Street Scene ’90 to Stress Diversity : Music: Downtown festival promises two nights of non-stop music from an eclectic range of more than 40 performers.

This weekend, the streets of downtown San Diego will once again come alive with the sound of music when the Michelob Street Scene touches down in the Gaslamp Quarter for the eighth time in seven years.

The event’s promoter, Rob Hagey, said it is the most ambitious urban music festival he’s staged yet. And, for the first time, there will be two nights of non-stop music, not just one.

Accordingly, the festival includes more than 40 acts--twice as many as last year--representing such diverse styles of popular music as rock ‘n’ roll, blues, jazz, country, reggae, Latin, worldbeat, gospel, Cajun, and zydeco.

They’ll be performing Friday and Saturday nights from 5 to 11 p.m., on eight stages in a 12-block section of downtown. Last year, six stages were erected in an eight-block area.

There will also be more than 40 food booths offering culinary specialties as diverse as the music, ranging from Caribbean Jerk Chicken and barbecue ribs to Cajun/Creole Jambalaya and quesadillas.

“I think it’s very important to keep on expanding and diversifying,” Hagey said. He expects upward of 25,000 people to attend this year’s Street Scene.

“People are becoming more and more open to different styles of music, once they hear them, and the Michelob Street Scene offers them the opportunity to do so,” he said. “We always keep our ticket prices reasonable, so they’re more encouraged to go, to take advantage of this opportunity.

“And this year, we’re placing a strong emphasis on food relating to the music, particularly in the Bourbon Street area, with Louisiana cuisine, and the Blues Stage, with barbecue ribs.”

There’s an old saying that holds, “mighty things from small things grow.” And the Michelob Street Scene is a perfect case in point.

The origins of San Diego’s summer concert festival date back to 1983, when Hagey, who since 1979 had been producing the annual San Diego (nee La Jolla) Jazz Festival, teamed up with the nationally touring KOOL Jazz Festival for a joint 10-day local extravaganza.

Hagey chose a street scene concept for the festival’s opening, closing off a downtown block of 5th Avenue for a concert starring Roomful of Blues and several other blues and jazz acts.

“They kicked up a real party,” Hagey recalled, “and it was from that time on that I knew this was the way to go, to develop a festival incorporating many kinds of music and get it out onto the street.”

After securing a sponsorship deal from Coast Distributing, the local distributor of Michelob beer, Hagey began drafting plans to keep the spirit alive.

The inaugural Michelob Street Scene was held in May of 1984, on 5th Avenue, between J and K streets, as part of the San Diego Festival of the Arts. Stages were set up on either end of the roped-off block, hosting the Blasters, Los Lobos, the Rebel Rockers, and San Diego’s own King Biscuit Blues Band and Joey Harris and the Speedsters.

The event was so successful, Hagey recalled, that he produced a second Street Scene the following August, this time starring X, the Robert Cray Band, the Neville Brothers, Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, and the Beat Farmers.

Attendance at each show was around 4,000, Hagey said.

“It was a great idea, but it wasn’t, at that time period, so huge that it took a year to promote,” Hagey said. “It was still something we were developing.”

The third Michelob Street Scene, in 1985, was held in the same location and featured performances by Los Lobos, the Untouchables, the Fleshtones, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, the Beat Farmers, and the Malopoets, a South African group that was the festival’s first worldbeat entry.

“1985 was packed to the rafters,” Hagey recalled. “We probably had about 5,500 to 6,000 people in that one block, so it was really crowded.”

The Michelob Street Scene had clearly outgrown its quarters, so in 1986, Hagey went elsewhere: to a parking lot on the western fringes of downtown. Los Lobos, the Call, the Smithereens, the Beat Farmers, the Paladins, Delbert McClinton, and Double Funk drew a record crowd of 7,000, but Hagey wasn’t pleased.

“Looking back, it was a mistake,” Hagey said. “We took an event that belongs in the street, out of the street, and in the process, we lost our special ambience.”

So in 1987, the Michelob Street Scene returned to the streets of the Gaslamp Quarter, this time occupying two blocks. The cast of performers was the most eclectic yet, ranging from the Fabulous Thunderbirds and John Lee Hooker to O.J. Ekemode and his Nigerian All-Stars.

Michelob Street Scene ’88 “was a real turning point,” Hagey said. Fourteen acts, including David Lindley and El Rayo-X, Burning Spear, and Albert Collins, appeared on four stages, with performances overlapping rather than leap-frogging from stage to stage.

“We had never done multiple stages, all going at once,” Hagey said. “You don’t get a practice run--you get to do it only that night.”

Last year’s Michelob Street Scene occupied an eight-block section of downtown. Six stages were set up, and the 18 performers included Otis Rush, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bad English, Zachary Richard, and the Yellowjackets.

And this year, aside from still more acts, stages, and city blocks--and a greater variety of food--there are several other changes.

Hagey employed the services of an outside concert promoter, Jeff Gaulton of Bill Silva Presents, to help coordinate talent.

Hagey also got a five-year commitment from the city of San Diego to support the Michelob Street Scene. The city is making it easier for him to obtain the necessary permits, as well as cooperation from Gaslamp Quarter merchants.

And in return, Ruth Ann Hageman, director of the Citizens Assistance and Information Department, said “the city is being paid for all of the city services that are being given, and in addition to that, we’re getting a flat fee of $25,000 which will be used for general city services like police, parks, libraries, and sidewalks.

“We are financially involved in a number of events, like the San Diego Marathon, and we’re going to be increasingly involved in terms of receiving revenues from large events that are put on in the streets,” Hageman said. “Street Scene can be a very excellent thing for the city, just like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is an excellent thing for New Orleans.

“I think this event has the quality of having a very similar potential,” Hageman said.

Hagey welcomes this comparison to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, perhaps the country’s premier urban music festival. That 10-day event, which began in 1970, features performances by upward of 300 acts and draws crowds of up to half a million people. The fair also includes free music and dance workshops at local schools, as well as hundreds of Louisiana food specialties and folk crafts.

“The Michelob Street Scene has a lot of parallels to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival because of the diverse music we bring to the event,” Hagey said.

“This year and next year, we’re going to go with two days; then, in 1992, we’re looking at three. And after that, the sky’s the limit, depending on our success and continued support from the city.”

Yet at the same time, Hagey added, he’s determined to avoid the pitfalls of another major urban music festival, the Los Angeles Street Scene, whose nine-year run came to an ignoble end in 1986 due to crowd control problems and violence.

“Looking at the way it was done, it got too big, it was free, it was in a tough neighborhood, and there was not enough emphasis on security,” Hagey said.

“We’ve always been in a secured venue, and safety has always been one of our primary concerns.”