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

PEOPLE

Low Noon: Director Spike Lee said this week that he was joking when he suggested from the Cannes Film Festival that actor Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Assn., should be shot. Lee was quoted in last Saturday’s New York Post, advocating disbanding the NRA while saying of Heston: “Shoot him with a .44 Bulldog.” Explaining the remark, Lee said: “I intended it as ironic, as a joke to show how violence begets more violence. I told everyone there it was a joke. I said I did not want to read in the papers, ‘Shoot Charlton Heston.’ ” Lee noted that he had been responding to a question at Cannes about whether Hollywood was to blame for the recent rash of school shootings, and added that he had no reason to apologize. Heston said Thursday that he was amused. “He gave me a big laugh,” he told KABC-AM (790) host Larry Elder. “The statement is a foolish one. . . . If he wants to come and take a shot at me, go let him try it.” Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) took Lee seriously, condemning his “embrace of violence.” But Lee blamed guns for violence. “The reason the U.S. is the most violent country in the history of civilization is the proliferation of guns.”

A Night of (Real) Laughs: “The Funny Bone of the ‘70s,” an evening with the creators, producers and actors of 1970s comedies, will be held June 8 at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood. Guests include Larry Gelbart, Edward Asner, Norman Lear, Garry Marshall, Tom Bosley, Wayne Rogers, Isabel Sanford, Allan Burns, Ann Marcus and Greg Mullavey. Hal Kanter will moderate the event, which begins at 7:30 p.m., followed by a reception at 9:30 p.m.

Honors for Coburn: James Coburn, who won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role in “Affliction,” will receive the Life Career Award during the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films’ 25th annual Saturn Awards on June 9 in Century City. Additional award winners include author Ray Bradbury and directors William Freidkin (“The Exorcist”) and Nathan Juran (“Attack of the 50-Foot Woman”).

ARTS

Seattle Kool: Rem Koolhaas, the Dutch architect best known for his avant-garde designs and radical theoretical tracts, has won the competition to design the new Seattle downtown central library. The library, which will be built at a projected total cost of $156 million, will stand on a prominent site in the heart of Seattle’s municipal district, covering a full city block between Spring and Madison streets and 4th and 5th avenues. Koolhaas recently won a competition to design the Illinois Institute of Technology’s student center in Chicago, his first major commission in the U.S. The Seattle project, scheduled for completion in March 2003, is a vindication of sorts for the Dutch architect. Although two libraries rank among his most famous designs--that of the 1989 design for Paris’ Tres Grand Bibliotheque and a 1992 design for Paris’ Jussieu University library--neither was ever built.

California Heritage Fellows: Two Californians are among the 13 artists from 12 states who will receive the National Endowment for the Arts’ 1999 National Heritage Fellowships, the country’s most prestigious honor in folk and traditional arts. Recipients of the $10,000 awards include Zakir Hussain, a North Indian master drummer from San Anselmo, and Ulysses “Uly” Goode, a Western Mono basket weaver from North Fork.

Very Special Fair: ArtCareers 2000--an arts career exposition and job fair for people with disabilities--will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center downtown Tuesday and Wednesday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The event, which is free, aims to provide information about careers in the arts. It’s being presented by VSA (formerly Very Special Arts), an organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith and an affiliate of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Besides speeches and exhibits, there will be performances by artists with disabilities, including pianist Bess Bonnier, pianist and vocalist Willy Moody, classical guitarist Dat Nguyen and vocalist Gracie Oliver. Artist mentors will be available both days for individual consultations.

POP/ROCK

Cobain Online: A “lost” 1990 interview with the late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain shows that the singer saw the decline of the rock genre on the horizon even amid its grunge revival. While many observers cite the loss of Nirvana from the music scene as the start of rock’s downward trend in sales and relevance, the interview made public this week shows Cobain saw that trend in motion at the start of the decade. “Every band since the mid-’80s has surfaced in a revival act. It’s a sure sign that rock is slowly dying. There’s nothing like wallowing in the past when the future looks bleak.” The unpublished January 1990 interview with Bob Gulla has been posted on the Internet by online music merchant CDNOW (https://www.CDNOW.com).

QUICK TAKES

Blues guitarist B.B. King was named entertainer of the year at the 20th annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards in Memphis. He also won contemporary blues album of the year for “Blues on the Bayou.” . . . Opera director Peter Sellars has been named guest director of the 26th Telluride Film Festival, taking place in the Colorado Rockies town Sept. 3-6. Among this year’s events, the festival will honor animator Chuck Jones by opening a new Chuck Jones’ Cinema. . . . Dance teacher Don Bondi, who retires next month after 14 years at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, stages his last all-student dance concert today at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at the State Playhouse at Cal State L.A. . . . The first 30 callers pledging $500 (or more) with a credit card during a KCET-TV broadcast of “Sarah Brightman: One Night in Eden,” beginning tonight at 8, will receive a pair of premium seats for her concert at Universal Amphitheatre June 6.