Robert Palmer ailing

Former Times music critic needs help

Robert Palmer needs help. The former chief pop-music critic for the New York Times and author of Deep Blues lies in a New York hospital, where a liver transplant has been scheduled. Although some of the medical personnel will be waiving their fees, and Yoko Ono has arranged for a New York apartment where Palmer and his wife can stay while he recovers, approximately $135,000 will be needed to cover Palmer's hospital costs. Donations may be sent to Giorno Poetry Systems/Robert Palmer Fund, 222 Bowery, New York, New York 10012. A respected journalist, musicologist, producer, and musician, Palmer has been freelancing through the '90s, writing, among other projects, Rock & Roll: An Unruly History, as well as performing and recording downhome blues albums for Mississippi's Fat Possum label.

-- Ted Drozdowski