Classic Rock

"When the mode of the music changes the walls of the city shake. " - Plato "Whole lotta shakin' goin' on.' - Jerry Lee Lewis Documentary filmmakers from PBS and the BBC are jointly at the helm of the 10-part "Rock & Roll" series debuting in a two-hour chunk at 9 Sunday night on WHYY-TV (Channel 12) and continuing for four successive nights. Given that breeding, you've got a right to expect the series will scope out this world-shaking cultural phenomenon with a bit more (ahem)

What hath classic-rock radio wrought? A welcome return to rock-and-roll basics? A shameless recycling of the tried and true? Or some teenage mutant combination? Three newly signed bands - the Black Crowes, the Joneses, the London Quireboys - signal a change in strategy at a few major record labels. While continuing to go after their share of the pop-metal pie and post-punk bands aimed at the college charts, record-industry decision-makers are now scouting bands with obvious classic-rock influences.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives must hear all this "return of rock" claptrap and wonder, "What do you think we've been doing for the last six years?" The Swedish sextet has fortified its multipronged classic rock attack - a mix of droning prog, grainy psych, and seismic blasts of Who-like guitar - over the course of three progressively superior albums, which, until recently, weren't readily available Stateside. Touring in support of the third album, the terrific 15-song roller-coaster ride Behind the Music, TSOOL made its Philadelphia debut at the Khyber on Tuesday night with a slow-building 70-minute set that measured up to the band's rep as a galvanizing live act. Not as sartorially minded as their countrymen, the Hives - though burly, bearded, shag-coiffed singer Ebbot Lundberg was quite a sight in a full-length black monk's robe - or as pretty as the Strokes or the Vines, TSOOL's members let their music do the talking on soaring anthems such as "Mind the Gap" and the 12-string guitar bliss of "Nevermore.

"You're killing me, girl," blues singer Georgie Bonds wailed as his four-piece band fooled around with a changing tempo. Soon, feet that had been properly tucked underneath a dining table became animated. Chris Updike, a Cinnaminson man who recently celebrated his 32d birthday with his wife, their three young children, and a friend at the Red Hot & Blue Memphis Pit Bar-B-Que restaurant/nightspot in Cherry Hill, said it was the family's fifth time back. "You can get close to the band and it's a great atmosphere," he said.

The Chester County Lawmen aren't a renegade vigilante group from the local history books. Far from it. It's the name of a band of musicians, composed mostly of men who keep the community safe. Made up of police officers, an assistant fire chief, a prison guard and one civilian, a woman, the group is playing at the Square Bar in West Chester on New Year's Eve, which may be the safest place in the county to find yourself on the biggest party night of the year. For the last 10 years, the band has played for charity and school events and at fund-raisers, but this year, they're spreading their wings and playing at bars, block parties and weddings.

Summer is coming to the region, and so are Elvis impersonators, the Metropolitan Opera, The Platters, jazz singers, swing bands and folk singers, all acts featured in summer concerts planned throughout Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties. In the words of one organizer, the concerts have "something for everyone. " Most concerts are free or low-priced, and with the recent economic downturn, some families may find the events an easy alternative to an evening watching baseball or theater.

8 tonight CHANNEL 12 Kicking off the 4th season of this local performance show with Philly classic-rock and alt-flavored Dr. Dog (right), performing at WXPN's XPoNential Music Festival in Camden.

Aspects, a contemporary rock band, triumphed Friday night in the sixth annual Battle of the Bands at West Chester Henderson High School. As the spoils of war, the band received a $500 gift certificate from Taylor's Music Store, which sponsored the competition and chose the four judges - all area musicians. The contestants, which played from 7:30 to 10:30, also included Funkional Elliterates, Apocalyptic Procession, Nihilism, Redemption, Restless Shadow, Blind Venetians and The Influence.

The morning guys . . . They are the aristocrats of the a.m. airwaves, the dukes of the dial, the kings of rock 'n' droll radio. The morning guys. They are considered the key to how well a station does for the rest of the day. They get the big bucks for the big yuks. They shock, they shlock, they shtick it to anything that breathes or has recently stopped breathing. The longtime ruler of the early risers is John DeBella, whose album rock WMMR (FM/93.3) Morning Zoo has been the top-rated a.m. show in Philadelphia for more than 3 1/2 years.

It was fitting that two songs into his performance at the Theatre of Living Arts on Tuesday night, Michael Hedges chose the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as his first in a series of classic-rock covers. The timeless Beatles tune could be a theme song for this experimental guitar virtuoso - famous for making his guitar sing, cry, scream, and yes, even weep. For more than 15 years, Hedges has been pushing the boundaries of modern guitar. His sound is distinct - ringing with bright harmonics, deep sonic textures, and an ever-present driving bass line.

ATLANTIC CITY'S regional monopoly on A-list casino entertainment appears to have a May 2012 expiration date thanks to a planned addition at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. Tuesday, the Lehigh Valley gambling complex announced construction of the Sands Bethlehem Event Center, a multipurpose facility seating up to 3,000 that is scheduled to open by Memorial Day of next year. In a Tuesday afternoon phone interview, Sands President Robert DeSalvio described the venue as accommodating 3,000 show-goers with standing-room-only admission and 2,000 for fully seated events on the 50,000-square-foot main floor (another 12,000 square feet of space will be used for, among other things, VIP seating)

10 for the Road You can plan now to attend these weekend events, occurring within a few weeks and within a day's drive of Philadelphia. 1. Picklefest. May 14. Dillsburg, Pa. Celebrate the heritage of this uniquely named town with a pickle-eating contest, live entertainment, and costumed craft-making demonstrations. 717-432-2211; www.carrollcitizens.com . 2. Wine N Bloom. May 6-7 and 13-14. Geneva, Ohio. Tour the northeast Ohio countryside as you sample wines and appetizers.

Sunday For all ages Rich, Scott, Dave, and Smitty of the Louisiana band Imagination Movers are equally inspired by Captain Kangaroo and classic rock, enough to thrill the kid and the pop-music- lover in any of us. The jumpsuited TV guys who like to figure things out bring their infectious beats - and Nina , Warehouse Mouse , and Choo-Choo Soul - to live shows at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. at the Tower Theater , 69th and Ludlow Streets, Upper...

Live music and more, tonight through Thursday, compiled by Shaun Brady, Tom Di Nardo, James Johnson, Sara Sherr and Jonathan Takiff. POP . . . plus Stringfever: Classically trained musicians taking on classic rock is nothing new, but the Broadbents - three brothers and a cousin - really bring the nasty on their spiffy Violectra instruments. And they don't just rock. Movie themes, classical tunes - they do it all in vastly entertaining fashion. They're funny, too. Sellersville Theater 1894, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville, 8 tonight, $25 and $40 (kids and string students, $15)

8 tonight CHANNEL 12 Kicking off the 4th season of this local performance show with Philly classic-rock and alt-flavored Dr. Dog (right), performing at WXPN's XPoNential Music Festival in Camden.

Anthony Riley is not that guy - he promises you. He is not the wide-eyed crooner out to share his message - hope, change, and all that - with the world, not one of the talentless masses harboring little but a passion, a prayer, and a voice that breaks glass. He is, first and last, a Philadelphian, he says - and, by extension, a realist. "I may not win American Idol ," he acknowledges between sets at - well, near - the Convention Center. "Just top 12, and I'll be cool.

Tuesday's dazzling concert spectacle at the well-attended Wachovia Center proved it: Muse is one of those wide-screen rock acts born to play the big stage. Through five studio albums, the English trio's sweeping songs - replete with bombastic twists and colorful turns, operatically baleful vocals, and snazzy guitar solos - are ambitious rock-pop tone paintings wrought with large brushstrokes. Yet what has made Muse a regular "best live band" award-winner, selling out stadiums abroad - if not (yet)

THESE DAYS, it's hard to swing a Fender Stratocaster guitar without hitting a classic-rock "cover" band. But it's safe to assume you've never seen an act like Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra , which could be considered the mother of all classic-rock tribute units. "That would certainly be an apt description," said Sal Clemente , musical director, vocalist and co-founder of the group that tonight kicks out the jams at the Atlantic City Hilton. Apt, because the Boston-based URO uses the talents of 13 - count 'em, 13 - singers, backed by five musicians, as it offers faithful renditions of rock anthems by such titans as the Beatles, David Bowie, the Who and Queen.

IT'S GOING to be a classic weekend in Atlantic City. Make that a classic-rock weekend. The sights as well as the sounds of the rock and pop music of the 1960s and '70s will dominate the July Fourth holiday party in AyCee, as an art exhibit dedicated to the artists of the era, as well as a slew of performers themselves, are on tap. Resorts Atlantic City is the site of the Classic Rock Art Show, a three-day visual extravaganza that is part...

Todd Rundgren is fuming mad. And for fans of the 60-year-old rocker, that's reason to celebrate. Rundgren has spent much of the last two decades dabbling in multimedia experiments, techno, and soundtracks. Do we need to mention the bizarro exercise where he retooled his biggest hits - "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" - into out-of-tune bossa novas? But his anger at eight years of the Bush administration has pushed Rundgren to return to classic form. Classic rock, that is. He's picked up his guitar and is wielding it with a revitalized sense of mission.