Pop Music : Pop Eye : SMALL FACES

A lot of pop singers get called divas, but Joni Mitchell is the first to be invited to sing in the home of real divas. Management of Milan’s opera mecca La Scala want Mitchell to perform there in the fall with an orchestra to debut an album of standards she’s recording in London. If she agrees, the show would be taped for a TV special. . . .

Meanwhile, Bjork, Janet Jackson, Etta James, Chaka Khan, Elvis Costello and k.d. lang have all recorded songs from Mitchell’s own songwriting catalog for a tribute album, which could be released around the same time as the standards collection. . . .

Christina Aguilera may be a former Mouseketeer, but the kids-oriented Radio Disney network hasn’t been able to play her hit “Genie in a Bottle” due to suggestive lyrics. So Aguilera and songwriters-producers David Frank and Steve Kipner just recorded a version with more innocent words that will begin airing soon on the Disney outlets, including L.A.’s KDIS-AM (710). Sample revision: The couplet “You’re licking your lips and blowing kisses at me/But that don’t mean I’m gonna give it away” is changed to “You’re smiling at me and looking so fine/But that don’t mean I’m gonna give you my time.” . . .

Female jam band Big Sister, which includes drummer Lisa Wexler, daughter of legendary executive and producer Jerry Wexler, has signed to Capricorn Records. They’ll record with producer John Sickett, who has worked with the Dave Matthews Band and Phish.