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

POP/ROCK

Historic Collaborations: Almost three dozen American musicians--including Jimmy Buffett, Joan Osborne and the Indigo Girls--will spend a week in Cuba next month composing new songs in collaboration with Cuban artists. Although U.S. performers have toured Cuba before, a 40-year-old U.S. trade embargo has forbidden them from collaborating on new works. The project, dubbed “Music Bridges . . . Over Troubled Waters,” will culminate with a free March 28 concert at Havana’s 5,000-seat Karl Marx Theater. Among the Cuban artists scheduled to take part are jazz pianist Chucho Valdes and members of the popular groups Maraca and Sierra Maestra. “This is historic,” said attorney Bill Martinez, who received approval for the cultural exchange license last week. The event--organized by San Fernando Valley songwriter Alan Roy Scott, whose nonprofit Music Bridges has masterminded similar projects in the former Soviet Union, Indonesia, Romania and Ireland--follows a thaw between the two countries in recent years and the Clinton administration’s January decision to ease some cultural exchange restrictions of the embargo.

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Weiland Given One More Chance: Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland pleaded guilty in New York on Tuesday to possession of heroin and was sentenced to a conditional discharge that mandates he stay out of trouble for a year, meet with a drug counselor four times a week and successfully complete a Los Angeles drug rehabilitation program. Weiland, who admitted he purchased the drugs last July at a New York City housing project, has also faced several drug arrests in Los Angeles and is on probation while completing an outpatient treatment program.

TELEVISION

Animated Tuesdays: Fox will premiere “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening’s new animated comedy “Futurama” on March 28, with the series airing twice in the Sunday 8:30 p.m. time slot before moving to its regular Tuesday 8:30 p.m. berth on April 6. That’s the same night that Eddie Murphy’s “The PJs” moves to 9 p.m., making for two straight hours of animation on Tuesdays along with “King of the Hill” at 8 p.m. and encores of “King” and “The Simpsons” airing in the 9:30 p.m. spot. Meanwhile, another new animated Fox show, “Family Guy,” will debut in its regular Sunday 8:30 p.m. time period on April 11. And in other Fox news, the network has ordered 25 episodes of its new non-animated comedy “That ‘70s Show” for next season; the show will go off the air following its March 14 season finale, but will return in June with new summer programs.

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Overexposure?: “NewsRadio” star Andy Dick angered University of North Florida officials with a weekend performance at the college that included vulgar language, sexual innuendo and possible nudity. Officials say that about two-thirds of the audience walked out of the show when Dick pulled down his pants during Saturday’s performance, and that police could pursue charges if it’s found that Dick really did expose himself. However, students assisting Dick backstage say he was wearing a body stocking. Describing his show, Dick said: “Hey, it’s not for everybody.”

MOVIES

‘Star Wars,’ the Soundtrack: The soundtrack to the much anticipated movie “Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace” will hit stores in early May, shortly before the film’s May 21 opening. The Sony Classical soundtrack features a new score by five-time Oscar winner John Williams, who composed the soundtracks for all three original “Star Wars” movies. The new score will be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Williams), the same company that recorded the original “Star Wars” score 22 years ago.

QUICK TAKES

Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for Alanis Morissette concerts April 6 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and April 7 at Universal Amphitheatre. Garbage will open the shows. . . . Best actor Oscar nominee Ian McKellen (“Gods and Monsters”) gives his first Internet chat today at 7 p.m. (at https://chat.yahoo.com). . . . Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales will be the first co-host to fill in for Gene Siskel on the syndicated “Siskel & Ebert.” Shales will join Roger Ebert for two weeks beginning this weekend. Siskel is recuperating from brain surgery in May. . . . Sportscaster Bob Costas will revisit his old late-night stomping grounds, NBC’s “Later,” in May, when he tapes new introductions for several weeks’ worth of repeats from when Costas hosted the show from 1988-94. . . . An odd concert pairing taped in San Francisco over the weekend--featuring Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead and teen popsters Hanson--will be cybercast on Thursday at 5 p.m. (at https://www.sonicnet.com).