Chestnut Cabaret

As Dr. John finished up "Walk On Gilded Splinters," a woman, a serpent draped over her shoulders, did a ritual dance at the front of the Chestnut Cabaret stage. The snake - yes, it was real - and "Splinters," a moody and mysterious song, brought into focus more than the New Orleans-oriented music of the pianist and bandleader. A serpent represents a deity common not only in Louisiana and Haiti, but in voodoo's deep roots in Benin. Sitting at his piano Friday night, walking stick and gris-gris at arm's reach, Dr. John explored not only the roots of his art but the styles he has upheld and revamped throughout his career.

In "Sammy Hagar Weekend" from its recent album Stormy Weather, alternative-rock group Thelonius Monster lampoons the stereotypical lifestyle of rock and rollers. Lead singer Bob Forrest offers a humorous cultural study as he mocks the drinking and drug escapades of heavy-metal groups and their fans. Wednesday at the Chestnut Cabaret, the Los Angeles band fell prey to the very stereotype at which it heaves boulders. In a show reminiscent of club dates by the Replacements or Soul Asylum, Forrest clutched a beer almost the entire time he was on stage.

Saturday at the Chestnut Cabaret, the distance between North America and Haiti could have been measured in dance steps. Many Americans in the crowd, getting their first taste of Haitian compas music from the masterful 11-piece Tabou Combo, jerked and twitched like fish on the beach. They tried vainly to fit their steps - which were clunky, and clearly informed by the stiff backbeat of Western pop - into the music's fluid, uninterrupted pulse. The sizable Haitian crowd, meanwhile, used small, silky-smooth motions.

Singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked unveiled her work-in-progress, a musical diary called Arkansas Traveler, Saturday at the Chestnut Cabaret. She described the project, which features collaborations with musicians from all over the world, this way: "Imagine taking your favorite record and putting yourself right in the middle of it. " More accurately, imagine Shocked taking a number of old fiddle tunes - along the lines of "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and...

Belinda Carlisle, who performed Wednesday night at the Chestnut Cabaret, is best known as the lead singer for the Los Angeles band the Go-Go's, which in turn was best known for being an all-female rock group. The girl-group novelty initially attracted much-desired attention to the Go-Go's. But it became the millstone that, according to various members' comments in interviews, led to the dissolution of the band. Both Jane Wiedlin, a Go-Go who released a solo album last year, and Carlisle, who recently issued her first album, Belinda Carlisle (I.R.

Veteran folkster Clive Gregson writes songs that make you see pain close- up. Vocalist Christine Collister delivers those songs with a fervor that makes you feel that pain. The duo acknowledged its penchant for darkness during a poorly attended acoustic show at the Chestnut Cabaret on Thursday night. Before breaking into the deceptively optimistic "This Tender Trap," Gregson supplied the audience of about 70 people with a warning. "Well, it's not a cheerful song all the way through," he said.

Does the fact that the Reggae Sunsplash tour is playing clubs indicate a disheartening wane in the audience for live reggae? Only Jah knows. Still, expect the Chestnut Cabaret to be smoking tomorrow when the troupe scratches out that reggae rhythm. The show will be headlined by the sweet singing of Toots and the Maytals, and the gregarious toasting of Yellowman. Also on the bill: Blood Fire Posse, Pato Banton, Sophia George and Edi FitzRoy. Reggae Sunsplash at the Chestnut Cabaret, 38th and Chestnut Streets, at 9 p.m. tomorrow.

This is a story of a boy and dream. Corny, right? So is, admittedly, WMMR-FM's Pierre Robert, Philly's beloved radio personality. "There is something about me that's corny," Robert (pronounced Ro-BARE) says with a laugh at what is, in reality, soulful charm. Whether morning, midnight or midday (the spot he currently holds) on 93.3, for 20 years Robert has been a dedicated, mellifluous presence, and that speaks as much about his off-air personality as it does his on-air.

A University City nightclub with a history of party-fueled fisticuffs was the scene of an early- morning shooting yesterday. A large fight involving several people broke out after 2:30 a.m. outside the club - The Pegasus Showcase - at 3801 Chestnut Street. Garth Dixon told police he was watching the melee when a shot rang out. Dixon, 29, fell to the street, a bullet in his stomach. A crowd was milling about near the club but police found no witnesses to the shooting. Police patrolling nearby heard gunshots, investigators said.

Barbara "B.J. " Stubinski Meany, 53, of Rosemont, a country-western singer and songwriter who performed with local bands for nearly two decades, died of cancer Monday at Bryn Mawr Hospital. She was lead singer for Cross Fork, a local country-western band, from its inception in 1989 until its breakup in 1993. It performed throughout the area, including the Goshen Country Fair in Chester County, at the Hearth in Pipersville, and at Northampton Township's open-air theater in Bucks County.

The Sixers have partied there. So have rap artists Jay-Z, Foxy Brown and DMX. But last night, the night after an altercation that started inside Pegasus nightclub, in West Philadelphia, turned tragic, the club was pretty quiet. Pegasus was formerly the Chestnut Cabaret, a sit-down nightclub featuring performances by smooth R&B acts like Will Downing or the challenging lyrics of poet-singer Gil Scott-Heron. Last night, record-label representatives from rapper-producer Pete Rock's label, milled outside, preparing for a record-release party for his new album "Soul Survivor.

"I was a little surprised this year that someone didn't try to Xerox the Milkbar," says Jim Lesser, co-owner of Milkbar. Frankly, we are, too. But Lesser, who just reopened his bar last night after extensive remodeling, is not the only new kid on the nightclub block anymore: In August, the three-story, multi-roomed nightclub called Paragon opened in Center City (15th and Locust streets), and tomorrow FUBAR holds its grand opening celebration in University City. "This was the old Chestnut Cabaret," says Chaz Paris, a FUBAR spokesman.

If you're looking for the true heir to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, well, here he is. Ian Moore hails from Vaughan's adopted hometown of Austin, Texas, and he's a six-string virtuoso rooted in the blues - but he also is a gifted singer and songwriter with a commanding style all his own. His new album, Modernday Folklore (Capricorn), picks up where he left off on his galvanic 1993 debut, Ian Moore. It offers hard-hitting, soul-tinged blues-rock as well as such change-of-pace moments as the mesmerizingly atmospheric "You'll Be Gone.

The scene has been wounded. Last week, the Philadelphia-area live-music circuit suffered four losses that could force bands to drop the city from their tour itineraries. On Monday, two of the region's longest-running venues - the 23 East Cabaret in Ardmore and the Chestnut Cabaret in West Philadelphia, in business since 1980 and 1981, respectively - shut their doors. Earlier that day, the Cellblock, a heavy-metal and hard-rock club in Bensalem, was seriously damaged by fire and forced to close.

Those jokes about dull Philadelphia rolling up its sidewalks at 10 p.m. seemed truer than usual yesterday. Philadelphia's two most durable club venues for original live music - the Chestnut Cabaret and 23 East Cabaret - shuttered their doors for good. A third venue, the hard rocking Cellblock in Bensalem, was destroyed early yesterday morning in a fire. Other clubs - including Fairmount's North Star and Old City's Khyber Pass, are also feeling the strain of "the heat, the new 10 percent liquor tax, and the competition," said Khyber/Trocadero proprietor David Simons.

Kelly Riles of Velocity Girl has some advice for young bands: "Just keep doing it. " "Almost all bands when they're starting out are just not very good. Just accept it. Think about it. Change and tinker with it and eventually you will be good. " Perseverence has paid off for Velocity Girl, the Washington-based quintet signed to Subpop records. Five years ago, while students at the University of Maryland, bassist Riles and guitarist Archie Moore disbanded their noise outfit called the Gotterdammercrats and launched Velocity Girl.

She missed the Oscars Monday night. She had better things to do - namely performing with Herbie Hancock for an AIDS benefit in New York City. Me'Shell NdegeOcello just hasn't had time to watch TV, let alone "sit back, relax, and listen to the eight-track" as the lyrical hook to her hit "I'm Digging You" goes. Michelle EN-day-gay-oh-CHEL-lo. That's how you pronounce her name. It means "free as a bird" in Swahili. Appropriate. The career of the former Michelle Johnson of Washington, D.C., has begun to soar like her chosen name since the fall release of Plantation Lullabies (Maverick/Sire)