POP/ROCK - April 23, 1994

‘Freedom’ Restricted: The “Freedom of Leonard Peltier” benefit concerts featuring Rage Against the Machine, Cypress Hill, X, the Beastie Boys and other bands scheduled for Thursday and Friday have been moved from the Hollywood Palladium to the Velodrome at Cal State Dominguez Hills because of the venue’s policy against booking rap shows. A spokesman for the Palladium said the rap acts were added after the show was booked for organizers Rage Against the Machine, and he would not comment about the timing of the cancellation. Due to the change of venue, there will be only one concert, on Friday, but tickets from both Palladium shows will be honored and 2,000 additional tickets go on sale today. The show will be general admission and doors will open at 4 p.m. The concert had already been rescheduled from earlier in April because Rage Against the Machine bassist Timmy C. was injured in a biking accident.

* The Ultimate Perk: Forget about free airport parking. A few lawmakers have been offered a perk that money can’t buy: Barbra Streisand tickets. Sony Music Entertainment, ASCAP and the Recording Industry Assn. of America sent letters to select House and Senate members offering tickets to sold-out shows in Washington on May 10 and 12. Tickets were offered to “anyone who addresses issues that touch our industry,” said Tim Sites, spokesman for the recording association. Lawmakers must buy the tickets at their $50 to $350 face value. Eight have asked for tickets so far, Sites said on Thursday.

TELEVISION

Letterboxing on NBC: NBC will tread new waters Sunday night by letterboxing three portions of “The Sound of Music”--the musical numbers “Do-Re-Me” and “Climb Every Mountain,” and the final escape. A network spokesman says this is the first time NBC has used the process, which presents widescreen images on the nearly square TV screen by running black bands above and below the picture--a practice sometimes used on cable, videocassettes and laser discs. NBC also plans to telecast parts of “El Cid” in letterbox this summer. “We’re just testing the waters,” the spokesman said. “We’ll monitor the ratings and calls and letters to gauge a response.”

* Broadcast News: Sunday on “60 Minutes,” in the time usually reserved for his commentary, Andy Rooney will read excerpts from the “cartons of mail” he received complaining about his remarks last Sunday on the suicide of 27-year-old rock star Kurt Cobain. Rooney found fault with the pain felt by Cobain’s fans and said on the air that a lot of people, including himself, “would like to have the years that (Cobain) threw away.” . . . Diane Sawyer has conducted an interview with Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin in the Kremlin that will be broadcast Thursday on ABC’s “PrimeTime Live.” . . . A team of international journalists will pose questions on CNN’s “Global Forum With President Clinton,” which will be broadcast live from Atlanta on May 3. CNN anchor Judy Woodruff will moderate the 90-minute program, which is part of the fifth CNN World Report Contributors Conference. Journalists from Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Sarajevo and Seoul will join the forum via satellite.

* Candy Tribute: Fox-TV will air a tribute to the late John Candy Monday during its world premiere broadcast of “Hostage for a Day,” the action comedy that was the first movie Candy directed. The three-minute tribute will include clips from “Uncle Buck,” “Stripes,” “Splash” and “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and will be accompanied by a compilation of radio interviews with Candy. “Hostage for a Day” will air at 8 p.m. “Entertainment Tonight” will also broadcast an interview Candy gave last October on Monday night.

PEOPLE

Gordy Suing Newspaper: Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is suing the New York Daily News for $250 million for printing allegations that he seduced a 14-year-old boy and pressured singers to have abortions. The News had reported on Tuesday that the charges are made by former Motown staffer Tony Turner, who is working on a book about Gordy in which he alleges the executive had sex with him when Turner was a teen-ager. The authors of the Daily News item were also named in the suit. A spokeswoman for the Daily News said the paper had not yet been served with the court papers and did not comment on such suits as a matter of policy.

QUICK TAKES

Nick Nolte and his wife, Rebecca, are splitting up after 10 years of marriage. She filed for divorce earlier this month, citing irreconcilable differences. . . . Mikhail Baryshnikov will donate profits from two of his dance company’s upcoming Detroit performances to the city’s Metropolitan Ballet Theatre, which has been having financial problems. . . . The Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills will make a limited number of free tickets available to mothers attending its Mother’s Day performance of “Ruthless!” Mothers must be accompanied by a family member who buys a regular-price ticket. . . . CBS Video will release the never-broadcast pilot episode of “I Love Lucy” on videotape June 15.