Elliott Smith’s death could have been a...

Elliott Smith’s death could have been a homicide

Singer-songwriter Elliott Smith’s death from stab wounds that originally were reported to be self-inflicted could have been suicide or murder, according to a coroner’s report issued Tuesday. Smith, 34, died Oct. 21 at County-USC Medical Center after being found in his Echo Park apartment with two stab wounds. The coroner’s examination “revealed he could have done it to himself or somebody [else] could have done it -- either scenario is possible,” coroner’s spokesman David Campbell said Wednesday.

The report also showed that Smith had no illegal drugs in his system when he died and that prescription medications he was taking to treat depression and attention deficit disorder “were at therapeutic or lower levels.... They were not being abused,” Campbell said. The police investigation into Smith’s death will continue and Campbell said that as far as the coroner’s office is concerned, “it remains an open case.”

Smith’s dark, often brooding music earned him the respect of music critics and a cult following, though he never achieved widespread commercial success. He became an unlikely Academy Award contender when his song “Miss Misery” was used in the film “Good Will Hunting” and was nominated for a best song Oscar in 1998, losing out to the “Titanic” theme song, “My Heart Will Go On.”

-- Randy Lewis

Willie Nelson to sing against war

Willie Nelson ups the ante in his support of Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis J. Kucinich with a new antiwar song he’ll sing in public for the first time Saturday in Austin, Texas, at a concert fundraiser for the Ohio congressman’s campaign.

“Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth” mentions no individuals, but it is critical of the war on terrorism with lyrics including,

How much oil is one human life worth? ...

We believe everything that they tell us

They’re gonna kill us

So we gotta kill them first....

How much is that soldier’s life worth

And whatever happened to peace on Earth?

Nelson also acknowledges in the song the odds against it getting mainstream media exposure: “Now you probably won’t hear this on your radio / Probably not on your local TV / But if there’s a time, and if you’re ever so inclined / You can always hear it from me.”

Other musicians who will appear at Saturday’s concert include Michelle Shocked, Bonnie Raitt and Michael McDonald and his former Doobie Brothers bandmate, Patrick Simmons. It will be webcast live at www .kucinich.us.

-- Randy Lewis

Finding fault with ‘Nemo’?

“Finding Nemo,” the latest film from the makers of “Toy Story” and “Monsters, Inc.,” will face the scrutiny of a French court in February.

Franck Le Calvez, 33, says Nemo -- a clown fish -- bears a strong likeness to his 1995 creation, Pierrot Le Poisson-Clown, and has asked a Paris court to order the withdrawal of Nemo books and merchandise from French shops. Disney denies breach of copyright.

Financial Times

FINALLY

“Ararat,” the film by Toronto-based Atom Egoyan about the genocide of Armenians at the time of the First World War, can be shown in Turkey, but at least one scene will be cut, a Turkish culture ministry official said this week. The film tells the plight of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey when a 1915-23 campaign to force them from the eastern part of the country left as many as 1.5 million dead. Turkey says the figures are inflated and that Armenians died during civil unrest and not in a planned campaign.

Associated Press