That Millennium Can Wait

What’s all this excitement about the approaching millennium? Depending on which year you believe opens the next thousand--2000 or 2001--there are still a few New Year celebrations left in this millennium. Let’s enjoy them.

Music has been the heart of human celebration for thousands of years, and this New Year’s musical events are especially era-conscious: Dixieland from the ‘20s, swing bands of the ‘30s and ‘40s, rock from the ‘60s and disco from the ‘70s.

So pick your party.

NAME ENTERTAINMENT

Join the tribe crying for “Mandy� when Barry Manilow croons at the Universal Amphitheatre, $35-$125, (818) 622-4440; or call for rowdy blues and ballad diva Etta James to “Get down!� as she bares her soul at the Club Caprice, $85-$100, (310) 316-1700. And even though the ‘80s are long gone, Pat Benatar can still hit you with her best shot at the House of Blues, $100-$125, (213) 848-5100.

Or go way back. Remember Three Dog Night? Original members Cory Wells and Danny Hutton will have the Cerritos Center singing “Joy to the World� just before midnight, $50-$68, (800) 300-4345 (after midnight the party continues across the street at the Sheraton Cerritos Hotel with dancing, contests and a buffet, $40).

SWING TIME

You can’t top the Lindy Hop. Swing dancing, that great 20th century invention, continues to be big this year. Grease back your hair and cut a rug with the Jumpin’ Jimes swing band at the Derby, $35-$500, (213) 663-8979. Or head downtown to the Park Plaza Hotel, where the “Swing Bash� hosts the Eddie Reed Swing Band, Jump With Joey (with head swingster Joey Altruda) and other bands playing three ballrooms, $85, (310) 829-0123. No more sophisticated place to swing can be found than the Biltmore Hotel, where the Swing Street big band will appear; $225 includes seven-course meal and beverages, (213) 624-1011.

SLOW DANCING

If the waltz is more your thing, enjoy the “New Year’s Salute to Vienna� with the Pasadena Symphony at the Pasadena Civic. Members of the Los Angeles Classical Ballet will swirl to Strauss in period costume. Afterward, there’ll be a traditional table of Viennese sweets in the Gold Room of the Civic, where you can mingle with the show’s stars and toast the new year, $30-$65, (626) 449-7360.

GET JAZZED

With the 20th century the jazz century, what could be more appropriate than jazz from all eras at the three-day New Year’s Jazz at Indian Wells party, at both the Renaissance Esmeralda and the Hyatt Grand Champion resorts in Indian Wells? Headliners include B.B. King, Maria Muldaur, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and Poncho Sanchez. In addition, there’ll be a host of Dixieland, swing, bop and salsa bands and dancing, dancing, dancing, Dec. 29-31, $40-$250, (562) 799-6055.

Jazz clubs? Singer-pianist-lyricist Dave Frishberg at Catalina Bar & Grill, $95 includes dinner, (213) 466-2210; pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba at Jazz Bakery, $65-$110 includes buffet and beverages, (310) 271-9039; keyboardist Don Randi and Quest at the Baked Potato, (818) 980-1615; saxophonist Teddy Edwards at the Club Brasserie in West Hollywood’s Bel Age Hotel, no cover, (310) 854-1111.

ROCK ON

Rock, that other great music of the later 1900s, is represented by Coal Chamber plays the Whisky, (310) 652-4202; Duke Daniels and Harry Dean Stanton sing the blues at the Mint, $20, (213) 954-8241; Russian rockabilly band the Red Elvises play Rusty’s Surf Ranch on the Santa Monica Pier, (310) 393-7437; and the Atomic Punks play an “early� Van Halen tribute at the Country Club in Reseda, (818) 881-7081.

And it’ll be hard to believe the lizard-king poet of L.A. rock has been dead more than 25 years, or dead at all, when Doors tribute band Wild Child helps to break on through to ’98 at the Normandie Casino, (310) 352-3428.

TO THE BEAT

Samba lovers can follow singer-dancer Christiane Callil and her hot Brazilian revue, the Girls From Impanema, as they open the evening with 8 and 10 p.m. shows at Atlas Bar & Grill, $50-$55, (213) 380-8400, then move on to Crustacean Restaurant in Beverly Hills, where they’re scheduled to ring in the new year with an 11 p.m. show, $100, (310) 205-8990. Johnny Polanco y su Conjunto Amistad add salsa to your new year at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City; $75 includes buffet, (310) 450-8770.

Other music: Cross-cultural guitar team Strunz and Farah play Billboard Live, $40, (310) 274-5800. Cabaret singer Karen Mason is at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; $125 includes dinner, (213) 466-7000.

MAKE ‘EM LAUGH

That proving ground for late-night television comics, the Laugh Factory, will host 8 and 10 p.m. shows of late-booked comics, with champagne, party favors and edibles, (213) 656-1336. So too the Comedy Store, (213) 656-6225, and the Improv, (213) 651-2583. The Groundlings comedy troupe presents its annual “Best of the Groundlings� revue on New Year’s Eve at the Groundling Theatre on Melrose, $80, (213) 934-9700.

ET CETERA

All kinds of music, and a sizable crowd a la Times Square, can be found on Pine Avenue in Long Beach, where they close down the street, open the doors to the area’s restaurants and bring bands to an outdoor stage. This year, Little Richard and the Coasters headline, $30, (562) 437-7700. Nearby on the Queen Mary, seven rooms host seven bands--from rock to country--and partygoers will have the run of the ship. There’ll be fireworks as well, $49.98, (562) 435-3511.

Or if you’re looking for a more serious crowd, Picasso, Hemingway, Arthur Miller and Anais Nin are on the guest list when the Actors’ Gang hosts a “Paris Soiree,� with the Actors’ Gang Theatre turned into Gertrude Stein’s salon. All kinds of libations and activities (Tarot readings!) are planned, and attendees are encouraged to dress in costume, (213) 465-0566.

The spirit of the ‘60s will prevail when the Alliance for Survival hosts a party to celebrate what would have been John Denver’s 54th birthday at the Church in Ocean Park in Santa Monica. Global Harmony will provide the musical entertainment, and a comedy revue featuring Paul Krassner and others is on tap, $30 includes buffet, (310) 399-1000.

The Hollywood Athletic Club will host a gaggle of that most modern dance master, the deejay, in its various rooms, upstairs and down, and dancing will continue until 3 a.m., (213) 962-6600.

A couple of the more unusual ways to spend New Year’s have become downright traditional in the last several years. Keith & Margo’s Murder Mystery Train rolls out of Union Station bound for an overnight stay in San Diego and a “whodunit� along the way, $398, (818) 785-7700. And the eighth annual Welcome in the New Year hike, a moderate, sometimes candlelit, stroll into the Santa Monica Mountains, finds nearly 300 people getting close to nature, while enjoying a view of the city lights, as 1998 begins. (310) 479-5717 (call after Dec. 10).