State of grace

New York – Paul Simon’s new tour is about music, not Art.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer launched his first solo tour in five years with a Wednesday show in Cleveland, supporting his critically acclaimed album “Surprise.” His last time on the road in 2003-04, Simon teamed up with old friend Art Garfunkel, rather than going alone.

“The situation with Artie was unique,” Simon said about their collaboration. “I really had to think about what would serve that show the best. … But when I’m doing my own show, I do what I want to do with the show. I don’t have to share responsibilities.”

Simon, 64, said one of the challenges of this tour is re-creating the soundscapes from the album that came out of a collaboration with avant-garde musician Brian Eno.

“To a degree I try to do it; to a degree I don’t,” Simon said. “Every live performance is essentially different from the album. Everything stretches out, gets bigger, louder, longer. Here, the main thing is I don’t have Brian. But to a degree, I can use some of the album sounds.”

Don’t take their picture

Westfield, Mass. – Police in this western Massachusetts town say they have seized a digital camera with images of celebrity couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Africa for an investigation by Los Angeles authorities.

Local police, accompanied by state police and Secret Service officers, went to the Westfield home of William Keys on Tuesday to recover a digital camera’s memory stick after three photos that appeared on the Internet were tracked to Keys, police said Friday.

Officers then went to Precision Camera and Video Repair in Enfield, Conn., where Keys works, and recovered the camera. It remains in custody of Westfield police.

No one has been arrested or charged in the case. It was unclear who took the photos.

Keys did not return telephone calls Friday.

“It’s an ongoing investigation, and we cannot comment,” said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County prosecutor’s office.

Singer urges focus on malaria treatment

Johannesburg, South Africa – South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka urged world leaders Saturday to wage war against malaria as she paid emotional tribute to a band member who died two years ago of the disease, which kills more than a million people every year.

Phumzile Ntuli was infected while on tour with Chaka Chaka in Gabon in 2004. Upon her return to South Africa, she fell into a coma, from which she never recovered.

“Malaria robbed South Africa of a wonderful musician; it robbed her son Menzi of his mother, her family of their daughter and me of a friend I valued and trusted,” Chaka Chaka said at a memorial service in Durban intended to highlight the threat as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria meets there to evaluate progress curbing the epidemics.

“But the real tragedy here is that her death was avoidable. She did not have to die because malaria is preventable, treatable and curable.”

Malaria, which is caused by a parasite carried by mosquitoes, remains the biggest killer of children in Africa.

Going for country gold

Atlanta – Trisha Yearwood will perform at a July 15 concert celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Atlanta playing host to the Olympic Games.

Yearwood, who performed in the closing ceremonies of the 1996 games, is a 41-year-old country singer with hits including “How Do I Live” and “She’s in Love With the Boy.”

She is the first performer announced for the free concert at Centennial Park in Atlanta, where 1996 Olympic volunteers and others are expected to gather on the anniversary of the games’ opening ceremonies.

Yearwood is a native of Monticello, Ga. Her most recent album, “Jasper County,” is named after her home county.