BROADCAST OF SYMPHONY GALA IS A HIT

KGTV’s Nov. 2 live broadcast of the gala inaugural concert at Symphony Hall scored top marks in the ratings for that Saturday night, according to the television industry’s November Arbitron figures. The three-hour program won or tied in every time slot but one.

“We were pleasantly surprised,” said Don Lundy, Channel 10’s director of programming. The show drew an overall 11 for most of the program, or about 25% of the viewing audience that night.

At 9:30 p.m. it attracted its largest audience--150,000 adults, or about 30% of TV sets in use, Lundy said. The only show to actually beat out the symphony was NBC’s “Golden Girls.”

MEXICAN HISTORY: Immersing oneself in the 55 vivid images of revolutionary Mexico--circa 1910-1920--at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park helps to revive one’s knowledge of that turbulent era, or, conversely, reminds the viewer just how skimpy his knowledge is of our neighbor to the south.

The exhibition, “Tierra y Libertad!” contains arresting photographs, some seen in an exhibit here a few years ago: a woman kissing a peasant warrior while her fingers lightly caress the barrel of his rifle; a “boy soldier” no more than 10, in military hat and with rifle, bedroll and bandoleer, peering back with the steady gaze of a patriot. There are also images of the leaders--Diaz, Madero, Huerta, Villa--in federal pomp and ceremony, and in life and death.

Many of the photographs were taken by Agustin V. Casasola. Others he bought at the time from other photographers. The prints were made by Victor Ochoa, a San Diego artist, from glass negatives in the federal photographic archives of the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico in Mexico City, with the help of the archive’s technicians. They are now part of the Centro’s permanent collection.

Broadsheets by Jose Guadalupe Posada commenting on the politics of the time are also included, as are some of Guadalupe’s illustrations for newspapers, including a series of cartoons of calaveras --skulls.

Although “Tierra y Libertad!” closes Friday, a much-improved version of the exhibition is planned for next November.

“We will have a lecture series, using experts from local universities” to develop more documentation for the images, said Veronica Enrique, executive director of the center. The lectures and workshops will shed more light on the relationships of the key players of the day--Porfirio Diaz, Madero, Victoriano Huerta, Zapata, Carranza, Pancho Villa and Alvaro Obregon--as well as on the involvement of this country in Mexico’s revolution.

END PERFORMANCE: Luke Theodore Morrison’s production of “That Dada Strain,” a “wild and naughty” performance art piece using actors to enlarge upon Jerome Rothenberg’s poetry, plus music by bassist Bertram Turetsky, suffered the rebuke that things bizarre often receive and closed somewhat ignominiously at PJ’s Restaurant a few weeks ago.

Morrison was surprised when PJ’s management told him he could not extend the piece for an additional weekend’s performance in the restaurant’s bar.

“They just destroyed a very beautiful piece, man,” Morrison said. “I don’t think they knew what they had there. The owner said he was not getting enough money from the show.” Manager Ted Parks concurred, saying that he expected many more than the 74 paying customers the show attracted.

“It got a lot of negative comments from people,” Parks said, adding that people didn’t understand the performance. “It was pretty far-out. This isn’t Greenwich Village.”

Now Morrison, who for years was a member of Julian Beck’s fabled Living Theatre avant-garde troupe, is bringing in a former associate, actor-director Joseph Chaikin, founder of the Open Theatre, to perform at Sushi performance space and gallery Friday through Sunday. A fund-raising reception for Chaikin to benefit Sushi will be held from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Candy Factory building, 305 8th Ave. Tickets are $25.

GLOBE CASTING: Actor John Vickery, who has played Shakespearean, Brechtian and Chekhovian characters at the La Jolla Playhouse, will appear at the Old Globe Theatre as Henry David Thoreau and George Armstrong Custer in the historical fantasy, “Romance Language.” Jointly produced with the Mark Taper Forum, Peter Parnell’s play will have Jon Matthews and Arlen Dean Snyder respectively in the leading roles of Huck Finn and Walt Whitman, who journey west to explore a new region in America. Other characters are Louisa May Alcott (Frances Conroy) and Emily Dickenson (Valerie Mahaffey). The play opens in Los Angeles Jan. 23 and here March 27.

ARTBEATS: Two plays on the incurable disease AIDS will make their world premieres the week of Feb. 10 at San Diego State University’s Experimental Theatre. The staging of Mark S. Fairchild’s “Miles to Go” and Robert Stone’s “As a Matter of Fact” are part of the student Health Service’s “Sexuality Awareness Week.” . . .

Works by local sculptors are on display in “Art on the Concourse,” an exhibition at City Hall’s Charles C. Dail Concourse, 202 C St. . . .

Actress Deborah Jerd drew critical praises at the North Coast Repertory Theatre’s staging of “Duet for One” earlier this year, then headed north, looking for the fabled big break in Los Angeles. She got a small break at least, performing as understudy for two weeks in the hit play “Best Wishes” at the Gnu Theatre. Time will tell if the small break becomes a bigger one. . . . Beth Ames Swartz, an artist of the metaphysical, appears at the Multicultural Arts Gallery, 425 Market St., Thursday for a benefit reception and video presentation of her exhibition, “A Moving Point of Balance.” Proceeds will help support the exhibit’s national debut this spring at the gallery.