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

POP/ROCK

Selena Trial Twist: Attorneys for the woman convicted of killing tejano star Selena are trying to win a new trial for their client, now serving a life sentence. Yolanda Saldivar’s lawyers argued Monday that she is entitled to have her case reheard because some of the court records surrounding the shooting in 1995 are missing. According to her defense attorney, Patrick McGuire, Texas law dictates that defendants may get a new trial if for any reason they cannot file an effective appeal. McGuire says the lost documents include some of Selena’s financial records that, he contends, are critical to her appeal because they might disprove allegations that Saldivar embezzled money from the singer before Selena was killed. A judge in Houston is expected to rule by Jan. 30 whether the missing files are relevant to the case. A state appellate court then would decide if Saldivar gets a new trial. The later ruling is expected to take at least six months, prosecutors said.

Celebrating King Day: The House of Blues’ annual Martin Luther King Day celebrations kick off tonight when Laker star Shaquille O’Neal receives the club’s “Spirit of the Dream” award during a program hosted by rapper Warren G. and featuring performances by Jeff Robinson and the Brothers Johnson. Thursday at 10 a.m., KCAL-TV Channel 9’s Pat Harvey will host “Drum Majors of the Dream: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” a King Day program with LeVar Burton, Jodi Watley, Loretta Devine, All-4-One and others and award presentations to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Maxine Waters and Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Chicago’s House of Blues will hold a concurrent celebration Thursday with performers including Mavis Staples and rapper Chuck D. Both programs will be broadcast live over the Internet from 10 a.m. to noon at https://www.hob.com. House of Blues founder Isaac Tigrett, meanwhile, was to be recognized today by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference during its 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Dinner at the Westin Bonaventure hotel in downtown Los Angeles but travel conflicts are preventing him from accepting the award, a spokeswoman said.

TELEVISION

Money for Burns: Ken Burns will get $1 million from the Corp. for Public Broadcasting to produce “Jazz,” his next documentary series for public TV. The eight-part, 12-hour series is scheduled for the year 2000. The musicians to be featured include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Glenn Miller, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Burns, whose previous PBS documentaries are “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and “The West,” says jazz reflects “the soul of the country.”

Beam Him Out: Wondering what happened to “Star Trek” veteran James Doohan’s turn on UPN’s sitcom “Homeboys in Outer Space”? Turns out that the powers that be at Paramount (which owns the “Trek” franchise) didn’t appreciate Doohan’s spoof mechanic. The character, called Pippen, provided his services to the two “Homeboys” on the series, not unlike Scotty providing his engineering services to the Starship Enterprise. “It was a parody. . . . It was great,” said Lucie Salhany, president and CEO of UPN. But, Salhany said, letters from Paramount to UPN and to Disney (which produces “Homeboys”) said that “you’re not allowed to parody it. We would love to continue, but Disney chose not to fight with Paramount over it.” Doohan disappeared after three episodes, one of which repeats Tuesday. “Most studios have more attorneys than they do [employees] in their entertainment and production areas,” Salhany said. “That’s why everyone is always suing each other in Hollywood.”

Royal Pitches: Sarah Ferguson, Britain’s Duchess of York, will show up soon on American TV--hawking Ocean Spray cranberry juice. She filmed the 30-second ad in Los Angeles on Monday; it is scheduled to start next week. The debt-laden duchess, who has been holding meetings in Hollywood recently about possibly launching her own talk show, reportedly made about $838,000 for the spot. Her spokesman said she also has attracted “serious interest” from several other U.S. advertisers.

MOVIES

Playing With Mickey: The Walt Disney Co.’s next attraction will open Feb. 21 in Thousand Oaks. Club Disney, billed as “a 24,500-square-foot imagination-powered playsite,” will offer more than a dozen different play environments based on various Disney stories and characters. Admission to the family venue--which will be housed on the Promenade at 120 S. Westlake Blvd.--will be $8 per person (including children), which, Disney officials note, is comparable to the price of adult movie tickets.

CLASSICAL MUSIC

Tanglewood Troubles: Discord is brewing at Massachusetts’ esteemed Tanglewood music festival, where 18 of 22 full-time summer faculty members are protesting the resignation of Richard Ortner, the top administrator at the Tanglewood Music Center, which is based at Symphony Hall in Boston. According to local newspaper reports, Ortner resigned in December, saying he was leaving at the behest of Boston Symphony conductor Seiji Ozawa. Apparently the pair tangled over two upcoming projects and Ozawa asked Ortner to leave. So the faculty members now have written their own letter to symphony management, saying they have “deep concern about the health and creative future” of the Tanglewood center. Ortner and Ozawa both were traveling and could not be reached.