SMALL FACES: Sting is finishing a new...

SMALL FACES: Sting is finishing a new album at home in England, with keyboardist Kenny Kirkland back in his band. Meanwhile, Sting joined reggae singer Pato Banton for a version of the Police’s “Spirits in the Material World,” featured on the soundtrack of “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.” Both will appear in a video, along with the film’s star, Jim Carrey. . . .

Sweet 75, the band featuring former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, is booked to make its Los Angeles debut Nov. 16 at the Troubadour, sharing the bill with Seattle band Sky Cries Mary. . . .

Excerpts from September’s seven-hour Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concert, which featured such hall members as Jerry Lee Lewis, Al Green and John Fogerty and such future inductees as Bruce Springsteen and the Pretenders, are being chosen for a two-CD set, due Nov. 21 on Columbia. . . . Mike Watt, Henry Rollins, the Gun Club, the Muffs and Possum Dixon are set to join the Ringling Sisters at the Palace on Dec. 18 for their 10th--and last--annual Christmas “Fun-raiser,” benefiting the Hollygrove Orphanage and other organizations.

Slayer is working on an album of old punk songs, including numbers originated by the Stooges, D.R.I., Minor Threat and Suicidal Tendencies. . . . Speaking of Suicidal Tendencies, the defunct group’s leader Mike Muir’s new band, Cyko Miko, has a debut album titled “Lost My Brain! (Once Again)” due in January, with ex-Sex Pistol guitarist Steve Jones guesting on seven tracks. . . . L.A.’s Fishbone is back in action, recording an album with hot R&B; producer Dallas Austin, with an early ’96 release planned through Austin’s Rowdy Records label.