plus: Garbage [ tickets ] drummer sidelined. Borland's Bizkit track dropped. Johnny Van Zandt and Jim Peterik pair for benefit album. Interactive discography website celebrates anniversary.

Paul McCartney [ tickets ], who organized last month's Concert for New York benefit at Madison Square Garden, has rushed into production a new charity single titled "Freedom" that will be released in the U.K. on Monday (11/5), and in the U.S. on Nov. 13, Billboard reported. McCartney first performed the tune at the New York event.

McCartney told Billboard that the last minute decision to rush the song into production came after the positive response it received at the benefit concert.

Earlier this week, McCartney released the charity single "From a Lover to a Friend." Proceeds from both singles will be directed to a fund set up by the Robin Hood Foundation that benefits victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Concert for New York has raised more than $30 million dollars for the fund.

Michael Jackson [ tickets ] will make his first-ever in-store appearance at 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday (11/7) at the Virgin Megastore in New York's Time Square. Jackson is promoting his new album, "Invincible"(MJJ/Sony).

Garbage drummer Butch Vig has been diagnosed with Hepatitis A, and will not be performing with the group during its upcoming European tour dates, according to the band's official website. Drummer Matt Chamberlain will fill in for Vig, who is expected to make a full recovery.

Former Limp Bizkit [ tickets ] guitarist Wes Borland's contribution to his former group's upcoming remix CD, "New Old Stuff" (Interscope), has been cut from the album's track list, according to a Sonicnet report. Borland reportedly prepared a remix of the band's 1999 hit "Break Stuff," originally featured on "Significant Other."

Borland announced last month that he had left the group to pursue other musical interests. Limp Bizkit plans to replace him by auditioning unknown guitarists throughout the U.S. during a series of tour dates.

Musicians Johnny Van Zandt (Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Jim Peterik (Survivor) have released a 10-song CD titled "The Day America Cried--Songs of Hope For a Unified Nation" (Transcension Music Group), net proceeds from which will go to the 911 Relief Project, according to a press release. The album also features Don Barnes (.38 Special), Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger) and Kevin Chalfant (Two Fires and The Storm).

A tour featuring the album's musicians is being discussed, proceeds from which would also go to the 911 Relief Fund.

The electronic-music discography website Discogs.com marks its one-year anniversary this month. The online discography is produced entirely by the site's users, inspired by the "open source" model of Slashdot.org and other web presences. Over the past 12 months, the number of Discogs.com contributors has steadily grown to over 650, who have logged more than 15,000 releases on more than 3,000 record labels, featuring almost 15,000 music acts.