POP/ROCKAwaiting Final Rest: Courtney Love can’t seem...

POP/ROCK

Awaiting Final Rest: Courtney Love can’t seem to find a place for the ashes of her late husband, Kurt Cobain. Love, lead singer of the rock band Hole, said she couldn’t meet a demand for a $75,000 tombstone and $100,000-a-year security costs at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Seattle. “I don’t have that kind of money, and Kurt didn’t have that kind of money,” she said. Love said she was rejected at Lake View Cemetery, where martial-arts movie star Bruce Lee and his son, Brandon, are buried. “Their reason was that they already had their hands full with Bruce Lee and Brandon being buried there, and they couldn’t take on another celebrity,” said Dean Mathiesen, Love’s personal assistant. Cobain, lead singer for the Seattle-based grunge rock group Nirvana, committed suicide in April, 1994.

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Michael Seeks Freedom: British rock superstar George Michael, who once called his record contract with Sony “professional slavery,” is negotiating a “divorce.” Sony confirmed Tuesday talks to hammer out a financial settlement were under way, but a spokesman for the artist said, “Nothing is signed, nothing is confirmed.” Industry sources suggest Michael will be the first signing for DreamWorks SKG, the new media empire set up by billionaire music mogul David Geffen with pals Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. One industry source told Reuters a deal was expected by the end of next week. According to reports, Sony would be in line for a $40-million release fee, in the region of $30 million for a greatest hits album, and a 4% royalty on any future recordings. Sony officials in New York were unavailable for comment because of the July 4 holiday.

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Ike & Jeanette Revue?: Ike Turner returns to his roots with a new husband-and-wife duo. The 63-year-old bandleader and former husband of pop star Tina Turner married Jeanette Bazzell on Monday night. The 1988 feature film on Tina Turner’s life, “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” portrayed Ike Turner as a womanizer who beat her and abused drugs as the blues-flavored rock music of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue climbed the charts in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Ike Turner’s own book, “Takin’ Back My Name,” is due in September. “He’s taking it from Tina and giving it to me,” said Bazzell, 32, who will use the name Jeanette Turner.

LEGAL FILE

Embroiled Burt: The William Morris Agency is suing Burt Reynolds for failing to pay $140,000 in commissions. Reynolds has defaulted on an agreement to pay the agency $5,850 a month, according to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week. Neither the agency’s lawyer, Ronald Fine, nor Reynolds’ representatives could be reached for comment. Reynolds, 59, star of the now-defunct CBS sitcom “Evening Shade,” had pleaded poverty when he sought a court reduction of his $15,000 monthly child support payment to ex-wife Loni Anderson. The couple reached a settlement in December for an undisclosed amount.

MOVIES

Film Buff Bash: Sylvia Sidney, Ann Miller, Ricardo Montalban, Mel Torme, Richard Fleischer and Gloria Jean will be among the special guest stars at Cinecon, the Annual Conference of the Society for Cinephiles, taking place Aug. 31-Sept. 4 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Among rare films to be screened in 35mm are 1930’s “Part Time Wife,” 1932’s “The Painted Woman,” 1926’s “The Brown Derby” and a newly restored print of Valentino’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1920). Meanwhile, the first Palm Springs International ShortFilm Festival has been scheduled Aug. 10-13 at the Springs Theater at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

QUICK TAKES

The family of blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan has settled its lawsuit over his death in a 1990 helicopter crash for an undisclosed sum. . . . Johnny Mathis will be inducted into the “Wall of Fame,” honoring performers who have sold more than 100,000 seats at the the Greek Theatre, this morning at 10. The ceremony is open to the public. . . . To get first shot at the upcoming book “Boy Wonder: My Life in Tights,” visit the Shrine Expo Center on Sunday. Author Burt Ward, who played Robin on the 1960s TV series “Batman,” will be there from 1 to 5 p.m. to sign copies.