PEOPLE WATCHHappy Birthday, Sir John: British actor...

PEOPLE WATCH

Happy Birthday, Sir John: British actor Sir John Gielgud celebrated his 90th birthday Thursday at home in his elegant 17th-Century mansion northwest of London. He turned down a proposed West End theatrical tribute that had included talk of naming a theater after him, and instead spent the day quietly with his longtime companion Martin Hensler. Earlier this week, Gielgud, who made his theatrical debut in 1921 and was knighted in 1953, said: “I’d much rather work and show I can still do a bit, rather than just get congratulations on the past. (Such congratulations) would rather sound like my obituary.” Gielgud recently played King Lear in a new radio version of the Shakespeare play broadcast last Sunday by the BBC. He won an Academy Award in 1981 as the butler to Dudley Moore’s “Arthur.”

POP/ROCK

Nirvana Sales Soar: As expected, last Friday’s news of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain’s death by a self-inflicted shotgun blast triggered a sales run on Nirvana’s music at retail outlets across the nation. The Seattle power trio’s “In Utero” album, released last summer, shot to No. 27 on this week’s pop chart, selling more than 40,000 copies--twice what it sold the previous week. And sales of the group’s 1991 breakthrough “Nevermind” album tripled to 20,000 units, as did sales for its first album, “Bleach,” which sold 9,500 copies. Nirvana’s “Incesticide” EP sold 8,300 copies--quadruple what it sold the week before Cobain’s suicide. The figures are for the week ending last Sunday, and reflect only those units sold during the three days immediately following news of Cobain’s suicide. Industry insiders expect next week’s Nirvana sales figures to jump even higher. Also expected to do well next week is the new album by Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, and her band Hole.

* Justices Reject Lyric Ban: A Washington state law designed to keep children from buying recordings that contain “erotic” lyrics is unconstitutional because it infringes on the free-speech rights of adults, that state’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The law was approved in 1992 but never went into effect because of a lawsuit filed on behalf of dozens of musicians, record companies and the Recording Industry Assn. of America. The law proposed that county prosecutors ask judges to rule on individual recordings, which would then be labeled “adults only” if they were found to appeal to minors’ prurient interests and offend community standards. The court found the law unconstitutionally broad because distributors across the state would be subject to injunctions whenever a recording was challenged. Such injunctions would amount to prior restraint and violate the music sellers’ right to due process, the court ruled.

* Eagles to Play MTV: The Eagles will kick off their much-publicized summer reunion tour with two shows to be taped April 25 and 26 at Burbank’s Warner Bros. Studios for a late summer MTV special. The televised “intimate concert performance” will feature Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Don Felder, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit performing classic Eagles hits, plus some new material.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Conquering Finnish Sales: Tickets for two concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic sold out in 25 minutes in conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen’s native Finland. “Big family,” Salonen joked. “It’s terrifying.” The Aug. 26 and 27 dates are part of the Philharmonic’s upcoming European tour, scheduled for Aug. 23-Sept. 13. The orchestra will also vacate the Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for two weeks in November for stops in Mexico City, Washington and New York.

TV & RADIO

New Quake Reporting Technology: KTTV Channel 11 will be the first TV station in the country to use a new system of immediate earthquake notification. Beginning at the end of this month, the Fox station’s news department will use the California Institute of Technology/U.S. Geological Survey Broadcast of Earthquakes, known as the CUBE, in an effort to “distribute responsible information faster.” If an earthquake hits, a computerized paging system would immediately transmit data collected at Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory to the station’s newsroom.

* Young Talk Bats Out Sports: Now that the sale of KMPC-AM (710) to Capital Cities Communications is final, the all-sports station is believed to be changing in May to a youthful-oriented talk format. Tom Leykis, formerly of KFI, is expected to host a syndicated show, produced by Westwood One, during afternoon drive-time at KMPC. Only two of the teams contracted to KMPC--the Angels and the Clippers--will remain at the station after it changes format in May.

QUICK TAKES

Supercouple Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley this week confirmed rumors that they have split. In a statement, the couple, married nine years, said they have been separated since Thanksgiving, but kept the matter private to protect their 8-year-old daughter. . . . U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s push to regulate TV violence has won her a 1993 Jefferson Muzzle--an annual “award” from Virginia’s nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression that cites people perceived as having curbed free speech. . . . “Married . . . With Children” co-star Amanda Bearse will host Comedy Central’s second all gay and lesbian comedy special, “Out There II,” which will be taped in New York June 23 during the city’s “Gay Games 4.” The show will air on Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day. . . . ABC News’ Barbara Walters interviewed controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan at his Chicago home Wednesday for a piece running April 22 on “20/20.” Walters said there were no ground rules for their talk and that he answered all of her questions.