Do We Need Another Healing Song?

A fake news item in the online satire the Onion presented President Bush pleading with America’s songwriters and balladeers to refrain from producing songs inspired by the tragedies of Sept. 11 because there has been “enough suffering.”

It’s no satire to Ken Kragen. It’s been his real life lately.

Kragen was executive producer of two of the biggest pop-related fund-raisers in history: the 1985 “We Are the World” recording and the 1986 “Hands Across America” human chain, projects that together raised around $100 million to alleviate world hunger. He also helped organize the 1985 Live Aid concerts for the same cause.

Kragen says that since the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, he has received two or three pitches a day about songs dealing with the events.

“Everywhere I turn, people are giving me songs,” says the veteran manager, who’s currently handling country acts Three of Hearts and Mark Collie.

In addition, he’s gotten numerous calls from people wanting him to help stage events modeled on “We Are the World” or “Hands Across America.” But Kragen, impressed by such actions as the Sept. 14 national telethon and Michael Jackson’s plan for an all-star recording of his song “What More Can I Give,” is playing it cool.

“When people come to me with these pitches, I always want to know, ‘What are you looking to achieve here?’ ” he says. “There are only three main reasons I can think of to do these things--any big event, any song, any charity project like this. The first is to raise awareness or consciousness. The second is to raise money to help victims, those who are suffering. And the third is to demonstrate that we’re united and perhaps even move governments to work with this particular problem. With this one there’s a fourth thing as well--to honor the heroics.

“And then I have to ask people, ‘What are you going to accomplish that hasn’t been done already and better?’ Awareness? You can’t get away from it. Money? They’ve raised more than $600 million already, and that doesn’t count corporate contributions to people who lost family members. And we’ve been showing we’re united in all kinds of ways, while people are being honored for their heroics on TV and in other media.

“About the only reason I would say to do something is if it’s a song so great that it would inspire future generations,” he says. “Of course, everybody thinks their song is that.”

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CREME DE LA CREEM: Say “Boy Howdy” to many veteran rock fans and you’ll evoke an irreverent, passionate spirit that helped to define the alternative-rock world from the breakup of the Beatles through the punk years and almost up to grunge. It was the slogan of Creem magazine, associated with a cartoon depiction of a tipsy beer bottle. Now a team has formed with plans to bring back that spirit into today’s rock world.

Robert Matheu, who as a teen photographer in Creem’s original Detroit base became a regular contributor to the magazine under legendary editor Lester Bangs, has acquired the rights to the name of the publication and its archives. Plans are to establish an online entity featuring classic pieces and photos, and then launch a print monthly in the spring. (Creem folded in 1988, and was revived in 1990 for 18 months.)

Among features coming will be early writings by Patti Smith, a Creem contributor well before she became a musical artist. Smith offered original copies of her work when Matheu told her of his revival plans--although she asked that they be run in full, without the edits and trims Bangs had made.

Matheu, 44, who will serve as publisher and CEO, plans to tap a number of veteran journalists who are former members of the Creem family, among them Dave Marsh, Launch editor Dave DiMartino, New Times contributor Bill Holdship and SonicNet’s Jann Uhelszki. But his goal is to find new writers and editors to tackle current music with the same colorful attitude Creem had in its glory days.

“I’m approaching it from where [Creem founder] Barry Kramer and Lester did, that there’s a lot of new stuff out there that can be deemed counterculture,” L.A.-based Matheu says. “The 14-and 15-year-olds need to know that it’s OK to take a guitar lesson rather than a dance class if you want to be in music.”

He cites such acts as the Strokes among bands the magazine could highlight, with a balance of old and new comparable to England’s Mojo monthly--which took inspiration (and some regular contributing writers) from Creem’s pages.

“I need someone smart and on the ball as editor, someone not long out of college who is hungry and fresh,” he says. “We can have the angry old man section too, but if Creem isn’t aimed at younger people, I’m not in business.”

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WOLF TRACKS: Los Lobos, a band known for its American roots-music allegiances, has chosen a quintessentially English producer to supervise its next album. John Leckie, whose production credits include Radiohead’s “The Bends,” several XTC projects and most of the Stone Roses’ work, has joined the L.A. band at guitarist Cesar Rosas’ home studio to work on the album, which is expected early next year.

Keyboardist and saxophonist Steve Berlin doesn’t anticipate a drastic change from the band’s work with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake, who oversaw the experimentation that marked the group’s last three albums, 1992’s “Kiko,” ’95’s “Colossal Head” and ‘99’s “This Time.”

“I don’t think it will be [a difference] like night and day,” Berlin says. “So far it reminds me of ‘Kiko,’ the direction it seems to be going to my ear. It still sounds like us.

“He comes from the George Martin school of producing,” Berlin adds. “He lets you make as big a mess as you want and then cleans it up.”

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SMALL FACES: For their upcoming movie “Shallow Hal,” the Farrelly brothers aren’t going for the conceptual music approaches they took with “There’s Something About Mary” (with Jonathan Richman serving as on-screen musical narrator) or “Me, Myself & Irene” (which had a soundtrack of versions of Steely Dan songs). But they do have Shelby Lynne’s new “Wall in Your Heart” (which will also be on her upcoming album, “Love, Shelby”) and the solo debut of Hootie & the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker, “This Is My World.” A soundtrack album is due Nov. 6, while the movie, a romantic comedy starring Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow, is being released Nov. 9.