Record Producers

A Los Angeles judge ruled Friday that the murder trial of renowned music producer Phil Spector can be televised. Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler said that the risk of spawning "Dancing Itos" or other media sideshows reminiscent of the O.J. Simpson case is offset by the public benefits of live broadcasts.

"WHEN I first went into the studio with John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, I thought making records was going to be fun, like going to a Rolling Stones concert," says Jimmy Iovine, reflecting on his route to becoming a record industry tyco4on. "But fun had nothing to do with it. Fun wasn't even on the menu. "Bruce would spend eight hours trying to write one line of the lyrics to 'Jungleland' and longer on the guitar part to 'Thunder Road.'

Arif Mardin, a Grammy-winning arranger and record producer whose four decades of hits include Aretha Franklin's classic 1960s recordings, the Bee Gees' falsetto-driven comeback in the 1970s and Norah Jones' current adult pop, died Sunday of pancreatic cancer at his home in New York City. He was 74. Mardin was known as a low-key figure in the studio who deferred to artists and made his points diplomatically, an approach that resulted in an unusually diversified portfolio.

Harry Shearer is Mr. Burns, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner and more on "The Simpsons." He's also, at will, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Mike Wallace. Whomever he plays, he's relentlessly funny. The evidence, for those not yet wild about Harry, is neatly packaged in the actor-satirist's new CD, "Dropping Anchors," a send-up of TV news anchors, and the DVD "Now You See It," a showcase for his work on "Saturday Night Live" and HBO.

The murder trial of record producer Phil Spector has been moved to Sept. 11. Spector's trial was to begin April 24, but his attorney, Bruce Cutler, and prosecutors are involved in other trials during that period. Spector is accused of shooting actress Lana Clarkson at his Alhambra home in 2003. He is free on $1-million bail.

Dealing a serious blow to Phil Spector's murder defense, a judge ruled Thursday that police can testify the famed music producer initially described actress Lana Clarkson's shooting death as an accident and not a suicide, as he later claimed. Los Angeles Superior Court Larry P. Fidler ruled that police were not interrogating Spector and did not have to read him his rights after they responded to his Alhambra mansion and found Clarkson dead in a chair in the foyer.

A Topanga record producer who disappeared five days ago after he telephoned to say he was being chased down a creek by dogs was discovered in apparently good physical condition Friday at a canyon stream not far from where he vanished, authorities said. Christian Julian Irwin, 48, was seen by a Topanga Canyon resident as he stood naked in a stream and washed a pair of pants, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy said.

It's after midnight in London, but Chris Blackwell's voice is full of enthusiasm. He has a new project and he's eager to discuss it. "I'm always up late, working," he says over the phone. "And this is something I'm really excited about." "This" is "Vedic Path," the first release in a series of CD and DVD world music packages developed for Palm World Voices, a new partnership between Blackwell's Palm Pictures label and Universal Music Enterprises.

Armand Kaproff, 85, principal cellist for many of Hollywood's top movie composers and record producers, died Sunday of age-related illnesses at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The Brooklyn-born Kaproff, who studied cello under Joseph Schuster, established himself as a prominent classical musician working with the NBC Orchestra under conductors Arturo Toscanini and Leopold Stokowski, and under Bernard Hermann with the CBS Symphony.