ABBA makes Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

ABBA, others in rock hall

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is opening its arms to welcome in ABBA, Genesis, the Hollies, the Stooges and Jimmy Cliff, but has given the KISS-off, for this year at least, to hard rock’s most celebrated tongue-wagging, makeup-loving band.

The Cleveland-based rock hall announced the 2010 inductees Tuesday. Its 25th annual induction ceremony will be held March 15 in New York City.

Veteran music mogul David Geffen also will enter the hall as a non-performer, along with two of the Brill Building’s most celebrated songwriting teams, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Songwriters Otis Blackwell, Mort Shuman and Jesse Stone, the creators of dozens of early rock and R&B hits, also are gaining membership in the hall.

Besides KISS, performers that had made this year’s final nomination ballot, but who now have to wait another year for their next shot at induction, are the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donna Summer, LL Cool J, Darlene Love, Laura Nyro and the Chantels.

-- Randy Lewis Berlin bow for Polanski film

Roman Polanski’s latest movie, “The Ghost Writer,” will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, organizers said Tuesday.

Polanski’s movie was among a first batch of entries in the festival’s main program that was announced Tuesday -- among them a premiere of Martin Scorsese’s thriller “Shutter Island.”

The event is the first of the year’s major European film festivals and runs Feb. 11 to 21.

Other entries announced Tuesday include Iranian director Rafi Pitts’ “The Hunter” and “On the Path” from Bosnian-born director Jasmila Zbanic, whose “Grbavica” won the Berlin festival’s top Golden Bear award in 2006.

-- associated press Ban on smoking onstage upheld

The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld a state ban on smoking on stage, ruling that public health trumps actors’ freedom of expression.

The court ruled 6-1 Monday that the statewide smoking ban can legally apply to theaters.

Theater companies challenged the ban, arguing that smoking is necessary to accurately produce plays.

Colorado Atty. Gen. John Suthers argued that actors could use fake cigarettes to get the point across.

-- associated press Kenny Ortega hits ‘Heights’

Kenny Ortega, who directed the Michael Jackson documentary “This Is It,” has signed to direct the film version of the Tony-winning Broadway musical “In the Heights,” Playbill reports.

No release dates (or even start dates) have been announced yet, but the play’s star, composer, lyricist and writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is also on board to act in the movie.

“In the Heights” opened on Broadway in March 2008 and is still running at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The play, which tells the story of a working-class community in New York’s ethnically diverse Wash- ington Heights neighborhood, won the Tony Award for best musical that year.

-- David Ng Warrants out for the Quaids

Arrest warrants were issued Tuesday for actor Randy Quaid and his wife, Evi, after they failed to appear for a court hearing in Santa Barbara, a prosecutor said.

The couple didn’t show up on a felony charge that they defrauded the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito of more than $10,000. The no-show will cost the couple $40,000 in forfeited bail.

Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Lee Carter said the couple are felony fugitives again and will have to post $40,000 if arrested.

The Quaids’ attorney, Robert Sanger, had said previously that the couple paid the bill and had hoped to resolve the case.

-- associated press Setzer’s shows are still on

Rocker Brian Setzer was hospitalized briefly after cutting a show short Monday night in Albuquerque, N.M., because he was feeling ill.

Doctors attributed it to a combination of Albuquerque’s altitude -- the city’s elevation is about 5,300 feet -- vertigo and dehydration. He had played for less than 30 minutes when he decided he couldn’t continue.

Setzer, 50, was released and was said to be fully recovered. He planned to resume the tour with a show Tuesday night in Phoenix, Ariz., on his way to his L.A. shows Friday and Saturday at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal City.

-- Randy Lewis