Hear & Now

NO WONDER Stevie Wonder doesn’t want you to know about his mother’s authorized bio. But that wasn’t always true. The legend was to join his mom, Lula Hardaway, on Oprah, Larry King, and the Today show to hawk Blind Faith and had discussed doing music for a film version. But Wonder ultimately balked at some of the book’s content, including passages detailing how his father forced his mother to turn tricks to help pay the bills. ”He wasn’t happy with the book. He felt it trivialized his mother’s story,” says Deborah Drooz, Wonder’s lawyer. ”He felt Simon & Schuster had exploited his name and likeness and his popularity.” Stacy Brown, who cowrote Faith with Dennis Love, denies the charges. ”It’s very tastefully written,” he says. ”[Hardaway] couldn’t have been more happy with it. She thought it would encourage young women to be strong.” Hardaway’s TV spots have since been nixed, and film-studio interest dried up. The book, with less fanfare, hits stores Dec. 2.

GRAND THEFT AUDIO Things are looking up for Audiovent, the new group formed by ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and most of Rage Against the Machine whose single ”Cochise” is climbing the alt-rock charts. Except their name isn’t Audiovent. It’s Audioslave. Audiovent is a different band that’s also enjoying a growing alt-rock rep. Confused? ”If I was buying a record and I saw both names, it would confuse me,” says Audiovent guitarist Ben Einziger (younger brother of Incubus guitarist Mike). Vent have no plans to take action against Slave. ”I don’t think I’d want to sue Chris Cornell and the Rage Against the Machine guys because I respect them too much,” says singer Jason Boyd (younger brother of Incubus’ Brandon). ”People can do what they want. But we wouldn’t make our name Radiovent, because there’s already a Radiohead.” Still, Audiovent don’t want to make too big a deal out of it. ”It’s kind of a bummer,” says Einziger, ”but we’ll just keep playing music. At least they don’t suck. They’re a good band.”