Radio stations throughout the country jumped the gun this holiday weekend

to start playing the new Pearl Jam single "Given to Fly" nearly a

month before the song was supposed to be released to radio. Los Angeles

trendsetter KROQ got the ball rolling last Wednesday;

Washington, D.C.'s WHFS was still airing the song as late as Monday

morning. There is as yet no word from Epic Records about whether the

company will file a cease and desist order. . .

Bad Religion singer Greg Graffin wants to help out budding scholars. The Ph.D. candidate has established a $3,000 grant for the high school or college student with the most innovative research proposal in the areas of cultural or physical sciences. The award will be presented in early summer of 1998. Interested parties should send proposals to Michele Ceazan at 137 W. 14th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011 ... In other Bad Religion news, the band has been announced as the headliners of next summer's Vans-sponsored skate/punk Warped tour ... Rhino Records has announced a unique high school course created to coincide with Black History Month entitled "Black History of Music: Songs of a People." The course, developed in conjunction with NetNoir Online and Borders Books & Music, aims to "illustrate the great contributions that African-Americans have made to American history, while instilling pride in all students about African-American music as an integral part of American culture." The course packs will be distributed to more than 10,000 schools across the United States. The label has also created a $10,000 college scholarship called "The Black History of Music Scholarship," which will be granted based on an essay contest ...

KLF pranksters Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have revived their previously retired music careers for the sake of celebrating the millennium. Calling themselves 2K, the "What Time is Love" creators have released a single entitled "***K The Millennium," as well as launched a website for fellow time travelers "having trouble dealing with the impending doom of the millennium"... At the same time the reunited Yes is wrapping-up their current tour, Roger Dean, the artist responsible for much of the band's memorable cover art and who also stamped is unique style on the cover of Space Needle's last album, 1996's The Moray Eels East the Space Needle, will launch a show of his album art at the San Francisco Art Exchange (Dec. 13-31) ... California power/flower-pop band Suncatcher will finally release their self-titled debut (Feb. 24), more than a year-and-a-half after what was to be their debut, Owflower, was yanked from release schedules at the ninth hour due to copyright problems with the Beatles-sampling "Little Stevie Wonder/ Strawberry Fields Forever"... Oxford, England's Swervedriver might be hoping three's a charm when they release 99th Dream on Feb. 24, after two failed U.S. major-label deals ...

Sonic Youth, currently working on an album expected out in '98, delivered mesmerizing performances of such new songs as "Karen Koltrane" and "Proud Marie" and "Sunday" at New York's Avery Fisher Hall Friday night. A New York Times critic described the set as "cold, drilling, profoundly disturbing."...Slow Death In the Metronome Factory (Jan. 20) is the name of an upcoming compilation of post-modern rock featuring ambient and subtly psychedelic songs from international acts such as Wallstar, Pram, Critters Buggin', Perfume Tree, Electric Company and Ui ... The latest budget compilation from punk label Fat Wreck Records, Fat Music Vol. III, features exclusive tracks from NOFX, Good Riddance, Lagwagon and Propagandhi. Also featured on the album are songs from Screeching Weasel, Bracket, No Use For a Name, Dickies, Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, Swingin' Utters and Snuff ...

Finally, jailed Death Row Records CEO, Marion "Suge" Knight, currently serving a nine-year prison term for a parole violation, was slapped with an additional 18-month sentence this week stemming from his involvement in a fight, according to an Associated Press report. The brawl, which occurred in the lobby of Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel just hours before rapper Tupac Shakur was murdered, was the same incident that originally landed Knight in jail on a parole violation dating to a 1992 assault conviction. The additional sentence comes from a judge who ruled that the brawl was also a violation of a 1994 firearms trafficking conviction. The sentences will run concurrently, adding just six months to Knight's term.

(ATN's Senior Writer Gil Kaufman compiled this report.)

[Mon., Dec. 1, 1997, 9 a.m. PDT]