Elton John's Many Projects

Not enough Elton John in your life? Never fear (from billboard.com:

With deference to James Brown, Elton John may be the hardest-working man in show business. In addition to his ongoing touring schedule and his "The Red Piano" engagement in Las Vegas, John is working on a number of projects, highlighted by a new studio album to be released in 2007.

For that project, he and longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin are writing a sequel to "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" called "Captain Fantastic and the Kid." The first edition, released in 1975, covered the pair's first 30 years; the second will cover the subsequent 30 years and will come out March 20, 2007, five days before John's 60th birthday.

"I'm starting writing and recording it in Atlanta in January," John tells Billboard. "It was [Sanctuary Group CEO Merck Mercuriadis'] idea, because he said, 'You're always saying how Bernie has become the Brown Dirt Cowboy' -- he lives on a ranch in Santa Ynez [Calif.] -- and I'm this guy who plays concert after concert, buying art, buying photographs, living a very lavish lifestyle. I've become Captain Fantastic."

"We would have been together then about 40 years by the time it comes out," John continues. "One of the things I'm most proud of in my life is the relationship I've had with Bernie."

Beforehand, John will on Nov. 8 release "Elton's Christmas Party" exclusively through Starbucks. ...And while "Billy Elliot," a musical written by John and Lee Hall, continues playing on London's West End (a Broadway opening is planned for 2006), the John/Taupin-penned musical "Lestat" is scheduled to debut in December at San Francisco's Curran Theater. The project is based on Anne Rice's "Vampire Lestat" series.

As previously reported, John has a development deal with Touchstone Television for a sitcom about a rock star and his entourage. "Sex & the City" scribe Cindy Chupack is writing the pilot.

Meanwhile, last March, John wrote nine songs with Scissor Sisters for possible inclusion on their next album, marking the first time he had ever written in the same room with someone.
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I'm sure I'm not the first person to be creeped out by Bernie Taupin's being a brown-dirt cowboy. By the way, I'd rather hear a sequel to "Nikita."