Barn Dance Host Hails New Site, Prepares for Anniversary Show

After some rocky times and a mid-season club transfer, KCSN’s weekly Barn Dance will celebrate its first anniversary at North Hollywood’s Palomino on Tuesday night. And host Ronnie Mack wants more.

“There’s a possibility that we might be able to expand to other radio stations across the country,” Mack said. “There will be meetings in a few weeks to discuss that.”

For now, though, Mack is content with the weekly Tuesday night broadcasts, from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m., on KCSN-FM. The show, Mack said, shifted in August to the Palomino from the Little Nashville Club because of inferior sound, insufficient space, and problems with management over drinking policies. Mack maintains that the move has made a big difference.

“The sound at the club and on the radio is much better,” Mack said. “We’ve been getting about 300 people each show.”

For the anniversary show, performers will include country singer Rosie Flores, blues veteran Big Jay McNeely, and Jann Brown and the Eddys, with James Intveld.

Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano will perform at McCabe’s in Santa Monica on Friday night.

In March, Napolitano is about to join the band for a six-month world tour, with a European swing. Concrete Blonde’s debut album in 1986 scored impressively with fans and critics, and the group is about to release its newest record.

Appearing on the same show will be Bob Forrest and Mike Martt from Felonious Monster. The duo has just finished an album, which was produced by X’s John Doe.

The show will begin at 8 p.m., and tickets cost $12.50.

Also at McCabe’s, on Jan. 22, Henry Kaiser and Tom Constanten will perform. Kaiser is an experimental guitarist; Constanten will play keyboard. They will each give solo performances, then do some songs together. Constanten, who now teaches classical keyboard in the San Francisco area, played on the Grateful Dead’s first three records from 1968 to 1970. He rarely appears in L.A. clubs.

This show also will begin at 8 p.m. and cost $12.50.