Sinatra to be featured on CD

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 11:06 a.m.

Frank Sinatra will be among the performers featured on a CD album of historic performances from Caesars Palace's Circus Maximus showroom, a spokeswoman said.

However, the Sinatra performances used will not be from unauthorized recordings of Sinatra made by the showroom's former sound engineer -- recordings that are now the subject of a lawsuit.

Debbie Munch, spokeswoman for Caesars owner Park Place Entertainment Corp., said the Sinatra estate licensed recordings of Sinatra performances at Caesars to Neon Tonic, a Beverly Hills, Calif., company.

Neon Tonic is compiling a CD album, set for July release, that will feature performances by Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Andy Williams, Willie Nelson and Duke Ellington, among others. Caesars will receive the exclusive right to market and sell the CD for its first three months of release.

But with the exception of Sinatra, all of the performances came from bootleg tapes made by Dave Rogers, Circus Maximus' former sound engineer. The tapes are being provided to Neon Tonic by Rogers' stepson, Gilbert Cebollero, and Neon Tonic has been negotiating with artists and their estates for permission to use the tapes.

In the case of the Sinatra estate, however, Neon Tonic negotiated a deal separate from Cebollero to use material provided by the Sinatras. Last week, the Sinatra estate sued Cebollero for marketing the bootleg tapes, and demanded that a federal judge order Cebollero to surrender recordings of 200 Sinatra performances now in his possession.

Cebollero has expressed regret that he wasn't able "to reach a middle (ground)" with the Sinatras, but has said he won't turn over the tapes without a fight, arguing they are his property.