POP/ROCKHouston at the Rose Bowl: Whitney Houston,...

POP/ROCK

Houston at the Rose Bowl: Whitney Houston, who had canceled recent concerts because of a throat ailment, was able to keep her plans to sing before the World Cup final in Pasadena on Sunday. Houston, appearing on the field with soccer star Pele, belted out her songs to an enthusiastic crowd. Houston had postponed her sold-out concert at the Pond of Anaheim on Saturday because of the throat problem that also forced the cancellation of a Phoenix concert two nights earlier. Tickets for the Saturday concert will be honored at the rescheduled show on Aug. 21.

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Born at the Stone Pony: Bruce Springsteen sang with old pals Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes Saturday at his old stomping grounds, the Stone Pony bar in Asbury Park, N.J. The Boss showed up unannounced for the bar’s 20th anniversary celebration. Jon Bon Jovi, former E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg and Patti Scialfa, Springsteen’s wife, helped sing several tunes, including Tom Waits’ “Jersey Girl.”

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Splitsville: British pop star Phil Collins has asked his wife of 10 years for a divorce. Collins, 43, and his wife, Jill, have a 5-year-old daughter. The singer said an affair he had two years ago badly damaged his marriage.

TELEVISION

Sitcoms Reflect Simpson Case: The producers of CBS’ “Murphy Brown” and “Love & War” are developing a joint episode based on the O.J. Simpson saga. Simpson will not be mentioned by name but the plot will involve a major media event centering on a fictional hero-turned-suspect, so viewers should be able to recognize the similarities, production officials said. “This is a very interesting tightrope to walk because it’s very current,” Diane English, creator of the back-to-back Monday night comedy series, said at a British Academy of Film and Television Artists event last week. The hourlong program is planned for the first week of the new season in mid-September, which could coincide with the opening of the Simpson murder trial.

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Poet Laureate of the Tube?: Look for poet Maya Angelou to come to TV regularly if she and producer Norman Lear come up with a format suitable to her. Lear and Angelou have “just been talking” the past two months, says a Lear source, who suggests the two may have something definitive to say publicly about the project “in about a month.” Lear approached Angelou about doing TV after he heard her give a motivational speech at a convention in New Orleans earlier this year. Angelou was a hit at President Clinton’s inaugural with the reading of her “On the Pulse of Morning.”

MOVIES

All About Hugh: Jody Tressider, identified as an old girlfriend, is working on a book called “Hugh Grant: An Intimate Biography.” Tressider will recount gossip from their days together at Oxford. Tidbits include Grant’s seduction technique, which involves reciting poetry and D. H. Lawrence, and his fellow students’ suspicion that he was gay. “Hugh would probably prefer it if she didn’t write the book,” said Joanna Prior of Fourth Estate, the book’s publisher, in the current Entertainment Weekly magazine. The reaction from Grant’s spokesman: Tressider is “just trying to make money off his name.” As for Grant’s own writing career, the gentlemanly star of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” has refused an offer from Hyperion to write a book entitled “How to Be a Gentleman.”

MUSIC

Domingo’s Encore: One of the three tenors, Placido Domingo, will be back in the Southland for a performance this fall. Domingo, accompanied by the Los Angeles Music Center Opera Orchestra, will appear at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium as part of the Spanish Music Concert Gala on Nov. 10. The tenor will sing a variety of selections from Spanish opera and zarzuela. Miguel Roa, director of the Teatro LiricoNacional La Zarzuela, will conduct.

THE ARTS

Budget Restored: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has completely restored the Los Angeles County Music and Performing Arts Commission’s budget for 1994-95. The board approved a $754,000 county contribution to the commission, whose operating budget is $1.5 million. As a result, the commission can continue to offer grants to arts organizations. A proposed 36% cut would have dramatically affected the grants program, said the commission’s executive director, Laura Zucker. In addition, the commission can continue to put on its Summer Nights at the Ford series and its holiday celebration on KCET Channel 28.

QUICK TAKES

Fox’s new Aaron Spelling series, “Models Inc.,” is adding a new model. Real life model Garcelle Beauvais joins the show on July 27, playing Cynthia Nichols, an African-American Princeton graduate and up-and-coming model. . . . Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the featured guest on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Tuesday, when the show devotes its two hours to health care reform. Clinton will talk with health care professionals and business people and will answer questions from around the country and in the studio. . . . Diahann Carroll will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for encouraging diversity in the movie industry from the Multicultural Motion Picture Awards Assn. at a Sept. 20 gala in Beverly Hills.