Daily News from New York, New York • 33

NEW YORICS 15 WEDNESDAY JQXRSltt992! 7 Hem After his brush with painting, he's up and off the canvas "IT Jr. By DAVID HINCKLEY Daily News Staff Writer JOHN MELLENCAMP IS back arid he says he's happy about it a sentiment obviously shared by his fans, who have bought all the seats for his show tomorrow at Byrne Arena and most of the seats for a second show Friday. A few months past his 40th birthday, still a smoker and now a grandfather, Mellencamp isn't the classic candidate for a long arena tour, which he has already preceded with a promotional tour of radio stations. Around 1988, 1989, in fact, Mellencamp himself talked like he didn't care if he ever saw another amp or did another soundcheck in his life. The main problem then was a divorce a sticky one, which seemed to boil Mel-lencamp's once-legendary who-cares attitude back to the surface.

Rock 'n' roll was going nowhere, he'd say, and the country isn't far behind. So he retreated to a new outlet, painting, and almost incidentally to music, which led to what many consider his best album, the sometimes weary, sometimes bitter-edged "Big Daddy." He deliberately did not promote it, choosing to lie low until late last year, when he completed the simpler, happier "Whenever We Wanted." "I was caught up for a while with a lot of self-destructive behavior and attitude," says Mellencamp. "But I see now that if you make something out of a bad time, you're better for it. OPI THINK GOOD THINGS 1 1 come out of bad situa-U tions. 'Big Daddy' is the best record I ever made, 'Jackie Brown' is the best song I've ever written.

I'm real happy I spent so much time painting." So he stayed inside himself a lot not turning, for instance, to other people's music. "I tried Marky Mark, but it didn't work," be says. He cracks up laughing. "No, really, I like Marky Mark. I think he's my favorite guy in rock 'n' roll right See MELLENCAMP page 40 "BIG DADDY: Hoosier rocker (and new granddad) Mellencamp says he hopes to limit his tour to 120 dates, iip an E)m Ftaa Sqjme bv By KATHLEEN CARROLL Daily News Movie Critic 4 i 1 I t-' rm k.

i the mainland offers them the best hope for the future. 'What's out asks a child in "Daughters of the Dust," Julie Dash's visually enchanting movie. "Life, child the beginning of life," responds an older member of the family. Dash focuses on these vibrant descendants of West African slaves as they prepare to abandon the post-Civil War retreat of their beloved ancestors. Their plan is to start a new life by migrating to the North.

But the family matriarch, 88-year-old Nana Peazant, fears that they will forget their African heritage once they are caught up in the new industrial age. The movie concentrates mainly on the women in the family, and it's clear from watching these beautiful women in their Sunday white dresses that their close family ties and their "connection" with Africa are the source of their obvious pride and special dignity. "You ain't goin' to no land of milk and honey," Nana warns her son Eli. She's right, of course, and what makes this impressionistic movie so poignant is that the audience knows what lies ahead for the Peazants a hostile New World where black families, in particular, are bound to experience tough times. In a series of gently lyrical tableaux, Dash captures the rich traditions of this Gullah family, their oral sagas and their religious beliefs.

It's difficult to decipher their fractured English at first But one soon becomes intrigued by such characters as Yellow Mary, who, played by the strikingly attractive Barbara-O, has returned from working as a prostitute in Cuba Scorned by almost all of her relatives but Nana, this "mint" woman is finally welcomed back into the family in a ritual of reconciliation that offers everyone the spiritual comfort they need to face the challenge of the modern world. DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST. Cora Lee Day, Kaycee Moore. Directed by Julie Dash. At the Rim Forum.

Time: 113 mins. No Rating. DT THE SUMMER OF 1902, A time when America still seemed like the land of opportunity. The Peazants, an African-American family, live on the Sea Islands, a serene paradise off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. Cut of from the mainland by water, they have been able to maintain the customs of their ancestors, who were first brought here as slaves to work on the plantations.

They even speak their own form of broken English, called "Gullah" or "Geechee." But although it's hard to see why anyone would leave such an island paradise, they, too, are convinced that REQAL: Kaycee Moore as Haagar Peazant MARILYN DECK PHANTOM OF THE MOVIES Jl.