ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

PERFORMING ARTS

Pops Strike Halted: The striking musicians who make up the New York Pops have settled on a new contract with the orchestra and will resume performances next week. The deal calls for the musicians to get a 16% wage increase over the next three years--3% more than the orchestra’s final offer before the strike began last week, forcing cancellation of two concerts last weekend at Carnegie Hall. The deal came in time to save a holiday tour to Japan that is now back on track to begin Monday.

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Rockefeller Center Suit: A stagehand paralyzed from the neck down after he fell while working on a Christmas show at New York’s Radio City Music Hall three years ago has sued Rockefeller Center for $125 million. Dennis Larkin, 52, broke his neck when he backed off the music hall’s stage and fell 27 feet into the orchestra pit. His lawsuit alleges the accident was caused by “carelessness, negligence and wanton disregard” by music hall management. A Rockefeller Center spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation.

POP/ROCK

Inaugural Tunes: Saxophonist Kenny G, rapper Coolio and pop singer Lionel Richie will headline the Jan. 3 Inaugural Gala for incoming Gov. Gray Davis. Other performers scheduled for the event at Sacramento’s Arco Arena include country singer Kevin Sharp, a cappella group All-4-One and composer-producer David Foster conducting an orchestra featuring student groups from around the state. Other inaugural events include a Jan. 4 “Rock and Roll Ball” in Sacramento’s Cal Expo with scheduled performances by Eve 6, the Young Dubliners and Common Sense, among others.

QUICK TAKES

Radio host Rene Engel will revive the popular holiday programming he began on KCRW-FM (89.9) in the 1980s as “Christmas Becomes Eclectic” with “Music to Unwrap Gifts By” airing this morning from 8 to 11 a.m. on Engel’s current station, KCSN-FM (88.5). Engel’s eclectic Christmas selections were last heard on KPCC-FM (89.3) in 1995. . . . Trimark Pictures is offering free tickets to today’s screenings at West L.A.’s Nuart Theatre of Alex de la Iglesia’s “Day of the Beast,” about a priest who fears the antichrist is about to be born on Christmas. To get the free seats, viewers must dress as either a priest or as their version of Satan. The Spanish film won six Goyas, that country’s equivalent of the Oscars.