Hot Tuna

Rush, which began as a Canadian power trio pushing the threshold of pain, has evolved into a much more stylish group that mixes plenty of electronic effects into songs that tread rather lead-footedly around political issues. Generally dismissed by critics, Rush has nonetheless developed a reputation for a high-tech stage show that frames music in laser lights and other such theatrics. Consequently, Sunday and Monday's shows at the Spectrum should be as blinding as they are loud. Rush, with opening act Tommy Shaw, at the Spectrum, Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, Sunday and Monday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $16.50 and $14.50.

New Potato Caboose, a Washington, D.C., band that specializes in interpretations of songs made famous by the Grateful Dead, will appear at Grendel's Lair tonight. The group took its name from a Grateful Dead song written by Robert Petersen, who died last week at the age of 50. Petersen, a boyhood friend of Grateful Dead member Phil Lesh's, wrote a number of songs for the Dead, including "Pride of Cucamonga" and "Unbroken Chain. " Don't be surprised if New Potato Caboose acknowledges Petersen's passing at the Grendel's Lair show.

There was a lot to get done at the Tweeter Center on Saturday and a lot of time to do it. Hot Tuna opened with an hour-long history of acoustic blues, from Jesse Fuller ("San Francisco Bay Blues") to Jefferson Airplane ("Embryonic Journey"). The gathering audience danced and taped as Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady played mellow music that moved. Then Willie Nelson ran through every song ever written in 100 minutes flat. Flanked by seven musicians in tight formation, to reduce wind drag, he covered everything from Hoagy Carmichael ("Georgia on My Mind")

COLD TURKEY Talk about leftover turkey! Some 300 million pounds of the stuff sits in storage freezers across the country, reminders of an industry that overestimated consumer demand for its product, which is still growing but at nowhere near the double-digit rate of the 1980s, the Chicago Tribune reports. GOOD FOR YOU Some foods that may look fattening or "unhealthy" to you actually are quite nourishing if they are prepared properly. Take pasta, for example. In a recent survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that most Americans think pasta has more than twice the calories it actually does.

The feuding and brooding have stopped. It's back to singing and grinning for the Jefferson Airplane, who blasted a Mann Music Center sellout crowd back to the '60s last night. The sultans of psychedelia, recently reunited after a series of splits in the '70s and '80s, played a mixture of early classics, solo stuff and songs from their forthcoming release, Jefferson Airplane (Epic). The band, which included original members Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady as well as four others - most notably John Cougar Mellencamp's drummer, Kenny Aranoff - were solid most of the night, propelled by strong vocals.

No matter how he tries, Jorma Kaukonen can't seem to escape his past. A one time guitar guru of the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene, as a founder (and even the namer) of the legendary Jefferson Airplane, Kaukonen long ago abandoned that wierd and wild scene. Since 1972, he's pursued the relative calm and purity of blues music, teaching old-timey guitar techniques at the New School in New York, releasing the occasional record and performing alone or in short-lived groups or on-and- off with his lifelong friend and Airplane mate bassist Jack Casady as Hot Tuna.

There was one guy meditating, his legs crossed, his eyes closed, his long, gray ponytail hanging down his back. There was another guy wearing a caftan and selling incense. There was one woman with a bald head, a ring in her nose and a tattoo on her neck. There were eight dogs running loose, three hula hoops being spun around, five local bands scheduled to play, 17 people wearing tie-dyed T-shirts, and one poster urging the Congress to end militarism in El Salvador. All these people, dogs and things came together yesterday at 43d Street and Chester Avenue in West Philadelphia.

Thirty some years after Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters took their intrepid trip across the American psyche, the Furthur Festival is picking up the mantle of pharmacological wanderlust. But if you ask me, Furthur has gone far enough. Headlining the festival's Friday-night stop at the Waterfront Entertainment Centre in Camden were The Other Ones, basically the remains of the Grateful Dead fleshed out with a few sympathetic sidemen. The Other Ones managed to answer numerous perplexing musical questions, such as: How can a band have two drummers on stage and no rhythm?

Sew a few patches on your old bell bottoms, dig your love beads out of the bottom drawer, put some flowers in your hair and prepare to relive the Summer of Love. Just when you thought the outdoor concert season was over, the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the state Department of Parks and Environmental Affairs and radio station WYSP-FM (94.1) have gotten together to sponsor a WYSP Be-In today at Ulysses S. Wiggins Waterfront Park, on the Delaware River at Mickle Boulevard in Camden.

Margot Kidder, Lois Lane in the Superman movies, was being evaluated yesterday at a California psychiatric hospital after being found Tuesday "dirty, frightened and paranoid" in the backyard of a well-kept Glendale home. A resident who found the actress hiding in a woodpile and warned her of black widow spiders said Kidder replied that "what she was hiding from was a lot worse than black widows. " Kidder had last been seen Saturday waiting to board a flight to Phoenix at Los Angeles International Airport, 25 miles from the Glendale house.

In Concert Browning Rd. & Railroad Ave., Brooklawn; 856-234-5147. Jerry Rife's Rhythm Kings . $20; $10 students. 12/9 2 pm. 457 Shirley Rd., Elmer; 609-358-2472. www.appelfarm.org . Hoots & Hellmouth/Birdie Busch . $12.50. 12/8 8 pm. One Ocean Way, Atlantic City; 609-449-2000. www.boardwalkhall.com . Trans-Siberian Orchestra . $40.50-$60.50. 12/7 8 pm. 2001 Springdale Rd., Cherry Hill; 856-424-1451. www.stmaryofcherryhill.org . Tony Kenny's Christmas Time in Ireland . $25. 12/8 7:30 pm. 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville; 610-917-1228.

There was a lot to get done at the Tweeter Center on Saturday and a lot of time to do it. Hot Tuna opened with an hour-long history of acoustic blues, from Jesse Fuller ("San Francisco Bay Blues") to Jefferson Airplane ("Embryonic Journey"). The gathering audience danced and taped as Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady played mellow music that moved. Then Willie Nelson ran through every song ever written in 100 minutes flat. Flanked by seven musicians in tight formation, to reduce wind drag, he covered everything from Hoagy Carmichael ("Georgia on My Mind")

For members of two Cherry Hill synagogues, a mitzvah, or good deed, begins with fresh vegetables, noodles, herbs, turkey, baked beans, tuna, tomato sauce and hot dogs. For more than 10 years, those and other ingredients have been fashioned into once-a-month entrees that Congregation M'kor Shalom and Temple Emanuel send to the Ronald McDonald House in Camden and soup kitchens, including Camden's Leavenhouse Soup Kitchen and Cathedral House. "This is something we have been doing year-round, even during the summer, because people don't stop being hungry," said Adrienne Capella, the coordinator of Temple Emanuel's casserole-cooking project.

Thirty some years after Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters took their intrepid trip across the American psyche, the Furthur Festival is picking up the mantle of pharmacological wanderlust. But if you ask me, Furthur has gone far enough. Headlining the festival's Friday-night stop at the Waterfront Entertainment Centre in Camden were The Other Ones, basically the remains of the Grateful Dead fleshed out with a few sympathetic sidemen. The Other Ones managed to answer numerous perplexing musical questions, such as: How can a band have two drummers on stage and no rhythm?

You may accuse Ted Turner of eating his young but don't fault him for nepotism. He's fired son, Teddy, 33. It happened at a recent fam dinner when the younger TT asked if his job with Turner Broadcasting System was still solid, vis a vis the coming merger with Time Warner Inc. Replied the elder TT: "You're toast. " Young TT told the Wall Street Journal that the old man tried to soften the blow, saying: "It's good for the company, and it's good for you. In the short run, it's always a little painful.

Margot Kidder, Lois Lane in the Superman movies, was being evaluated yesterday at a California psychiatric hospital after being found Tuesday "dirty, frightened and paranoid" in the backyard of a well-kept Glendale home. A resident who found the actress hiding in a woodpile and warned her of black widow spiders said Kidder replied that "what she was hiding from was a lot worse than black widows. " Kidder had last been seen Saturday waiting to board a flight to Phoenix at Los Angeles International Airport, 25 miles from the Glendale house.

Sew a few patches on your old bell bottoms, dig your love beads out of the bottom drawer, put some flowers in your hair and prepare to relive the Summer of Love. Just when you thought the outdoor concert season was over, the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the state Department of Parks and Environmental Affairs and radio station WYSP-FM (94.1) have gotten together to sponsor a WYSP Be-In today at Ulysses S. Wiggins Waterfront Park, on the Delaware River at Mickle Boulevard in Camden.

There was one guy meditating, his legs crossed, his eyes closed, his long, gray ponytail hanging down his back. There was another guy wearing a caftan and selling incense. There was one woman with a bald head, a ring in her nose and a tattoo on her neck. There were eight dogs running loose, three hula hoops being spun around, five local bands scheduled to play, 17 people wearing tie-dyed T-shirts, and one poster urging the Congress to end militarism in El Salvador. All these people, dogs and things came together yesterday at 43d Street and Chester Avenue in West Philadelphia.

COLD TURKEY Talk about leftover turkey! Some 300 million pounds of the stuff sits in storage freezers across the country, reminders of an industry that overestimated consumer demand for its product, which is still growing but at nowhere near the double-digit rate of the 1980s, the Chicago Tribune reports. GOOD FOR YOU Some foods that may look fattening or "unhealthy" to you actually are quite nourishing if they are prepared properly. Take pasta, for example. In a recent survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that most Americans think pasta has more than twice the calories it actually does.

Everybody knows that being a rock-and-roll roadie is not as good as being a rock-and-roll star. But, depending on one's priorities, it may be the next best thing - traveling from concert to concert, hanging out with the stars, strolling on stage to adjust a mike in the middle of a show. Billy Goodman, who was in a Philadelphia-area group called the Goodman Brothers Band in the early '70s, knows all about it. From here, he went west and became a roadie for Starship and later the reborn Jefferson Airplane.