Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

POP/ROCK

Gingerless Spice: The Spice Girls will carry on as a quartet after the defection of Ginger Spice, who announced Sunday that she is leaving the wildly successful British pop group. Will the group remain as popular as a foursome? An early indication will come Saturday, when tickets for its Aug. 16 concert at the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion go on sale at 10 a.m. The group’s Aug. 15 show at the Great Western Forum, announced before the departure of Ginger Spice, was an instant sellout. Meanwhile, Ginger Spice, whose real name is Geri Halliwell, said in a statement that she left the group “because of differences between us.” The announcement led to speculation that Halliwell, who had been a dominant member of the group, might begin a solo career.

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Latino Music Sales Grow Significantly: Shipments of Latino music recordings and videos in 1997 totaled more than 44 million units and carried a suggested list value of nearly $500 million--an increase of 22% in units and 25% in dollar value over 1996--according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the trade group representing U.S. record companies.

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Prom Date Is Ms. Wright: Dave Showalter’s prom date arrived 30 minutes late in a white stretch limousine, but he hardly seemed to notice amid all the fanfare. About 250 people mobbed Showalter’s working-class neighborhood in Altoona, Pa., over the weekend to get a look at country singer Chely Wright, who agreed to be his date for the senior prom at Altoona High. Showalter, a senior at the school in west central Pennsylvania, routed his request through Wright’s fan club after seeing her on Country Music Television. Wright, 27, accepted--dashing the hopes of two other girls who had asked Showalter to be their escort. “She looks much better in person,” Showalter said. “I’m ecstatic.”

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Buy the Album, See the Show: Rod Stewart’s concert in the parking lot at Tower Records on the Sunset Strip tonight at 7:30 is free to the first 700 customers who buy copies of the singer’s new album, “When We Were the New Boys.”

TELEVISION

TV Guide Awards: Another annual awards gala is on the way, with the first TV Guide Awards Show scheduled to be broadcast March 8, 1999, on Fox. The show will be devoted exclusively to television and will include several honors voted on by readers of the magazine, which plans to include ballots in its December and January issues. Additional awards--such as “Best Show You’re Not Watching”--will be selected by TV Guide’s editors.

ART

Fitzpatrick Goes to Chicago: Former Los Angeles arts executive Robert Fitzpatrick, director of the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival and founding director of its 1987 offshoot, the Los Angeles Festival, has been appointed director and chief executive officer of Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Fitzpatrick, currently Dean of the School of the Arts of Columbia University, has also served as president of EuroDisney in Paris, and was president of CalArts from 1975-87.

PEOPLE WATCH

Some Were Curious About George: Jason Alexander assumed yet another supportive role over the weekend--this one as a supportive husband. A bearded Alexander attended his wife’s first solo art show at the Outside the Lines gallery in Nashville, Tenn., which is owned by a friend of the couple. About 350 people came to see Daena Title’s exhibit of pastel nudes, but only two asked Alexander for his autograph. “Nicely, most people have been asking about her,” said Alexander, who wrapped up his role as George Costanza on “Seinfeld” last month. Still, some stargazers said they were drawn to the art show because of Alexander. “Having seen his character on TV, I didn’t expect him to be so articulate about her work,” Jennifer White of Columbia, Tenn., told The Tennessean. “On TV, he’s just George.”

QUICK TAKES

R.E.M.’s “Why Not Smile,” the group’s first song without retired drummer Bill Berry, is part of a “Southern Sampler” CD that accompanies the Oxford American’s second annual double issue on Southern Music. The Oxford American is a Mississippi-based general interest magazine published by author John Grisham. . . . KTLA-TV Channel 5 news veterans Stan Chambers and Hal Fishman will take part in a Museum of Television & Radio seminar titled “Live from L.A. . . . Fifty Years of Los Angeles Television News,” Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the museum in Beverly Hills. . . . Quincy Jones, Hootie & the Blowfish and recording academy president Michael Greene are among those who will be honored tonight during the American Society of Young Musician’s spring benefit concert and awards presentation at the House of Blues. . . . The “Power Rangers Rocket Tour,” a virtual-reality simulator ride created by Iwerks and Saban Entertainment, touches down today at 10:15 a.m. at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Veteran Avenue in Westwood, offering free rides to all kids. The tour stops Saturday and Sunday at the Mall of Orange. . . . Merrill Shindler’s food-oriented talk show can now be heard each week on Saturday and Sunday from 5-7 p.m. on KLSX-FM (97.1).