ON THE MONEY

Eddie Money's music has been described as Americana, tunes about a beer and a babe and a back seat.

His fans are people who like white R&B and a good party.

"They're misfits. People who like rock 'n' roll," he said in a sometimes jocular, sometimes serious telephone interview from the road.

"...They had a girlfriend, been in love, got dumped, got a DUI, lost their job, are living in the basement.

"I've been with these people for 20 years."

Money will perform along with Kansas and Cape Girardeau's Papa Aborigine Sunday at the Show Me Center.

The show beings at 6 p.m. Tickets are $19.50a and $21.50 and are available at Schnucks, Disc Jockey, Union Planters Banks of Sikeston, Poplar Bluff and Jackson; Broadway Video in Marion, Ill; Alligator Music in Sparta, Ill; and Mayberry Music and Audio in Anna, Ill.

With his penchant for black leather and New York street talk, Money seems to have fit into rock's rule-breaking mold from his early years.

"I used to steal cars and sit on telephone books to drive," he says. "But I was a pretty good kid."

It's a rock 'n' roll truism that most musicians are uninterested in either art or money when they start out. That was the case with native New Yorker Money, who's real name is Mahoney. "It wasn't to make a living," he says. "I wanted to date the cheerleaders in high school without being on the football team."

For awhile, Money considered becoming a cop like his father. But a police trainee with long hair didn't last long in the 1960s. Besides, something more interesting was happening elsewhere.

"I saw it all on TV, the Summer of Love," he says.

"Everybody looked like they were having a blast. I said, I gotta get out to California."

Soon Money was right in the middle of it, protesting the Vietnam War and selling bell bottoms in Berkeley. After Janis Joplin died, he was one of the singers who tried to fill the void with her band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.

Meeting the late Bill Graham backstage at the fabled concert venue called Winterland was a turning point for him. Graham became his manager and the album "Eddie Money" appeared soon afterward.

It yielded the hits "Baby Hold On" and "Two Tickets to Paradise."

Money describes the former as "a silly little song," but it was successful enough that Doris Day's lawyer threatened to sue him over its alleged similarity to her "Que Sera, Sera."

Since then Money's star has risen and waned a few times over 20 years. Notable hits are "Shakin', "Think I'm in Love" and "Gimme Some Water" and "Take Me Home Tonight," the last a duet with the legendary Ronnie Specter.

His most recent album of 10 is called "Love & Money," released in 1995.

He attributes the longevity of his career to his live show, which he likens to a party that moves from night to night.

"I say, Hey, got room in the car for me?"

Also playing Sunday will be Kansas, known for the 1970s hits "Carry On My Wayward Son," "Dust in the Wind" and "Point of No Return." The band includes original band members Steve Walsh on vocals, Phil Ehart on drums and Rich Williams on guitar. Other members are bassist Billy Greer, keyboardist Greg Robert and David Ragsdale on violin and guitar.

Papa Aborigine, which plays new alternative rock along with covers of rock classics, will open the concert. All four members -- Billy Keys on keyboards and vocals, Keller Ford on drums, Chris Ford on bass and Alex Allen on guitar -- are from Cape Girardeau.

They previously were scheduled to perform at the Show Me Center last fall as opening act for the Pointer Sisters, but that concert was canceled. Aside from the recent Riverfest, this should be the biggest crowd they have ever performed for, Keys said.

"The lights, stage, sound and people are going to make a big difference," Keys said. "We're looking forward to an energetic show."