POP MUSIC : Humphrey’s 1st-Day Ticket Sales Up 30% Over Last Year

Tickets went on sale last Saturday for the first 29 shows in the ninth annual Concerts by the Bay series at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island, which starts June 10 with a pair of shows by B. B. King.

First-day ticket sales, according to promoter Kenny Weissberg, were up 30% from last year, for a total of 6,100. Last year’s first-day total was 4,700 tickets for the season’s 32 shows. The capacity of Humphrey’s is 1,000.

The big winners this year: Hiroshima, June 15, 772 tickets; Johnny Mathis, July 16, 511 tickets, and Harry Belafonte, July 9, 423 tickets.

“Hiroshima’s popularity continues to soar in San Diego,” Weissberg said. “The band has no new album out, and risked overexposure by playing Humphrey’s three times last year. They’re a wonderful band, and people can’t get enough of them.”

That the Mathis and Belafonte shows did so well at the box office is a little surprising given the exceptionally high ticket prices: $33 and $28, respectively--the highest ever for a Humphrey’s show.

At the bottom end of the first-day ticket-sale count: Highway 101, Aug. 2, 69 tickets; Asleep at the Wheel with Riders in the Sky, Aug. 7, 41 tickets, and Etta James, Sept. 5, 40 tickets.

“These are the type of acts that don’t normally play Humphrey’s,” Weissberg said, “and it’s going to take a dedicated promotional effort to get these shows over the top.”

The complete Concerts by the Bay lineup so far is: B. B. King, June 10; Hiroshima, June 15; Michael Hedges, June 17; the Nylons, July 6; Harry Connick Jr., July 8; Keiko Matsui and Dan Siegel, July 12; Johnny Mathis, July 16; Spyro Gyra, July 25; the Rippingtons featuring Russ Freeman, July 27; Michael Franks, July 29; the Dave Brubeck Quartet, July 31; Al Green, Aug. 1; Highway 101, Aug. 2, and the Yellowjackets, Aug. 3.

Also, David Benoit, Aug. 5; Ray Charles, Aug. 6; Asleep at the Wheel with Riders in the Sky, Aug. 7; Richard Elliot, Aug. 9; Diane Schuur, Aug. 10; Waylon Jennings, Aug. 12; Tony Bennett, Aug. 17; Emmylou Harris, Aug. 19; Larrry Carlton and Stanley Jordan, Aug. 22; Lee Ritenour, Aug. 24; Grover Washington Jr., Aug. 27; Etta James, Sept. 5; David Lanz with Checkfield, Oct. 7, and Lou Rawls, Oct. 19.

Mojo Nixon called the other day from Memphis, where he’s working on his next album with his new studio band, the Liberation Army. The lineup: Bill Davis of Dash Riprock and Eric Amble of the Del Lords on guitar, John Doe of X on bass and Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers on drums.

Conspicuously absent from the recording sessions is Skid Roper, Nixon’s longtime washboard-strummin’ sidekick. After touring together since the early 1980s and cutting four albums as a duo for Enigma Records, the two recently parted ways to allow Roper more time to work with his own San Diego roots-rock band, the Whirlin’ Spurs.

“It was just kind of a natural progression,” Nixon said. “After working together for six years, we pretty much said everything there is to say. I wanted to do something with a band, and he wanted to do some solo stuff. There’s no hate, no ‘I’m gonna kill him’ or ‘I’m gonna write mean songs about him.’ ”

Nixon and his new band began work on the album, his fifth, last week, at Three Alarm Studios, a converted firehouse. The studio’s owner, Jim Dickinson, is handling production; he’s best known as Ry Cooder’s pianist and for producing the second Replacements album, “Pleased to Meet Me.”

Even though the album won’t be completed until the end of May and released until late August or early September, Nixon’s already got a title: “Otis.”

“It’s in honor of all of the famous Otises: Otis Redding, Otis Blackwell, Otis Day from ‘Animal House,’ Otis the drunk from the ‘Andy Griffith Show’ and my new favorite baseball player, Otis Nixon of the Montreal Expos,” Nixon said. “We’ve got a big poster of him up here in the studio, with a giant chaw of tobacco in his cheek.”

He’s also got several songs he’s just finished writing, including “Don Henley Must Die,” “I Wanna Race Bigfoot Trucks,” “Put a Sex Machine in the White House,” and “Destroy All Lawyers,” which is slated to be the album’s first single.

“This album will be in the traditional Mojo mode, but with a band,” Nixon said. “We’re playing and singing everything live in the studio, so it will be a lot closer to my live shows, capturing some of that psychotic, spasmatic energy.”

LINER NOTES: The latest additions to the treasure chest of rock ‘n’ roll T-shirts and memorabilia that will be auctioned off May 4 at the Kona Kai Club on Shelter Island to raise money for the Storefront, San Diego County’s only emergency shelter for homeless youth: Paul McCartney’s autographed Rickenbacker bass guitar;,the pink skirt worn by Madonna on her recent “Material Girls” tour, and a leather tour jacket signed by Aerosmith. The fourth annual Celebri-T-Shirt Auction is expected to generate upward of $50,000 for the downtown shelter, which is jointly operated by San Diego Youth and Community Services, Catholic Community Services and METRO, the social-service agency of the United Methodist Churches. . . .

Two more dates have been announced in this year’s annual Del Mar Fair grandstand concert series: Dionne Warwick, June 21, and Kool and the Gang, June 25. Both shows start at 7:30 p.m. . . . George Strait’s June 10 appearance at the Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park has turned into a double-header. The originally scheduled 8 p.m. show was a quick sellout, prompting the promoter to add a second show, starting at 4 p.m. . . .

Singer Mark DeCerbo has left veteran local Top 40 band Four Eyes, which he co-founded in the late 1970s to play new-wave originals, and joined oldies group Rockola. . . .

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for Sinead O’Connor’s May 29 concert at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theatre. . . .

Other new additions to the local pop-concert calendar: Testament with Savatage, May 3 at the California Theatre; Whitesnake with Bad English, May 9 at the SDSU Open Air Theatre, and Kaoma, May 10 at the Starlight Bowl. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Bonham with Johnny Crash, tonight at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa; Alice Cooper with Danger Danger, Thursday at the California Theatre; Faith No More with Primus, Thursday at the Bacchanal; Billy Vera with Jerry McCann, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; the James Harman Band with the Bedbreakers, Friday at the Casbah and again Saturday at the Belly Up with the Blonde Bruce Band; Ian McCulloch with Ultra Vivid Scene, Saturday at the Bacchanal.