POP/ROCKRecord Concert Sales: Confirming earlier estimates, lucrative...

POP/ROCK

Record Concert Sales: Confirming earlier estimates, lucrative tours by the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and the Eagles made 1994 the richest year ever for the concert industry. According to a report out Thursday in Pollstar, the industry’s most respected trade magazine, a record $1.4 billion was spent on concert tickets this year, shattering the previous record of $1.1 billion spent in 1991. The Stones topped all other tours, taking in $121.2 million from 60 North American concerts to make their “Voodoo Lounge” tour the richest ever. They broke their own record of $98 million, set during the last Stones tour in 1989. Second was Pink Floyd with ticket sales of $103.5 million, followed by the Eagles with $79.4 million, Barbra Streisand with $58.9 million and the Grateful Dead with $52.4 million. Last year, the Dead topped Pollstar’s list with $43 million in ticket sales.

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Pearl Jams: Pearl Jam, which has halted touring during its battle with Ticketmaster over concert prices, will do a live three-hour radio show on Jan. 8 from 7:30-10:30 p.m. The show, which will be distributed nationally and carried locally on KROQ-FM (106.7), will be broadcast from a private studio in Seattle. The band, whose latest album, “Vitalogy,” went over the 2 million mark in sales this week, will perform live acoustic sets, as well as take phone calls from fans via an 800 number that will be announced during the show. In addition, special guests are expected to drop by for the broadcast and may join in performances.

TELEVISION

Another Controversial Kiss: A national advocacy group dedicated to promoting “traditional family values” is asking NBC not to show a lesbian kiss in its upcoming movie “Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story.” The New York-based group’s chairman, Howard Hurwitz, said he wrote the network warning that there would be advertiser fallout if the kiss is aired. The film stars Glenn Close as the highest-ranking military officer ever to be discharged from service because of sexual orientation and Judy Davis as her lover. Close and Barbra Streisand are among the executive producers for the film, which is scheduled to air Feb. 6. NBC officials could not be reached to comment on the letter.

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Does She Know the Way to San Jose?: Dionne Warwick’s “Psychic Friends” is the year’s top-ranked infomercial, according to the 1994 Greensheet Annual Review, a research book published by industry analysts Jordan Whitney Inc. Ranked second was “Dura Lube,” an infomercial for an auto engine oil additive; third was the Jane Fonda-hosted “Fitness Tread”; fourth was Barbara DeAngelis’ “Making Love Work” and fifth was the “Popeil Pasta Maker” infomercial. The rankings are based upon the frequency of airing, longevity and the amount spent on purchasing TV air time.

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New Year’s Cheer: KCAL-TV Channel 9 will host a live New Year’s Eve television special from B. B. King’s Blues Club at Universal CityWalk. The evening’s entertainment includes Arthur Adams and his band and headliner Popa Chubby. Comedian Howie Gold will host the live 11 p.m.-12:30 a.m. show, which will be combined with live coverage from Las Vegas’ Treasure Island and Mirage hotels, anchored by Sarah Purcell and Jack Perkins. Tickets to the Los Angeles party are $75 and available through the club.

LEGAL FILE

Ideas Not Included: Screenwriter Joe Eszterhas (“Basic Instinct”) doesn’t have to share profits with his ex-wife for story ideas hatched during their 24-year marriage, a Northern California judge has ruled. Gerri Eszterhas had sued Hollywood’s highest-paid screenwriter over some 50 story ideas conceived before their separation last year. Arguing that such ideas are community property, she sought a share of Eszterhas’ take from two current projects, “One Night Stand” and “Foreplay,” for which Eszterhas got $3.5 million. However, Superior Court Judge Michael Dufficy ruled that “as a matter of law, an idea is not property.”

QUICK TAKES

David Letterman makes a surprise visit to another talk show--daytime’s “Ricki Lake”--on tonight’s “Late Show.” In the bit, Letterman appears as a studio audience member, offering words of advice to Lake’s panel of guests. . . .Robert Wasserburger, an overzealous Madonna fan, has been sentenced in Los Angeles to six months in jail after being charged for the second time in two months with trespassing at the singer’s Hollywood Hills home.