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

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘Piss Christ’ Sells High: While the art-world furor continues over a controversial Virgin Mary portrait, one of 10 prints of “Piss Christ,” a photo of a crucifix immersed in urine that caused its own furor in the 1980s, fetched a whopping $43,700 at Christie’s Tuesday, far surpassing the New York auction house’s presale estimate of $15,000 to $25,000. The sale of Andres Serrano’s 1987 Cibachrome print to an unnamed New York collector comes in the midst of a political brouhaha over the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s exhibition of British art, which includes Chris Ofili’s painting of a black Virgin Mary with an elephant turd affixed to it.

Pop Chart: Creed’s “Human Clay” debuts this week as the nation’s No. 1 album, while last week’s top seller, Nine Inch Nails’ double-disc “The Fragile,” tumbles to No. 16. “Human Clay,” Creed’s follow-up to its 1998 triple-platinum album “My Own Prison,” sold 316,000 copies during the week, while Garth Brooks’ new pop music experiment, “In the Life of Chris Gaines,” sold 262,000 copies to finish at No. 2. Other Top 20 debuts: Method Man & Redman (No. 3), Marc Anthony (No. 8) and Sting (No. 15).

SCR’s Millennium Grant: Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory and playwright Howard Korder are among six theater-playwright teams selected by the Kennedy Center’s Fund for New American Plays to share $200,000 in grant money that’s part of a 10-year initiative to create “a new body of artistic work for the new millennium.” SCR and Korder received $40,000 toward the January world premiere of Korder’s “The Hollow Lands,” described as a story of American “Manifest Destiny” as seen through the eyes of a 19th century immigrant.

King of Three: Ken Christensen, general manager of pop music station KYSR-FM (98.7), has taken over the same posts at talk outlet KFI-AM (640) and adult-music station KOST-FM (103.5), following the latter two stations’ acquisition this month by KYSR owner AMFM Inc. Longtime KFI and KOST general manager Howard Neal will continue to work for Cox Radio Inc., the stations’ previous owner. Christensen said the formats will remain the same at all three stations.

QUICK TAKES

The Eroica String Quartet will give the first performance of a newly discovered Ludwig van Beethoven composition today at Sotheby’s in London. The autographed manuscript, found in a private home in southern England, is expected to fetch $248,000 to $331,000 when it is sold by Sotheby’s in December. . . . L.A.-area dance artists David Rousseve, Rudy Perez, Linda Sohl-Donnell (Rhapsody in Tap) and Jacques Heim (Diavolo Dance Theatre) have each received $30,000 fellowships from the James Irvine Foundation for the creation of new work. Other 1999 recipients are Wendy Rogers of Riverside and Remy Charlip, Joanna Haigood and Alonzo King, all from San Francisco. . . . Pierce Brosnan and longtime girlfriend Keely Shaye Smith, who began work Wednesday as an “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent, have announced their engagement. The couple, who have a 2 1/2-year-old son, have not yet set a date. . . . “Dawson’s Creek” producer Kevin Williamson will do a live chat at https://www.abc.go.com tonight at 7. His new ABC drama, “Wasteland,” premieres tonight at 9.