PUBLISHED ON JULY 6, 2006:

Vineyard Adventures

Arizona's growing wine country offers a good time for vino lovers
both new and advanced

By SAXON BURNS


Saxon Burns

"If you're wine virgins, this is a great place to be," said Andrea
Frederickson, a Phoenix-area resident who was celebrating 18 years
of marriage to her husband, Brett, by touring the vineyards dotting
the Sonoita countryside.
A wine virgin is definitely what I am. Sure, I've enjoyed the stuff--
occasionally to excess--but I couldn't tell you much about the
difference between a cabernet sauvignon and a merlot. When others
taste asparagus or passion fruit or okra, I taste ... wine. Call me
a casual imbiber, someone who prefers sweeter varieties to their
drier cousins, which, in my opinion, often strip the taste buds from
your palate.

Frederickson was right--Sonoita's wineries are a great place for
vino virgins. But even wine sluts would probably enjoy their
easygoing atmosphere, full of affable vintners and chatty tasters.
It's a fun place to swish some wines over your tongue and perhaps go
home with a bottle or two.

This was my first visit to the Sonoita area (which includes nearby
Elgin) after hearing about its vineyards for years. Situated at the
crossroads of U.S. Highways 82 and 83, about an hour southeast of
Tucson, Sonoita is a charming town of just more than 1,000
residents. Chris Hamilton, the proprietor of Rancho Rossa Vineyards,
said the population waxes and wanes depending on the season; winter
is the busiest time for wineries, he said, as snowbirds flock to the
area from colder climes.

The countryside surrounding Sonoita was beautiful on the warm, dry
summer day Jim Nintzel (our designated driver), Carrie Stern and I
visited--and it became even more beautiful the more I drank. Gently
rolling hills carpeted with thick, straw-colored grass and the
occasional deep-green mesquite gave way to soaring mountains in the
distance.

Elgin Road, which heads east from Highway 83, connects all the
wineries. Signs point the way, although it's sometimes confusing
which dirt roads lead to a winery and which lead to a private
residence (signs declaring a road to be private property abound,
perhaps because tasters barrel down driveways in search of their
next sip).

We first stopped at Rancho Rossa Vineyards, 32 Cattle Ranch Lane,
which held its grand opening June 3. Chris Hamilton's establishment
is a rock 'n' roll winery, with posters featuring musical groups
like Fleetwood Mac, the Grateful Dead and Van Halen adorning the
walls.

Chris and his wife, Sarah, both have full-time jobs, so working 17
acres of land and producing wines is a labor of love, even though
making booze is something Chris has been doing since he was a young
lad.

"When I went to college, I had to make my own beer--I was a couple
of months too young to buy it," he said. From that beer, crudely
made in a sink, Chris went on to produce blackberry and other fruit
wines, and the rest is alcohol-steeped history.

"This is really the first grape wine we've made," he said. "It's a
lot of work for two people. It's fun, but you've got to like what
you do. If you look at the hours you put in, you've got to."

Sarah chimed in: "It's nice that it's finally open, and we finally
have some money coming in."

I particularly liked the '04 grenache. Described on the Rancho Rossa
Web site as "a monster of a wine with just a hint of residual
sugar," Chris said it was the perfect accompaniment to all things
chocolate. I'm no expert, but I could see where that would be the
case. A bottle costs $20.

Next, we stopped off at Callaghan Vineyards, 336 Elgin Road, where
we ran into the Fredericksons, whom we first spotted at Rancho
Rossa.

"We're getting drunk!" Brett Frederickson exclaimed with a
mischievous grin as our group walked through the door into the cool,
white interior of the Callaghan warehouse. We eventually learned
that Andrea and Brett had been enjoying themselves so thoroughly
that they'd bought about $300 worth of wine.

"We have it all in our trunk. We keep packing in boxes, which is
really nice," Andrea said, adding that it was a pleasure supporting
Arizona businesses and culture.

Speaking of supporting Arizona business, the state's wineries got a
boost by recent legislation that was signed into law by Gov. Janet
Napolitano at the beginning of June. Lisa Callaghan, who was pouring
our samples and is the wife of owner Kent A. Callaghan, said her
husband and other vintners had formed a coalition to rally support
for Senate Bill 1276. She estimated they spent more than $50,000 on
legal fees in order to get the bill passed, which will allow Arizona
wineries to ship to customers who order remotely--whether through
the Internet, over the phone, by fax or mail. People currently have
to place orders in person; the law will go into effect in September.

Callaghan and Chris Hamilton both warned us to check bottle labels
thoroughly. Some wineries in the Sonoita area (Hamilton didn't want
to name names) actually don't grow their own grapes; they only
bottle the wine on location. Don't be afraid to ask questions, they
said.

"The label really tells you a lot," Callaghan said. "I've been
looking at labels a lot closer." She volunteered that their petite
verdot grapes weren't grown in Sonoita, due to a bad harvest, but
estimated that about 80 percent of their grapes came from their
land.

As with Rancho Rossa, it cost only $3 to sample all the Callaghan
wines. By this time, I was feeling slightly tipsy, so I can't tell
you which wine I enjoyed most. I do remember thinking I could taste
a hint of delicious olive in one red variety, however. That made me
quite proud of myself, as I thought it might be a sign I was
developing my palate. Bottles run from $14 to $30.

Our trio stopped in at the Village of Elgin Winery, 471 Elgin Road,
but there was too much of a crowd. The place also smelled like
mildew, and Carrie and I had a buzz that needed to be maintained. So
we continued on to Sonoita Vineyards, 290 Elgin Canelo Road--our
last stop of the day. We were greeted warmly by Fran Lightly. He had
recently taken over bottling duties, allowing Dr. Gordon Dutt, the
vineyards' founder, to concentrate on tending 35 acres of vines.

"We're a little bit concerned about being at the end of road, that
people might miss out," said Lightly, who had relocated to Sonoita
five weeks ago after working for a decade as a winemaker in
California. "People might buy too much or drink too much, but I
guess we'll take our chances."

I saw evidence of what Lightly was talking about when he took us up
to gaze at the scenery from the winery's terrace. A woman stumbled
out of the passenger side of a car below us, wandered aimlessly in
the dusty driveway for a few minutes and, while my attention was
diverted, disappeared. I'm not sure if she made it inside for a
tasting. It's a shame if people miss the place, because Lightly is a
fellow who obviously knows a lot about wines; the semi-sweet whites
were crisp and fruity; and the view from the terrace was
spectacular. There's also a large room on the second floor that can
be rented out for weddings or other gatherings.

I liked the Cochise County colombard so much, I bought a bottle.
Also try the Angel Wings variety, which is made from mission grapes;
Lightly said it's used by five Arizona congregations as the blood of
Christ.

Feeling pleasantly inebriated, and with my purchase concealed in a
tasteful floral-patterned paper bag, Carrie, Nintzel and I started
off on our drive back to Tucson.

A wine virgin I am no more.

For More Information:

Rancho Rossa Vineyards: (520) 455-0700; www.ranchorossa.com
Callaghan Vineyards: (520) 455-5322; www.callaghanvineyards.com
Village Of Elgin Winery: (520) 455-9309; www.elginwines.com
Sonoita Vineyards: (520) 455-5893; www.sonoitavineyards.com
**************************************************************
The Best Living Songwriters


There might be someone more worthy of first place than Bob Dylan,
but I sure can't think of one.





Aimee Mann may never make it into any hall of fame, but she has a
gift for piercing the heart of something and wrapping it all up in
inspired melodies. aimeemann.com





Anton Corbijn
With 22 albums and more planned, Tom Waits hasn't slowed down.


July 5, 2006 · We suspended Mixed Signals yesterday, in honor of
July 4th, so we missed our weekly Tuesday music notes. Robin Hilton,
the producer of All Songs Considered, makes up for it today with a
list of top songwriters. I agree with him about Aimee Mann. She
deserves more credit...

The latest issue of Paste magazine (possibly the finest music
periodical around) offers a list of the 100 best living songwriters.

I'm not sure why it should matter, but I always love a good "best
of" list. I'll tear through the names and numbers, rolling my eyes
with mouth agape at various placements. Paste's list has Patti
Griffin 20 places higher than Ray Davies and the Kinks. Kris
Kristofferson is twice as high as Outkast, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood
Mac. You gotta be kidding. I mean, I've got nothing against Patti
Griffin or Kris Kristofferson. And I don't even really like
Fleetwood Mac at all. But I can name a dozen Fleetwood Mac songs off
the top of my head, and I'm hard pressed to come up with many Kris
Kristofferson or Patti Griffin songs.

I can't completely disagree with Paste's top ten songwriters.
They've put Bob Dylan at number one, followed by Neil Young, Bruce
Springsteen, Tom Waits (with Kathleen Brennan), Paul McCartney,
Leonard Cohen, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell and
Prince. But I am mystified by a few of the choices. Joni Mitchell
feels like a token pick, and Prince, while a very talented artist,
is certainly not one of the ten best living songwriters in the world.

The best songwriters for me are the ones who can write and sing
about something -- and really expose the heart of it -- without
being obvious. This allows for a lot of discovery, particularly over
multiple listens. When Tom Waits sings "the well is full of
pennies," that has a lot more staying power than "they've made a lot
of wishes," or "it was a life filled with many hopes," which I'm
assuming is what he meant. This is a quality that the songwriters in
my top ten all share:

1. Bob Dylan: I don't know. There MIGHT be someone more worthy of
first place, but I sure can't think of one. It's impossible to pick
any one song as Dylan's best, but I've always loved "Shelter From
the Storm" (audio)from Blood on the Tracks.

2. Tom Waits: Tom Waits has scarcely written (or at least released)
a bad song in a career spanning more than 30 years. With 22 albums
and more planned, he hasn't slowed down. Lately "The Fall of Troy"
(audio) has been jangling around in my head. He cowrote the tune
with his wife and long-time collaborator Kathleen Brennan. A great,
beautifully poetic story song.

3. Paul McCartney Tom Waits better than Paul McCartney!? Over the
long haul, I think so. Obviously McCartney is a brilliant
songwriter, even if he's had a spotty solo career. "Junk" (audio)
from his self-titled debut solo album has always been one of my
favorites.

4. Bruce Springsteen: I came to know Springsteen during the '80s and
couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. "Born in the USA"??
I've since come to "get" The Boss. He's another artist who continues
to have something meaningful to say and sing about after 30 years of
making music. The title track to his latest CD Devils and Dust
(audio) is as fine as anything he's ever written.

5. Vic Chesnutt: Prolific, elegant, beautiful and dark. Few
songwriters can match Chesnutt's gift for uncluttered, but deeply
evocative poetry. It took me a while to see this. It happened on a
cold, rainy night in Georgia when I heard "West of Rome" (audio).

6. Stephin Merritt: He's a bit of an oddball, and I don't always
enjoy his voice. But man, he can write a song. I'd put him near the
top of any list of the best lyricists making music today. He wrote
69 love songs, all of them gems, for the appropriately-titled
collection 69 Love Songs. "I Don't Want to Get Over You" (audio) is
probably my favorite.

7. Sufjan Stevens: He must write songs in his sleep at the rate of
one every 10 to 15 minutes. I can't imagine where it all comes from,
but he makes it seem pretty effortless. He's trying to write an
album about each of the 50 states and might actually do it. And it's
not a gimmick. His songs have real depth and grace to them. "John
Wayne Gacy" from his CD Illinois (audio) is one of the most haunting
songs I've ever heard.

8. Aimee Mann: A vastly underrated songwriter. She'll never make it
into any hall of fame, but like the other writers on this list, she
has a real gift for piercing the heart of something, revealing
instead of telling and wrapping it all up in inspired melodies. I
think "Wise Up" (audio) from the films Jerry McGuire and Magnolia is
about as good as songwriting ever gets.

9. PJ Harvey: She came by NPR for an interview once and I got to
hold the door for her. She didn't even look at me, which is too bad
because I'm sure we could be BFF if she'd just give me a chance.
Anyway, I really think if she were a man she'd get a lot more credit
than she does. She plays guitar and rocks better than most. And her
sound is so distinctive. Listen to the crunch of the opening guitar
in "One Time Too Many" (audio).

10. David Dondero: This guy is barely a blip on maps to even the
remotest of musical landscapes. But I keep pushing him and hoping
he'll be recognized for the brilliant artist he is. Bright Eyes
frontman Conor Oberst is often cited as one of the best songwriters
making music today, and he's credited David Dondero for his whole
sound. (Dondero's latest CD South of the South was released on
Oberst's Team Love label). The title track to South of the South
(audio) isn't his best song, but it's a great example of the strange
narratives he weaves.

-- Robin Hilton

Related NPR Stories
'All Songs Considered' on the 'Paste' 100 Greatest Living
Songwriters

3:06 p.m. EDT | 7-5-2006 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)
Many people proclaim Lucinda Williams as America's best song writer
so I'd put her at number four at least. Where is Paul Simon and Neil
Young? I'd drop Sufjan entirely. He is way overrated and
pretentious, not to mention annoying. There is someone more worthy
of top on your list and his name was Townes Van Zandt who is no
longer among the living. Check him out sometime. I'd change the name
of your list to greatest living or dead. That bumps Dylan to second
and drop McCartney and replace with Lennon in the number three spot.
Lennon was 1000 times more creative and innovative. Here is my top
10 list of songwriters who live on:

1. Townes Van Zandt

2. Bob Dylan

3. John Lennon

4. Lucinda Williams

5. Neil Young

6. Paul Simon

7. Steve Earle

8. Kurt Cobain

9. Elvis Costello

10. Bruce Springsteen


Sent by Brian Kuhlmann | 7-5-2006
You forgot Wilco's Jeff Tweedy! From A.M. to Being There, all of
Wilco's stuff is rock solid, thanks to Tweedy's lyrics.


Sent by C.J. | 7-5-2006
As far as strictly contemporary artists go, Isaac Brock of Modest
Mouse is a talented song writer.

And as far as anyone ever... what about Tori Amos? She is pretty
typically left out of things. She is more talented than the majority
of pop musicians that exist. I agree whole-heartedly with the "if
she were a man" comment.

And last but not least, what about hip-hop?


Sent by Beth | 7-5-2006
You left off Van Morrison. If not number one, he certainly is in the
top ten.


Sent by Ron Freedman | 7-5-2006
Peter Gabriel wrote on of the greatest protest songs ever, Biko.
This list is a fraud without his name on it. Plus based on
influence, Paul McCartney needs to be number 2. He needs to be
revisited. I think people take his ease of melody and song structure
for granted. He will probably get revisited after he is gone. Stevie
Wonder is a Top 10 person. I would definately swap him with Prince.
Sting should be higher.

Also left out: Robert Smith from the Cure, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Gil
Scott-Heron, Sinead OConnor, Seal and though I'm not a fan, as far
as groups go. What about Pearl Jam? Steven Tyler and Joe Perry?
Billy Joel?


Sent by Gregory J. Amani Smith | 7-5-2006
I love these lists and the pointless banter that ensues from
producing them, so please allow me to add my voice to the clatter.
Townes Van Zandt over Bob Dylan? P-shaw! And sorry Robin, I'm more
in tune with the Paste Magazine list, but I have to agree with you,
that Prince (you gotta love him) does not belong on the top 10. Ok,
so here it is, my pick for top 10 living songwriters:

1. Bob Dylan

2. Paul McCartney

3. Elvis Costello

4. Neil Young

5. Lucinda Williams

6. Bruce Springsteen

7. Tom Waits

8. Paul Simon

9. Van Morrison

10. Brian Wilson

Oh wait, can we do a top 11? A top 12? Theres one more I would love
to add. Ah well, let the top 10 battle proceed.


Sent by Patrick Hardy | 7-5-2006
Aimee Mann? No. Chuck D.? Yes. Jay Z? Yes. Mark Itzel? Maybe. But
Aimee Mann and Stephen Merritt? Both have several wonderful songs,
but no where close to enough consistency to be included in a top
ten. I mean, compare either to the catalogue (and fine new album) of
Paul Simon or Lou Reed for that matter...just thinking about your
list baffles me.


Sent by James Patterson | 7-5-2006
Elvis Costello higher than Pink Floyd, Peter Townshend, Ray Davies?
There should be a quality threshold. He may have been cool for his
15 minutes but there is no enduring legacy. Don't confuse fashion
with quality.


Sent by Paul Chivers | 7-5-2006
Billy Corgan.


Sent by Scott Bae | 7-5-2006
Ben Folds, Ani DiFranco! Where are Ben Folds and Ani DiFranco? I
didn't see them anywhere on that list! I'm officially scandalized on
their behalf!


Sent by Mia | 7-5-2006
Lists like this are stupid for any number of reasons. Perhaps we
could have a list of top reasons that top lists are stupid? Here's
one reason, persons not mentioned:

Carol King

John Fogarty

Joni Mitchell

Neil Young

Ani DFranco

Roger Waters

Phil Lesh

Pete Townshend

Donald Fagan

Walter Becker

Leonard Cohen

Donovan Leitch

Lamont Dosier

Brian Holland

Eddie Holland

Stevie Wonder

James Taylor

Frank Zappa

Paul Simon

Christine Lavin

I'm out of time but I hope you get the point.


Sent by Michael A. Moran | 7-5-2006
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Carole King or Burt Bacharach.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame has 590 entries for Carole and 473 for
Burt.


Sent by Sonni Zambino | 7-5-2006
Robin, you really trivialize songwriting when you talk about a
songwriter "continuing to have something meaningful to say."
Meaningful to you or to the songwriter? Great songwriting can also
be about images, sounds, moods, characters and childish nonsense.
All those things can qualify as great songwriting but not
necessarily be "meaningful."

You give away how young and mainstream you are when you say you came
to know Springsteen in the 1980s with his radio friendly "Born in
the USA" material. It was the 1970s when Bruce was way out on the
fringes but known among the serious rock music fans to be a very
cutting edge artist and songwriter. In the 1980s he began to write
more like Hank Williams with an economy of words and simple chord
progressions. This produced some great stuff but while he felt his
way around it also resulted in some of his most embarrassing and
commercial output. The 1970s and his rebirth since the 1996 Tom Joad
CD however have been terrific for him as a songwriter and artist.

Listen to McCartney (Beatles and solo) for a few more years and you
will come to realize he never has been that great of a songwriter.
His post Beatles work is mostly an embarrassment. I went through a
Hail Hail McCartney phase too but have found so many other
songwriters who are so much better. He doesn't stand the test of
time the way other artists like Dylan do. In my opinion Mac doesn't
even belong in the top 20.

List are pointless anyway. But the discussion around them usually
shows how much great music all of us including Robin don't know
about or don't know enough about.

Where are the rap and hip hop artists in your list?


Sent by B.J. | 7-6-2006

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*******************************************************************
POP MUSIC
From the Los Angeles Times

Platinum Weird: Blurring line between fact, fiction
The "band" takes great creative liberties in a VH1 film that
explores its history, influence.

By Chris Lee | Special to The Times
Posted July 5, 2006
PHOTOS

Instant chemistry (Dave Stewart)
RELATED STORIES
View the trailer for Platinum Weird's "documentary"

ADVERTISEMENTS








To hear it from a Who's Who of rock and pop luminaries, the duo
Platinum Weird holds an exalted place in rock history.

Mick Jagger calls the group "the most famous band no one's ever
heard of." No less than Elton John recounts signing them to his
Rocket record label, and Stevie Nicks cops to ripping off her
signature style from Platinum Weird's singer. And others — Bob
Geldof, Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine's owner Jann Wenner,
Kelly Clarkson and Lindsay Lohan — ponder the group's contributions
to rock before its untimely implosion in the mid-1970s.

Except none of it is true.

With VH1's premiere of "Rock Legends: Platinum Weird" today at 6
p.m., Dave Stewart (formerly of Eurythmics) and Interscope Geffen
A&M Records are gambling that viewers — and potential record buyers —
won't feel misled by this mockumentary that holds itself out as a
rockumentary.

Unlike the genre's standard-bearer, "This Is Spinal Tap," the film
never lets viewers in on the secret. Instead, the authentically
retro-looking "Behind the Music"-style special unleashes an
elaborate "rock mythology" about how Stewart and a femme fatale
named Erin Grace created a group whose counterculture niche would
have an outsized influence on rock 'n' roll.

Truth is, the group's lead singer is songwriter-producer Kara
DioGuardi — the pop rainmaker behind numerous hits for Top 40 stars
such as Carlos Santana, Pink, Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears and
Gwen Stefani as well as several former "American Idol" contestants —
who has recorded an album's worth of material as Erin Grace and gone
so far as to do interviews as the character.

It remains unclear how far the group and Interscope Geffen A&M
Records intend to take the admitted marketing ploy. Neither the film
nor any of the press materials make it clear that Platinum Weird's
history is anything less than what it seems.

Those involved defended the move as artistic license. And Stewart
insists the made-up persona of Grace can be seen as a metaphor for
the group's muse: the embodiment of his "lost female spirit."

"Lots of artists from the '60s created mythology about themselves,"
said Stewart, 54, earlier this week at the Hollywood recording
studio he co-owns. "Robert Zimmerman started calling himself Bob
Dylan. He was hinting that he was Woodie Guthrie's son. We're in our
own perception of our own world. So what's reality and what's not?"

Accidental beginnings

As the story goes, in 1975, just three years after the group's
formation, Grace disappeared and Platinum Weird was no more.

The VH1 show flashes forward through the years. It is "revealed"
that a suspiciously Grace-like female rock savant once served as
musical tutor to a young DioGuardi — an amazing twist of kismet, to
be sure — inculcating her with the music and spirit of Platinum
Weird. With that, DioGuardi stepped into Grace's shoes, and the
group was born again.

In reality, those involved say, Platinum Weird was an accident.

Interscope Geffen A&M Records Chairman Jimmy Iovine enlisted Stewart
(who has written and produced hits for Tom Petty, Alison Moyet and
Gwen Stefani, among others) and DioGuardi, who had never met, to
write music together for Interscope's burlesque troupe turned pop
act, the Pussycat Dolls.

"Within half an hour of meeting him, we had written a song, totally
bonded and had been handcuffed together," DioGuardi recalled of
their meeting. (And she meant it literally: "Dave cuffed us together
with some cuffs from a sex shop.")

However, the bittersweet lyrics and guitar-driven, album-oriented
tracks they laid down were totally wrong for the bubblegum pop sound
executives wanted for the Dolls. But Iovine was impressed enough to
offer the duo its own Interscope deal.

DioGuardi, 34, is one of the music industry's go-to hit makers and
the co-owner of a lucrative music publishing business. She has a
soaring, dusky-timbre voice and perfect pitch modulation, and
aspired to be a singer before becoming a songwriter-producer for
hire. Initially, however, DioGuardi resisted Stewart's overtures to
form a band.

"I didn't want to do the project," she said. "I make great money; I
have a great life. Being in front of people was my last, great fear.

"It took Dave months to convince me. Every day he'd call. It was
like the boyfriend who loves you so much, but you're like, 'I don't
like you.' "

A year later they had recorded an album's worth of material that
sounded unlike most pop music on the radio: adult themed rock-pop
with a pronounced Anglo-American/male-female psycho-dynamic that
places Platinum Weird squarely in the vein of Fleetwood Mac with
shades of Garbage.
Then reality set in. They had to find a way to make their mark on
the pop landscape.

"Who is going to accept a duo — someone like myself at the age I am,
coming from another massive group — and somebody who has been
writing hits for other people?" Stewart said. "It's a very odd
combination."

Added DioGuardi: "We were trying to find a marketing tool to make
people notice us."

Marketing charade

At a meeting in 2005, Iovine and Stewart started kicking around
unorthodox marketing ideas.

"I said, 'This thing's existed before,' " Iovine recalled. " 'There
was a singer who left. Can't find her. Nobody knows what happened to
her. She's like a Marianne Faithfull-type character. This is a
comeback album.' I just said that off the top of my head."

Interscope hired the creative collective Tomorrow's Brightest Minds
(behind music videos for the Donnas, Death Cab for Cutie and
Alkaline Trio) to shoot a "Behind the Music"-style biopic. Stewart
and DioGuardi called their big-name music biz pals: Jagger, Starr,
Nicks, Clarkson and Lohan, but also Paris Hilton, who is shown in
the film asking, "What's Platinum Weird?" with po-faced bewilderment.

In the lead-up to the film's Wednesday air date, VH1 has been
playing a seemingly '70s-era Platinum Weird video on VH1 Classic,
its backward-looking channel, among clips for such yesteryear
artists as Cheap Trick, Deep Purple and the Pretenders.

"We are playing it pretty straight," said Rick Krim, VH1's executive
vice president of talent and music programming. He likened the
Platinum Weird movie to "Spinal Tap" and "All You Need Is Cash,"
about the comedic Beatles knockoff, the Rutles, but he conceded that
the similarities only go so far: "As a way to market a real band, I
don't remember ever seeing anything like this."

The band's website, www.platinumweird.com, includes "vintage" audio
clips from its '70s heyday — culled from an entire "1974" Platinum
Weird album that DioGuardi and Stewart cut earlier this year (on
which the singer channels Grace by singing in a ululating soprano
reminiscent of Joni Mitchell). And on CBS' celebrity news
program "The Insider" last week, host Pat O'Brien also played along,
interviewing the band members about the group's flower-child past,
ending the segment by recalling having been a fan in the '70s.

Stewart defends the marketing move, pointing out that "Rock Legends:
Platinum Weird" is grounded in reality. According to Stewart,
details shown in the film — such as his mid-'70s drug-induced
oblivion, a recording contract with John's Rocket label,
DioGuardi's "ultra-conservative" upbringing and enrollment at Duke
University — actually happened.

"It's 80% true," Stewart said of the film. "We're creating fiction
and reality at the same time."

Geldof strikes a lone note of doubt in all this with his final word
in the film: "It's an amazing story ... almost too good to be true.
I'm not sure I believe it or not."

For his part, Iovine refuses to drop the charade, insisting that
Grace is a living, breathing person. He says she will be reunited
with Platinum Weird, although he openly suspects Grace's anger at
Stewart's reformation of the group may prompt her to sign with the
competition, Clive Davis at J Records.

"We last heard that Erin's in Arizona. We located her through her
MySpace page," he said of Grace. "We're going to find her and make a
solo record — do a reunion!"