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

POP / ROCK

They’ve Got the Wedding Bell Blues

The absence of Sinead O’Connor has forced the organizers of the Wotapalava tour to abandon their plans to tour 18 U.S. cities this summer. Billed as the first openly gay U.S. festival tour, the lineup included the Pet Shop Boys, Rufus Wainwright and Soft Cell. The mercurial O’Connor, who has identified herself as a lesbian in the past, pulled out shortly after tickets went on sale last month. She has also announced plans to marry a male Irish journalist, adding an odd twist to her relationship with the tour. Wotapalava, which included an Aug. 4 show in Irvine, will now be postponed until next year. Full refunds are available at the point of purchase. “We have made this decision with the greatest of reluctance,� said Pet Shop Boys member Neil Tennant, one of the tour creators.

Liverpool Honors Hometown Lad

Yoko Ono, widow of murdered Beatle John Lennon, visited the airport named for her late husband Monday and said he would have been “very proud.� “Thank you very, very much for remembering John and for loving John,� Ono said as she introduced the new logo for Liverpool John Lennon Airport. “John always reminded us of the sense of fun in life. I hope the airport will send a great message to all corners of the world.� The logo includes a Lennon self-portrait and the printed line, “Above us only sky,� from his song “Imagine.� Peel Holdings, which owns the airport, has also commissioned a statue of the slain star, in which he’s dressed in a suit and T-shirt, wearing his trademark round glasses. During the ceremony, a scaled-down version of the statue was presented to Ono. The airport will become Liverpool John Lennon Airport when a new terminal opens in the northern English city in the spring of 2002.

THE ARTS

Another Monet for the Getty

The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired a signature painting by French Impressionist Claude Monet, “The Portal of Rouen Cathedral in Morning Light.� The 1894 work, part of a celebrated series of 30 paintings that depict Rouen’s gothic Cathedral of Notre Dame at different times of day, is the only one in a West Coast museum. Purchased privately at an undisclosed price, the painting goes on view today at the museum, where it joins three earlier Monet paintings--a still life, a seascape at sunrise and a work from the artist’s haystacks series.

Time Picks la Creme de la Creme

The first installment in Time magazine’s five-part “America’s Best� series includes Julia Roberts (actress); Sean Penn (actor); Chris Rock (comedian); Tom Ford (fashion designer); Lucinda Williams (songwriter); Philip Roth (novelist); John Stewart (talk show host); Cassandra Wilson (singer); Ang Lee (director); the Roots (rappers); Ira Glass (radio host); Hilary Hahn (young classical musician); Sally Mann (photographer); August Wilson (playwright); DJ Craze (DJ); Martin Puryear (artist); Steven Holl (architect) and Sleater-Kiney (rock band.) “We had to come up with people we were sure were not just one-year wonders, but we also weren’t interested in handing out Lifetime Achievement awards to folks whose best work was behind them,� said Jan Simpson, Time magazine senior editor. “We wanted to catch people at the top of their form.� The package appeared on newsstands Monday. (For more, see Liz Smith, below.)

MOVIES

Latino Films at the Egyptian

The fifth annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, headed by actor Edward James Olmos, will return to Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre for 10 days beginning July 20. Among the 100-plus films, shorts and documentaries to be presented this year: “Sin Huellas� (Without a Trace) by Maria Novaro, “The Woman Every Man Wants� by Gabriela Tagliavini, and “Accordion Dreams� by Hector Galan. As part of a July 28 awards ceremony, the Gabriel Figueroa Lifetime Achievement Award will be dedicated to two-time Oscar winner Anthony Quinn, who died on June 3. He joins a list of past recipients that includes actor Raul Julia (1998), Spanish director Carlos Saura (1999), and Mexican actress Maria Felix (2000). (For more information: https://www.latinofilm.org.)

QUICK TAKES

An estimated 9 million people watched ABC News correspondent John Stossel’s latest special, “Tampering With Nature,� making it the highest-rated program on Friday night. The special had spurred controversy when several parents asked that interviews with their children be excised from the show. . . . CBS is already accepting applications for a second edition of its unscripted race-around-the-world series “The Amazing Race,� even though the first version doesn’t premiere until the fall. . . KLON-FM (88.1) will air highlights of the 23rd Playboy Jazz Festival from noon until 9 p.m. Wednesday. . . Noted choreographer Lucinda Childs joins director Maximilian Schell in Los Angeles Opera’s premiere of a new production of Wagner’s “Lohengrin� opening Sept. 12, conducted by the company’s new principal conductor, Kent Nagano.