Pop

Singer-songwriter Robert Eagleman has plenty of empathy for the homeless: His brother is one of the them. “He’s mentally ill, and he’s been living on and off the streets for the last 15 years,” Eagleman said. “And when he’s not in a board-and-care home, he tends to wander, so I can see from that what families of the homeless have to go through.”

To help out his brother and other homeless San Diegans, Eagleman has released a single, “Help Someone Have a Merry Christmas,” on the local Midnight Circuit Records label.

The single is available at Tower Records and nearly 40 other record stores throughout San Diego County. Proceeds benefit three local relief agencies: the St. Vincent de Paul-Joan Kroc Center for the Homeless, San Diego Life Ministries, and the Ecumenical Service Center of Oceanside.

“It’s a very standard Christmas song, and right now, I’m trying to get local radio stations to play it,” Eagleman said. Already, he said, the single has been added by news/talk station KSDO-AM (1130).

- Twelve San Diego heavy metal bands got together last weekend in Mission Valley’s Club Mirage to celebrate the release of San Diego Rocks ’88 Calendar.

Performing either Saturday or Sunday were “bandmates of the month” Archer, Teazer, Guardian, Aslan, Street Legal, Prowler, Bubble Gum, Sanctuary, Vamp, Suspicion, New Tribe, and Britton.

- Local rock band the Outriders have finally released their debut album on their own Bandit Records label, months after the album was supposed to have come out on Wrestler Records of Austin, Tex.

The eight songs on the album, with such fanciful titles as “Open Up the Coffin” and “Statutory Blues,” are a hybrid of rock ‘n’ roll, blues and country-Western. The band consists of singer-songwriter Ken Layne, guitarist Rick Wilkins, bassist Paul Denton and drummer Sam Chammas.