Research help needed

"Also, he had seen things you couldn't find on the Internet no matter how big your search engine was."

[from "Dreamcatcher" by Stephen King]

On this site, I hope for a little help myself, for my researches on the following subjects haven't yet come to a conclusion. So, if you have some information on one of these points, I'd be glad if you dropped me a note at webmaster@kingdom-search.com and let me know. Thanks!

Here are the research subjects in question:

1.) The Astronomy intro:

In 1988, the Blue Öyster Cult released their album "Imaginos". Stephen King, a long-time fan of the band ("Don't fear the Reaper"), agreed to speak an intro to one of the key tracks on that album, "Astronomy". But it's said that he later on didn't want the intro to be included on the actual album, and so it can only be heard on an "Astronomy" promo single. The intro goes as follows:

"Imaginos, performed by Blue Öyster Cult -- A bedtime story for the children of the damned.

From a dream world, paralleling our earth in time and space, the invisible ones have sent an agent who will dream the dream of history. With limitless power, he becomes the greatest actor of the 19th century. Taking on many disguises, he places himself at pivotal junctures in history, continually altering its course and testing our ability to respond to the challenge of evil.

His name is Imaginos."

What I couldn't find out yet is if this small text was also written by Mr. King, or if he just spoke a given text from the band. Does anyone else know?

2.) The French article:

In November of 1994, the French newspaper 'Le nouvel Observateur' published an untitled article segment by Stephen King which he seemingly wrote especially for the 'observateur.' In this column, 30 writers wrote about what they did on April 29, 1994. The segment by Mr. King, in which he tells of a Remainders gig and quotes from his tour journal, was conducted by the French translator of many King novels, William Olivier Desmond (who doesn't own the original English text anymore -- I already asked him).

The segment by Mr. King is -- as far as I could find out -- the only King article ever that got published solely in a foreign language. But should someone know of a source where the original text has been printed, I'd be grateful for that information -- my French isn't that good, in fact ;-)

3.) The first draft of IT:

In 1985, the German publisher 'Heyne' was the first to buy the rights for Mr. King's novel, "IT." But shortly after the manuscript was sold, King rejected it again from his own publisher to work on it some more. When the reworked manuscript was finally completed, the German translation by Alexandra von Reinhardt was already nearly finished. Shortly after that, the German novel "ES" was published by the 'Edition Phantasia' in a limited print run -- as the world first edition of "IT" -- not long before the German mass market edition from 'Heyne' publishers.

Thanks to these complications, the first German version (which some years later got reworked by translator Joachim Körber to make it fit the English version) can be described as a 'first draft' of the novel "IT." I will try to describe the differences between the two versions in the future (for example, Beverly Rogan has the surname Huggins in the first draft), but that would surely be a lot easier with the original English text at hand, on which the first German translation was based. So, should anyone know how to obtain an item of this manuscript, just tell me so… I know, chances are low, but I thought I'd give it a try nevertheless. :-)