Quick Takes: Radiohead, meet Colbert

Stephen Colbert meeting Radiohead is such a special occasion, a regular episode of “The Colbert Report” wasn’t sufficient.

The Comedy Central show will air its first hour-long episode Monday, when Colbert sits down with the British rock group. They’ll perform four songs.

Colbert said in a statement: “I look forward to meeting the Radioheads and leveraging their anti-corporate indie cred to raise brand awareness for my sponsors.”

—Associated Press

Musical split in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Peter Nero and the Philly Pops have agreed to end their six-year business partnership, according to documents filed Monday in federal bankruptcy court.

The organizations merged operations in 2005 with the goals of streamlining administrative tasks and sharing financial operations and some staff, but the relationship was strained almost from the start.

The orchestra in recent months has called the Pops a financial drain, while the Pops has said it was not receiving an adequate share of advertising and marketing funds to promote its concerts and attendance suffered as a result. Nero’s attorney, Paul Rosen, said after a bankruptcy court hearing in April that his client and the Pops were being treated like “an orphan stepchild.”

Under terms of the agreement filed Monday, the Philadelphia Orchestra will pay $1.25 million to the Pops no later than June 30, the official separation date. The money will go toward the Pops’ operations.

—Associated Press

New host for ‘Dateline NBC’

Lester Holt will replace Ann Curry as host of the newsmagazine “Dateline NBC” when it begins its 20th season on Friday.

The “NBC News” veteran will keep his job as co-anchor of the “Weekend Today” show. Curry, who is now co-anchor with Matt Lauer of the first half of the weekday “Today” show, was judged too busy for both jobs.

Holt has been a valued utility player at “NBC News,” doing multiple reporting and anchoring jobs at the network and sister station MSNBC. He said people often come up to him wondering when he takes time off.

—Associated Press

Ovation Award nominees named

The nominations for the 2011 Ovation Awards were announced Monday night, with the Reprise Theatre Company receiving 17 nods, the most of any theater company.

The Ovations are L.A.’s biggest theater award, recognizing excellence in stage productions around Southern California.

The most recent season featured a total of 388 productions from 173 companies, according to the L.A. Stage Alliance, which organizes the Ovations. The award ceremony is scheduled to take place Nov. 14 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A.

Reprise’s production of “Kiss Me, Kate” at UCLA received 14 nominations, the most of any show. The new musical “Venice,” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, picked up 11 nominations, while “A Wither’s Tale” by the Troubadour Theater Company, got 10 nods.

Among the notable acting and directing nominations are Raul Esparza in “Leap of Faith” at the Ahmanson Theatre; Phylicia Rashad for directing “A Raisin in the Sun” at the Ebony Repertory Theatre; Laurie Metcalf for “Voice Lessons” at the Matrix Theatre; and French Stewart, who received two nods for “Voice Lessons” and “Watson” at Sacred Fools.

—David Ng

Martin joins top e-book sellers

George R.R. Martin, author of the “Song of Ice and Fire” series, has become the 10th author to sell 1 million Kindle e-books, Amazon said Monday.

The popular series, the basis for the HBO series “Game of Thrones,” consists of five books: “A Game of Thrones,” “A Clash of Kings,” “A Storm of Swords,” “A Feast for Crows” and “A Dance With Dragons.”

Series have helped propel many of the authors who have already sold 1 million Kindle e-books, including James Patterson, Charlaine Harris, Stieg Larsson, Lee Child, Suzanne Collins, Michael Connelly and Janet Evanovich. Kathryn Stockett, author of “The Help,” is the only one to sell a million Kindle e-books with a single title.

—Carolyn Kellogg