POP/ROCKR.E.M.’s Bill Berry: The drummer of the...

POP/ROCK

R.E.M.’s Bill Berry: The drummer of the rock group R.E.M., Bill Berry, has suffered a brain hemorrhage and is expected to undergo surgery in Switzerland, his German agent said Thursday. Berry was taken to a hospital Wednesday night after he felt ill and was unable to complete a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland. Concert promoter Marek Lieberberg said he could not release details on Berry’s condition.

GRAMMY WATCH

Arts Speech Reaction: While widely regarded as a highlight of Wednesday night’s Grammy Awards, Recording Academy President Michael Greene’s impassioned speech urging viewer support for federal arts funding apparently didn’t sit well with CBS, the show’s broadcaster. According to Greene, CBS asked before the show that he not give out the (800) 651-1575 number for viewers to express their arts support, saying it violated the network’s Broadcast Standards and Practices rules. When Greene went ahead with his speech, CBS pulled the phone number off both the TV screen and Greene’s TelePrompTer, he said. “I felt that it was important to give the American people the opportunity to participate in the political process and to let their Congress people know how they felt,” Greene said Thursday. “If this isn’t an issue important enough to buck the system then (nothing is).” Greene, whose lengthy speech marked the Grammy show’s first official “call to action,” said the academy “is required, under our mandate, to bring attention to issues that affect access to the arts and music.” Republican threats to eliminate or severely cut the budgets of agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts fits squarely under that mandate, he said. CBS had no comment on Greene’s charges by press time Thursday. By 2 p.m. Thursday, the arts support number had received an estimated 30,000 calls, 5,000 of which resulted in follow-up action with telegrams sent out to congressional representatives.

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Winner’s Showcase: Cable’s VH1 and MTV will capitalize on Sheryl Crow’s triple Grammy crowning with the premieres of “VH1 Presents: Sheryl Crow in Concert” on Saturday at 9 p.m. (with repeats Sunday at 10:30 p.m. and Monday at 2:30 a.m.) and “MTV Unplugged With Sheryl Crow” on Tuesday at 10 p.m. The half-hour acoustic “MTV Unplugged” special was taped last month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and will be followed by “MTV News Raw--Sheryl Crow,” a 30-minute compilation of Crow interviews. The half-hour VH1 special features Crow--who took home Grammys Wednesday for record of the year, best new artist and best female pop vocal performance--in a concert taped in Florida last October. A different “MTV Unplugged” special, featuring Grammy winner Melissa Etheridge, with a guest appearance by four-time winner Bruce Springsteen, premieres March 21.

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Low Numbers: The music academy, already feeling the heat from members unhappy with its nominations, got more bad news Thursday from the public: Ratings released by the A.C. Nielsen Co. showed that viewership of the Grammy telecast was down nearly 27% from last year and ran second for the night behind ABC. The Grammy telecast was seen in about 11.2 million homes.

MOVIES

Writers Guild Honors: The Writers Guild of America will present its highest annual honor, the 1995 Screen Laurel Award for career screenwriting, to Charles Bennett, who worked with director Alfred Hitchcock on such classic films as “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” and also wrote such films and TV programs as “Black Magic,” “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Bennett will be honored March 19 during the WGA’s 47th annual Writers Guild Awards at the Beverly Hilton. Additional special awards will go to Carl Reiner (Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for career achievement in television writing) and Garry Marshall (Valentine Davies Award for humanitarian efforts).

STAGE

Back to the Coronet: “Forbidden Hollywood” has found an L.A. home at the Coronet Theatre on La Cienega Boulevard. The Coronet was the first venue announced for the revue, but producers had changed their minds when the larger Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills appeared to become available. Then they had to backtrack when the producer of the Canon’s current show, “Shakespeare for My Father,” threatened legal action against the theater if his show was forced out. Previews of “Forbidden” are now scheduled to begin at the Coronet on March 17, with an opening date yet to be set.

QUICK TAKES

Columbia TriStar Television Distribution has canceled its late-night syndicated sketch comedy entry, “The Newz,” due to poor ratings, with the last air date set for April 1. The show aired locally on KCOP-TV Channel 13 at 1 a.m. . . . Anthony Quinn’s wife, Iolanda Quinn, 60, has filed for separation in New York, declaring she was “publicly humiliated” when the 80-year-old actor fathered a daughter with his secretary 18 months ago.