SMALL FACES: Liz Phair is working in...

SMALL FACES: Liz Phair is working in L.A. on her third album, with Scott Litt producing--and amid talk that members of R.E.M. (with whom Litt regularly works) are making guest appearances. . . .

An odder combination has early-’80s L.A. hero Mike Watt sitting in as bassist with Perry Farrell’s Porno for Pyros for a series of four radio station acoustic Christmas shows, including the KROQ show at the Universal Amphitheatre Dec. 17, with the possibility that Watt will stay with the band for a spring tour. Porno’s “Good Gods’ Urge” album is due in March. . . .

Ministry’s “Filth Pig” album is due in late January, with a U.S. tour planned to begin in March. . . . k.d. lang has taped a special segment for the English TV arts program “The South Bank Show” with a January airing set for the U.S. cable Bravo channel. . . .

Chicago street artist Wesley Willis (also set for the KROQ Christmas concert) is signing with L.A.-based Oglio Records for a compilation of his quirky tribute songs to such rock heroes as Kurt Cobain and Elvis Presley. . . .

Cheap Trick worked with “Kids” director Larry Clark on the video for its version of John Lennon’s harrowing “Cold Turkey,” shot at a bleak band shell in New York’s East River Park. The song is on the “Working Class Hero” Lennon tribute album. . . .

Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis and Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan guest on “A Year of Mondays,” the major-label solo debut by Dinosaur bassist Mike Johnson, due from Atlantic’s TAG label on Feb. 13. . . . . Iggy Pop has finished his latest album, titled “Naughty Little Doggie” and due in February. . . . John Lee Hooker joins his daughter, Zakiya Hooker, for a couple of duets on her debut album, due in April. . . . New Orleans club favorite Cowboy Mouth has just signed with MCA after gaining national exposure as a crowd-pleasing opening act on Hootie & the Blowfish’s summer tour.*