Jacks’ ‘Back Door Santa’ Looks and Sounds Great

Roaming around Rio’s last Saturday night, Buddy Blue was the proverbial sight for sore eyes. With his Santa hat, once-white T-shirt, rumpled red baggies and suspenders, he looked like some underground cartoonist’s rendering of the Chubby Old Elf on the day after Christmas: no coat, smug grin, eyes glazed over from perhaps a little too much holiday cheer.

The only thing missing was the beard. But, then again, Blue, the lead singer and guitarist with the Jacks, wasn’t out to fool anyone. He had merely dressed for the occasion, which was the record-release party for the Jacks’ new Christmas single, “Back Door Santa.”

The song was written and originally recorded nearly two decades ago by a blind black soul singer named Clarence Carter. Carter, responsible for such classic chart busters as 1968’s intense “Slip Away” and the tear-jerking “Patches” (1970), is one of the Jacks’ all-time idols. “Back Door Santa,” which was included on Atco Records’ 1969 “Soul Christmas” compilation album, finds Carter at his impassioned best.

The Jacks’ version is every bit as good as the original, if not better. The groovy, bump-and-grind rhythms of bassist Chris Sullivan and drummer Giacomo (Jack) DiMatteo move the body; the majesty of Mighty Joe Longa’s Hammond B-3 organ and the grace of the Bel Air Horns melt the heart; the scorching vocals and sizzling guitar licks of Buddy Blue set fire to the soul.

Unlike “Jacks Are Wild,” the group’s brilliant debut album of originals that came out last summer on the nationally distributed Rounder Records label, “Back Door Santa” was pressed by the Jacks themselves. The 12-inch single is available only in San Diego, at record stores such as Tower, Off the Record and Lou’s Records.

At $4, it’s a bargain. Not only does it sound great, it also looks great. The cover shot depicts the lanky Longa--his long brown hair dyed gray and slicked back into a pompadour--entering the back door of some house, bearing two armloads of gifts.

Among the gifts: “Jacks Are Wild” and “Soul Christmas.”

The Jacks aren’t the only San Diego band to put out a new record in time for the pre-Christmas buying rush.

Red Flag, the local techno-pop duo whose debut single, “Broken Heart,” soared up Billboard’s dance charts last summer, has just come out with single No. 2, “Russian Radio.”

Both tunes were produced by Jon St. James, the man behind dance queen Stacey Q, for the Synthicide Records label. This time around, St. James was assisted in the studio by the Information Society’s Paul Robb. And the result, according to a review in Billboard, is “a contemporary club number that’s stronger than their debut in both production and mix.”

The release of “Russian Radio” follows a five-month national touring blitz for brothers Chris and Mark Reynolds, who, before making their recording debut as Red Flag, spent several years plying the San Diego nightclub circuit as Naive Art.

Since July, the synthesizer-happy siblings have headlined at dozens of trendy dance clubs from Los Angeles to New York, in addition to opening shows in larger venues for the Information Society, the Escape Club, Thomas Dolby and Devo.

Also out with a new single, on their own label, are Encinitas upstarts Dr. and the King. The A side is an original, “Santa Claus is Coming to Kumaca,” the B side a cover of Randy Newman’s “Sail Away.”

Their press release accurately describes the band’s sound as “an eclectic mix of Caribbean, Latin and pop with humorous rum overtones, supplemented with a seriously twisted view of reality.”

LINER NOTES: More than 20 San Diego rock bands will team up tonight for a series of benefit concerts at 13 local nightclubs to raise money for the homeless and AIDS research. The bands, and where they’ll be playing: the Paladins, the Beat Farmers, the Forbidden Pigs and Comanche Moon at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa; the Mar Dels and Peter Dubow at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Country Casanova at the Circle D Corral in El Cajon; Coyote at the Country Bumpkin in Imperial Beach; Crystal at the Dance Machine in Imperial Beach; Robert Vaughn and the Shadows at the Landing in Loma Portal.

Also, Private Domain at the Old Del Mar Cafe; Dr. Feelgood and the Interns of Love at the Old Pacific Beach Cafe; the Rick Gazlay Band and Big Pins at Park Place in El Cajon; Rubber Maid at Rio’s in Loma Portal; the Mighty Penguins and Wasted Talent at Smokey’s in Mission Valley; Limbo Slam and the AZZ IZZ Band at the Spirit in Bay Park; and Borracho y Loco and the Blonde Bruce Band at Winston’s in Ocean Beach.

Beneficiaries of “San Diego Together”--organized by North County’s Falk and Morrow Talent--are the Lumen Christi Society, the San Diego AIDS Project and San Diego Youth and Community Services.