Morning Report - News from June 18, 2002

POP/ROCK

Presley Remix Tops Charts, Shatters Record

Elvis Presley has the top spot on the U.K. singles chart for the first time since he died in 1977, making him the artist with the most No. 1 recordings in England, according to the Guinness Book of Records.

For 25 years, Presley had been tied with the Beatles at 17 apiece. On the Billboard charts monitoring U.S. success, however, the Fab Four still hold an edge--with 20 top singles to the King’s 18.

The latest recording, a remix of Presley’s 1968 track “A Little Less Conversation,” hit the top of the U.K. charts Sunday with first-week sales of nearly 250,000 copies. The original, a little-known tune written by Mac Davis and Billy Strange for the ’68 film “Live a Little, Love a Little,” also surfaced on the soundtrack of the 2001 movie “Ocean’s Eleven.”

Dutch musician Tom Holkenburg, known in Europe as the disc jockey of the techno-group Junkie XL, remixed the song for a Nike television commercial airing during this month’s World Cup soccer tournament. Though it’s funkier and more contemporary than the original, “Elvis vs. JXL--a Little Less Conversation” leaves Presley’s distinctive vocals intact.

RCA/ BMG Heritage will release the single in the United States on June 25.

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THE ARTS

‘Harlem Nutcracker’ Debt Sinks Byrd Troupe

Donald Byrd/The Group, a 24-year-old modern dance company focusing on African American history and culture, is closing. The move was taken in response to financial problems triggered, in large part, by the company’s most ambitious undertaking: the $1.2-million transformation of “The Nutcracker” into “The Harlem Nutcracker,” which premiered in 1996.

Though the enterprise was artistically successful and toured extensively throughout the U.S., Byrd struggled for six years to pay off the debt, which still amounts to about $400,000, the New York Times reports.

With an annual budget of just under $1 million, the 10-member company also has an accumulated deficit of another $400,000.

The final performance of the group, known for its unusual themes and eclectic style, took place Sunday in Santa Fe.

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POP/ROCK

Durst Still Emotional About Fan’s Death

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst said Monday that he cautioned tour promoter Vivian Lee about security problems before a teenage fan died in a crowd crush. The warning came on the heels of a similar episode in Auckland, New Zealand.

Durst’s statement came as part of an Australian inquest investigating the death of 15-year-old Jessica Michalik, who suffered a heart attack during a Limp Bizkit performance in that city on Jan. 26, 2001. She died five days later.

“It was so overwhelming that a young girl came to see her favorite band and left in a coma and died,” Durst said, testifying by video from Los Angeles. “I’m very emotional right now talking about it. It’s taken me a long time to talk about this.”

At the end of the inquiry, coroner Jacqueline Milledge can recommend that charges be filed, but prosecutors don’t have to act on the recommendation.

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MUSIC

S.F. Symphony Gets Use of Heifetz Violin

Jascha Heifetz’s $6-million violin has been played publicly only once or twice a year in the last decade. But starting Sept. 4, it will be played regularly by San Francisco Symphony concertmaster Alexander Barantschik for the next three years.

The use of the 260-year-old violin in all the concerts Barantschik plays, as well as in a new chamber-music series, comes out of an arrangement worked out between the symphony and the city’s Fine Arts Museum, where the instrument has been on display for the last 15 years.

Heifetz bequeathed his favorite violin to the venue when he died in 1987, stipulating that it be played by “worthy performers.” Those who qualified include Isaac Stern, Gil Shaham and some San Francisco Conservatory students.

The violin, built by the Italian Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, is one of about 130 such instruments in existence.

Musicians Cancel Montreal Appearances

Pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma have canceled appearances with the Montreal Symphony next year out of sympathy for Charles Dutoit, who resigned as music director earlier this year, the Web site Andante reports.

Dutoit stepped down after orchestra members challenged his dismissal of musicians and accused him of tyrannical behavior.

According to an orchestra spokesperson, neither Ax nor Ma was comfortable performing as part of what was to be Dutoit’s 25th-anniversary season.

Pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich also have canceled appearances in solidarity with Dutoit.

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QUICK TAKES

Charlie Sheen (“Spin City”) and Denise Richards (“Undercover Brother”) were married Saturday night. It was the 36-year-old actor’s second marriage and the first for his 29-year-old bride....Tea Leoni and David Duchovny became the parents of their second child, a boy, on Saturday....Shakespeare Festival/L.A., the nonprofit company that puts on free productions of the Bard’s work each summer, has received a $300,000 grant over three years from the Entertainment Industry Foundation....Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”) will play suffragette Alice Paul in HBO’s “Iron-Jawed Angels,” to begin shooting in the fall.