POP/ROCK - Sept. 3, 1993

Dr. Dre Settles: Rap star Dr. Dre quietly resolved a high-profile assault and battery case Wednesday by agreeing to pay former Fox-TV rap talk-show host Denise Barnes a six-figure out-of-court settlement, sources said. The civil suit--in which Barnes accused the rapper of beating her in January, 1991--was settled one hour before jury selection was to begin Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, pleaded no contest a year ago to criminal battery charges related to the incident, was fined $2,500 and sentenced to 240 hours of community service plus 24 months’ probation. (The judge also required him to produce an anti-violence public service TV announcement.) Dre and Barnes are expected to make a joint statement about the settlement within the next two weeks, sources said.

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Jury Grants Award: A Cleveland-area woman who claimed she developed multiple sclerosis after being knocked onto her back and head while security guards were escorting singer Kenny Rogers onstage at a concert has won a $900,000 jury judgment against the singer’s production company. Lawyers had said the trauma triggered the onset of the disease for Kathy Hendricks, who was 35 when the incident occurred in 1989.

MOVIES

‘Calendar Girl’ Protests Planned: Organizers say “at least 500” protesters are expected at the AMC Theaters on the Santa Monica Promenade this weekend as part of a 50-city protest over the casting of a hearing actor in a hearing-impaired role in Columbia Pictures’ “Calendar Girl,” which opens nationwide today. The minor, 4-minute role, depicting a comic hoodlum who is deaf, is played by hearing actor Kurt Fuller, who was trained by a sign-language interpreter who remained on the set as a consultant. “This is sort of the ‘last straw’ for us after many, many years of discrimination,” said Bonnie Beth Scoggins, speaking for the 22,000-member National Assn. of the Deaf, which is organizing the protests. “We’ve made great strides in recent years, but, again, they don’t acknowledge the great talent pool of deaf actors that we have available.” Columbia Pictures, which called the casting “a creative decision,” said more than 1,000 hearing-impaired actors were auditioned for the role, “but the directors and producers could not find anyone to their satisfaction.” “What it boils down to is we have an honest disagreement,” said Columbia spokesman Mark Gill. “We feel we’ve done a lot more than the bare minimum of what was required.”

STAGE

Strike Shuts Down ‘Phantom’: A production of “The Phantom of the Opera” at the Kennedy Center in Washington was shut down Wednesday by a strike of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra--after 2,200 patrons were already seated for a matinee. Performances will resume no sooner than Saturday, said a spokeswoman for the “Phantom” company, and taped music will be used if necessary. The musicians, whose contract expired Sunday, say the center is trying to eliminate their jobs. Center officials say the expired contract allowed costly featherbedding. The center says productions of “The Kentucky Cycle” and “Shear Madness” will continue as scheduled.

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Paris Landmark Reopens: Paris’ famed Folies Bergere, the landmark cabaret known for its topless dancers and immortalized on canvas by artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, reopened Wednesday after being shut down since Christmas because of financial difficulties that included the cancellation of a tap dance number when the house couldn’t afford to buy new shoes. But all seemed well on Wednesday, when the nightspot opened with a glitzy show. More than 300 performers were auditioned to form a new troupe of 26, including a few veteran Folies dancers and an amateur street singer discovered in Paris’ Metro subway system.

PEOPLE WATCH

Loni’s Turn: Loni Anderson will have a couple of on-air chances next week to respond to Burt Reynold’s much-talked-about “Good Morning America: Evening Edition” interview about their breakup. Anderson was interviewed Thursday by talk-show host Sally Jessy Raphael for a show that airs Tuesday. On Wednesday, she will appear live with NBC’s Katie Couric on the “Today” show. Anderson’s appearances are to promote her new role on the NBC series “Nurses,” but you can bet she’ll be asked about the bitter breakup.

QUICK TAKES

Tim Allen, Sandra Bernhard, Andrew Dice Clay, Martin Mull, Mark Curry and Rodney Dangerfield have been added to the dais of the Friars Club X-Rated Roast of TV star Roseanne Arnold, set for Sept. 21 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. And across the coast, the New York Friars Club plans to honor television interviewer Barbara Walters with a tribute May 7. . . . One hundred of the world’s best trumpeters will pay tribute to the late Dizzy Gillespie on Sunday during a “100 Trumpet Salute” at New Jersey’s Haworth Shakespeare Festival. The event benefits the Dizzy Gillespie Memorial Fund at New Jersey’s Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.