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

POP/ROCK

Anti-Scalping Measures: Pearl Jam, which had a long-running feud with Ticketmaster over service charges, has now dumped a promoter because of a ticket-scalping scandal. The band has vowed not to work with House of Blues Concerts on its 2000 tour because it believes the promoter previously sold blocks of prime seats to ticket brokers for some of Pearl Jam’s biggest shows, including a 1998 Denver show. “Every time we’ve caught a promoter scamming us in some way, we’ve just never used them again,” band manager Kelly Curtis told the Denver Post. House of Blues Concerts also recently came under fire from the Backstreet Boys, whose management group accused the promoter of channeling 1,000 prime Denver tickets to brokers. The promoter, which this month announced new restrictions to prevent scalping, has acknowledged that the Backstreet Boys seats did end up with scalpers, but has repeatedly denied that the company knew about it.

Dancing Queen: A top London club has created a millennium dance version of Britain’s national anthem, “God Save the Queen.” “We want to rescue the classic from a bunch of fuddy-duddies,” said a Ministry of Sound spokesman, noting that the club hoped to make the venerable anthem more appealing to a new generation. Copies of the reworked track are being sent to Queen Elizabeth and her teenage grandsons, Princes William and Harry. But a Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: “The national anthem and all the various versions that have been played over 250 years or more are not a matter for us to clear or approve.”

TELEVISION

Parents’ Choices: The Massachusetts-based Parents’ Choice Foundation on Friday named its 1999 Parents’ Choice Award winners in children’s television, with the tried-and-true PBS classics, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street” sharing top honors, followed by Nickelodeon’s “Nick News,” the Disney Channel’s “Rolie Polie Olie” and ABC/Disney Channel’s “Doug.” The advocacy group also granted “recommended” status to Nickelodeon’s “Blue’s Clues,” Fox’s “Scholastic Magic School Bus,” the Disney Channel’s “Bear in the Big Blue House” and “Disney’s PB&J; Otter,” ABC’s “Pepper Ann,” and the syndicated series “Popular Mechanics for Kids.”

Tube Notes: “Frasier”--exploring a new wrinkle in the Niles-Daphne plot line--attracted an estimated 28.7 million viewers Thursday, the Emmy-winning NBC show’s biggest audience since 1994. . . . CBS’ soap “The Young and the Restless” has notched a full 11 years--572 straight weeks--as daytime TV’s top-rated program. . . . Showtime has ordered two dramatic series, “Soul Food” and “Resurrection Blvd.,” featuring predominantly black and Latino casts, respectively, for next year. The former, based on the hit movie, was at one point developed as a possible Fox series. . . . Fox will move its quiz show “Greed” to 9 p.m. Fridays on Jan. 7. The program will also air the two previous nights, providing a little extra exposure prior to the Jan. 9 premiere of NBC’s game-show entry, “Twenty-One,” and the Jan. 11 return of ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” . . . Evel Knievel has been named a “color commentator” for UPN’s stunt show “I Dare You! The Ultimate Challenge,” which premieres Jan. 18.

QUICK TAKES

Hollywood’s Laugh Factory is giving free admission through Christmas Eve to those who bring an unwrapped toy worth $10 or more (with a store receipt). The toys will be distributed on Christmas Day to children attending the comedy club’s 20th annual free-meal seatings, at 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. . . . Celebrity guest hosts will take over Charlie Tuna’s morning show on KLAC-AM (570) the next two weeks, including musicians James Darren (Monday), Pat Boone (Tuesday) and Roger Williams (Wednesday), and comedians Fred Travalena (Thursday) and Stan Freberg and Carl Reiner (both the week of Dec. 27). . . . The Geffen Playhouse has filled the remaining slot in its coming season with the premiere of Lee Kalcheim’s “Defiled,” a play about a big-city librarian facing the advent of modern technology, scheduled for May 24-June 18. Barnet Kellman will direct. . . . A memorial service for drummer Todd Barnes of TSOL will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at Dilday-Mottell’s Mortuary (3936 Woodruff Ave., Long Beach), followed by a 7:30 p.m. memorial concert at Long Beach’s Java Lanes (3800 E. Pacific Coast Highway), featuring the surviving members of TSOL plus the Vandals, the Crowd and Cadillac Tramps. Barnes, 35, died Dec. 6 after suffering a brain aneurysm.