MORNING REPORT - News from Oct. 7, 2000

MUSIC

Lennon Lines: A John Lennon 60th birthday celebration will take place Monday at 7 p.m. at the pop star’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star. Open to the public, the gathering will include a cake-cutting ceremony, music from Lennon and the Beatles and the lighting of 60 peace candles surrounding the singer-songwriter’s star, located at 1750 N. Vine St. in front of the Capitol Records Tower Building. At 8 p.m., a public organizing and outreach meeting will be held to organize the John Lennon 20th Anniversary Memorial Remembrance on Dec. 8. Meanwhile, Lennon’s “Imagine” Steinway piano, valued at $1 million, will be the top item up for bid by FleetwoodOwen at the company’s first live auction at Hard Rock Cafe London on Oct. 17. FleetwoodOwen, created by rocker Mick Fleetwood and Ted Owen, former head collectibles specialist with Bonham’s Auctioneers, is a new auction house dedicated to rock, film and entertainment memorabilia. Items will be available for bid on the Internet at https://www.fleetwoodowen.com.

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Manson Album: The first release from rocker Marilyn Manson’s newly formed label, Posthuman Records, will be the soundtrack to the film “Book of Shadows Blair Witch 2.” Set for release Oct. 17, the album includes “Suicide Is Painless,” a previously unreleased track from Manson that reworks the song from the movie and TV series “MASH.”

ARTS

NEA Budget Boost: The Senate approved a $7 million increase in the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts, the first boost in eight years. The agency, which has long been targeted by conservative lawmakers, will have a $105 million budget for fiscal year 2001. That figure is far below the $176 million funding peak reached in 1992. The budget increase, announced Thursday, will fund Challenge America, a community outreach and arts education project.

TELEVISION

‘Swords’ Sheathed by Suit: A writer has won a preliminary injunction to halt airings of “Queen of Swords,” a new syndicated action series, unless she is given a “created by” credit on the program. A Superior Court judge determined there were “striking similarities indicative of misappropriation” between the Paramount show and an unproduced script that writer Linda Lukens sold to ABC in the late 1970s. Lukens claims that she and the program’s producer, David Abramowitz, were represented by the same talent agency, also a defendant in the suit. “Our position is the injunction prohibits them from airing the show without giving an appropriate credit to my client,” said Anthony Kornarens, one of Lukens’ attorneys. Paramount issued a statement denying the allegations, saying the studio will appeal the judge’s ruling and can show the program during that process. At press time, “Swords” was scheduled to premiere locally today on KCOP-TV. (For a review, please see F18.)

MOVIES

Second Chance: New Yorker Films has re-released the Mexican romantic comedy, “Santitos,” in one art house theater in Seattle. The film, which was first released last year by a start-up company called Latin Universe, fell flat at the box office due to an overly ambitious national distribution campaign targeted at the Latino community. Latin Universe, which is no longer distributing movies, lacked the financing and expertise to launch a well-publicized national campaign for the film, which made less than $500,000 in 155 theaters. The film’s producers, Goldheart Pictures and Springall Productions, bought the rights to “Santitos” from Latin Universe for a limited time, according to Lemore Syvan, one of the producers. “It was handled as a commercial film, which it is not,” said New Yorker Films spokesperson Susan Wrubel. “This is an art house film. Latin Universe did not do an appropriate job with the film. Seattle was the first market we wanted to release it in because it was never released there.” Wrubel said if the film does well in Seattle, the company hopes to take it to Austin, New York and perhaps again to Los Angeles.

QUICK TAKES

Former teen pop star Tiffany (“I Think We’re Alone Now”) will perform songs from her new album “The Color of Silence” today at 5:45 at the Gig in West Los Angeles. The performance will air as part of a “Behind the Music” telecast Oct. 29 on cable’s VH1. . . . Rocker Jesse James Dupree will discuss his new album “Foot Fetish” Sunday at 7:30 p.m. on eYada.com. The Jackyl front man also will chat about a national search for the prettiest and gnarliest foot in existence. . . . Bob Wright, president of NBC, will receive the Founder’s Award from the Minorities in Broadcast Training Program at their seventh annual benefit dinner Monday in Los Angeles. The program is a nonprofit organization formed in 1993 to address the issues of diversity in the newsroom. . . . Animator Chuck Jones, the creator of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Bros. characters, will be honored by the Next Generation Council of the Motion Picture & Television Fund on Tuesday evening at the Directors Guild of America. For tickets and information, call (818) 876-1925.--STEVEN LINAN