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

MOVIES

AFI to Host a Global Film Fest, Tribute to Lee

AFI Fest 2001 will honor Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Sense and Sensibility”) on Nov. 9 in Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. The evening is presented not only by the American Film Institute but also by the Skirball Cultural Center, which will host a retrospective of Lee’s work Nov. 5-7 on its home turf.

Running Nov. 1-11 in theaters along Hollywood Boulevard, AFI Fest 2001 will serve up 114 films from 37 countries. It opens with the U.S. premiere of Sony Pictures Classics’ “Dark Blue World,” a Czech box-office hit by Jan Sverak. Henry Jaglom’s “Festival in Cannes” and Faye Dunaway’s “The Yellow Bird” are also in the lineup.

The event winds up with the world premiere of “Monster’s Ball” from Lions Gate Films--the story of a prison guard who gets involved with the wife of a man he just executed. Directed by Marc Forster, it stars Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Peter Boyle, Heath Ledger and Sean Combs.

TELEVISION

‘Bogey’ Leaving KCBS

KCBS-TV consumer reporter Mike “Bogey” Boguslawski, who has emphatically informed viewers that he is in their corner as they seek his help in dealing with consumer issues, is leaving the station. KCBS general manager David Woodcock said he had a talk with Boguslawski on Thursday, and that the decision was made due to a change in direction and attitude for the KCBS news operation in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Boguslawski’s last day was scheduled to be Friday. “We parted company, and we wish him well,” Woodcock said.

POP/ROCK

What’s in a Name? A Lot, These Days

New York metal band Anthrax is getting some unwanted publicity now that the disease is in the news.

Lead singer Scott Ian compared it to being a bandleader named Freddie Hitler during World War II. And in a statement, reported in Rolling Stone, the band jokingly suggests that it change its name to something friendlier, such as “Basket Full of Puppies.”

“Before the tragedy of Sept. 11, the only thing scary about Anthrax was our bad hair in the ‘80s and the ‘Fistful of Metal’ album cover [in which a spiked fist plunges through a man’s face],” the band said. “Now

But the musicians refuse to change the band’s name. And there have been no cancellations for the Operation Enduring Metal Tour, in which they’ll appear with Judas Priest. Scheduled to launch in early 2002, it includes a Jan. 18 concert at Universal Amphitheatre.

Rapper Sentenced for Parole Violation

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced rapper ODB to two years in prison for violating probation by leaving a Pasadena drug rehabilitation center. Authorities said they expect he will serve his time at the same New York prison where he is already incarcerated for a drug conviction.

The singer, whose real name is Russell Tyrone Jones, had been ordered into the Pasadena facility after pleading no contest to making terrorist threats to customers at West Hollywood’s House of Blues in 1998 and to being a convicted felon in possession of “body armor” in 1999.

THE ARTS

Carnegie Hall Honors One of Its Champions

New York’s Carnegie Hall is dedicating its entire 2001-02 season to the memory of Isaac Stern.

Among the events honoring the master violinist, who died last month at age 81 of complications from heart surgery, is a memorial tribute on Oct. 30. Itzhak Perlman, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Joseph Kalichstein, Jamie Laredo, Sharon Robinson, Yefim Bronfman and Pinchas Zukerman will be among the musicians performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms and Dvorak.

In 1960, Stern led the effort to save Carnegie Hall from demolition and soon after was appointed president of the board of trustees, a post he held for four decades.

QUICK TAKES

Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour has canceled his U.S. tour, which was to have included a performance Thursday at UCLA. Refunds: (310) 825-2101.... CBS will air “Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special,” taped at Madison Square Garden last month, on Nov. 13. NBC, meanwhile, will air Jennifer Lopez’s first concert special on Nov. 20.... To celebrate his 100th guest on his Bravo series “Inside the Actors Studio,” host James Lipton will participate in a mock interview conducted by Will Ferrell, who parodies him on “Saturday Night Live.” The retrospective hour, at 8 p.m. Sunday, will be followed by an interview with Gene Hackman.... Pianists Martha Argerich and Nelson Freire have postponed their Monday recital at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion because Freire has developed tendonitis. The concert will be rescheduled later this season.... To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Los Angeles’ historic, newly restored Orpheum Theatre, the Los Angeles Conservatory is holding an Oct. 20 dance benefit.... “Fabric of a Man” collected the most nominations for the annual Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Theatre Awards, receiving 12 nods, followed by “The Lion King” and “For the Love of Freedom,” with 10 each. Winners will be announced Nov. 12.... Kirk Varnedoe, chief curator of painting and sculpture at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art--a high-powered position in the world of contemporary art--is resigning to teach at Princeton University.