Peter, Brian Eno and others have signed off on an open letter to Tony Blair regarding the Mideast crisis.

Blair heads to Washington, California on five-day U.S. visit
JENNIFER QUINN
Associated Press

LONDON – British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed to Washington Friday to discuss strategies for ending the Mideast crisis, amid growing pressure at home for Britain to distance itself from its longtime ally and call for an immediate end to violence between Israel and Hezbollah.

Blair left London’s Heathrow Airport for talks with U.S. President George W. Bush that will focus on building momentum for a cease-fire, Blair’s spokesman said, as well as a plan for an international peacekeeping force.

But Blair is aware that many in Britain believe he should align himself with the United Nations and European Union and call for an immediate end to the fighting in Lebanon, using the White House meeting to press Bush to add his support to such a move.

An open letter published Friday in Britain’s The Independent newspaper and signed by former British Cabinet ministers and ambassadors urged Blair to help broker a swift cease-fire. It warned that any continuing support for Israel’s military action could become as unpopular with the public as the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

The letter was also signed by musicians Damon Albarn, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno and writers Harold Pinter, Will Self and Gillian Slovo.

Artists are uniting across borders to benefit WITNESS.

ARTISTS BENEFIT FOR ROCKER’S "WITNESS" CHARITY
Artist Izhar Patkin has launched a new fine-art print project, "Artists Support www.witness.org," to benefit Witness, the human rights organization founded by musician and activist Peter Gabriel. Each work featured in the print project is a collaboration between two artists born in different countries. To date, the collaborations include Shirin Neshat and Patkin (born in Iran and Israel, respectively); Cai Guo-Qiang and Kiki Smith (China and Germany); Sebastião Salgado and William Wegman (Brazil and U.S.A.); and Alfredo Jaar and Dayanita Singh (Chile and India). Each print is produced in an edition of 100 and printed by the Swiss fine art publisher Ink Tree and Maurice Sanchez at Derriere L’Etoile Studios, New York. All proceeds from sales go to Witness. Prices for individual prints are $750 and $1,000, or a suite of four for $3,000. For details, see www.witness.org, or contact project manager Julia Friedman at julia@witness.org.

From Home Theatre Magazine:

The 2006 DVD Hall of Fame Inductees

Chris Chiarella, July, 2006

These DVD champions are going to a better place.

As the annually updated list of the top 100 DVDs of all time hits stands in the August issue of Home Theater magazine, we thought we’d take a moment to honor the number-one picks from each category in last year’s ranking. We purge these "best of the best" titles each year to help keep the list current, although they still receive our highest recommendation: Buy them all as part of your own ultimate DVD library.

Best Music DVD

Peter Gabriel: PLAY (Rhino) Gabriel is a consummate musician and showman, and this collection spanning the glory days of music video has been jaw-droppingly remastered in DTS 96/24, including "Sledgehammer," perhaps the best music clip ever. (Also a contender for Best Audio).

There is a Full Moon update at petergabriel.com, and it has a link to the full moon update (you can join the Moon club for free). This update has snippets of "Whole World", with Peter sounding great, and a free striding beat, and lyrics reminiscent of UP and its introspective turn; "this whole world, still goes on without you". Also the update shows scenes from the recent 20th anniversary party, and interviews with Midge Ure, Little Axe, and others against scenes of performances by Daby, Guo Yue and Sevara, among others.

There will apparently be a DVD from this anniversary event, and it looks to be a real barn burner!

Thanks to Alex for the heads up on this!