POP/ROCKControversy Helps Snoop, Hurts GNR: Snoop Doggy...

POP/ROCK

Controversy Helps Snoop, Hurts GNR: Snoop Doggy Dogg’s “Doggystyle” sold 378,000 albums last week and will continue to dominate the nation’s pop chart when the Long Beach rapper steps into Los Angeles court Friday to be arraigned on a murder charge. Controversy hasn’t helped album sales by Guns N’ Roses, however. Amid protests over inclusion of a song by mass murder ringleader Charles Manson on “The Spaghetti Incident?,” the band’s new album will slip from No. 5 to No. 10 after sales dropped 25% last week to 136,000 units. In all, more than 16 million albums sold during the second week of the holiday shopping season. . . . Meanwhile, Snoop, who was a star basketball player in high school, already has plans for the day after his arraignment. He’s scheduled to go up against police officers and firefighters during a charity basketball game in Dallas Saturday. But some of his opponents are reportedly concerned about “bad publicity” over the controversy surrounding him, and have considered pulling out. Snoop was driving the Jeep from which his bodyguard allegedly shot and killed a man in August.

The Show Will Go On: A Florida rock band called “Dead German Tourist” on Wednesday found a new--and bigger--site for a concert after a public outcry forced Miami’s Hard Rock Cafe on Tuesday to cancel the band’s planned appearance there Friday. The Ron and Ron Show, a radio program sponsoring and broadcasting the concert, said the group would now play at Button South, a rock club just north of Miami’s Dade County. Supporters of the group cried censorship after the Hard Rock Cafe’s cancellation. The restaurant/club said it had heard from many Miamians outraged by what they saw as an attempt to mock or exploit the murders of German tourists and attacks on other foreign visitors in Florida this year.

Eagles Fly Again: Thirteen years after their last album, the Eagles got together again in Los Angeles this week to appear on a video of Travis Tritt’s recording of the rock group’s 1972 hit, “Take It Easy.” But Don Henley and Glenn Frey--who were joined on the set by Don Felder, Timothy B. Schmit and Joe Walsh--said it’s too soon to think about a formal reunion. “I’m enjoying it immensely, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to continue this in a more formal way,” Henley said. Added Frey, “This is the kind of circumstances for us to get together and enjoy. It’s not like a reunion or a rehearsal.” The video should be released early next month. Tritt’s version of “Take It Easy” appears on “Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles,” which has been in the national album Top 10 since its release in October.

THE ARTS

‘Sunset Boulevard’ Opening: For those not attending tonight’s star-studded opening of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” at the Shubert Theatre, KCOP-TV Channel 13 will air an hourlong news special covering the gala at 7 p.m., followed by the telecast of Billy Wilder’s classic film, “Sunset Boulevard,” starring Gloria Swanson. The news special, “Sunset Boulevard: The American Premiere Celebration,” hosted by Alex Trebek, will report on the red-carpet arrivals, give a sneak peek of the production, and feature interviews with Webber, leading lady Glenn Close, director Trevor Nunn and others. The long-awaited production has already broken the Shubert’s all-time house record, grossing a whopping $727,162 at the box office during its second week of preview performances, which ended Tuesday. . . . Meanwhile, Daily Variety reports that Lloyd Webber has hired former Paramount Pictures executive Gary Lucchesi to develop film versions of “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Aspects of Love,” “Starlight Express” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” “We have five projects that are actually going to progress,” Lloyd Webber said. “The time has now come. I have to make the quantum leap into the movies.”

White House Gets Crafty: Noted Los Angeles artist Adrian Saxe is among nearly 70 American craft artists invited to a White House reception tonight celebrating the White House’s new permanent craft collection. The collection was initiated by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton to celebrate the Year of American Craft. All works in the collection, including handcrafted Christmas ornaments from each artist, will be on view throughout the White House during the holidays, then will appear in rotated groupings throughout the year. About 90% of the collection--including glass bowls, wood and metal sculptures, and fiber works--are displayed in areas included in public White House tours.

QUICK TAKES

Spike Lee will direct the action-drama “Clockers” for Universal Pictures. Lee and Martin Scorsese will produce the film, based on Richard Price’s best-selling novel about a young man caught in a world of urban street crime. . . . Macaulay Culkin is back in the lead role for Warner Bros.’ “Richie Rich,” a movie comedy based on the comic book character. Culkin, who will reportedly be paid $8 million, was earlier cast in the film but dropped after a dispute in which his father, Kit Culkin, turned down a number of directors suggested for the picture. Donald Petrie is now set in that slot. . . . Robert Schenkkan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning, two-part historical drama, “The Kentucky Cycle,” will close its Broadway run after Sunday’s show, which will be its 34th regular performance there. . . . President Clinton is appointing longtime MCA Chairman Lew R. Wasserman to the 31-member board of trustees for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.