POPPIN’ PURPLE: Stone Temple Pilots, whose lead...

POPPIN’ PURPLE: Stone Temple Pilots, whose lead singer, known just as Weiland, hails from Huntington Beach and Orange Coast College, have made a name for themselves. Their new album, “Purple,” sold 252,000 copies last week and enters the nation’s pop chart at No. 1 on Saturday. . . . The group plays at Irvine Meadows on July 17. Their opening act will be Wiskey Biscuit, from Huntington Beach. Its drummer is Weiland’s younger brother Michael.

BY THE SCORE? You know it would be silly to try to count the fish in a sea. Or is it? There’s a divers’ meeting tonight at the Orange County Marine Institute in Dana Point to prepare for the Great American Fish Count, July 1-14. . . . Its purpose is to identify and count the variety of sea life. It was started up the coast at Channel Islands National Park two years ago but now has divers involved up and down the coast. Organizer Gary Davis hopes to increase public awareness of marine life.

Y’ALL COME: It might get a bit crowded, but Little Richard urges: “Everyone in Orange County should come to my show and hear some good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll.” He’s at the Coach House Sunday (OC Live!) . . . . The 61-year-old singer, the self-proclaimed “originator, architect and emancipator of rock ‘n’ roll,” will play dates on the Rolling Stones tour this summer. He says of the two shows he’ll do Sunday: “It’s going to be a toe-tapper, and we’re going to make their big toes shoot up in their boots.”

DIAL-A-SMITH: Opponents of Steve Smith’s proposed “bikini bar” in La Habra decided one good way to rattle him was to call him on the phone to protest their concerns. Only problem is, Steve Smith lives in Fullerton, not La Habra. And Judy Smith, the wife of a La Habra Steve Smith, is seething at the flood of calls: “Open a bikini bar? Give me a break. That’s not what Mormons usually do.” . . . At least something came from the calls: Steve and Judy Smith have joined the protest against the bar.