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

MUSIC

Leaving San Diego: Jung-Ho Pak, artistic director and principal conductor of the San Diego Symphony since it emerged from bankruptcy in 1998, plans to leave at the end of the 2001-2002 season, saying other professional commitments have made it increasingly difficult to meet the demands of the job. Orchestra executives credit Pak, who had been associate conductor at the time of the symphony’s demise in 1996, with helping to rebuild the institution both artistically and financially. It previously reported ending the 1999-2000 season in the black.

POP/ROCK

Salute to Brian Wilson: Radio City Music Hall will stage a tribute to former Beach Boy Brian Wilson on March 29, with Elton John, Paul Simon, Matthew Sweet, Heart and Aimee Mann & Michael Penn among the performers scheduled to appear with Wilson. Phil Ramone is the music producer. The event, which will include a complete performance of the Beach Boys’ 1966 “Pet Sounds” album, will be taped for televising on TNT this summer.

Century’s Top Songs: Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” and Bing Crosby dreaming of a “White Christmas” topped the 365 “Songs of the Century” announced Wednesday by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Assn. of America. The list is designed as a way for schools to teach the appreciation of how music is developed, the two groups said in a joint statement. Rounding out the Top 10: Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” Don McLean’s “American Pie,” the Andrews Sisters’ “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” the original cast recording of “West Side Story,” Billy Murray’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” and Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”

MOVIES

Charity Auction: Mel Gibson’s sword from the movie “Braveheart” sold for $170,000 during an auction Tuesday that raised a total of $406,850 to help millions of African children fighting the AIDS virus. The bullwhip used by Harrison Ford in all three of Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones” films brought in $74,000. And Liam Neeson’s light saber used in “Star Wars: Episode 1--The Phantom Menace” sold for $54,000. All of the items were sold at Sotheby’s in an auction initiated by Neeson, who founded “Movie Action for Children” through the United Nations Children’s Fund.

TELEVISION

Tube Notes: Actor Taye Digs (“How Stella Got Her Groove Back”) has signed for the remainder of the season on Fox’s “Ally McBeal,” for a total of 10 episodes. . . . Showtime has ordered 20 more episodes of its controversial series “Queer as Folk,” about a group of gay people in Pittsburgh. . . . “Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat,” a children’s book by Amy Tan that is set in ancient China, is being turned into an animated series for PBS. It will premiere in June on https://pbskids.org, then will move to the public-television network in September. . . . The new NBC sitcom “The Fighting Fitzgeralds,” starring Brian Dennehy, fared reasonably well in its premiere Tuesday, with an estimated 13.6 million viewers.