POP MUSIC / THOMAS K. ARNOLD : Street Scene ’88 Celebrates a Rockin’ Rite of Passage

The Michelob Street Scene is fast approaching adulthood. Last year, San Diego’s most sensational and sizzling summer block party was still a child.

Six eclectic pop acts provided five hours of continuous live music from two stages set up on opposite ends of a roped-off, L-shaped section of streets in the Gaslamp Quarter. Performers ranged from legendary blues man John Lee Hooker to African high-lifers O.J. Ekemode and his Nigerian All-Stars.

When the Michelob Street Scene returns to the Gaslamp Quarter Saturday for the sixth time in five years, it will be as a strapping adolescent. There will be 14 eclectic pop acts--ranging from country rockers David Lindley with El Rayo-X to Jamaican reggae hotshots Burning Spear--and four stages.

“Our expansion this year is part of my long-term goal of making the Michelob Street Scene a major urban music festival along the lines of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which features hundreds of performers on dozens of stages,” said promoter Rob Hagey. “The key is to make as many people aware of this event as possible by offering them a wide assortment of talent, in a wide range of styles. And the more people we attract, the more we’ll be able to continue expanding on what we’re doing.”

As in previous years, Michelob Street Scene ’88 will start at 6 p.m. and end at 11 p.m. But with twice as many stages and more than twice as many acts, Hagey added, performances will overlap instead of leapfrogging from stage to stage.

“Before you blink, there will be music everywhere you look, often on all four stages at once,” he said. “This way, you can experiment. If you don’t like one band, you can walk a short distance and try another one. Sure, in certain areas there might be an overlap of sound. But we can control that--people will just have to move over a bit toward one stage or another.”

Performing at this year’s Street Scene will be the usual mix of veterans and upstarts, big names and unknowns. Lindley, for example, could easily sell out nightclubs or small concert halls on his own, while high-life debutants Chief Oliver DeCoque and Expo ’76 are practically unheard of outside their native Nigeria.

“The element of surprise is a very important part of a successful festival,” Hagey said. “Every year we’ve had one or two new acts that get a terrific response from a crowd that otherwise would never have had the chance to see them.”

The complete lineup for Michelob Street Scene ‘88:

On the “Rockin’ Out” stage, 4th Avenue and K Street: David Lindley and El Rayo-X, local “roots-rockers” the Beat Farmers, and Bulldozer, a young hard-rock band from Los Angeles.

On the “Blastin’ Blues” stage, 5th Avenue and J Street: Blues great Albert Collins and the Icebreakers, Texas rhythm-and-blues singer Delbert McClinton, Texas blues group Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets, and local blues band the Mighty Penguins.

On the “Reggae Jammin’ ” stage, 5th and L Street: Los Angeles reggae-ska band the Untouchables, Burning Spear, Jamaican reggae singer Pablo Moses and the Revolutionary Dream Band, and Chief Oliver DeCoque and Expo ’76.

On the “Louisiana Cajun Bayou Beer Fest” stage, 5th and K (in the 21-and-up Beer Garden): zydeco accordionist Rockin’ Sidney, the Al Rapone Zydeco Express, and Cajun fiddler Allen Fontenot and the Country Cajuns.

Most people planning to attend Friday night’s free concert by Vital Information at the America’s Cup Village in Seaport Village are probably looking forward to an evening of blazing rock ‘n’ roll.

After all, the San Francisco band is led by Steve Smith, who between 1978 and 1985 was the drummer for Journey, one of the most popular American rock bands ever. Along with Steve Perry’s high-pitched vocals and Neal Schon’s screaming guitar leads, it was Smith’s relentless drum poundings that propelled such tunes as “Who’s Crying Now?” and “Open Arms” all the way to the top of the national pop singles charts.

For the last three years, however, this same drummer has been marching to a different beat. The day he and ex-Santana keyboardist Tom Coster formed Vital Information is also the day Smith, now 34, went back to playing jazz.

Before joining Journey, Smith had spent a year on the road with noted jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. Even earlier, he had studied jazz at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating with top honors in 1976.

“Seven years of playing rock ‘n’ roll was enough,” Smith said. “Coming from a jazz background, I have this constant need to improvise, to be creative. In rock ‘n’ roll, creativity is limited to the studio, when you’re writing and recording the songs.

“After that, it becomes a re-creative process: You’re supposed to play each song live exactly as you originally played it in the studio. But with jazz, you have the freedom to be creative every single night you’re on the road; there’s always room for improvisation, for a spontaneous interaction with the other musicians. It’s a lot more challenging, but it’s also a lot more fun.”

BRAND NEW KEY: For more than 10 years, the San Diego City College Theater has reserved the second Tuesday in every month for a free concert by a local jazz band. The concerts are broadcast live, beginning at 8 p.m., on campus radio station KSDS-FM (88.3). This month’s installment in the “JazzLive” series is a departure from the norm. Instead of jazz, the fare next Tuesday will be blues, courtesy of the Mighty Penguins.

BITS AND PIECES: Pop-jazz chart busters Russ Freeman and the Rippingtons will open for George Benson Sept. 24 at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater. . . . Tickets go on sale Saturday for dance queen Sade’s Oct. 13 concert at the Open Air Theater.