TAKE 5: WHAT'S HAPPENING : THEATER.

One for the money: Elvis is dead. Long live Elvis.

Yes, the King may or may not be resting quietly 'neath the green, green grass of Memphis. But his spirit is alive and twitching this weekend at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the all-Elvis tribute ``Blue Suede Shoes'' continues through Sunday.

Choreographed by Dennis Nahat, the Cleveland San Jose Ballet production isn't simply a pastiche of top-40 ditties, kitschy costumes and sweaty, sideburned look-alikes. Pelvises thrusting, the show tracks the arc of Presley's career using three colorful male stand-ins: one cool, one nerdy and one street-tough. Bouncing from the Beat Generation to the Me Generation, it charts America's pop-culture odyssey from youthful optimism to ... well, you remember the '70s, don't you?

``Blue Suede Shoes'' even conjures the memory of Presley in his final, tragic incarnation as a puffy Las Vegas showman. But that doesn't detract from the all-shook-up exuberance of what costumer Bob Mackie has described as ``a love letter to the times.''

Performances are 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $15 to $60. For information, call [phone].

?13- Reed Johnson

music

Valley full of blues: The blues comes to Woodland Hills on Sunday when longtime duo Jeannie and Jimmy Cheatham with their Sweet Baby Blues Band and r&b sax honker Joe Houston headline the Valley Cultural Center's annual free concert at Warner Park.

Also featured will be Flattop Tom and his Jump Cats, a versatile seven-piece band that specializes in jump blues, r&b, swing and Chicago blues.

Jeannie Cheatham has performed with Big Mama Thornton and was featured with blues crooner Sippie Wallace in the award-winning PBS-TV special ``Three Generations of the Blues.''

She has also toured with Cab Calloway and such blues legends as T-Bone Walker, Joe Williams, Al Hibbler and Dinah Washington.

Jimmy Cheatham was director of the jazz program at the University of California, San Diego, where he also taught jazz improvisation and music history. He continues to lead the school's award-winning jazz ensemble.

A disciple of rockin' blues, Houston has played to cheering crowds since 1949, when as a teen he left his native Austin, Texas. Getting his first break with Joe Turner's band, Houston later jammed with Nat (King) Cole, Ray Charles, Cannonball Adderly and Clarence (Gatemouth) Brown.

Warner Park is at 5800 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills. Show time is 4 p.m. Information: [phone].

?13- Fred Shuster

film

Shades of a hit: I don't know what's more disturbing: illegal space aliens among us on Earth, or the fact that everyone on the planet will be wearing dark suits, skinny ties and sunglasses for the rest of the year.

At least ``Men in Black'' deserves its pop phenomenon status. Clever yet cool about it, concise but bursting with comic detail, it's a sci-fi satire of the highest order. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are a perfect pairing as top-secret veteran and rookie terrestrial immigration officers. They employ the most outlandish devices and poker-faced attitudes to police the variety of visitors from outer space who find our world - and, alienatingly, New York in particular - a nice place to visit.

Director Barry Sonnenfeld balances the tone of ``Men in Black'' somewhere between the outrageous gimmickry of his ``Addams Family'' movies and the wry, deadpan smirkiness of his last feature, ``Get Shorty.'' The result is comic gold, decked out in nifty black.

?13- Bob Strauss

dining

License to toast: Finally, after waiting for the wheels of bureaucracy to turn since February, Kings Road 818, 14502 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, has now received its wine and beer license.

Consequently, the fine dishes of chef Darin Eckermann may now be accompanied by wine.

In the current menu, the holdover potato-crusted sea bass on a butternut squash puree ($14) has 10 whites from the list as possible accompaniments.

They range from a '95 Ecco Domani pinot grigio ($18) to a '95 Chalone chardonnay ($32).

Other chardonnays from the list of seven include Morro Bay and Brander '95s ($20 each) and both a Wheeler '93 from Sonoma and a Penfold's '96 from Australia ($22 each).

I would have thought there'd be more sauvignon blancs, but owner Lawrence Casperson picked only one for his short starter list, a '95 Brander ($20). There is, however, a pinot blanc from Chalone ($26), the only white from the '94 vintage.

Eckermann also cooks ginger-honey glazed salmon ($12.50), herb-rubbed halibut with polenta ($13.50) and a kebab of shrimp, scallops and fish ($14) that would presumably go well with most of these whites.

As for red wines to pair with red meat, poultry or hearty pasta dishes, Casperson chose nine that run from a Chilean merlot for $18 to a Heitz '92 cabernet for $28.

The DeLoach '94 cabernet on the list is, by the way, a marvelously rich, fruity, full-flavored wine.

And if you bring your own special bottle to Kings Road 818, it'll only cost you $5 corkage.

Reservations: [phone].

?13 - Larry Lipson

television

`Oz' behind bars: Far from the Emerald City, HBO's ``Oz'' is a highly intense, fictional look at an undisclosed maximum security prison.

The eight-part series, which begins in a special 11:30 p.m. Saturday time slot and then moves to its regular one-hour 11 p.m. Monday spot, is being produced by HBO and might very well do for drama what ``The Larry Sanders Show'' has done for comedy.

Tom Fontana, the brains behind the widely acclaimed series ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' and ``St. Elsewhere'' before that, has written each episode. If ``Oz'' can muster even half the quality of a show like ``Homicide,'' then ``Oz,'' which stars Ernie Hudson, Rita Moreno, Tony Musante (``Toma'') and B.D. Wong, will be worth staying up for.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1) Ramon Thielen, left, Raymond Rodriguez and Matthew Gasper represent three sides of Elvisness in the nTew ballet ``Blue Suede Shoes,'' on stage through Sunday at the Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

(2) Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham and their Sweet Baby Blues Band headline a free concert 4 p.m. Sunday at Warner Park.

(3) Will Smith continues his summer blockbuster streak as a government agent trying to keep extraterrestrials under wraps in ``Men in Black.''