The woman who inspired The Beatles' song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is seriously ill, according to John Lennon's son Julian.

For years it was thought the song was an ode to hallucinogenic drug LSD, but it was later revealed that Lucy O'Donnell, a nursery classmate of Julian's, was the muse.

As the story goes, one day Lennon was picking Julian up from nursery when his son showed him a picture he had drawn of a girl surrounded by starlike shapes.

His father then used the image as the inspiration for the song that features on Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967.

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival had a big year.

Organizers say the event set a post-Hurricane Katrina attendance record of more than 400,000 for its two-week run. But some in the city's tourism industry say the shadow of the national recession was felt anyway.

From thebeatles.com...

We are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (09-09-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

these tattered remnants look like ancient history,
that's all that i can find.
she's painting cities in her child-like imagery…
and speaks from time to time.
she speaks of time, love, and captivity,
… of everything required

* colors, light on the canvas, they light on my eyes…
fields of stars i've travelled in dreams,
drunken data, drunk at light speed.
she takes me back where i've never been…

in this scene i tangle with machinery,
as she paints the sky.
she paints my world in ethereal gravity,
she's building lullabies.
she looks to be clouded in transparency,
… i'm not to question why.

* (again)

ohh oh!

i found myself waking on those hills of green,
i feel that i designed…
in my hands the pictures of the things to be,
… she never paints a lie.

* (once again)

no!

Producers of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival announced the lineup for the 2009 festival this morning. The festival is April 24-26 & April 30-May 3.

The big acts this year include Wynton Marsalis, the Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Spoon, Tony Bennett, The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Wilco and many, many more.

Pearl Jam has unearthed a host of unreleased tracks and special surprises from its vaults for a reissue of its 1991 debut album, "Ten."

LONDON – Paul McCartney says it's time an experimental Beatles track saw the light of day. McCartney says he wants to release "Carnival of Light," a 14-minute experimental track the Fab Four recorded in 1967 but never released.

Obamamania met Beatlemania Thursday, as Liverpool hosted an MTV Europe Music Awards show energized by the city's musical heritage and the U.S. presidential election.