Ray Charles

It doesn't take a lot of insight to realize that Ray Charles is an extremely versatile musician. It isn't just that he has recorded with everyone from Aretha Franklin to George Jones to jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson; simply looking at such album titles as "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music," "My Kind of Jazz" or "Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul" says something about the range of music he has made over the years.But as he sees it, there's really only one kind of music he makes: Ray Charles music.

MY WORLDRay Charles (Warner Bros. 26735)Everybody knows Ray Charles can sing. In fact, he can pull more out of a melody than almost any pop star alive. But even he can only do so much, a point that's driven home with unfortunate clarity on "My World." This isn't a bad album, mind; unlike the low-budget "Would You Believe?," Charles surrounded by top-flight players on almost every track, and the material takes him from bass-pumping funk ("Let Me Take Over") to straight up spirituals ("So Help Me God")

The Japanese are, on the whole, an inventive lot. Not only di they come up with the ideas for the Honda, tatami mats, sushi and karaoke, they are now introducing into Japanese society a custom that has the potential to appeal -- big time -- to Americans.I speak here of the newest rage sweeping Japan: The hiring of professional actors to play the role of your family.The pragmatic brilliance of this solution to one of Japan's growing problems -- the strains placed on families by prosperity, overwork and Westernization -- causes me to bow my head in awe.The idea is simplicity itself: Let's say, for instance, you are an elderly couple whose children and grandchildren rarely visit.

Neighbors of the Pier 6 Concert Pavilion will be able to sleep easily this summer. Because if the initial offerings in this year's Harborlights Music Festival are any indication, it's going to be quite a quiet summer on the Inner Harbor.It's not that the Pavilion won't be busy. There are 21 shows scheduled thus far, stretching from a season-opening show with Kenny Loggins on May 26 to a blues package featuring B. B. xTC King, Buddy Guy, Dr. John and the Fabulous Thunderbirds on Sept. 9. Moreover, further bookings are expected as the season progresses.

THEATER'Lost' at the MechanicNeil Simon's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lost in Yonkers" -- currently at the Mechanic Theatre -- is about two teen-age brothers forced to live with their hard-hearted grandmother in 1942. A bittersweet examination of the power of family bonds, the play is illuminated by Mercedes McCambridge's empathetic portrayal of the grandmother. "Lost in Yonkers" has performances at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. today and at 3 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets are $26-$37.50. For more information, call (410)

New Orleans. -- My driving teacher is Mr. Carney.Yes, I've gone ahead and done it. After 25 years as that rarissima of advises in America -- the pedestrian -- I am going to be a driver. I'll drive a car and I'll have an ID to cash checks with.Mr. Carney says, ''Being a good driver is like being a good Christian, you have to practice every day.''OK, I'll be a good driver. I will signal before I turn. I will look before I pass. I will stop before the sign. But I've got problems. Mr. Carney says, ''Turn right,'' and I turn left.

THE BIRTH OF SOULRay Charles (Atlantic 82310)Even though everybody knows that Ray Charles is one of the giants of American music, his utter ubiquity -- as cultural icon and Pepsi pitchman -- can make it easy to forget what a great soul singer he is. Fortunately, there's "The Birth of Soul" to remind us. This 53-song, three-disc (or three-cassette) box set bills itself as his "Complete Atlantic Rhythm & Blues Recordings, 1952-1959," but what it really documents isn't Charles' career in R&B but the process by which he created soul singing as we know it. Not only does the set show his roots in jump blues and gospel, but also how songs like "Don't You Know" and "I Wonder Who" presaged the sound of hits like "I Got a Woman."

ACCORDING TO a Wall Street Journal report, some Coca-Cola executives are careful to avoid making the sound "uh-huh" while talking to each other.That's because of the fierce advertising competition between Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi.At the moment, the Diet Pepsi commercials appear to be having a greater impact on the hearts and minds and stomachs of the American public.And the phrase "uh-huh" is part of the reason for this success. As any TV viewer knows, the Diet Pepsi commercial stars Ray Charles merrily singing: "You got the right one baby, uh-huh," while a bevy of foxy beauties wiggle and join in on the "uh-huh."

Furnace Town folk concertThe Appalachian music group Blue Plate Special headlines today's edition of the Furnace Town mini-concert series. The one-hour show begins at 3 p.m. at the Old Nazareth Church on the grounds of historic Furnace Town. Admission is $2 for adults and $1 for children.Blue Plate Special features fiddler Annie Williams of Salisbury, banjo strummer Kate Brett of North Carolina and guitarist Kevin Enoch of Ohio playing traditional Appalachian folk music.The Old Nazareth Church is one of several restored mid-19th century buildings that make up Furnace Town, a re-creation of the village that once stood around the Nassawango iron furnace near Snow Hill.

Vagabonds set three one-act playsBeginning Thursday, the Vagabond Players will present three one-act plays as their initial entry in this year's Baltimore Playwrights Festival. Robert Dunn's "Life in the Last Act" is a comedy that takes place in a bar called the Last Act, Willy Conley's "The Hearing Test" is about a deaf teen-ager's isolation from both the hearing and deaf worlds and Brian Patrick McCormick's "Talk of God" chronicles a conversation in an insane asylum.Curtain times are 8:30 p.m. Thursday and the following three Fridays and Saturdays; Sundays at 7 p.m. through July 14. Tickets are $6. For more information call 563-9135.