Daily News from New York, New York • 37

C3 -4 entertainment Fwel ESewBaDs a Maun ff eceinicj; And that is precisely why he shouldn't diminish his ability to lead by running for President cessful life that a reader feels mildly ashamed of any suspicion it's part of a presidential marketing campaign no matter how enthusiastically Powell uses the book as his ship to sail those waters. From a poor but happy childhood in the South Bronx to the magic equilibrium of f- -A it y. AK 7 5 jr 1 -J LIKE DIOGENES WITH his lantern, roaming the planet in search of an honest man, many of Gen. Colin Powell's fellow Americans feel they have spent their lives combing the mountain majesties and the fruited plains in search of a leader who is simply decent and reasonable. Is a little common sense too much to ask? A loving, uncomplicated family life? A civil, caring approach to difficult social problems? Disagreement without ugliness? Thought before speech? Well, Colin Powell doesn't think that's too much to ask, either, and the sense that he personally embraces all those notions, and many more like them, permeates the 613 pages of his new autobiography, "My American Journey." This is not Ross Perot, a huckster who wants us to think the miracle cure-all product we need is him.

There is little reason to doubt, based on both Powell's book and the impressions he has left from previous public moments like Operation Desert Storm, that the general works hard to be precisely the sort of citizen he admires. "My American Journey" is such a solid, feet-on-the-ground chronicle of a suc cifics, however, the Pope takes the same flak as everyone else. Women's groups and gay groups complain that elements of Catholic teaching diminish them. Reporters chuckle over Pope pogs and the multi-million-dollar Pope merchandising industry, while pointing out that historically the Catholic Church will match any institution in history' for hardball backroom politics. Many of the Pope's most devoted followers just flat-out ignore his dictums on, say, birth control.

Colin Powell reached his present plateau largely because of his skill at the art of inclusion, making everyone feel they're on the same side. In presidential-level politics, sadly, that has almost never in American history been possible. The Presidents we see as consensus-builders George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt achieved that stature largely through the healing passage of time. When they walked among us, they were slapped around just like Bill Clinton or Newt Gingrich. In the end, Colin Powell may come to the ironic and bracing conclusion that whatever decency and values he could bring to the process could be lost if he entered it 1 2 PAPAL POWELL? Like the Pope respect; like the Pope-in-practice, leaving the memory of the man at his peak.

If he runs, that's history. Mario Cuomo, on his radio show last weekend, pointed out that running for office "is not like being a general, where you get no insubordination. There is nothing but insubordination when you're a candidate. Every body gets ike (Big ran dd ELte (Up at tadleinray Rock is out as the hall goes B'way linn HINCKLEY CRITIC AT LARGE the military to dizzying walks beside the world's most powerful men, Powell remains a man of common sense and common decency. His no-nonsense military side is bal-' anced by a love of fast cars, a sense of humor and a fond-.

ness for popular music. Ask the average long-suffering American what qualities he or she would like to see in a President, and chances are good the composite will look a lot like the current image of Colin Powell. Which may make this the perfect moment for him not to run. If he steps back now, he's Sandy Koufax or Jim Brown, studio, they were outmaneu-vered by Garth Drabinksy's Li-vent organization. Livent now holds a "memorandum of understanding" (pending a proper lease) to combine the Academy and It looks like the venue will be enlarged to house musical theater.

Lyric into an state-of-the-art theater for musical theater productions. According to Delsener, Livent can "kick us put g. 1 as office, Gen. Colin Powell has he could find himself pilloried. to take a shot.

And they will." In one sense, Powell finds himself in a position not unlike that of the Pope. At a distance, pretty much everyone loves the Pope, and not just Catholics, because they see the best that he represents: faith, decency, a civil and peaceful world. When he gets down to spe on Second Ave. After having lost the Palladium to a disco, and the Ritz to high overhead, the city now suffers from a paucity of midrange funky rock venues. Currently, the sole other space is Town Hall which lacks the grit of a real rock club.

That leaves New York with only smaller rook clubs (like the 900-capacity Irving By JIM FARBER Daily News Staff Writer ri EW YORK IS SOON TO L. I lose one of its best spots VI for pop concerts. The Academy the sole, midsize hall to offer both a mosh-friendly pit and fixed theater seats will no longer house rock shows by next spring, if not sooner. "It's a shame," says Ron Delsener, who promotes shows at the hall. "The place has just enough decadence for rock 'n' roll yet it's also safe." Unfortunately, Delsener recently lost on a bid to continue renting the hall from the organization that holds a 99-year lease on the building the New 42nd Street Project (The not-for-profit "New 42" organization oversees the revital-ization of theaters in the Times Square area.) While Delsener had been negotiating (along with Viacom, the parent company of MTV) to combine the Academy with the adjacent Lyric Theater as a rock hall and multi-purpose (A EVERYONE HAS LEFT THE BUILDING: The bill of fare at the Academy, SUSAN STAV on W.

43d will be changing. Plaza or Tramps) or larger halls like the Beacon the Paramount and Radio City (both in the 5.000 range). Delsener vows he'll find another theater to fill the gap New 42 people say they hae similar hopes. "Once the dust is settled," says organization president Cora Cahan, "wo hope we'll find some kind or role for pop music Oil they feel like it" Delsener says the New 42nd Street people offered him another theater in the area the Selwyn. But the promoter says "it would take $8-9 million to renovate that theater and a hundred years to make that kind of money back." A similar money crunch recently killed hopes of resurrecting the old Fillmore East..