The Other Sinatra Switches from Ballads to Rock Hits

San Diego’s Jose Sinatra has always been a strange man. Now, he’s a changed man. A year after he surreptitiously dropped out of the local music scene, Sinatra--who parodies every narcissistic torch singer who has ever massaged his ego on the Las Vegas showroom circuit--has jumped back in, sporting a new-found rock ‘n’ roll attitude.

Oh, sure, he still appears on stage in his trademark ruffled tuxedo shirt, gold lame vest, and tight pants. He’s still full of himself, blows kisses into the audience and periodically remarks, “I love that song almost as much as I love myself.” And a good portion of his repertoire still consists of wacky interpretations of lounge standards, like “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “It Has to Be Me,” his version of “It Had to Be You.”

But most of the songs Sinatra now sings are decidedly rock ‘n’ roll: Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sounds of Silence.” The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” Sinatra-ized as “Ruben Used to Kick My Ass,” “a poignant story aimed at teen-agers thinking about joining gangs,” he said. The Beatles’ “Nowhere Man,” sung to the tune of Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” “Born to Be Jose,” a self-aggrandizing takeoff of Steppenwolf’s classic “Born to Be Wild.”

Accordingly, Sinatra is now backed by a four-piece rock ‘n’ roll band, the Troy Dante Inferno, not just his longtime sidekick guitarist Jan Tonnesen.

Lounge metal, he calls it. Wayne Newton meets AC/DC.

“This is lounge metal at its finest, the seed that I knew was in my soul, that I knew I had to share with the public at large,” Sinatra said. “I was trying to figure out how to better serve my fans, so I set off in search of my roots.

“And when I discovered my true root was buried in the buttery depths of rock ‘n’ roll, I realized that to combine the best elements of rock and, yes, roll, with the tenderness of the lounge ballad--to mix them up in the flaming and caring caldron of my own warmth--was really the way to go.”

Sinatra, who appears every Thursday night at the Spirit in Bay Park with the Troy Dante Inferno, is actually Bill Richardson, and works days in a Pacific Beach bike shop.

He developed his nightclub act seven years ago “as a parody of the Las Vegas singer who thinks he’s the greatest thing in the world and the idol of every middle-age woman in America,” Sinatra said. “They look and sound so silly, and yet they’re being perfectly serious.”

For two years, a tape recorder provided the background music, and Sinatra performed exclusively at weddings and private parties. After hooking up with Tonnesen in 1985, he began playing nightclubs as well--and now that he’s got a full band behind him, Sinatra said, he’s confident that club owners will soon seek him out, instead of the other way around.

“I want to take this love that is our group into the very heart of mankind and, yes, womankind,” he said. ‘It makes me realize how special I am, how special we all are, those of us who are lucky enough to be in that segment of life called show business.”

The ninth annual Concerts by the Bay series at Humphrey’s on Shelter Island ended last Friday night with a pair of shows by Lou Rawls. It was the most successful season in the series’ history, promoter Kenny Weissberg said, with 45 evenings of music since June 15 and and a total season-long attendance of nearly 90,000--up from 42 evenings and 80,000 people in 1989.

“Earlier this year, I kept telling the people at Humphrey’s not to expect 1990 to be better than 1989, as I felt that would be impossible because 1989 had been such a good year,” Weissberg said. “Now, I’m telling them that 1991 will never eclipse the success we had in 1990.”

Some statistics about the just-concluded season:

* Of the 45 evenings of music, 17 were sellouts, including Kenny G’s three double-headers (Oct. 4, 5 and 7) and George Benson’s two (Sept. 13 and 14). The acts that sold out two shows apiece in the 1,000-capacity venue: Harry Belafonte, Johnny Mathis, Hiroshima, Patti LaBelle, Harry Connick Jr., Garrison Keillor and Chet Atkins, Spyro Gyra, Michael Franks, the Righteous Brothers and Ray Charles.

* So much for the winners. The four acts that fared the poorest at the box office: David Lanz and Checkfield, 720 out of 1,000 tickets; Etta James, 598; Najee, 560; and Richard Elliot, 478. Weissberg pointed out, however, that all four of those acts “are still in the developmental stage in establishing a local audience--they had never headlined concerts beyond the club circuit in San Diego before.”

* The 1990 Concerts by the Bay series included performances by more than a dozen first-timers. Among the acts making their Humphrey’s debut this year: Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento, veteran pop crooner Tony Bennett, “Saturday Night Live” comic Dana Carvey, young jazz sensation Harry Connick Jr., ex-Doobie Brother Michael McDonald, and radio folk hero Garrison Keillor.

LINER NOTES: The Jacks are back and will be playing their first official “reunion” gig Friday night at Bodie’s, downtown. The local rock group, now known as Buddy Blue and the Jacks, was reformed by Blue--along with original Jacks “Mighty” Joe Longa and Jack DiMatteo and new recruit Michael Davis--after he landed a solo deal with Rhino Records and needed a band to back him up, both in the studio and on stage. Blue’s album, “Guttersnipes ‘n’ Zealots,” is due out in February. . . .

Jane’s Addiction’s Nov. 2 and 3 shows at UC San Diego’s 1,400-capacity Price Center Ballroom sold out less than 15 minutes after tickets went on sale. Promoter Bill Silva is elated, but said he’s not surprised. “They’re definitely underplaying the market,” Silva said. “We had tried to convince them to play Starlight Bowl (which seats 5,000), and we figured that would have sold out in an hour. . . .”

If you still have tickets to the canceled July 20 Basia show at the Civic Theater downtown, take note: Thursday’s the last day for refunds or exchanges (for tickets to the rescheduled Nov. 19 date, also at the Civic Theater). Refunds or exchanges can only be made at the Civic Theater box office. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Steve Allen and the local Benny Hollman Big Band, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Billy Idol with Faith No More, Friday at the San Diego Sports Arena; Robert Fripp, Friday at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa; Modern English with See No Evil, Saturday at the Bacchanal; and Israel Vibrations and the Roots Radics, Tuesday at the Belly Up Tavern.