Special free Beatles White Album streaming event with Giles Martin Wednesday on YouTube

Giles Martin to lead special White Album
streaming event on Wednesday. 

Capitol Records/Universal Music Group released the details today of the special streaming event taking place on The Beatles' YouTube channel Wednesday to promote the release of the 7-disc (6 CD and 1 Blu-ray) White Album box set and other 50th anniversary releases of the album this Friday.

The panel event, to be streamed live from London at 7 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT) will feature Martin, plus several British journalists and musicians. They are Dan Stubbs, Commissioning Editor for New Musical Express; Felix White, former guitarist of The Maccabees; Andy Bell, guitarist of Ride; Miles Kane from The Last Shadow Puppets; and Georgie Rogers, presenter, DJ and music journalist from BBC 6 Music, Soho Radio and Foundation FM. The moderator will be Matt Everitt of BBC 6 Music. Miles Kane will also perform a live acoustic version of "I'm So Tired."

The panel will talk about the new anniversary edition, its influence and whether an album as diverse as it is could be released in today's musical environment. Fans online will be able to ask questions and make comments.

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McCartney new album rumors

With all the buzz that the new McCartney song  generated, the word (totally unconfirmed) is already starting to come in about the new album he's recording. We're hearing unconfirmed info that it will be out in March, with a single early in the month. Paul is said to have recorded 17 songs with four different producers, including Giles Martin. We're also hearing that one of the songs will be a tribute to Sir George Martin. We'll see. (Other sources, FYI, are saying more songs.)

U.S. early risers, take note: Two Beatles, Ron Howard to do live Facebook chat Wednesday a.m.

Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr along with Ron Howard, the director of "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years" that opens this week, will answer fan questions live on the band's Facebook page Wednesday. The chat will take place at 12:40 p.m. GMT, which translates to 8:40 a.m. ET and 5:40 a.m. PT.

The film, which opens in the UK and U.S. theaters later this week, will be available to U.S. subscribers of the Hulu streaming service starting Sept. 17. “Live at theHollywood Bowl,” a CD with recordings from the group's concerts there in 1964 and 1965, was released by Universal Music Group on Sept. 9. An SHM-CD version is available only in Japan.