THE HYPE ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY... CELEBS GATHER ON HALLOWEEN TO READ A SAMPLING OF EDGAR ALLAN POE.

Byline: - Rob Lowman

Poor Edgar Allan Poe. It seems that the great American writer only gets noticed around Halloween, even if, as the late poet Allen Ginsberg noted, ``Everything leads to Poe.''

At least producer Hal Willner has given the master of the macabre his due with ``Closed on Account of Rabies,'' a lavish reading of some of Poe's best-known works complete with the appropriate eerie sounds and atmosphere.

``Rabies'' will make its West Coast premiere on All Hallows' Eve at UCLA's Royce Hall under Willner's direction.

If you asked Willner - who has produced records by Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed among others - where the show's title came from, he'll tell you that he's wanted to call an album ``Closed on Account of Molasses,'' which was a sign hung out by W.C Fields playing a shopkeeper in the movie ``It's a Gift.'' Willner never found any takers for the title, but when he began working on a recording of the Poe project back in 1997, a news item came out saying Poe had died of rabies and not alcoholism as was popularly believed. Willner just seized his chance.

That off-the-wall creative thinking is typical of Willner, who has created tribute albums to Nina Rota, Kurt Weil, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus and the music of Walt Disney's animated films (``Stay Awake''). Calling them tribute albums isn't doing justice to the imaginative arrangements or pairing of material, like Los Lobos doing ``I Wanna Be Like You'' from Jungle Book or Sinead O'Conner singing ``Someday My Prince Will Come'' or Suzanne Vega's a capella version of ``Stay Awake'' and a rather twisted ``Heigh Ho'' by Tom Waits. Some of the other artists taking part in the tributes include Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards and Henry Rollins.

``Rabies'' was first performed in New York in 1995, then in 1998 and 1999. The CD version has a diverse group of readers, including Christopher Walken doing ``The Raven,'' Iggy Pop performing ``The Tell-Tale Heart'' and Gabriel Byrne taking on ``The Mask of the Red Death.''

Wednesday's performance is still an ongoing production. ``It's a little strange with what the last two months has been,'' says Willner. ``And doing a show like this we wondered how appropriate it was. But I figured if you can't read Poe on Halloween ...''

Though Willner says that the original idea for the show was not his, ``I embrace projects where I can learn along.'' And to that degree he delved deeper in Poe's works and promised to have some readings of lesser- known material like ``Angel of the Odd.''

Willner says a lot of things between now and Wednesday might change, but even though Poe is associated with the Gothic, ``we're not going to do the Goth thing'' on stage. ``We're basically doing the living room approach, reading from a chair, a pulpit, a desk - whatever's comfortable.''

``CLOSED ON ACCOUNT OF RABIES''

What: Readings of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, with music. Some of the artists include Chloe Webb, Amanda Plummer, Catherine O'Hara, Peter Stormare, Eric Roberts, Syd Straw, Chris Parnell, Hubert Selby Jr., Wayne Kramer and Harry Shearer.

Where: UCLA, Royce Hall, 405 Hilgard, Los Angeles.

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: $17 to $45; [phone] or online at www.performingarts.ucla.edu and at all Ticketmaster locations.

HONOR AMONG THESPIANS: Nicolas Cage is the guest of honor at tonight's 16th annual American Cinematheque Award dinner at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. It's a sort of lifetime achievement award for those still active in the movie business. His girlfriend, Lisa Marie Presley, is expected to attend, as are Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Franz, Dennis Hopper, Elisabeth Shue and Christian

Slater. Samuel L. Jackson is hosting the ceremony. The semi-formal affair is a fund-raiser for American Cinematheque's year-round film and video programs at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

- Valerie Kuklenski

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) POE

(2) ``CLOSED on ACCOUNT of RABIES''