Rap Group’s Prosecution Didn’t Deserve Considering

The decision last week by the San Diego city attorney’s office not to prosecute three members of Los Angeles rap group Digital Underground for simulating sex acts with inflatable dolls during an Aug. 26 concert at the San Diego Sports Arena was a good one.

Still, that the city attorney even considered bringing obscenity charges against the rappers is a grim reminder of the growing disrespect authorities around the country are showing for First Amendment rights to free speech and free expression.

Granted, Digital Underground’s love-doll act may have been tasteless, but so what? Anyone who found it offensive was free to walk out; nobody was forced to watch it.

In an interview with The Times, Deputy City Atty. James Cahan said the decision not to prosecute the rap group was based solely on the city attorney’s belief that the case “was not worth pursuing,” in light of recent obscenity rulings that went against prosecutors.

In the last few months, prosecutors lost two celebrated obscenity cases, one involving the lyrics of rap group 2 Live Crew and the other, an exhibit of the late Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs.

“The conduct (of Digital Underground) was certainly vulgar, but not necessarily obscene according to the statute,” Cahan told The Times. “The probability of winning was too remote to bring to trial.”

Had the city attorney felt otherwise, then, there would have been yet another misguided attempt to legislate morality.

And that’s scary.

Jeff Gaulton is a survivor. For the second time this year, he has weathered a career crisis and promptly found something else to do. Last January, Gaulton was abruptly fired by the new owners of the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa after several years of booking big-name rock bands into the 750-capacity nightclub. Within days, he was hired by local concert-promoting firm Bill Silva Presents.

Last month, Silva handed Gaulton his walking papers. The split was “very amicable,” Gaulton said. “The recession just hit everything, especially the concert business; they needed to make some cutbacks, and since I was one of the last people hired, it was natural.”

Gaulton has since launched his own concert-promoting company, Jaguar Productions. His first order of business: producing a series of four pop-jazz concerts at the Theatre East, part of the East County Performing Arts Center in El Cajon.

On tap for the 1,200-seat facility are Michael Franks, Dec. 9; David Benoit, Jan. 26; Larry Carlton, Feb. 15; and the Rippingtons, April 19.

“The people at the East County Performing Arts Center had this idea for a jazz concert series, but they didn’t know where to go with it,” Gaulton said. “So I got together with them, and we’re going to do these four concerts, starting with Michael Franks, which is a free show, really just a get-to-know-the-venue show.”

Tickets to the Franks concert will be given away over the air, by local jazz radio station KIFM-FM (98.1). Tickets to the three other shows will be sold at a yet-undetermined price.

Gaulton said he plans to produce more concerts at the Theatre East.

“This is an acoustically perfect venue that, in the past, has been under-used,” he said. “For the first 13 years, the theater has been operating in the red, but now Dick Childs is general manager and for the first time, it’s running in the black.

“Eventually, we’re going to touch virtually all types of popular music. Sure, there are certain limitations because the room is so beautiful and the board of directors wouldn’t allow me to put Jane’s Addiction in there; the room wouldn’t go well with heavy metal or punk.

“But I’m hoping we can do jazz and country and (middle of the road) concerts on a regular basis. The limits some of the other performing arts centers around town are putting on themselves, in terms of scheduling and lack of vision, we’re not going to have in this place.”

LINER NOTES: Informal jam sessions were a Sunday-night tradition at the old Bodie’s in East San Diego, which between 1981 and its closure in 1985 was something of a mecca for San Diego’s finest original rock bands. And now, two months after the new Bodie’s opened in downtown, the sorely missed Sunday jams are back. The spirited free-for-alls start at 4 p.m. and end around midnight; in addition to the music, everyone gets a free pasta dinner. . . .

Buddy Blue and the Jacks will be appearing tonight at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. It is the local “blue-eyed soul” group’s third concert since their recent reunion. . . .

Heavy metal super groups Poison and Warrant will share the bill Dec. 30 at the Sports Arena. . . .

Tickets go on sale Sunday at 10 a.m. for Paul Simon’s Jan. 20 appearance at the Sports Arena, but only for American Express Gold Card holders using Ticketmaster’s charge-by-phone lines. The local number is 278-8497. Half the tickets are being reserved for Gold Card holders; the other half will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Dec. 2. This weird arrangement is due to the fact that American Express is sponsoring Simon’s “Born at the Right Time” tour. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: the Bonedaddys, Friday at Winston’s in Ocean Beach; the China Club All-Stars, Friday at the Belly Up Tavern; the Sweet with Joey Bitchin’, Saturday at the Bacchanal; Robin Trower with Larry Mitchell, Sunday at the Bacchanal; and Junior Wells with Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors, Tuesday at Blind Melons in Pacific Beach.