Heads Up: Music and Dance Preview : POP

A look at the initial pop concert offerings for 1998 in Orange County and environs suggests that promoters channeled the ghost of an 18th century Scottish poet in deciding what to book.

That would be Robert Burns, of “Auld Lang Syne” fame. As it stands, pop fans will have little choice but to renew old acquaintances in the months ahead. Do promoters assume that folks here want the comfort of the familiar? Or do rising and cutting-edge acts not care to play here anymore? Of course, it’s very early in the booking game. Pop shows happen mostly on short notice, so newer, more forward-looking acts will probably turn up. But at the moment, we’re aboard the Wayback Machine. Here are the upcoming highlights, by stylistic category:

Rock and Alternative

Long removed from her early ‘80s days as a New Wave Lolita, Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow has passed 30. She’ll bring her oldies to the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana tonight.

There really was a war on, in Vietnam, when War came on the scene in 1970. The L.A. band’s Latin-tinged funk-rock brew remains heady today. It plays Jan. 9 at Twin Palms.

Guitar hero Dick Dale may look weathered, but he plays young, sending out waves of surf-rock energy with his Strat. The O.C. legend plays Jan. 17 at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

Still-valuable alterna-rock graybeards are lined up for January, as the Violent Femmes play the Coach House on Jan. 24 and ex-X member John Doe brings his current band, the John Doe Thing, to Club 369 on Jan. 31. Another ‘80s-vintage worthy, Smithereens’ singer Pat DiNizio, brings his new solo career to the Coach House on Feb. 11.

Seventies hard-rock warhorse Blue Oyster Cult (Coach House, Jan. 27) is moving ever closer to the actuarially estimated day when it really will have to fear the reaper, and Buddy Miles (Jan. 29 at the Galaxy) played with Hendrix, for cryin’ out loud. Days passed, more than days of future, are the in-concert agenda for Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward, but he still looks and sounds fine. He’s back at the Coach House for a three-night stand April 3-5.

Those seeking something fresher might look to the Blue Cafe in Long Beach. On Jan. 19, Mike Martt, a veteran rocker on the O.C./L.A. scene, begins “Song Shop,” a monthly soiree he’ll host featuring a panel of songwriters swapping tunes and chatting--a format that went over nicely during the “In Their Own Words” national tour a few years ago. David Baerwald and Bill Bottrell, key (and now estranged) collaborators of Sheryl Crow on her “Tuesday Night Music Club” album, are among Martt’s guests. The eclectic, buzzed-about L.A. pop-rock band the Negro Problem plays the cafe on Jan. 26.

Country and Roots-Rock

This one’s shaping up as a strong category. Historically minded rock fans might want to check out Bill Haley’s Original Comets tonight at the Foothill in Signal Hill. (Haley died in 1981.) Wanda Jackson, who switched from country music to rockabilly in the 1950s at the behest of none other than Elvis Presley, is at the Foothill on Jan. 17. Lee Rocker, the Stray Cats alum whose strong new album, “No Cats,” puts a varied and personal spin on the rockabilly tradition, plays Jan. 9 at the Galaxy, with the grittily soulful Barrelhouse opening.

Country icon Merle Haggard, one of the best American songwriters in any category, brings what he’s billing as his yearlong “Farewell Tour” to the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, Jan. 12-13. Willie Nelson and Leon Russell, second only to Mickey and Goofy as the famous performing pair you’re most likely to encounter in O.C., play at the Crazy Horse on Jan. 22-23.

Iris DeMent, one of the most appealing country figures on the left-of-Nashville scene, plays Jan. 20 at the Coach House, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds rev it up at the Coach House on Jan. 23.

Dr. John, one of the inventors of the New Orleans R&B; sound, plays Feb. 6 at Twin Palms in Newport Beach, and Freddy Fender, a leading figure in Tex-Mex music, plays the Galaxy on Feb. 14, bringing memorable love ballads that should please the Valentine’s Day crowd.

John Anderson, the best mainstream-country singer of the ‘80s or ‘90s, returns to the Crazy Horse on Feb. 17. Stand by for the redoubtable Tammy Wynette, Feb. 27-28 at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, and stand back for the redoubtable-when-he-wants-to-be Jerry Lee Lewis, Feb. 27 at Twin Palms.

Multicultural Experiences

The Klezmer Conservatory Band revives old Yiddish songs Jan. 17 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. In the only big-venue show announced thus far, Mexican singer Luis Miguel, one of the leading stars in Latino pop, headlines Feb. 26 at the Pond of Anaheim. Altan, the Irish band that is one of the most respected traditional acts in Celtic music, plays March 22 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa; featured is the Gaelic-language singing of founder Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh.