Quick Takes: ‘SoCal’ to connect daily

KCET-TV is expanding “SoCal Connected.”

The former PBS station, now based in Burbank, will make the award-winning news and public affairs show a nightly offering starting Oct. 29.

Anchored by Val Zavala, “SoCal Connected” grew out of “Life & Times,” KCET’s nightly local news show that aired from 1992 to 2001, followed by “California Connected” for five seasons and then “SoCal Connected.” Until now, “SoCal Connected” has been weekly.

Last season, “SoCal Connected” won a public service award from the Los Angeles Press Club for exposing lavish spending at the Housing Authority of Los Angeles.

KCET left the PBS fold at the end of 2010 after disputes with the network over dues payments and other issues.

—Scott Collins

Adele’s ‘21’ is back in Top 10

Last week, Adele’s “21” album dropped out of the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 ranking of national album sales for the first time since it was released last year. Its exit after 78 weeks bordered on the unnecessarily cruel: That left it tied with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

This week, however, “21” returned to the Top 10. At 79 weeks, the recording now boasts the greatest longevity in the Top 10 in 50 years.

Overall the album has sold 9.76 million copies in the United States and appears certain to pass the 10 million mark before the end of the year. The Recording Industry Assn. of American has certified only 108 albums as having sold 10 million or more copies in the U.S.

The album that spent the longest time in the Top 10? The original 1956 Broadway cast album for “My Fair Lady,” which logged 173 weeks.

—Randy Lewis

SCI-Arc adds the Gehry Prize

Architect Frank Gehry has made a new donation to the Southern California Institute of Architecture and, as a result, the school is naming a new prize after him.

SCI-Arc said that Gehry, a trustee of the school since 1990, and his wife, Berta, have made a $100,000 donation. The money will go toward the establishment of the Gehry Prize, which the school said will be awarded annually to the best thesis projects in the Graduate Thesis Weekend.

Gehry, 83, is a winner of the Pritzker Prize, the highest honor on the field of architecture. He was born in Canada but has lived most of his life in Los Angeles.

—David Ng

Exhibit honors female rockers

Lady Gaga’s famous meat dress has made its way to the nation’s capital, along with Loretta Lynn’s song about “The Pill” and other relics from music history.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is opening a national tour for an exhibit about pioneering women in rock ‘n’ roll, tracing the evolution of women artists and their influence on music. “Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power” opens Friday at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

More than 250 artifacts represent 70 women who were “engines of change and creativity,” curator Meredith Rutledge-Borger said, each helping to redefine who could make rock ‘n’ roll. It features items from Cher, the B-52s, Donna Summer, Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.

Other items date back to jazz singer Billie Holiday, blues recording artists Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey and country music trailblazer Mother Maybelle Carter.

—Associated Press

Mets pitcher plans kids books

R.A. Dickey’s next pitch is for kids.

The New York Mets’ ace has a deal with Dial Books for Younger Readers for three books, the publisher announced Thursday. The books will include a children’s version of his memoir “Wherever I Wind Up,” scheduled for next fall.

He also plans two picture books, one of them called “Knuckleball Ned.” Dickey himself specializes in throwing knuckleballs.

—Associated Press

Dr. Dre is top hip-hop earner

The most profitable man in hip-hop hasn’t released a solo album since 1999. But as anyone who follows the record business knows today, the real racket is in corporate partnerships and investments, and that’s what vaulted the producer Dr. Dre to the top of Forbes’ hip-hop earners list.

Dre hauled in $110 million before taxes in 2011, the vast majority of it coming from a $300-million investment in his Beats by Dre company by the telephone-tech company HTC.

No. 2 on the list is Diddy, who similarly made the vast majority of his 2011 fortune from his stake in Ciroc Vodka. He was followed by Jay-Z and Kanye West.

—August Brown