Entertainer Music Awards to Be Presented in Encinitas

The ninth annual Entertainer Music Awards ceremony will be held Monday night at the La Paloma theater in Encinitas, honoring this year’s winners of the contest for San Diego County bands and nightclub performers.

Last month, a panel of local club owners, deejays and other industry people selected five nominees in each of the 12 categories. Ballots were then printed and distributed to various locations around the county, giving the public the chance to vote for their favorites.

The 10-day balloting period ended last Sunday. At the awards ceremony, the top vote-getter in each category will be announced and presented with a solid bronze “Jolson” statuette, cast in the likeness of legendary pop singer Al Jolson and designed by former Charger Ed White.

Trying to predict the people’s choices is a risky proposition, but here goes:

* Best Contemporary Solo or Duo (nominees are Ray and Lainie Correa, Gary Lehman, Bobby Arvon, Billy Fowler, and Fantasy, featuring Elizabeth Webb and Don Tennison): Ray and Lainie Correa. They’ve got great voices, great harmonies and a great repertoire of pop oldies and current hits.

* Best Contemporary (nominees are Hut-Sut Ralston, the Bob Long Band, Second to None, the Cat-Illacs and B-Natural): The Bob Long Band. Excellent musicians and lots of charisma.

* Best Rhythm and Blues (nominees are the Rhumboogies, the Forbidden Pigs, the Blonde Bruce Band, the Rick Gazlay Group and the Nightcrawlers): The Blonde Bruce Band. A bunch of white guys who play the electric blues with as much intensity and as much passion as any black roadhouse band in the Deep South.

* Best Reggae (nominees are Dr. Chico’s Island Sounds, the Cardiff Reefers, Burning Bridges, Tribal Lunchbox and Limbo Slam): The Cardiff Reefers. Again, a bunch of white guys--surfer dudes, in this case--who really put their hearts and their souls into black music.

* Best Jazz (nominees are Peter Sprague, the Mark Lessman Band, the Easton-West Band, Fattburger and Aubrey Faye): Peter Sprague. Years ago, Downbeat magazine called him “an awful hot little comer.” He’s since grown up into one of the hottest jazz guitarists around, not just in San Diego, but in the country.

* Best Vintage Jazz (nominees are Tobacco Road, the Dick Braun Orchestra, the Chicago 6, the Chicago 15 and the Sue Palmer Trio): Tobacco Road. Their weekday afternoon dance concerts at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach are always well attended, and they’re adept at handling a variety of vintage jazz styles, from stride to swing.

* Best Country (nominees are the Savery Brothers, Dakota, Char Carroll and Crossover, North 40 and Scary Mary): the Savery Brothers. The longtime house band at the Pomerado Club in Poway plays traditional country twang laced with elements of Cajun and rhythm and blues.

* Best Vintage Rock (nominees are Dr. Feelgood and the Interns of Love, Rockola, the Big Fins, the Redcoats and the Nostalgics): Rockola. They play the most faithful renditions of classic rock songs from the 1960s I’ve ever heard.

* Best Rock ‘n’ Roll, Top 40 (nominees are Notice to Appear, Big Bang, Flyweil, the Siers Brothers and the Heroes): Flyweil. They’ve been plying the local nightclub scene for nearly a decade, and they’ve amassed quite a sizable following. And for a cover band, these guys sure know how to rock ‘n’ roll.

* Best Rock ‘n’ Roll, Original Music (nominees are the Beat Farmers, the Paladins, Usual Suspects, Private Domain and Comanche Moon): the Paladins. This trio has released three albums of infectious, foot-stompin’ rockabilly, the last two on the nationally distributed Alligator Records label, and their local shows are almost always sold out.

* Entertainers of the Year (nominees are the Beat Farmers, the Savery Brothers, the Paladins, Rockola and Dr. Feelgood and the Interns of Love): the Beat Farmers. Anyone who caught their riveting performance at last weekend’s Michelob Street Scene ’90 will know why.

* Entertainer of the Year (nominees are Country Dick Montana of Beat Farmers, Char Carroll, Paul Shaffer of Private Domain, Bob Tedde of Rockola and “Bogie” of Dr. Chico’s Island Sounds): Country Dick Montana. He’s the Foster Brooks of the local music scene, with a voice even deeper than Johnny Cash’s and the overwhelming presence of a backwoods preacher.

Tickets to Monday night’s Entertainer Music Awards ceremony are $10 (reserved VIP seating, $25). All proceeds will go to the Mary Lou Clack Center for Handicapped Children, a nonprofit organization in Vista.

The best description of what Nick Lowe does is found in the title of his debut solo album, 1978’s “Pure Pop for Now People.” Lowe, who will appear Thursday night at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa, writes clever little pop ditties with simple, instantly memorable melodies, all sorts of catchy hooks and openly sardonic lyrics. He honed his talents in the early 1970s, during a five-year stint with British pub-rockers Brinsley Schwarz. The group broke up in 1975 and Lowe formed his own band, Rockpile, with rockabilly revivalist Dave Edmunds.

Rockpile was primarily a touring band; in the six years the group was together, only one album was released. Still, Lowe frequently set foot in the recording studio. He cut a handful of critically acclaimed solo albums (including his 1979 breakthrough LP, “Labour of Lust,” which spawned his only Top 40 hit, “Cruel to Be Kind”). He also produced albums by such fellow pop-meisters as Elvis Costello and Graham Parker and the Rumour.

Earlier this year, Lowe released his first solo album in three years, “Party of One.” He also produced the debut album by the Katydids, a London pop-rock band fronted by expatriate San Diegan Susie Hug.

LINER NOTES: Boom Crash Opera’s Sept. 22 show at Rio’s in Loma Portal has been canceled. Songwriter-bassist Richard Pleasance was diagnosed as having tinnitus, the ringing of the ears that also plagues the Who’s Pete Townshend, and was told to take the rest of the year off. The Australian dance band has canceled all touring plans until a replacement can be found. . . .

Club of Rome, one of San Diego’s most talented original-music bands, will perform at Saturday’s Environmental Awareness Fair on Moonlight Beach in Encinitas. . . .

Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. for Billy Joel’s Nov. 7 concert at the San Diego Sports Arena, this time at all TicketMaster outlets, even May Company. On Monday at 10 a.m. tickets for Santana’s Oct. 11 show at Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park will be available. . . . Look for a late November or early December appearance by veteran heavy metal band AC/DC at the San Diego Sports Arena. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Nick Lowe, Thursday at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa; Screamin’ Jay Hawkins with the Subdudes, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with the Forbidden Pigs, Friday at the Belly Up; the Average White Band, Saturday at the Bacchanal; Little Feat with John Hiatt, Sunday at the Starlight Bowl, and Albert Collins with Charlie Musselwhite, Monday at the Belly Up.