Freddie Mercury is a musical genius. If you ever doubt that fact go watch Highlander and enjoy a fantastic film that is made nigh classic by its soundtrack from Mercury’s band Queen. His loss ranks amongst the most tragic music industry passings, and he remains an icon to this day.

Bear McCreary, composer of such classic TV shows as Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, has teamed up with his brother Brendon and Metalacolypse creator Brendon Small to honor the late rock icon. In a tribute show benefiting the AIDS Project LA the three musicians will take the stage together and put on a show.

There are often really cool things to do when you live in Los Angeles, but I have to say this event might out do them all. I implore anyone and everyone who lives in the LA area to check this out. Not only are you assured of getting a great show, but you also are contributing to a worthy cause. My fingers are crossed that they rock out to an epic version of Princes of the Universe.

Full details on the event after the jump.

Every once in a while, a piece of casting news comes out of left field and seems like the best possible choice for a film. That is 100% the case in this piece of news, as Borat’s Sacha Baron Cohen has signed to play Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in an upcoming untitled biopic about the band.

The script comes from writer Peter Morgan, who also brought historical dramas like Frost/Nixon and The Queen to the silver screen. Morgan is currently finishing another draft of the script, which means we will most likely see production for the film begin be the beginning of next year.

Baron Cohen, who’s most known for his Kaufman-esque stunts as Borat and Brüno, may be stepping out of his outlandish comedic role to play more of an outlandish musical character. Though the flamboyance of Mercury could be seen as a parallel to some of Cohen’s other roles, we can’t imagine this film being done in the same vain as Da Ali G Show.

Rights have been purchased for such Queen classics as Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, Another One Bites The Dust and You’re My Best Friend. No word on whether or not Cohen will actually step in to rerecord the vocals, but knowing his method-style of acting, we can imagine he might.

The film is currently under the banner of GK Films, who will produce alongside De Niro and Jane Rosenthal’s Tribeca Productions. More news will likely break in the coming months as to the casting and plot outline for the rest of the film.