Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Musical Debut: “If Keanu Reeves can do it, why not [Steven] Seagal?” So wrote the Dallas Morning News’ Tom Maurstad, reviewing Seagal’s debut as a musician Wednesday night--playing guitar and singing before an outdoor crowd of more than 700 at the Dallas Alley. Maurstad found that the action film star “can play guitar, sort of” and “he took enough little spotlight solos to demonstrate a few rudimentary blues riffs.” However, since Seagal “never sang with fewer than two other people,” Maurstad was unable to critique his vocal talents, noting instead that “ ‘Steven Seagal and his band’ proved a strange, inverted experience--with the supporting players as the stars.” Among those supporting players was Levon Helm, an original member of the Band, prompting Maurstad to call Seagal’s performance “the musical equivalent of you or me going out to the driving range with Tiger Woods to hit a bucket of balls.” Seagal’s musical debut--the first of several scheduled U.S. appearances--is among the promotional efforts for his upcoming movie, “Fire Down Below.” The film, opening Sept. 5, is set in rural Kentucky and features a roster of country music stars.

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Oscar Goes to Hollywood?: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has appointed a committee to study a possible move back to Hollywood for the annual Academy Awards, which began at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929 and were last held in the neighborhood in 1960 (at the Pantages Theatre). Academy Executive Director Bruce Davis confirmed Thursday that the academy is “in discussions” with developer TrizecHahn Centers about making Oscar’s permanent home at a proposed TrizecHahn development that includes a 3,300-seat theater adjacent to Mann’s Chinese Theatre. Davis said that the project’s architects were already working on specific design elements to facilitate the annual Oscars, and that the academy now needed to study the costs of such a move and “to see if we can afford that venue.” The development--now being referred to as the Hollywood-Highland Project--is scheduled for completion in 2001. Next year’s Oscars, meanwhile, are set for the Shrine Auditorium, while negotiations are continuing with the Music Center as the site for 1999 and 2000.

MUSIC

Salary Dispute: A salary dispute between the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a musicians’ union has forced the cancellation of the 75-member orchestra’s rehearsals and is threatening the opening of the company’s season. The Lyric, which has sold out almost all of its performances for the ninth straight season, was scheduled to open Sept. 20 with a production of Verdi’s “Nabucco,” starring Samuel Ramey. Negotiations broke down earlier this week over increases in salaries and benefits. Lyric management has proposed a three-year contract with a 4.5% increase in wages and benefits, but union officials want 11% increases to bring pay in line with the earnings of musicians at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The Lyric’s proposal, meanwhile, includes expanding the company’s season by a week to 25 weeks beginning with the 1999-2000 season, while the union wants three additional work weeks added over the next three years.

TELEVISION

Keenen’s Search: Almost a month after the launch of his late-night talk show, Keenen Ivory Wayans is looking for a few good men--and women--to help out with the show. Whimsical ads saying “The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show is on the lookout for producers, associate producers and talent executives” appeared in Thursday’s Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety. A spokeswoman for the show said that the search was indicative of the “ambitious nature” of the program and its growth and was not due to rumors of staff turnover or production difficulties. One of the ads had the heading: “Now hiring: Non-Wayans family members.”

POP/ROCK

Sharing His Blues: Grammy-winning bluesman John Lee Hooker is set to open his own blues club--John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom Room--in San Francisco on Oct. 3. Hooker, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, lives in nearby Redwood City. “When I ain’t working, I’ll be there,” Hooker told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I’ll greet the people and play the blues.” Fellow blues musicians Buddy Guy and B.B. King also have their own clubs; in addition to his Universal CityWalk venue, King has a second club in Memphis, and Guy’s club is in Chicago.

QUICK TAKES

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which mounts the annual Golden Globe Awards, shared its proceeds from those awards on Wednesday by donating a total of $300,000 to groups including the Film Foundation, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Elizabeth Taylor Foundation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library, the Christopher Reeve Foundation and the film schools of both UCLA and USC. . . . Although “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” won’t be back on ABC this season, the series will, of course, live on in reruns. And Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain fans won’t have to wait long--it premieres Tuesday on cable’s TNT, airing Mondays through Saturdays at 4 p.m.