POP MUSIC : El Cajon Has New Home for New, Old Rock Stars

A handful of canny local nightclub owners have discovered there’s no better way to make a buck than by bringing the stars to their bars. San Diego over the past decade has become home to four concert “showcase” clubs. They provide big-name pop acts of the past--and, perhaps, of the future--the chance to headline their own shows instead of opening large arena dates for big-name pop acts of the present.

First there was the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa. Then came the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, the Spirit in Bay Park, and, just last year, Rio’s in Loma Portal.

Soon, there will be a fifth: Park Place, a 400-seat nightclub on Fletcher Parkway in El Cajon. Like the other clubs, Park Place will feature regular appearances by national has-beens as well as might-be’s, beginning Sunday with veteran Southern rockers the Outlaws.

Tentative future shows include British blues-rock band Foghat on Nov. 6 and new wave upstarts Concrete Blonde Nov. 7.

“Out here in East County, the people are starved for good rock ‘n’ roll,” said Rick Tupper, Park Place’s in-house promoter. “They especially like such bands as Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Foghat--anything in the old rock ‘n’ roll mold from the 1970s, which they were weaned on.

“Whenever one of these bands plays, say, the Bacchanal, half the crowd is from East County. So it only makes sense to bring these concerts to where the people are. But until now, the problem has been finding a proper venue.”

Tupper, 30, has a long history of involvement with the San Diego music scene. When he was 18, four years after he moved here from his native London, Tupper started a stage-lighting company that worked with various local teen clubs. Between 1978 and 1985, he was production manager for Marc Berman Concerts; he spent the next summer assisting promoter Kenny Weissberg in booking acts for the annual Concerts by the Bay series at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island.

Last year, Tupper left San Diego and went on the road as tour manager for Ronnie James Dio, then the Starship, and, finally, Rough Cutt. Upon his return to San Diego in the spring of 1988, he began searching for a nightclub in which he could promote shows on his own--a search that ended two months ago, when he cut a deal with the owners of Park Place.

“They were doing real well with local rock ‘n’ roll bands, so they decided to go one step further and try national acts,” Tupper said. “And as far as I’m concerned, they made the right decision.”

When Katie Webster performs her zesty blend of gospel, blues, boogie-woogie and Louisiana bayou music Sunday night at the Belly Up Tavern, the sound might be familiar even if the name is not.

It was the Houston-born Webster, after all, whose left-handed piano-pumping and soulful vocals were featured on such landmark rhythm-and-blues recordings of the 1960s as Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” and countless others by the likes of Wilson Pickett and Sam and Dave. Webster has also toured and recorded with such illustrious black-music stylists as Clifton Chenier, the late zydeco king, and blues man Slim Harpo.

Today, after compiling studio credits on 750 singles and more than 50 albums, Webster, 48, is finally in the spotlight herself. Her current U.S. tour is in support of her debut Alligator Records solo LP, “Katie Webster: The Swamp Boogie Queen.” And instead of Webster backing the big guys, the album finds the big guys backing Webster.

Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds sings and plays harmonica on “Who’s Making Love,” an updated version of the 1968 Johnny Taylor classic. Bonnie Raitt sings and plays slide guitar on “Somebody’s On Your Case.” Also lending a hand on the album are Robert Cray and the Memphis Horns.

“No question, I’ve got some real heavyweights on there with me,” Webster said by phone from her home in San Francisco. “It’s amazing--we’ve got such good sounds, and that’s because we’re into the roots, the stuff where all the music you hear on the radio today originally came from.”

KODACHROME: Local rockabilly band the Paladins will be filming their first-ever music video today at the Belly Up Tavern. The cameras start rolling at noon for close-ups of the trio lip-syncing “Years Since Yesterday,” their new single and the title track of their recently released Alligator Records album.

After a break of several hours, the Paladins return to the Belly Up stage at 9 p.m. for a concert so the cameras can capture some live footage and crowd shots. In the coming weeks, portions of the daytime and the nighttime shoots will be spliced together in the editing room of Rakoczy Productions of Los Angeles, which is producing the video at a cost of $30,000.

Kevin Morrow, the Paladins’ booking agent, said the “Years Since Yesterday” video should make its MTV debut by the time the band begins its 15-date East Coast tour October 22 at the Lone Star nightclub in New York City.

LOOK WHAT THEY’VE DONE TO MY SONG MA: Everyone knows that the Kingsmen recorded the 1963 hit version of “Louie, Louie,” the timeless frat-rock classic that even the crudest garage bands can play in their sleep. What few people know is that “Louie, Louie” was written, and originally recorded, five years earlier by an obscure black rhythm-and-blues singer named Richard Berry. Berry will be in town Sept. 30 for a concert at Rio’s.

BITS AND PIECES: In one of the oddest musical pairings ever, veteran character actor Harry Dean Stanton will sing with Michael Been of new wave group the Call Saturday night at the Bacchanal. Backing them will be the Call’s key boardist, Jim Goodwin, and drummer, Scott Musick. . . . Jamaican reggae singers Dennis Brown and Eek-A-Mouse (a person, not an observation) have just been booked into the California Theater downtown for a Sept. 30 appearance.