BALLY'S ATLANTIC CITY-- (609) 340-2709; . "Il Circo": 7 and 10 p.m.
Saturday; 3:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday.
$25. BORGATA -- (866) 900-4849; . Artie Lange: 9 p.
m. Friday. $75, $55 and $49.
50. HARRAH'S ATLANTIC CITY-- (800) 242-7724; . Wayne Newton: 9 p.
m. today and Saturday. $100.
HOUSE OF BLUES (SHOWBOAT)-- (609) 236-2583; . Lonestar: 9 p.m.
Saturday. $47, $42, $37 and $32. RESORTS ATLANTIC CITY-- (800) 436-1420; .
Al Martino: 8 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.
m. Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. $40 (Saturday) and $30.
SHOWBOAT -- (609) 343-4003; . "Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding": 7 p.m.
today, Saturday and Thursday; 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
$59.95 (includes dinner). TROPICANA -- (609) 340-4020; .
Brad Garrett: 9 p.m. today and Saturday.
$85, $50, $45, $40 and $30. 'Juke Box Live' starring Adrian Zmed: Times vary. $20.
TRUMP MARINA-- (800) 777-8477; . Smokey Robinson: 9 p.m.
today and Saturday. $75 and $50. "Soulful and delicious" is a perfect a way to describe the music of Smokey Robinson.
But these days, the phrase is employed by the Motown legend in a decidedly non-musical context. "Soulful and delicious" is the slogan for Smokey Robinson's Soul in the Bowl, his line of frozen dishes that is sold nationally by such supermarket chains as Acme, Safeway and Genuardi's. The brand's 3-year-old parent company, SFGL Foods Inc.
, currently offers four selections: Seafood Gumbo, Down Home Pot Roast, Chicken Chicken Sausage Gumbo and Red Beans Rice. So how -- and why -- did Robinson, universally celebrated as one of the giants of 20th-century pop music, become a frozen-food mogul? "I have a really good friend, (actor) Leon Isaac Kennedy.
He and I always talked about doing something that had nothing to do with show business," explains Robinson, who returns to Atlantic City for performances March 30-31 at Trump Marina. "About 2002, he came to me with this idea about doing a food company." "I would never do anything like that," he insists.
"I'm not going to endorse anything I don't really believe in or (use) myself." As an example, the non-drinking superstar notes that "I get approached all the time to do beer commercials." Nor were he and his partner going to market dishes conjured by someone else.
All the recipes, he brags, are theirs. "Gumbo is one of our favorite foods of all time, so we decided we were going to start with seafood gumbo," he says. "We taste-tested it for two years" before the giant Albertson's chain agreed to carry it in February, 2004.
Robinson and Kennedy opted to go the frozen-food route in order to keep their products as healthy as possible. "We wanted to put in as little sodium and preservatives as possible," he offers. "With frozen food, you can (do that).
" What he can't do, he laments, is get into his own kitchen. "My wife (of five years), Frances, can 'burn' it as they say. So I don't even mess with it," he laughs.
Being a frozen-food tycoon is just one of the hats Robinson wears these days. He has also started the non-profit Smokey Robinson Foundation, which mentors inner-city and minority kids in entrepreneurship. The concept, he says, "is to have seminars and classes to teach (youngsters) that you don't have to be a sports figure or entertainer to make a good living, that entrepreneurship is a good avenue for young people to pursue.
"We have a lot of potential doctors and potential food company (executives) and potential attorneys and potential scientists in these young people. We want kids to know they can be who they really are." Fans of Robinson -- whom Bob Dylan once described as America's greatest living poet -- needn't worry about these extracurricular activities taking time away from music making.
He's currently working on a CD that is due out later this year. Rather than mine the works of others, as he did on his last album, the Classic American Songbook tribute, "Timeless Love," he'll return to recording original material. "I think God gives everyone gifts," says the composer of such classics as "Tears of a Clown,""I Second That Emotion,""The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "My Girl.
" "One of the gifts he gave me is the ability to write songs. I don't have to go sit on a mountain for six months to write a song. They just come.
" Show times are 9 p.m. today and Saturday.
Admission is $75 and $50. For tickets and information, call (800) 777-8477, or go to . The sounds of the swingin''60s are the focus of "Shout!
The Mod Musical," which opens April 3 at Harrah's Atlantic City. The off-Broadway presentation isn't just another revusical. Instead, it's a tribute to three female pop stars of the era, Dusty Springfield, Lulu and Petula Clark, all of whom embodied the feminist revolution that took hold back then.
Show times are 8 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday through Thursday, and 9 p.
m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is $25.
For tickets and info, call (800) 242-7724, or go to .
Chuck Darrow is a columnist for Gannett New Jersey Newspapers. He can be reached at (856) 486-2442, or .
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