Chuck E Weiss

Story line: Los Angeles club legend records first album in his late 40s, and now follows it with a stellar effort that includes a 32-year-old track with cameos by blues legends Willie Dixon and Sunnyland Slim. The goods: "Old Souls & Wolf Tickets," just out on Rykodisc/Slow River. The hero: Singer-songwriter Chuck E. Weiss, a native of Colorado who began his career as a journeyman blues drummer, has been a fixture on the L.A.

Story line: Los Angeles club legend records first album in his late 40s, and now follows it with a stellar effort that includes a 32-year-old track with cameos by blues legends Willie Dixon and Sunnyland Slim. The goods: "Old Souls & Wolf Tickets," just out on Rykodisc/Slow River. The hero: Singer-songwriter Chuck E. Weiss, a native of Colorado who began his career as a journeyman blues drummer, has been a fixture on the L.A.

. The L.A. semi-legend's first album in 18 years (due Tuesday) celebrates his friends and hangouts in dryly witty, blues-flavored rockers and ballads. Abetted by producer Tom Waits, who sings on the two tunes he co-wrote, Weiss also veers gleefully into such eccentricities as the gravelly chant "Do You Know What I Idi Amin." But the more warped humor in such seemingly straightforward numbers as "Deeply Sorry" proves more effective.

. The L.A. semi-legend's first album in 18 years (due Tuesday) celebrates his friends and hangouts in dryly witty, blues-flavored rockers and ballads. Abetted by producer Tom Waits, who sings on the two tunes he co-wrote, Weiss also veers gleefully into such eccentricities as the gravelly chant "Do You Know What I Idi Amin." But the more warped humor in such seemingly straightforward numbers as "Deeply Sorry" proves more effective.

* Bad Religion, "The Process of Belief," Epitaph. The veteran L.A. punk-rock band provides by turns a muscular, melodic and melancholy guide to challenging the norm and making your own rules.

With Bruce Springsteen's "Tracks" collection of vaults material in stores, talk of a reunion tour with the E Street Band is heating up, with a spring trek of North American arenas a possibility. There's also discussion about waiting until fall, with an opening date serving as the first concert in L.A.'s Staples Center. . . . Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest and Kurupt are among the guests on the debut album from Detroit hip-hop trio Slum Village, due from A&M Records in March.

* Country music diva Shania Twain, left, will be at the Hollywood Bowl on May 6 and the Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion on May 8. Tickets for both shows go on sale Sunday. . . . R.E.M., in its first tour since the departure of drummer Bill Berry, will be at the Greek Theatre Aug. 9-10 and at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre Aug. 11. Tickets go on sale Sunday. . . . Tickets are on sale now for R. Kelly, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, Deborah Cox, Nas and Kelly Price, June 6 at Irvine Meadows. . . .

8pm Theater Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is the launching point for "The Drama Dept.'s Uncle Tom's Cabin, or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life," an examination of the epoch of slavery and what came after. Written by Floraine Kay and Randolph Curtis Rand, this West Coast premiere incorporates the words of James Baldwin, e.e. cummings, Frederick Douglass, Oscar Wilde and many others. "The Drama Dept.'

An informal survey of the club scene earlier this week revealed wild horses--let alone flooding--won't keep L.A. scenesters in their homes. The entrance to Bianca's Hole at the Whisky on Monday was nearly as flooded with fans as the Southland's streets were with water. Across the boulevard at the Viper Room, club-goers were paying $10 a pop at midnight to see Chuck E. Weiss. The nearby House of Blues was letting hundreds of folks in for free for a musical tribute to Tom Petty.