An hour before his return to Atlantic City’s Borgata on Saturday night, April 6, Brian Regan and his entourage were still heading up from Baltimore.

The comic’s previous day had been spent in part at Camden Yards taking in the Orioles home game. (Regan’s tour manager Andy Levitt is from the Baltimore area and he was stoked as the O’s beat the Twins 9-5.)

It was Regan’s first day off after several gigs in a row.

Backstage at the Borgata Event Center before the show, Regan, very tall in person, sat in his dressing room with his girlfriend Sara, Levitt and opening stand-up Jim Colliton. Regan was met with fans (and at least one local entertainment writer) before Colliton took the stage at about 8:10pm to a full house.

Before anybody took to the stage, a string of modern-day Van Morrison songs played over the Event Center sound system. Songs such as “Days Like This,” “Wavelength,” “Tore Down a la Rimbaud,” “Someone Like You” and “Real Real Gone” — likely from the 2007 compilation album Still on Top: The Greatest Hits. (Levitt says Regan has this CD played before every show.)

Regan did an hour of mostly new and often riotous material, saving a few of his most popular bits as encores, taking requests from the audience only then.

While Regan’s new material is hilarious as ever, it includes a harsher outlook on life and humanity in particular, while bemoaning the fact that his body is beginning to break down. Although he’s always viewed as a “big kid,” due to his trademark mannerisms and facial expressions and jokes about Pop Tarts and Krispy Kreme, Regan, 54, is growing up in a sense. He’s now also including bits about getting older, riffing on world politics, and, like Carlin, Seinfeld and the best of them, pointing out the funny things many of us deal with every day, but just haven’t articulated yet.

Two years from now Regan should have another hour or so of new material.

Catch him when he returns to Atlantic City. The “clean” comic doesn’t curse and wouldn’t mind seeing the younger set in his audiences, but some of the material may go over the head of anyone under 12 years old.

But not all of it — as long as they like doughnuts.

READ: AC Weekly’s interview with Brian Regan before the show

Aretha Franklin at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, Oct. 6, 2012. (Photo: Donald Kravitz)

At 70, Aretha Franklin can still belt it out with the best of them. As she proved on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, her voice is still superb, her sense of humor still intact and her music can still move mountains.

Playing to a large crowd in a rare Fall 2012 concert appearance, Franklin, in a shimmering silver gown and looking beautiful, and her large band pulled out several Atlantic Records classic cuts ( “Chain of Fools,” “Share Your Love with Me,” “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)” and, of course, “Respect”).

Franklin also tickled the ivories a bit. Behind the piano, she sang a heartfelt tribute to the late Whitney Houston, singing her hit “I Will Always Love You,” while images of Whitney played on video screens.

Franklin also played tribute to the late great James Moody, singing a zippy version of “Moody’s Mood for Love.”

One of the most memorable numbers of the night was Franklin’s take on Curtis Mayfield’s (a “gentle giant,” Franklin offered to the crowd) “Something He Can Feel,” which the late Mayfield wrote for Franklin’s 1978 film Sparkle.

Click here for our interview with Aretha Franklin prior to the show.

Ms. Franklin and Atlantic City Weekly's Jeff Schwachter

Following the concert, which lasted close to an hour and a half, with Franklin taking a brief break during the midway point as the band played on, the Queen of Soul herself graciously took some time for a meet and greet with a lucky few backstage (see photo above). CLICK HERE for a photo gallery from this concert.

— Jeff Schwachter

Our Jan. 14 cover. When Gaga was supposed to play the Borgata, but cancelled at last moment.

Atlantic City Weekly has learned via littlemonsters.com that Lady Gaga will be touring the U.S. with her Born This Way Ball show in 2013, including a return to Boardwalk Hall on March 2 in Atlantic City.

Click here for full U.S. tour schedule.

READ & SEE: Review and photos from Lady Gaga’s last show in  Atlantic City.

He’ll turn 65 June 1, but legendary rocker Ron Wood is feeling young.

He’s got a hit radio show, just got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the second time, and played one sensational concert at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City on Saturday, April 21.

Oh, and Woody has a new art exhibition “Faces, Time and Places,” running through July in New York, with a satellite gallery — featuring the Rolling Stones’ member’s originals and prints — just opened at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City.

The one-off Atlantic City showed Woody to be in top form, prancing around the stage in a high-energy show that last about two hours. He played guitar and sang, as well as slide guitar and harmonica.

Following Wood and friends’  “Golden” weekend in Atlantic City, it’s gonna be a big weekend this weekend for the Nugget, too.

Courtesy of Workhouse PR (Adam Nelson)

Click on links below:

PICS: Ronnie Wood Soundcheck with bandmates, plus shots from the weekend! (Andy Wallace, Steve Jordan, Willie Weeks, Bernard Fowler and Chuck Leavell) at Golden Nugget

PICS: Ronnie Wood Golden Nugget Art Gallery Opening

Show Review

AC Weekly Exclusive: Interview with Ronnie Wood

Audio: Ronnie Singing “Seven Days,” written by Bob Dylan, with AC Weekly

At 85, Tony Bennett hasn’t lost a step.

The singer who’s been singing for 60 years-plus, shimmied, twirled and tapped his way across the stage at the Circus Maximus Theater at Caesars in Atlantic City on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Bennett and Jones at Caesars Atlantic City, Feb. 4, 2012. (Tom Briglia)

To a capacity crowd, Bennett and his phenomenal quartet (including the sensational guitarist Gray Sargent and “Count Basie’s favorite drummer,” Harold Jones) delivered a mind-bending hour-and-a-half show, with all the fixins, including an opening set featuring Bennett’s daughter Antonia.

In great spirit, Bennett told tale after tale between tunes, many of which received standing ovations. Bennett gave a few shout outs to folks in the crowd, including ex-heavywieght champion Mike Tyson, who was sitting in the audience with his beautiful bride, and dedicated the song “For Once in My Life” to him. Tyson was spotted at Caesars’ Dusk nightclub on Friday as well.

Ex-heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson and Janine Leishear pose for a photo in Dusk at Caesars Atlantic City on Friday, Feb. 3

After the concert, which started around 9pm, Bennett had a plane waiting for him and was off into the night. Following his stellar performance, the multi-generational crowd filtered out of the theater, the atmosphere of which was draped in the feel of an old-time show.

READ: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH TONY BENNETT FEB. 2012

The full first season of HBO’s original drama series, Boardwalk Empire, which aired in the fall of 2010, is now available on both DVD and Blue-ray.

The DVD set is all one could ask for, with bonus features including a doc on the making of the show and one about Atlantic City, as well as several different audio commentaries from cast and crew including Steve Buscemi and creator Terry Winter.

The Blu-ray version is also available, and Boardwalk Empire’s official site just posted this regarding reviews of the Blue-ray version.

Click here to visit the Boardwalk Empire Notes page

Click here to join the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Fan Club on Facebook (and you could win an official full-size poster from season two!)