George Michael in Lennon piano tour - June 1 2007
Singer George Michael has taken John Lennon’s ’Imagine’ piano to New Orleans for the latest stop in a photographic tour of the US.

The pop star, current owner of the brown Steinway upright piano, hopes the photo opportunity will heighten awareness of the plight of the hurricane-stricken city.

Used to compose Lennon’s hit song Imagine in 1971, the piano will be photographed in the lobby of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and also at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.

The instrument, which bears burns left by Lennon’s cigarettes, will be photographed by Michael’s partner Kenny Goss, who owns Goss Gallery in Dallas.

The stop-off in New Orleans is part of a worldwide tour of sites where acts of violence have taken place and of locations that capture the human spirit.

Hurricane Katrina struck on August 29 2005, flooding 80% of New Orleans and wiping out the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

To date, photos have been taken at Dealy Plaza, site of President Kennedy’s assassination; the Memphis site of Martin Luther King’s killing; Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the former Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, site of a controversial 1993 confrontation between the religious sect and federal law enforcement officers.

A documentary and a book of the photos are under development with plans to donate proceeds to charity.

Lennon was shot to death by Mark David Chapman in New York on December 8 1980.


’Cocktail of drugs’ in George’s system - May 31 2007
George Michael, who has admitted driving while unfit, had a cocktail of drugs in his system including GHB and cannabis, a court heard yesterday.

The 43-year-old singer was found slumped at the wheel of his Mercedes in Cricklewood, north London, on October 1 last year.

Prosecutor Andrew Torrington told Brent Magistrates Court in north London today that tests showed a therapeutic quantity of an anti-depressant in the singer’s system as well as the illegal dance club drug GHB - a class C substance.

Cannabis was also found in his blood, but the prosecution do not maintain that this was the cause of his intoxication.

Michael Grieve, representing George, who was not present at today’s hearing, said: "It is the defendant’s case that his condition was caused by taking prescribed drugs."

He said there was a strong body of opinion which said that a sleeping drug was the most likely explanation for his condition.

He also told the court it was common ground that GHB could be present in the blood without any illegal substances having been taken.

Mr Torrington told the court that while GHB was a banned drug, its effects could be created by drugs which are not controlled, including a drug called GBL.

District Judge Marshall adjourned sentence of the singer until June 8.

George was arrested after motorists reported a car obstructing the road at traffic lights.