Cheap Trick

When veteran rock band Cheap Trick headlines the Beach Rock-a-Thon in Wildwood today at a special concert sponsored by the Block That Rocks chain of nightclubs, its members will enjoy a homecoming of sorts. "We lived in Philly in 1971 and '72," said guitarist Rick Nielsen. "We really liked Philly, although we hardly ever worked. " Nielsen, along with bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos, who then called themselves Fuse, moved to Philadelphia from their native Rockford, Ill., at the behest of Robert "Stewkey" Antoni.

When it comes to Cheap Trick, don't call it a comeback. Call it a triumph in marketing. The power pop godfathers - they are among the headliners of Sunday's Y-100 Fez-tival - are being embraced by a whole new audience that learned about the '70s from the film Dazed and Confused. As alt-rockers from the late Kurt Cobain to Billy Corgan were going public with their fandom and citing Cheap Trick as an influence, it's still pretty hard to imagine bands like Nirvana, Green Day, or Fez-tival participant Matthew Sweet existing without their '70s counterparts.

There's much to be said for bands that have no problem looking goofy. Take Cheap Trick and OK Go, who sold out the Theatre of Living Arts on Wednesday night. Back in the day, Cheap Trick's silly caps and hammy, humorous lyrics made them dangerous - the better to sneak in infectious power pop. OK Go? They're the dippy quartet whose homemade videos - posed on treadmills, disco dancing in their backyard - made them YouTube sensations. They could slip sprightly melodies and gorgeously crooned lyrics right by you. Cheap Trick isn't dangerous anymore, but workmanlike.

"This is the biggest Shriners convention I've ever seen," Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman Glenn Phillips declared from the stage of the Waterfront Entertainment Center on Sunday. Chances are most in the sellout crowd at the Summer "Feztival" sponsored by WPLY-FM (100.3) were too young to be Shriners, but many of them showed up in bright red fezes. Listeners were encouraged to dress as wackily as possible for the 20-band fete; the best costumes were rewarded with backstage passes.

This year, my buddy Joe vented his frustration over spending a rain-ruined and overly expensive week at Avalon. At first, I sympathized; I, too, have had the blues after a poor week down the Shore. But then Joe said, "Yeah, I should've taken that 10-day trip to Florida some hotel sent me in the mail. " With these words, my body shook with more tremors than Keith Richards riding on a roller coaster. I discovered that Joe had been exposed to the same marketing ploy I had fallen for two years earlier.

As the clock runs out on the millennium, rock is, well, between itself and a hard place. On the one side you have pre-fab, dancercizing ex-Mouseketeers riding the mall escalator to the top of the charts. On the other side you have the thug-life rappers who long ago replaced Keith Richards as the role model for young, white, would-be rebels. Which is why bands like Cheap Trick and Guided by Voices, who shared a bill Saturday night at the Electric Factory, need to stick together.

Make your summer entertainment plans now. Tickets go on sale this weekend for Philadelphia area shows of some of the pop world's biggest acts. Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z swing through town on August 13 for a double header Citizen's Bank Park. Get your tix on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. Bruno Mars hits the Wells Fargo Center on June 24 with Fitz & the Tantrums . Tix on sale Friday, March 1 at 10 a.m. Also coming to the region (with tickets on sale Friday)

"Star Wars" fans rejoice! After decades of imploring pleas, Lucasfilm will release the original versions of the classic "Star Wars" trilogy - "Star Wars," "The Empire Strikes Back!" and "The Return of the Jedi. " The latest DVDs are versions that premiered in 1977, 1980 and 1983. Over the years, creator George Lucas revised and expanded those films, provoking dismay among fans of the early movies. The new two-disk limited editions will be released on Sept. 12 through Dec. 31. Each set will include commentary by Lucas and by crew and cast members.

MOSCOW - Security forces have foiled a Chechen-linked plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, state television reported Monday in a broadcast likely to boost support for Putin's bid to regain the presidency. Other candidates immediately questioned the timing of the report, which comes days before Sunday's presidential election and as Putin and his United Russia party face unprecedented protests after a scandal-marred parliamentary election in December. The Communist Party candidate called the assassination report a "cheap trick.

The summer season at Penn's Landing promises to be just as hot as the weather. James Brown, Cheap Trick, Marcia Ball and 21 other performers will Jam on the River. Nanci Griffith, the North Mississippi All-Stars, and others will express themselves at the Independence Blue Cross-WXPN Singer/Songwriter Weekend. Jam starts on May 26, running from noon until 9 p.m., and will wrap up May 28. Tickets for all performances are $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Singer/songwriter concerts will be July 21 and 22, and tickets are $5 in advance, $10 at the gate.

Make your summer entertainment plans now. Tickets go on sale this weekend for Philadelphia area shows of some of the pop world's biggest acts. Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z swing through town on August 13 for a double header Citizen's Bank Park. Get your tix on Thursday, Feb. 28 at 10 a.m. Bruno Mars hits the Wells Fargo Center on June 24 with Fitz & the Tantrums . Tix on sale Friday, March 1 at 10 a.m. Also coming to the region (with tickets on sale Friday)

MOSCOW - Security forces have foiled a Chechen-linked plot to assassinate Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, state television reported Monday in a broadcast likely to boost support for Putin's bid to regain the presidency. Other candidates immediately questioned the timing of the report, which comes days before Sunday's presidential election and as Putin and his United Russia party face unprecedented protests after a scandal-marred parliamentary election in December. The Communist Party candidate called the assassination report a "cheap trick.

If you're not sold on the revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies by the time Bernadette Peters walks onto a lonely, red-lit stage on Broadway and gives desperate life to the torch song "Losing My Mind" - if that remarkable rendition doesn't seal the deal, well, there's nothing else to be done. But then, you've probably already bought into this polished, eye-poppingly designed production of the 1971 classic about aging stars of the old follies who come to their first and last reunion at the theater where they triumphed.

CASEY ANTHONY is a monster. And everyone knows it except 12 confused citizens of Florida and a few criminal-defense attorneys looking to get on CNN - even if the justice system has denied her the official title of child killer. As surely as O.J. Simpson plunged a knife into his ex-wife, Caylee Marie's mother guaranteed she wasn't going to see her 3rd birthday. The evidence, though circumstantial, was powerful. The fact that the jury failed to connect the logical dots is an indictment of our system.

Bally's Atlantic City, Boardwalk at Park Place, 609-340-2000, ballysac.com. The Trammps/Harold Melvin's Bluenotes, 9 tonight and tomorrow (Grand Ballroom), $30. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, 1 Borgata Way, 609-317-1000, theborgata.com. Caesars Atlantic City, Boardwalk at Arkansas Avenue, 609-348-4411, caesarsac.com. Usher, with Akon, 8 tonight (Boardwalk Hall), $127-$29.50. Eric Benet, 8 p.m. Sunday, $65, $50 and $45. Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, 777 Harrah's Blvd., 800-342-7724, harrahsresort.com.

C HRISTINA AGUILERA 's boyfriend, Matthew Rutler , was released from jail yesterday, hours after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Christina was in the car with him and reportedly was bombed out of her mind. Los Angeles County sheriff's 24/7 spokesman Steve Whitmore said Rutler, 25, was stopped near the Sunset Strip after he burned rubber and fishtailed - a/k/a where the Rutler meets the road. Rutler's blood-alcohol content was 0.09 - slightly above the legal limit.

If any rising Philadelphia rock band would seem to have it made in today's topsy-turvy music business, it would be Free Energy. Led by singer Paul Sprangers and guitarist Scott Wells, the band was a breakout hit this year at the influential South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. The Fishtown quintet's fresh take on the clean, classic-rock crunch of 1970s acts such as Cheap Trick and T-Rex has drawn deserved attention both nationally and at home. Six weeks before its first album, Stuck on Nothing , came out on CD, the band made its TV debut on Late Show With David Letterman . This summer, Free Energy toured the United States and played giant festivals in England and Japan.

For artists who work in clay, creativity can involve as much muscle power as Eureka!-style inspiration. Rarely has this been more effectively demonstrated than in a video about Jun Kaneko called The Fremont Project. The video is an especially compelling element of a traveling exhibition of Kaneko's art now at the Reading Public Museum. In fact, there are two 20-minute videos in this show of 39 sculptures, paintings, and drawings. In one of them, Kaneko speaks. In the other, no one does, yet the creation story is so artfully revealed that words are superfluous.

When word broke earlier this year that Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger had formed a power-pop supergroup with Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos, former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha, and Hanson singer Taylor Hanson, the reactions ranged from incredulity to downright disbelief. But Tinted Windows' self-titled debut provides proof that, no matter how unlikely the grouping might seem, there's method to its madness. "We kind of expected that reaction," says Schlesinger, while cooking dinner for his family on Martha's Vineyard.

At the end of Def Leppard's show Tuesday night, lead singer Joe Elliott offered the audience at the Susquehanna Bank Center a deal: "Don't forget about us, and we won't forget about you. " It was a moment of unusual vulnerability for a band whose most fervent pronouncements generally involve the word rock. But gratitude was the order of the night. Def Leppard, Poison, and Cheap Trick, who opened a seven-week tour in Camden, don't have much in common except paunches and power ballads.