Ocean Resort Casino gets Stray Cats reunion tour date

Stray Cats, the rockabilly-revivalist band whose stripped-down ‘50s sound won a large audience in the first half of the 1980s, has announced it will open the American portion of its upcoming 40th anniversary reunion tour Aug. 3 at Atlantic City’s Ocean Resort Casino. The gig, for which tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, is one of just nine stateside shows the band will do following a European road trip that commences June 21 at a festival in Spain.

The tour will coincide with the release of “40,” the unit’s first studio album in 26 years.

The group—guitarist-front man Brian Setzer, bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom (whose trademark is standing while playing)--was unabashedly influenced by first-generation rockers like Eddie Cochrane, Gene Vincent and Bill Haley. It hit the jackpot with tracks like “Rock This Town,” “Stray Cat Strut,” and “(She’s) Sexy and 17” and their respective videos, which received major exposure on MTV when the music-video cable channel was the nation’s dominant molder of musical tastes.

That Atlantic City is on the itinerary while Philadelphia and other cities including Chicago, San Francisco and Denver aren’t isn’t necessarily that big of a surprise. Since Setzer put the Brian Setzer Orchestra together as part of the jump-and-jive revival of the late 1990s, he’s been an AyCee regular with an annual Christmas show a holiday-season staple.

For pre-sale info, go to www.ticketmaster.com.