Blue Moon

Demonstrating a rare ability to be all things to all men and women, the new Blue Moon Dining House (1621 Aliceanna St.) in Fells Point has a trendy espresso bar and serves a full country breakfast (biscuits and gravy, omelets and pancakes) every day till 4 p.m.Co-owner Peggy Conner describes the food as "home-style American," with the specialties being creamed soups and homemade baked goods like cinnamon rolls and pies.Hours are 6: 30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 7: 30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 7: 30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays.

Look to the sky! For one moment tonight near midnight the moon will be "blue." If the sky is clear and you see it, don't expect strange happenings. Don't expect it to actually be the color blue, though that has been known to happen now and then.The blue moon does not provoke weird behavior in man or beast, any more than any other full moon. Astronomically, it is as predictable as the rising of the sun. Meteorologically, it can signal disaster. As a metaphor, it describes two conditions: absurdity and rarity.

The eclipse is back.After going without a total lunar eclipse visible from Maryland back yards during all of 1994 and last year, stargazers will be treated to a pair of them in 1996. Clean up the lawn chairs and set aside the evenings of April 3 and Sept. 26.No solar eclipses will be visible here in 1996, and only two will be visible anywhere. Both are partial, and you'll have to spend the mortgage money to get somewhere to see them.The rest of the year, is sprinkled with celestial events visible here (weather permitting)

ON MONDAY there will be a rare celestial event: the second new moon of the month. It makes me think of the blue moon -- the second full moon of a month -- that appeared around this time last year.It was then that I fell in love for the second time in 30 years. I let my scarred heart be scooped up by a lovely, brown-eyed girl of grace and charm, just like in the old song.At the start of our relationship, she told me something I didn't know: "Once in a blue moon, two people fall in love," she said.

MOTLEY CRUEMotley Crue (Elektra 61534)Because the singer is usually seen as being a band's "face," a lot of folks figured that Motley Crue would be a mess without Vince Neil. Well, they figured wrong. As "Motley Crue" makes plain, new singer John Corabi has no trouble taking Neil's place,delivering "Hooligan's Holiday" with an authoritative howl and slipping a nasty snarl into the sound of "Hammered." But the album's real strength is the noise made by the rest of Crue. From the Aerosmith-style boogie of "Welcome to the Numb" to turn-it-up crunch of "Power to the Music," this band has never sounded stronger.

TWICE IN A BLUE MOON Patricia Moyes Henry Holt 192 pages. $19.95. Patricia Moyes' series featuring Scotland Yard Superintendent Henry Tibbett and his wife, Emmy, is one of the longest-running in mystery fiction -- the first installment, "Dead Men Don't Ski," was published in 1959. But "Twice in a Blue Moon," Ms. Moyes' long-awaited new novel, is a rather bland affair, not the perfect puzzler fans have come to expect from this author.Instead of using her usual third-person voice, Ms. Moyes has innkeeper Susan Gardiner narrate the story.

It's riddled with improbabilities. Its tone careens between serious, adult comedy and campy send-up -- and never really figures out which way it wants to go. It uses stereotypes of gay men and Japanese executives, which some viewers will rightfully find offensive.The verdict: "Chance of a Lifetime," which airs at 9 tonight on WMAR-TV (Channel 2) is a pretty good made-for-TV movie.It's pretty good despite the flaws, because the broad strokes of the story are interesting and the casting of Betty White and Leslie Nielsen as lovers is almost inspired.

A blue moon isn't blue. Nor is "once in a blue moon" so rare, since it happens once every 2 1/2 years.Nonetheless, blue moons persist, in both song and saying. And tonight's blue moon has the added twist of landing on New Year's Eve -- so don't, as songwriters Rodgers and Hart would have it, let it see you standing alone.For all its lyrical nature, though, a blue moon is actually just a quirk in the calendar. Any time a month gets two full moons, the second one is called a blue moon.That happens because it takes about 29 1/2 days to complete a phase of the moon, from new moon to full moon.

Tonight, normally sensible people will be transformed into besotted fools. Screaming will fill the streets. Cars will crash. Passions will bubble over. Babies will be conceived.Ah yes, another New Year's Eve. But -- merry revelers, beware -- this in not a typical year's end.There will be strange goings-on aloft, beginning precisely at 4:43 p.m. with the rise of a full moon. It will be the second such in a month -- in astronomical lingo, a "blue moon."Coincidentally, that same moon will be making its second-closest pass around the Earth since 1912, tugging the planet's crust and narrowing the gap between New York and London by several yards.