Cuban Who Banned Beatles Has Died

HAVANA (Reuters) – The man who banned the Beatles from the communist-run island's radio and television stations has died, state television said on Tuesday.

Jorge "Papito" Serguera, who at the time was president of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television, pulled Beatles music from the airwaves in the 1970s even though he later admitted he enjoyed listening to it in private.

Serguera, who was 76 when he died, said in a 2001 interview he was following orders from high government officials who viewed the British band's music as a threat to the revolution.

But he was viewed as an architect of a general cultural crackdown that dampened dissent and marginalized many for their beliefs or sexuality.

"There were national leaders who were against, not them (the Beatles), but the so-called modern music ... there was incredible pressure," he told Ernesto Juan Castellanos, author of "John Lennon in Havana with a little help from my friend."

Today, Beatles music is played on the Cuban airwaves and one of Havana's minor landmarks is a statue of Lennon sitting on a park bench.

Download Mp3 Music Beatles - John Lennon

Serguera fought in the 1959 revolution that toppled dictator Fulgencio Batista, then worked alongside Ernesto "Che" Guevara as a prosecutor in controversial trials that condemned to death hundreds of Batista collaborators.

His appearance on television in 2006 provoked protests from intellectuals still angry about his 1970s actions.

(Reporting by Esteban Israel; editing by Jeff Franks)

All You Need Is Net, '60s Folkie Donovan Says

CANNES, France (Hollywood Reporter) – The Internet is the new '60s, folk rocker Donovan told reporters as the MIDEM international music conference got under way here Monday.

"The dream of the '60s, of me and John Lennon and the others, was: How do we speak to everybody on the planet at the same time?" said Donovan, whose career has been revived in TV commercials using his hits. "The first answer was via satellite, but that didn't connect to everyone. Then John would say, 'How about telepathy?'

"Then we forgot about it until now we realize that the Internet fulfills that dream of communicating with everyone. I'm not afraid of the Internet because it's that the dream we had. The Internet is the new '60s as far as I'm concerned."

Donovan, who had received the medal of Officier dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Letttres from the French government Sunday, was on hand for a showcase and to promote a biographical documentary, "Sunshine Superman: The Journey of Donovan."

Download Mp3 Music Donovan

The Scottish-born singer-songwriter, who was to perform a showcase at MIDEM on Monday night, said he would make what he expected would be his last world tour beginning in 2010.

Rain fell steadily on the French Riviera all day as the conference focused on how artists can relate to their fans via the Internet without the traditional backing of record labels.

At a banquet in the Carlton, legendary French singer Charles Aznavour was to receive the MIDEM Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter