Joe Cocker

Hey, Jon B! ("Stayin' Alive in the '90s," July 12) When, as a student in the late '60s, I was the only white dancer included in "Trade-Tech A-Go-Go" (at Los Angeles Trade Technical College), I, too, took some name-calling for my love of R&B music and culture. We all experienced amused shock, however, when it was discovered during rehearsals that "It's Not Unusual," sung by African American twin brothers in our show, was actually recorded by a white Brit soloist: Tom Jones. Although there are many shades of pale, let me add a few pop-jazz-blues singers to your blue-eyed soul list that already includes Michael McDonald.

How's this for irony? A decade ago, when Kenny Rogers was the hottest male recording star in pop and country, he tended to walk through his concerts, exerting little energy or commitment. But now that Rogers' recording career has turned cold, he seems much more involved on stage. The veteran's concert Saturday at the Universal Amphitheatre--part of a three-night engagement--was fresh and consistently entertaining.

The much-heralded KISS reunion will be coming to the Forum--makeup, stage effects and all--on Aug. 23. Tickets are on sale today. . . . Gloria Estefan also will be at the Forum, Aug. 9, in addition to a sold-out Pond of Anaheim date on Aug. 8. Forum tickets go on sale Sunday. . . . On sale today: former Crowded House members the Finn Brothers, July 16 at the John Anson Ford Theatre. . . . On sale Sunday is a blues-rock bill topped by Joe Cocker, Buddy Guy and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Aug.

Buckingham Palace rocked Monday night with screaming guitars, cheering fans and pop stars led by Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton in a concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's 50 years on the throne. An estimated 1 million people thronged the parks and roads around the palace, including thousands who waved the Union Jack flag in the plaza below.

Crosby, Stills and Nash, whose rock music roots reach back to the early years of the Berlin Wall, sang to several hundred chilly fans today in front of the Brandenburg Gate, telling them to keep chipping away at the wall. Stephen Stills said the 20-minute performance with sidekicks David Crosby and Graham Nash was arranged on short notice, with help from the West Berlin police.

As a near-legendary force who was involved in the musical and political liberation of Zimbabwe, Thomas Mapfumo had a heavy rep to live up to in his local debut on Saturday at the Music Machine. But he delivered . . . and then some. Since Mapfumo sings in the Shona language, it was his chimurenga style music that had to serve as the medium of the message.

Denny Cordell, 51, record producer who worked with such artists as Chet Baker, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. A native of Argentina educated in England, Cordell became influential in the evolution of contemporary popular music. He managed Baker in the mid-1960s and then went to work for Island Records in 1965. He left to produce the Moody Blues' first album, "Go Now: The Moody Blues 1."

"It feels like home," said Italian pop star Zucchero early during his Los Angeles debut Sunday at the House of Blues. Indeed, the first of his two nights at the West Hollywood club afforded a hero's welcome for the singer, who has sold more than 10 million albums worldwide but is practically unknown in the United States. Zucchero (born Adelmo Fornaciari in 1955, he uses the nickname meaning "sugar") is on a national tour presenting his seventh album, "Spirito DiVino."

"FAMOUS BLUE RAINCOAT." Jennifer Warnes. Cypress. Warnes is best known for her Grammy- winning duet with Joe Cocker on "Up Where We Belong," but that Vegas showstopper is an inaccurate reflection of her talent. In fact, Warnes is a fairly unconventional artist with first-rate taste in material. She proves that much by making her first album for a new label consist exclusively of songs by the great Leonard Cohen.