MORNING REPORT - News from Sept. 29, 2000

POP/ROCK

Latin Grammys Refused: Two of the most popular groups in Mexican music announced Thursday that they will not accept the Latin Grammys they won at the awards’ inaugural ceremonies earlier this month. Decrying what they say is offensive treatment of the Mexican music community by the awards’ sponsor, the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Los Tigres del Norte and Los Temerarios were joined by tejano group Los Palominos in refusing their statuettes. The volley is the latest in an ongoing conflict between the Latin academy and Van Nuys-based Fonovisa Records, which alleges that the academy ignores Mexican regional stars in favor of artists associated with Sony Music and Miami-based producer (and Sony executive) Emilio Estefan. “We support our artists in [this] decision,” said Guillermo Santisa, president of Fonovisa, which represents all three groups. “We firmly believe that these awards should not exist because they segregate Latin music.” A LARAS spokesman said Thursday that the organization “has not been contacted by any of the award recipients,” adding that the Grammy statuettes have not yet been shipped to winners. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the overall recording academy said that no artists have ever refused or returned a regular Grammy.

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Speaking of the Recording Academy: Ending a three-year legal battle, the Supreme Court of Denmark has upheld the U.S. recording academy’s exclusive rights to the Grammy name by ruling against a Danish company that had created the Danish Grammy Awards. The court awarded the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences all rights to the Grammy trademark in Denmark, plus attorney fees, reversing two lower court rulings in which NARAS failed to halt the International Federation of Phonographic Industry Denmark from using the Grammy name.

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Combs’ Court Date Set: A Manhattan Supreme Court judge has set a Jan. 2 trial date for rap star Sean “Puffy” Combs on charges of gun possession and bribery stemming from a December 1999 shooting at a Manhattan nightclub. The judge said Thursday that Combs and his co-defendants, bodyguard Anthony “Wolf” Jones and Jamal “Shyne” Barrow, will be tried together. All three have pleaded not guilty. The trial is expected to take several weeks.

THE ARTS

Spending Time Together: Carol Burnett and Doris Roberts are among the donors--and the subjects--for a new mural that was unveiled just outside the newly renovated Pantages Theatre’s stage door-VIP entrance Thursday. Created by artist James Hamblin with Jim Piper and Matthew Whittmer, the mural depicts theatergoers outside the Pantages in 1930. Donors were used as some of the mural’s models, including Burnett, who is depicted as working inside the box office. At the dedication, Burnett recalled that she did work at a couple of box offices on Hollywood Boulevard in her youth, though not the Pantages.

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Impressionist Trove: The University of Oklahoma in Norman has received 33 Impressionist paintings and works on paper by masters including Van Gogh, Degas, Monet, Renoir and Gaugin that have been virtually unexhibited for the past 50 years. The donation, worth an estimated $50 million, is a bequest from Clara Weitzenhoffer, an art collector and long-time university supporter. The collection will go on public view for the first time Nov. 14.

TV & MOVIES

‘Hurricane’ Suit Settled: Joey Giardello, a former middleweight boxing champion depicted in Universal Pictures’ “The Hurricane,” has settled his defamation lawsuit against the makers of the Academy Award-nominated Denzel Washington movie. Giardello had alleged that the film inaccurately showed him being “relentlessly pummeled” by boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter in a 1964 title fight that Giardello actually won. He sought to have actual bout footage added to the end of the film and unspecified monetary damages. Settlement terms were not disclosed. . . . Meanwhile, “The Hurricane,” which was based on Carter’s autobiography, won the best feature film award Thursday at the annual Literacy in Media Awards honoring “excellence in the depiction of literacy issues.” NBC’s “ER” won the TV series honor.

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Tube Notes: NBC has launched a Web site, https://www.nbci.com/mir, to provide information on becoming a potential candidate for the forthcoming reality series “Destination Mir,” which will ultimately send one contestant into space. . . . Cable’s Showtime has renewed its African American drama “Soul Food” for a second season. However, a decision on whether the network will renew its new Latino series, “Resurrection Blvd.,” is not expected until the end of the year. . . . Former “Hard Copy” anchor Diane Dimond, a newly named daytime anchor and correspondent at cable’s MSNBC, will host “Missing Persons,” a weekly series premiering on the cable news channel tonight at 5.

QUICK TAKES

Former “ER” star Julianna Margulies has joined the initial Los Angeles cast of Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues,” Oct. 13-29 at the Canon Theatre. She replaces Swoosie Kurtz, who will appear in a future cast. . . . Composer Lalo Schifrin--who receives the Film Music Society’s 2000 Career Achievement Award on Oct. 6--will perform with his trio and sign copies of his new jazz recording, “Esperanto,” at 7 tonight at Borders in Westwood.