LOUVRE AGREES, IN PRINCIPLE, TO 'CODE' FILMING.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Scenes for the film adaptation of the best-selling novel ``The Da Vinci Code'' can, in principle, be shot in the Louvre in Paris, but details must still be worked out, the director of the famed museum said Friday. ``There is really a very strong desire to see the movie for this book, which has world renown, shot in the Louvre,'' Henri Loyrette told France-Inter radio. ``It is a yes in principle from our side.''

Filming the adaptation of Dan Brown's mystical thriller is expected to start in June, with Ron Howard directing. Tom Hanks will play Robert Langdon, a symbologist in a race to solve the murder of an elderly member of an ancient society that has protected dark secrets since the early years of Christianity.

``The Louvre is not a movie set. It is a place that receives an average of 20,000 visitors a day,'' Loyrette said. ``That means the times really available for shooting are Tuesday closing day and nights. All the discussions must be taken up with the production because it is bound to be a busy shoot, with financial implications,'' he said. Talks should begin very soon, he added. Sony Pictures has said it plans to release the film May 19, 2006.

AIR AMERICA RETURNS: Air America, the progressive talk format that fizzled on the local airwaves last year, will be back on the dial at 1150 AM starting Feb. 3. The dial shuffle is the final piece of a three-part format flip that also sees sports-talker XTRA-AM (690) trading places with standards KLAC-AM (570).

Radio giant Clear Channel, which owns the stations, adopted the Air America format in almost two dozen cities with significant ratings growth. The format's lineup of Al Franken and Janeane Garofalo, among others, is positioned to balance conservative talk leader KFI-AM (640).

``The people in Los Angeles are about to get a double-barrel of a gun-totin', meat-eatin' liberal,'' said Ed Schultz, the network's midday host. ``I can't wait to give the listeners in L.A. a chance to push back against the conservative noise machine that has crowded the talk-radio airwaves for too long.''

The new call letters for 1150 will be KTLK (K-TALK).

``The fact is that talk radio has never been bigger,'' said Roy Laughlin, Clear Channel's regional vice president. ``Couple that with all the dissatisfaction surrounding the current administration and you have the perfect platform to launch a progressive talk station.''

DIZZYING SCHEDULE: U2 will kick off its 2005 world tour March 28 at the San Diego Sports Arena, according to Billboard. Kings of Leon will open the first leg of the trek, for which tickets will go on sale Jan. 29. The Vertigo Tour, named after the first single from U2's new album, ``How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb,'' will be officially announced Monday.

Even though its kickoff is still two months away, Vertigo will likely be the top-grossing trek of 2005. Conservative estimates put the tour's gross potential at $225 million to $250 million from as many as 110 shows.

The first North American leg will run for two months and wrap in Boston in late May. Afterward, the tour will hit some 30 European stadiums, beginning June 10 in Brussels. The band will stay in Europe through mid-August, then return to North America for another run of 30 arena dates.

GRAMMY LINEUP: Speaking of U2, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees will perform at the 47th annual Grammys next month, along with Green Day, Alicia Keys and Tim McGraw. The Irish rockers are nominated for three Grammys, including best rock performance by a duo or group with vocal, best rock song and best short form music video. Green Day is nominated for six Grammys, Keys is nominated for eight, and country superstar McGraw is nominated for two. The Grammys will be held Feb. 13 at Staples Center.

JEN VS. BRAD: Close friends of Hollywood's most prominent couple likely are going through that awkward stage of deciding where their loyalties lie, but Web surfers seem to know where they stand. Screensavers.com reports that demand for Jennifer Aniston images is twice as high as that for Brad Pitt. Aniston requests are up 170 percent since the Jan. 8 announcement of their legal separation. Pitt's appeal has risen 69 percent in the same period. Screen-saver orders for Angelina Jolie, rumored by some to have come between them, are reported up 63 percent.

TSUNAMI HISTORY ON DVD: The National Geographic Society is releasing a new title on DVD Tuesday, ``Tsunami: Killer Wave,'' with part of the proceeds going to relief efforts in South Asia. The DVD focuses only on past events, such as the 1946 Hilo wave that claimed several schoolchildren and the 1933 wave that struck Taro, Japan. Experts discuss the nature of tsunamis, and survivors tell their stories. NGS says the Dec. 26 disaster and its aftermath will be the subject of another DVD now in production and expected to be released in the spring. ``Tsunami: Killer Wave'' will be available at DVD retailers as well as through nationalgeographic.com.