOcello, Moby, Laika, Soul Coughing with Mark Eitzel and others. Red Hot has also produced a 45-minute documentary on the Beats and is putting together a CD-Rom.