TEACHER, TEACHER

Clive Davis certainly doesn’t need the money--the Arista Records chairman signed a new deal for a reported $50 million two years ago. So why would he want to conduct a public seminar on the music business for the continuing education organization the Learning Annex, as he will on Oct. 8 at a Westside location still to be determined?

“Someone like myself should get out there every so often,” he says. “There is tremendous interest in music, and it’s very stimulating. I did one in New York before and the place was overflowing with intelligent people asking stimulating questions. And in L.A. there’s so much interest in pop culture that I wanted to do one there.”

Davis notes that the event will not be in the form of a lecture, but a “free-for-all” question-and-answer session in which he can address topics ranging from his experiences with such figures as Janis Joplin and Patti Smith to his thoughts on just what makes a pop hit. One thing he doesn’t want to hear, though, is people pitching their own songs.

“I don’t encourage people to throw tapes on the stage,” he says. “But as far as insight into the business and what it takes to be signed, that’s fair game.”

Davis recalls the first time he did a similar session, about 20 years ago at Syracuse University. There was even an opening act: a young band called Talking Heads. Unfortunately, he says, they had already signed a deal with rival Sire Records.