TELEVISIONKing of Ratings: Stephen King’s four-part, eight-hour...

TELEVISION

King of Ratings: Stephen King’s four-part, eight-hour miniseries “The Stand” received the highest Nielsen ratings of any ABC miniseries in eight years--20.3 with a 31 share--for an average audience of 19.1-million people. The network, which said the ratings “exceeded expectations,” is already going into production for next season on another King project, “The Langoliers,” a four-hour miniseries about 11 passengers on a jet who wake from naps to find that everyone else on the plane has disappeared, including the pilot and crew.

POP/ROCK

Still Rolling: They’re not getting older, they’re getting richer. The Rolling Stones sold out two shows at New Jersey’s Giants Stadium in just 81 minutes, said band spokeswoman Fran Curtis. After selling out the Aug. 12 and 14 dates with a top ticket price of $50, the band added an Aug. 15 show, which did not immediately sell out. Tickets for the first two shows went faster than they did five years ago for the group’s “Steel Wheels” tour, which earned the fiftysomething band $65 million. Tickets for the band’s Oct. 19 show in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl go on sale Saturday.

STAGE

Highway to London: The innovative programming of Santa Monica’s Highways Performance Space will be the focus of “Ask the Angels,” a three-week performance festival starting July 12 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London. The festival will look at how California’s artists have addressed issues of cultural identity and the role Highways plays in shaping that work. The festival will feature more than a dozen artists who have performed at Highways, including Marga Gomez, Ron Athey, the Hittite Empire, Mehmet Sander and Tim Miller. The festival was conceived to “help Londoners understand the important cultural dialogues that have begun in Los Angeles,” said festival co-curator Jordan Peimer.

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Traveling School: A Noise Within’s acclaimed production of Moliere’s “The School for Wives” will play three performances, May 25-27, at the Norris Theatre in Palos Verdes. The period comedy, which has been playing to overflow houses, will also continue in repertory at the Glendale theater, where it has been extended through May 29.

THE ARTS

Alpert Creates Awards: The California Institute of the Arts and the Herb Alpert Foundation have announced the creation of the annual Alpert Award in the Arts, which will provide five fellowships of $50,000 each to five artists working in the fields of dance, theater, music, the visual arts and film or video. The awards will go to artists who have demonstrated talent and commitment but who have not yet received national recognition. The first recipients of the award, named for the musician, will be announced in the spring of 1995 in conjunction with CalArts’ 25th anniversary.

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A Gift of Art: France’s culture ministry got a gift from customs officers last week, receiving 202 works of art confiscated while leaving or entering the country illegally during the past decade. The works, unofficially valued by some experts at $2.6 million, included paintings, drawings, sculptures and ancient musical instruments. Among the items were a drawing by Utrillo found in the luggage of a Swiss art dealer on the Paris-Berne train and a 19th-Century painting by British artist David Roberts discovered in an Italian truck. The works of art will be given to museums.

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Housewarming Party: Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, the alternative arts organization formerly housed in a downtown industrial space, will introduce its new 6522 Hollywood Blvd. site on June 10 with “15 Will Get You 20,” a 15th anniversary dance party and fund-raiser. LACE then begins its exhibition program on June 16 with the opening of “Nor Here Neither There,” a multidisciplinary group show curated by artists Charles Gaines, Paul McCarthy, Stephen Prina and Fran Seegul. Other planned events include performance artist Elia Arce’s “Stretching My Skin Until It Rips Whole,” on June 16; “All For You,” a new multimedia performance work by John Fleck, on July 8-10, 15-17 and 22-14; and video installations by Steina and Woody Vasulka, Aug. 4-Sept. 15.

QUICK TAKES

Debbie Reynolds will receive the first annual Liberace Legend Award for her contributions to entertainment tonight in the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas. . . . Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Marvin Gaye and Billie Holiday will be honored at “A Tribute to Black Music Legends,” hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Robert Townsend, on June 2 at the Pasadena Civic Center. Produced by cable’s Black Entertainment Television, the special will air on the cable channel in August. . . . KCAL-TV’s “Live in L.A.” will feature the city’s top radio personalities as guests this week, concluding with Rick Dees of KIIS-FM on Friday.