November 27, 1981

WHERE do you go if you live in New York City's suburbs and want to hear some rock-and-roll? Until fairly recently, you would have had two choices. If you were willing to settle for an average suburban rock band, you could probably find one at a nearby watering hole. But if you wanted to hear a band with a reputation - albums in the stores, write-ups in the rock press - you got in your car and drove into Manhattan. Not so any more. Now the suburban rock clubs are not only jumping with big-name talent, they are even attracting a growing number of fans who live in Manhattan. That sort of thing has never happened before; understanding it requires a bit of history.

''Our kids are too old to bring now so we borrow our friends' kids.

An article in yesterday's Times in- correctly stated the interest rate $200 million to be loaned by the Fed- eral Commodity Credit Corporation to finance tobacco purchases. The rate is 14 1/2 percent.

As part of an effort to become more directly involved in running the city's mass-transit system, Mayor Koch plans to name a special assistant for transportation. The Mayor's effort, which will include issuing status reports on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's operations, has been hinted at by Mr. Koch since his re-election. He has said many times that mass transit is a top priority in his new term. The moves planned by the Mayor do not in themselves increase his power with the state-run authority. But city officials, including the Deputy Mayor for Policy, Robert F. Wagner Jr., say they believe that by being more informed and more involved, the Mayor will have greater power to influence the authority's actions.

On the way from New York City to Seoul, South Korea, $2 million was stolen from five money sacks being transferred to the Government-run Korea Exchange Bank. When bank officials in Seoul opened the sacks, which were supposed to have been filled with $100 bills in American currency from the Republic National Bank of New York, they found only blank pieces of paper cut to the size of the bills. Asked about the case, Bill Potts, a special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said yesterday, ''All we can say is that there have been no arrests and that the F.B.I. is investigating.''