SHORT TAKES : Ninja Turtles Ready for the Road

NEW YORK —  Cowabunga! The dudes can rock!

Those awesome Teen-age Mutant Ninja Turtles boogied up from their subterranean pad Wednesday to launch a new album and national concert tour.

“Like any group of teen-age kids, they’re hanging out. They want to be a rock ‘n’ roll band,” said creative director Bob Bejan.

The three-fingered crusaders for justice sang two songs--”Count on Us” and “Pizza Power”--for a lunchtime crowd in Rockefeller Center, and even 11-month-old Brian Lewis clapped along in his stroller.

“All the kids in the neighborhood love them,” said his mother, Ann Lewis of Somerville, N.J.

For the Turtle trivia buffs: Michelangelo, the lead singer, writes lyrics and plays lead guitar; Raphael, on saxophone, writes the music; Donatello plays keyboards, and Leonardo is on bass.

The album, which is due out in September, is the latest venture for Turtles, which started out as comic book heroes and went on to be featured in a movie, cartoons and dozens of merchandising spin-offs. The nationwide concert tour begins Sept. 6 in Providence, R.I.