Ha, YoungWoong (aka Hero, aka Baby Beatles), the talented lil kid above doing his version of Hey Jude that was recorded about two years ago, is already a star back in his native Korea where he has wowed audiences on many national TV variety and talent shows.  And even though he is still only four (he celebrates the big five come September), he is very ambitious, or at least his parents are. They have set up a special YouTube channel called Hero Is Born dedicated to their prodigy and on which they are trying desperately to get Paul McCartney to meet and hopefully collaborate with Baby Beatles.  They write: "Baby Beatles is dying to meet and play with his idol! Do you have any clues on how he may possibly perform with Sir Paul? Please send your email/message to heroisborn@gmail.com."  On that YouTube channel you can also catch Hero interpreting others from the forty odd Beatles songs he knows by heart - many have been recorded more recently and he appears more grown up and is out of diapers.

On Monday (March 24th) the U.S. Justice Department gave the okay to the XM-Sirius satellite radio merger - coming more one year since the two companies first announced their agreement. Read the full story here on Money.CNN.com.

Last week an ATM outside an English supermaket malfunctioned and mistakenly started spitting out twice the money requested. For example if you wanted to withdraw a hundred English pounds it would instead dispense 200 but it would show as only a 100 deducted from your account. As you can imagine word spread quickly and after a few busy hours of use the ATM ran dry.  Since no crime was broken the police in the town of Hull could not arrest anyone but said that those who benefited could face charges, but only if the company administering the machine complained.  Ah, let them keep the money. I say it's theirs to keep if the machine made the mistake.

In case you have not already seen this really funny (but sadly true) Mad TV skit about the US foreign policy and the ongoing war,  in which Michael McDonald plays Apple founder Steve Jobs and introduces Apple's latest program - the iRack, take a few minutes and watch this brilliant satire that simultaneously pokes fun at Jobs and the Bush administration - but mainly the latter.

In his recommended new book "Tour Smart (and break the band)" - about the real deal of touring as a band or artist - longtime drummer Martin Atkins  (PiL, Killing Joke, Ministry, Pigface, etc.) who these days  runs a record label, invents new types of drums, books bands, and teaches a univeristy course in Chicago at Columbia College about the business of the art - tells it like it is to be on the road in a rock band, or in any band for that matter.  The 592-page book (which is in stores Sept. 1st but availabe online now) exhaustively explores every aspect of touring. The highly informative and entertaiining how-to book is written and edited by Atkins who invited about hundred music biz experts (from bus drivers to bass players) to voice their tales and experiences of life on the road for touring artists. Topics include making contracts, sketching itineries, pros and cons of drug use on the road, the importance of merchandise, sound checks, and dealing with everything from club sound checks to handling radio interviews and driving a tour bus 330 miles in unfamiliar conditions at 4AM after just leaving a gig,  Atkins' guest contributors include Henry Rollins, Steve Albini, and Kevin Lyman of the Vans Warped Tour.  Lee Frasers  of Sheep on Drugs describes the difficulty of being on stage tripping (peaking) on acid playing his guitar, which feels to him like it was made of sponge rubber, and trying to somehow keep in the (onstage) moment.

I recently caught up with author Martin Atkins, via email,  to ask him about the book and also the exhibit  entitled "The Religion of Marketing" that he just wound up in New York City at Fuse Gallery on 2nd Avenue and that featured items that are included in the illustration-heavy "Tour Smart."