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

POP / ROCK

Love Wins Round One

A Superior Court judge in Washington state has granted Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, an injunction against the release of a song he recorded before his death in 1994. Love and the two remaining members of the band Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, are facing off in court over control of a studio recording of the song, a 45-track boxed set and ultimately over the legacy of the grunge band itself. “The fight is over control of Nirvana,” said Warren Rheaume, attorney for Grohl and Novoselic, who want to release the song as part of the box commemorating the 10th anniversary of the band’s album “Nevermind.” Love says the song, known by various names including “You’ve Got No Right” and “On the Mountain,” is not necessary for the box’s success. A trial is set for Dec. 31, 2002. According to court papers, Love is trying to dissolve Nirvana L.L.C., the corporation formed by the partnership between the two sides, which requires that any proceeds from the corporation’s assets be split equally among the three.

White House Salutes Black Music

President Bush paid tribute to black music Friday by staging a White House gospel concert before an audience of artists ranging from James Brown to the Four Tops. In recognition of Black Music Month, he signed a proclamation and singled five artists out for special honors: gospel singer Shirley Caesar, gospel TV host Bobby Jones, jazz singers Lena Horne and Nancy Wilson, and jazz vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. “You trace the roots of black American music,” Bush said, “you arrive at the same place--with a people held in bondage, denied schooling and kept away from opportunity. Yet out of all that suffering came the early spirituals, some of the sweetest praise ever lifted up to heaven. In those songs, humanity will always hear the voice of hope in the face of injustice.”

TELEVISION

Hollywood Embraces Ellroy

Noir master James Ellroy, whose “L.A. Confidential” was turned into a critical and commercial feature film hit in 1997, is resurfacing--on three fronts. USA Network has just signed a deal with director Robert Greenwald (“Steal This Movie”) to produce “James Ellroy’s Los Angeles,” a miniseries running between six and 12 hours expected to be seen in September 2002. The project will weave together fictional and real-life characters, a la “Ragtime,” tackling topics such as the early movie pioneers and the Zoot Suit Riots through the prism of the writer--a native Angeleno currently living in Kansas.

“We won’t jump over the hot spots and do the Reader’s Digest version,” Greenwald maintains. “James puts a different lens on a scene--he doesn’t seem to breathe the same air the rest of us do. It’s risky, of course--but those projects are often the most successful. Two years ago, who would have characterized ‘American Beauty,’ ‘Traffic,’ ‘The Sopranos’ as ‘mainstream’?” Greenwald first met Ellroy in the mid-1990s and optioned his next book sight unseen. He’s now turning “My Dark Places”--Ellroy’s investigation into his mother’s murder--into a feature film for Myriad Pictures, to start shooting late this year. Assisting Greenwald is Bill Stoner, a retired homicide detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. who was instrumental in reopening the still-unsolved case. Stoner and fellow detectives also are seen chewing over grisly crimes with the writer at the Pacific Dining Car in the documentary “James Ellroy’s Feast of Death,” which premiered on the BBC last month. Director Vikram Jayanti (co-producer of “When We Were Kings”) is now seeking U.S. distribution.

MOVIES

Allen Jazzes Up California

To promote DreamWorks’ Aug. 10 release of “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,” Woody Allen is taking to the road, playing his clarinet in three West Coast jazz clubs and introducing screenings. The filmmaker will be joined by banjoist Eddy Davis & His New Orleans Jazz Band, the group with which he plays most Mondays at Manhattan’s Cafe Carlyle. The concerts, serving up blues and ragtime, will be held at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle (Aug. 2), Yoshi’s in Oakland’s Jack London Square (Aug. 3), and the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles (Aug. 7). Though Allen previously toured Europe in 1996, this is his first swing out West. Does this represent a change of heart for the famed Hollywood-basher? “My wife likes to go to California every now and then,” Allen said. “I can take it or leave it. But I can play jazz anywhere.” Wife Soon-Yi and daughters Bechet, 2, and Manzie, 1, will accompany him. Profits from the performances will go to local nonprofit music organizations.

It’s Payback Time for Disney

Back in April, Disney announced that drive-in theaters could not play “Pearl Harbor” until this weekend--more than a month after its May 25 opening. When the film’s grosses didn’t meet expectations, however, the studio quietly changed its stance and made the film available. Jon Walker, president of United Drive-In Theatre Owners, told USA Today that his theaters were offered a “combo package”: “Pearl Harbor” plus “Atlantis: The Lost Empire.” Many owners accepted the package, but many booked “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and, then, “The Fast and the Furious” instead. “I’m still mad at Disney about it,” says Jim Lipuma, owner of two Pennsylvania drive-ins, who spearheaded the protest. “But I did run it for one week for the customers who wanted to see it on the big screen.” Disney had no comment.

QUICK TAKES

Mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer will replace Denyce Graves in the opening concert of the Los Angeles’ Philharmonic’s summer Hollywood Bowl season on July 10. Graves canceled her appearance due to medical reasons. The program will still feature arias from Bizet’s “Carmen” and songs by Gershwin. . . . “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie,” the award-winning television film that featured the late Jack Lemmon in his last starring role, will be rebroadcast Monday at 9 p.m. on ABC. KCET’s “Life and Times” will air an hourlong documentary on the actor at 9 tonight. . . . The first American public screening of “Apocalypse Now Redux,” the new director’s cut of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic, will be at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater July 20 at 7:30. . . . Responding to rumors that they are looking for a new actor to play the character of James Bond, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli confirmed that Pierce Brosnan is their choice for the the next film--and the foreseeable future. . . . The 15th season of Last Remaining Seats winds up July 11 with a screening of the Spanish-language “Santa”--heralded as Mexico’s first “talkie”--at the Palace Theater, 630 S. Broadway, L.A. The film’s star, Lupita Tovar, will be the guest of honor. . . . A newly restored version of “Citizen Kane” will be released as a double-disc DVD on Sept. 25. The 60th anniversary collector’s edition will include the behind-the-scenes story of how newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst lobbied to stop production of the film.