POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : Brian Wilson’s Record Contribution Is Beached

Brian Wilson won’t be appearing on “The Stars Come Out For Christmas” after all.

Last month, Wilson was one of nearly 20 major-league pop, rock and country stars who had agreed to contribute a song each to the locally produced album of Christmas tunes to benefit the Children’s Hospital and Health Center. The album is scheduled for a late-November release.

Steve Vaus, the project’s coordinator, was ecstatic.

“Brian Wilson was one of the first acts we invited to participate in the project, not only because he’s a tremendous talent, but because of his close kinship with Southern California,” Vaus said.

“Initially, we didn’t think we had a prayer that he would be at all interested. But his office responded almost immediately, asking for more details--and then, a few days later, they called back again and said Brian had just written a song, ‘Christmas All Around the World,’ that he would like to record here in our studio and let us use on our album.

“Needless to say, we were thrilled.”

Alas, it was not to be. Sire Records, Wilson’s label, has since refused to let the creative genius behind the Beach Boys participate in the project because it would be against corporate policy.

“We first began to hear rumblings that there was trouble in paradise a few weeks later, after we had already made arrangements regarding scheduling and Brian’s equipment needs,” Vaus said.

“His office called us up and said they were having difficulty getting permission from the label. Apparently Mo Ostin, chairman of Warner Communications, Sire’s parent company, had stepped in and said he didn’t want Brian to do it.

“I immediately sent Ostin a letter, thinking that perhaps he didn’t have a clear idea of what this project was about and literally pleading for his help and intervention.

“About a week later, I got a call from his assistant, telling me Mr. Ostin was just not interested in allowing it to happen. She told me, ‘If we say yes to you, we’d have to say yes to everyone else with a similar request, and we’re simply not in a position to do so.’ ”

Warner spokesman Bob Merlis confirmed the story.

“It is generally our policy to keep our artists off these types of compilation albums, and it’s not because we are heartless, it’s because we are deluged with these types of requests,” Merlis said.

“From an administrative point of view, it’s easier to just write a check to the charity than going through mounds of paper work and delving into our artists’ contracts to make their participation possible.”

Vaus is not placated.

“Here we have an artist who is certainly one of the cornerstones of pop music, an artist who has fought against tremendous odds to make a comeback and now wants to give something back to the community, and he’s not allowed to do so because of some corporate policy that I have a great deal of difficulty understanding,” he said.

“I’m sure they have their reasons, but still, it just doesn’t seem right.”

The Rolling Stones might have bypassed San Diego last week during the West Coast leg of the group’s 1989 reunion tour, but contrary to speculation, they do know we exist.

Airbourne/Zorlac, a skateboard manufacturing company in Kearny Mesa, has just delivered its initial shipment of Rolling Stones skateboards to specialty shops throughout the country. The boards were commissioned by the British supergroup two months ago, after they saw an ad in a national skateboard trade magazine for the firm’s successful line of Metallica boards.

“They saw the things we were doing with Metallica and I guess they also wanted to capitalize on the whole young-punk skateboard image,” said Mark Schmid, the 26-year-old co-owner of Airbourne/Zorlac. “Rock ‘n’ roll and skateboarding go hand in hand. The rock ‘n’ roll people want the image that the skaters have--it’s punk, it’s hard-core, it’s primitive.”

Shortly after being contacted by the Stones’ office, Schmid said, “We set up an agreement: We produce the boards, and they supply the art and get royalties.” The four different designs, he added, are all related to the Stones’ current tour and new album, “Steel Wheels.”

Schmid said he’s optimistic that the Rolling Stones skateboards will prove as popular as the Metallica boards, several thousand of which have been sold since being introduced in 1985.

“The Rolling Stones are such a big deal,” he said, “that anything with their name on it will sell.”

Is Airbourne/Zorlac looking for any more rock bands to complement its line of Metallica and Rolling Stones skateboards?

“They would have to fit in with the image,” Schmid said. “Like, we couldn’t do a Bee Gees board, or a Sonny and Cher board.”

LINER NOTES: Atlantic Records has just released the first solo album in almost a decade by San Diego singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop. “Bowling in Paris” was co-produced by Phil Collins, who also plays drums and sings backup on the album--joining a bevy of other notable guest artists, including Eric Clapton and Sting. Bishop is best known for his two 1977 hits, “Save It for a Rainy Day” and “On and On.” . . .

There’s no fancy menu requirements, like pickled lime rinds or Courvoisier VSOP Cognac, in the contract rider for Vladimir Kuzmin and Dinamik, the Soviet rock band performing Thursday through Tuesday at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art’s Sherwood Auditorium. Just a couple of pitchers of “drinkable water” on stage during each show. Wednesday night, Kuzmin will be at La Jolla’s Hard Rock Cafe for a welcome party, open to the public, at 10 p.m. . . . The Cramps have canceled Friday and Saturday night concerts at Iguanas in Tijuana because guitarist Poison Ivy is still recovering from recent eye surgery, according to promoter Harlan Schiffman. Schiffman said he hopes to reschedule the dates sometime early next year. Refunds are available at points of purchase. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: a grown-up Donny Osmond, tonight at the California Theater downtown; the Dynatones, also tonight at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Peter Case and the Walking Wounded, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern; Concrete Blonde, also Thursday at Iguanas; Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs, Friday at the Casbah in Middletown; Jimmy Cliff, Saturday at the Belly Up Tavern; Flock of Seagulls, also Saturday at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa; Deborah Harry, Sunday at the Bacchanal, and Bad English, Oct. 30 at the Bacchanal.