BY LIZ SMITH

FOUND MYSELF up at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut's never-never land last Friday catching the fabled Cher in concert. I've never seen anything like this giant gambling casino constructed from shards of glass and simulated rocks out of nothing in the middle of nowhere. Cher's show drew 10,000 people and that didn't include the hundreds of others who milled through the shops, cafes, slot machines and gambling rooms of South African tycoon Sol Kerzner's dream casino.

Cher was beyond fabulous, totally over the top, looking 26 instead of 56 years old. She did all her old and new favorites, changed from one dazzling Bob Mackie costume to another, sang and danced her heart out and you'll be nuts if you don't catch her tonight or Thursday at NYC's Madison Square Garden. This "final tour" of hers was supposed to end in September, but I think it has now mounted to 50 cities and could be going through December. I have seen many stars in concert, but never one better than Cher.
It takes 11 big trucks to move this show from place to place; then they set it up within hours, like a dazzling jigsaw puzzle of elevators, descending chandeliers, light, music and video. When the star herself dances out with her inimitable swagger and starts her intimate, funny, candid, self-revealing give and take with her audience, people go crazy.

To say there was a weekend of madness at the Mohegan Sun puts it mildly. Bill Clinton and Sen. Chris Dodd were there shaking hands with high-rollers. Dan Aykroyd was given a "surprise" birthday party by his wife, Donna Dixon. Glimpsed were Lorne Michaels, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jim Belushi, Ricki Lake, Tony Lo Bianco, Steve Tyler, Wilson Pickett, Sam Moore, Art Garfunkel, John Cusack. You had to wear a special Aykroyd bracelet to get in.

At other places in the Mohegan, Aretha Franklin was threatening death to subordinates because her sound system flunked. She ordered off the air conditioning. Ray Charles did his stuff and Rosie O'Donnell turned the air blue with four-letter words. Hey, kids, these days - that's entertainment.