Nils Lofgren

Nils Lofgren and Steve Forbert were the evening's entertainment, but the performers were upstaged by their venue last night, as the 116-year-old Trocadero theater reopened as a showcase for rock and pop music. The Troc, as it is commonly called, has served as everything from a burlesque house to a Chinese movie theater. In its current incarnation, the theater at 10th and Arch Streets accommodates 800 people (a balcony holding 300 more is being completed for the summer), and is a lovely place with old- fashioned light fixtures and elegant white columns.

Laurie Anderson, who will appear tomorrow night at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, has managed the tricky feat of translating her success as America's best-known performance artist into esteem among rock audiences too. Anderson is a young veteran of the Manhattan performance-art scene, where her deadpan, subtly inflected monologues and minimalist art were successes within an avant-garde community. In 1981, her independently produced single "O Superman" - entirely in keeping with her earlier work and in no way an attempt to "go commercial" - became a hit single in England and resulted in Anderson's signing with Warner Bros.

Among the many efforts of rock musicians to aid the poor, the new single by a group of musicians called J.A.M. '86 (it stands for "Jersey Artists for Mankind") can bear comparison with the best recent rock efforts. "We've Got the Love" (Arista single ), co-written by Joel Krauss and E-Street Band keyboardist Garry Tallent, avoids sentimentality with its lusty surge of melody and a pleasant cacophony of voices, which includes Southside Johnny Lyon, Ben Vaughn and Nils Lofgren.

Ringo Starr finished his concert last night at Bally's Grandstand by singing the song that summed up the evening: "With a Little Help From My Friends. " Under the circumstances, he should have changed it to "With a Whole Lot of Very Important Help From My Friends. " Although he was the headliner, Starr was not the only star attraction. He turned out to be something of a lightweight, given the musical prowess of his accomplices. There was Joe Walsh doing a rollicking "Rocky Mountain Way" by pounding out a survey course in guitar styles.

It's been a vaudeville hall, a striptease joint, a home for the Pennsylvania Opera Theater and a movie house for Chinese films. Now the Troc is ready to rock. The Trocadero Theater, a Victorian-era structure at 10th and Arch Streets in the heart of Chinatown, begins a new incarnation next month as a mid-size venue featuring rock-and-roll acts. E-Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren and singer Steve Forbert will inaugurate the new hall on March 3, with Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Marshall Crenshaw, and Rene and Angela slated to perform during the opening week.

Ringo Starr may yet get the answer to that oft-sung question, "What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?" The Beatle in the back, the man who quite possibly got the best break in history when original drummer Pete Best was dumped from the band, will be appearing this summer in a concert tour, his first since the Beatles broke up in 1970. The tour, announced yesterday by Starr, is slated to include Atlantic City, on Aug. 6 at the Grandstand Under the Stars, and Philadelphia, on Aug. 9 at the Mann Music Center.

The following is a roundup of recent rock, rap and pop music releases, all of which have one thing in common: They have all been created by Philadelphia- and New Jersey-based artists and therefore underscore the enormous diversity of music being created in our neck of the woods. JOHN EDDIE, John Eddie (Columbia): John Eddie is familiar to patrons of music clubs throughout the Philadelphia region, where he and a band have performed for the last few years under the name John Eddie and the Front Street Runners.

A knowing grin crossed Bruce Springsteen's face as he sang the rueful "Thunder Road" line "So maybe we're not so young anymore" Thursday night at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford. But on such a musically satisfying, dramatically packaged night like this one was, did the aging issue really matter? No, the 49-year-old Springsteen doesn't slide across the stage on his knees, or leap blindly into the audience, as he used to do. Nor does he run himself ragged in vocals and interplay with the band, the sort of hijinks (and screwups)

Plenty of familiar faces are returning to A. C. A number of rock-and-roll retreads, grizzled singers and comics will make their annual trek here on the casino circuit. While some of the performers are past their prime and you may be better off losing money at the blackjack table, others possess a high kitsch quotient. And then there are those really entertaining acts that are well worth the drive to Atlantic City. Among the notables are the versatile Whoopi Goldberg, who will begin a three-night stand at Resorts tonight; the Grammy-winning vocalist-pianist Alicia Keys, who will perform July 20 at the Trump Taj Mahal; and Britney Spears, who is coming to the Boardwalk Hall July 5. Here's a sampling of the scheduled acts: Today-Sunday.

The last time that Harry Landis set foot in the Trocadero, he was a student at Temple with three hours to kill between classes. His buddies said, "Hey, let's go down to the Troc," recalls Landis. They wanted to see the strippers. Of course, that was back in the 1970s. Landis can barely remember the women who got on stage and took off their clothes that day. All he recalls is that he and his buddies did make it back in time for their afternoon class. Today, 12 years later, Harry Landis, 34, a construction worker from New Jersey, has returned to the Trocadero for a whole new kind of thrill: the Hawaiian Gonzo Happy Hour.

During each of the four shows in Bruce Springsteen's final stand at the Spectrum, which came to a close last night, the Boss put on his preacher's hat to make a statement of purpose while singing the title cut to his 2009 album Working on a Dream . On Monday, his most loquacious night at the venue that he first played in 1973, the Boss began his schtick by praising "the wonderful Philadelphia Spectrum, one of the last of the old-time rock...

Plenty of familiar faces are returning to A. C. A number of rock-and-roll retreads, grizzled singers and comics will make their annual trek here on the casino circuit. While some of the performers are past their prime and you may be better off losing money at the blackjack table, others possess a high kitsch quotient. And then there are those really entertaining acts that are well worth the drive to Atlantic City. Among the notables are the versatile Whoopi Goldberg, who will begin a three-night stand at Resorts tonight; the Grammy-winning vocalist-pianist Alicia Keys, who will perform July 20 at the Trump Taj Mahal; and Britney Spears, who is coming to the Boardwalk Hall July 5. Here's a sampling of the scheduled acts: Today-Sunday.

A knowing grin crossed Bruce Springsteen's face as he sang the rueful "Thunder Road" line "So maybe we're not so young anymore" Thursday night at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford. But on such a musically satisfying, dramatically packaged night like this one was, did the aging issue really matter? No, the 49-year-old Springsteen doesn't slide across the stage on his knees, or leap blindly into the audience, as he used to do. Nor does he run himself ragged in vocals and interplay with the band, the sort of hijinks (and screwups)

The legend of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band came back to life in New Jersey last night, its power and promise undiminished by the passage of time. Springsteen and the band that supported him on his best-loved albums of the '70s and '80s, such as Born to Run and The River, began their first American tour in 11 years, starting a 15-night sold-out stand at the Continental Airlines Arena. The 49-year-old native son went on at 8:10 to the deafening sound of 20,000 aging but excitable fans bellowing his name.

Ringo Starr finished his concert last night at Bally's Grandstand by singing the song that summed up the evening: "With a Little Help From My Friends. " Under the circumstances, he should have changed it to "With a Whole Lot of Very Important Help From My Friends. " Although he was the headliner, Starr was not the only star attraction. He turned out to be something of a lightweight, given the musical prowess of his accomplices. There was Joe Walsh doing a rollicking "Rocky Mountain Way" by pounding out a survey course in guitar styles.

Ringo Starr may yet get the answer to that oft-sung question, "What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me?" The Beatle in the back, the man who quite possibly got the best break in history when original drummer Pete Best was dumped from the band, will be appearing this summer in a concert tour, his first since the Beatles broke up in 1970. The tour, announced yesterday by Starr, is slated to include Atlantic City, on Aug. 6 at the Grandstand Under the Stars, and Philadelphia, on Aug. 9 at the Mann Music Center.

Among the many efforts of rock musicians to aid the poor, the new single by a group of musicians called J.A.M. '86 (it stands for "Jersey Artists for Mankind") can bear comparison with the best recent rock efforts. "We've Got the Love" (Arista single ), co-written by Joel Krauss and E-Street Band keyboardist Garry Tallent, avoids sentimentality with its lusty surge of melody and a pleasant cacophony of voices, which includes Southside Johnny Lyon, Ben Vaughn and Nils Lofgren.

The following is a roundup of recent rock, rap and pop music releases, all of which have one thing in common: They have all been created by Philadelphia- and New Jersey-based artists and therefore underscore the enormous diversity of music being created in our neck of the woods. JOHN EDDIE, John Eddie (Columbia): John Eddie is familiar to patrons of music clubs throughout the Philadelphia region, where he and a band have performed for the last few years under the name John Eddie and the Front Street Runners.

The last time that Harry Landis set foot in the Trocadero, he was a student at Temple with three hours to kill between classes. His buddies said, "Hey, let's go down to the Troc," recalls Landis. They wanted to see the strippers. Of course, that was back in the 1970s. Landis can barely remember the women who got on stage and took off their clothes that day. All he recalls is that he and his buddies did make it back in time for their afternoon class. Today, 12 years later, Harry Landis, 34, a construction worker from New Jersey, has returned to the Trocadero for a whole new kind of thrill: the Hawaiian Gonzo Happy Hour.

Nils Lofgren and Steve Forbert were the evening's entertainment, but the performers were upstaged by their venue last night, as the 116-year-old Trocadero theater reopened as a showcase for rock and pop music. The Troc, as it is commonly called, has served as everything from a burlesque house to a Chinese movie theater. In its current incarnation, the theater at 10th and Arch Streets accommodates 800 people (a balcony holding 300 more is being completed for the summer), and is a lovely place with old- fashioned light fixtures and elegant white columns.