SEEDS OF SUCCESS: Korn has scored the No. 1 slot on the pop charts, as the alternarockers' Follow the Leader sold 268,000 copies in its first week.
SICK BAY: Leo DiCaprio on the mend after knee surgery to fix old damage done playing hoops, his camp confirms.
STUNT CASTING: The producers of American Psycho, the project Leo bailed on this week, soliciting fan suggestions as to who should play the lead.
CASTING ADD: As of today, Christian Bale was the No. 1 write-in pick. He had the part before Leomania set it.
EVERYBODY'S A CRITIC: The man accused of harassing Howard Stern thinks the radio host is harassing him through his on-air comedy bits, a psychiatric report states.
HOWARD ADD: Stern's new late-night TV show will draw a "mature-audiences only" rating starting with Saturday's broadcast, the CBS Television Stations Group confirms.
FRIGGIN' A: A slightly cleaned-up Goodfellas also to carry a TV-MA rating for its CBS debut September 13.
NURSERY NEWS: Lionel Richie and wife are new parents to a baby girl, Sofia, born Monday, it has been announced.
CAREER PATH EXAMINED: Chevy Chase to play fill-in radio host on a local Big Apple radio station next week. He'll sit in for Partridge Family alum Danny Bonaduce.
FAIR WARNING: Magic Johnson to return to late-night TV...as a guest on The Tonight Show September 9.
BIG GUNS: Saturday Night Live enlisting Cameron Diaz to host its 24th season opener September 26.
SWINGIN' HBO's Rat Pack biopic watched by 4 million people Saturday night--its third-highest-rated original TV movie ever.
SUICIDE? Ex-Animals singer Eric Burdon, in his memoirs, says a poem he found by Jimi Hendrix's bed indicated the rock legend's 1970 death was by his own hand.
TITANIC YEAR: Music sales up 12 percent for the first half of 1998, powered by the likes of the Titanic soundtrack.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: Beck pulling out of Silicon Planet, a four-city technology/music touring exhibit. The "Loser" guy didn't know tickets would be available to the public, his agent says.
LENDING A HAND: George Michael mulling a benefit concert as a way to fulfill his court-ordered community service sentence for a lewd-conduct bust, his lawyer tells SonicNet.
HOT WATER? Deep Purple singer Ian Gillen under investigation for allegedly hitting a security guard with a mike at a concert in Michigan this month.
UP NORTH: Toronto Film Festival unveiling a slate of 311 films. The Red Violin, with Samuel L. Jackson, to open the big event September 10.
BACK TO WORK: Two-plus years after his stroke, Kirk Douglas, 81, to costar in Sundowning with Dan Aykroyd, Daily Variety says. For more casting news, see Dotted Line.
SECOND-HAND DOPE: A journalist tells the New York Post he got a contact high during an interview with Willie Nelson.
MEGA-GRANNY: Liz Taylor now a great-grandma, thanks to granddaughter Leyla who gave birth last week, USA Today says.
HE'S LEGAL! Ex-Home Alone kid Macaulay Culkin turns 18 today.