I’ve scanned a few more albums and CDs with the ultimate plan of creating a comprehensive gallery. It’s far from complete, but you can have a look at what I’ve done so far.

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I’ve been traveling recently. Musical director, composer and arranger Peter Matz died on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles. He was 73. Matz worked with both Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick in his long, distinguished career, as well Carol Burnett, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, k.d. lang, Barbra Streisand, Sarah Vaughn and others. He won an Emmy Award for the 1970 TV special The Sound of Burt Bacharach. I’ve updated the media section with a few recent articles and reviews from the Liverpool Echo, Toronto Star, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Happy Birthday to Elvis Costello, who turns 48 today.

Burt is scheduled to appear on the Aug. 13 installment of American Idol. “Burt will come in and help the finalists choose their next song, and then they’ll stand up there and sing some of his,” co-executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told the New York Daily News. Lythgoe was a producer of American Idol’s British forerunner, Pop Idol.

Burt and lyricist Cathy Dennis recently collaborated on “What’s In Goodbye,” a song for vocalist Will Young, winner of the U.K.’s phenomenally popular “Pop Idol” television series/contest. Young joined Burt onstage in London and Liverpool last week to sing the song, a live recording of which is available here: http://www.wbvm.co.uk/goodbye.mp3