San Diego County: 1990’s Pop Scene : San Diego Rock Scene Produced Little Roll

The first year of the new decade wasn’t a very significant one for the San Diego pop music scene. Actually, it was rather boring.

For concert promoters as well as home-grown talent, it was business as usual: The usual number of box-office triumphs and disasters, the usual number of local bands trying to get signed and going nowhere--or else getting signed and still going nowhere.

There were no new concert series and no new major outdoor music festivals. The longstanding perception of San Diego as a suburb of Los Angeles was still alive and well, as evidenced by the fact that once again, any number of touring superstars--most notably, Paul McCartney--bypassed San Diego while playing cities half the size.

On the local nightclub front, Top 40 cover bands continued to dominate, and club owners were as unwilling as ever to take a chance with original music. And we didn’t see a single local upstart take the town by storm the way bands like the Penetrators, the Beat Farmers, or the Jacks did in years past.

But there were some highs:

* The March debut of San Diego Music Magazine, a monthly freebie devoted to covering the local music scene. It could be better, particularly in the graphics department, but at least it exists: A publication with reviews of concerts and records by local bands, the latest gossip and news, band profiles and interviews, and insightful features about the various problems bands face--in landing gigs, in promoting their shows, in attracting major-label interest--and how to deal with them.

* Depeche Mode’s sold-out, three-night stand at the San Diego Sports Arena, during July. Never before has a rock band done this kind of box-office business in San Diego. Promoter Bill Silva not only made a mint, he showed all those doubting Thomas booking agents a thing or two about just how big the local rock ‘n’ roll market really is.

* Michelob Street Scene ‘90, last September. This Street Scene, the eighth in seven years, was the biggest and most successful ever, musically and commercially.

For two nights, an eclectic slate of nearly 50 acts--ranging from rock and R&B; to reggae and zydeco--played on eight stages in a 12-block section of the Gaslamp Quarter. That’s up from one night, 18 acts, six stages, and eight blocks in 1989. Kudos to promoter Rob Hagey for building up this annual event into a major music festival modeled after the celebrated New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

* The September reopening, in a new downtown location, of Bodie’s, five years after the original one, in East San Diego, shut down.

Back in the early 1980s, Harvey Bodie was one of the few local nightclub owners who believed in booking bands that play only their own material, and his club was a nursery of sorts for such future hometown heroes as the Beat Farmers, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper, and the Jacks. Now, son Brett has effectively taken up where dear old dad left off, and once again, Bodie’s is the place to hear the best original rock ‘n’ roll this town has to offer.

* Buddy Blue’s end-of-summer comeback. In 1986, this talented singer-songwriter-guitarist left the Beat Farmers and formed his own band, the Jacks. With their repertoire of infectious “blue-eyed soul” originals, the Jacks quickly became one of the top-drawing live acts in town.

In early 1988, they were signed by the nationally distributed Rounder Records label, which later that year released their brilliant debut album, “Jacks Are Wild.” Unfortunately, the album was a commercial flop, and after a year and a half of searching, in vain, for a new record deal, Blue gave up. In December, 1989, the Jacks disbanded and Blue took a job as a reporter with the La Jolla Light newspaper, covering the education beat.

Blue continued writing songs, cutting demos, and pitching them to various labels. By summer’s end, his efforts finally paid off: He landed a solo deal with Rhino Records and promptly resurrected the Jacks to back him in the studio. Blue’s album, “Guttersnipes ‘n’ Zealots,” is due out next February. In the meantime, the Jacks have returned to the local nightclub circuit, busily cultivating a whole new legion of fans.

There was also some not-so-good happenings:

* The pricey remodeling last spring of Humphrey’s on Shelter Island, the site of the popular annual Concerts by the Bay series.

It was a case of noble intentions--a permanent snack bar, additional restrooms, professional landscaping--but poor execution. The once-breezy, open-air venue, overlooking the Shelter Island Yacht Basin, was essentially walled off. The tidy bayfront walkway is too Better Homes and Gardens, as is the pre-fab pond to the right of the stage. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?

* The loss, also last spring, of the California Theater as a thriving concert venue. In 1986, the death of its owner put a temporary end to the downtown landmark’s decade-long run as one of San Diego’s busiest pop-concert spots. Two years later, however, Avalon Attractions cut a deal with the building’s trustees and the California Theater was back in business, subsequently hosting such pop heavyweights as Ziggy Marley, Belinda Carlisle, Iggy Pop and Steve Miller.

Last spring, the theater was sold. The first thing the new owners did was apply for a demolition permit. Then they booted out Avalon and imposed a ban on any further pop concerts.

* Milli Vanilli’s May appearance at the Sports Arena. No comment necessary.

* The September closure of Rio’s in Loma Portal. For nearly four years, Rio’s had been one of San Diego’s most popular “alternative” nightclubs, regularly showcasing such talented local original-music bands as the Jacks, Robert Vaughn and the Shadows, Comanche Moon, and Secret Society.

The entire time, owner Cameron Moshtaghi had been fighting with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) over his refusal to serve food, one of the requirements of his liquor license.

After a protracted legal battle, the ABC in early June revoked Moshtaghi’s license. And on Sept. 21, after nearly four months of trying, in vain, to survive without alcohol sales, the feisty Moshtaghi threw in the towel and closed Rio’s for good.

* The escalating price of concert tickets. The average price of a ticket to a Sports Arena show went up to $20, from $18.50 in 1989. And choice tickets to a pair of concerts at San Diego State University’s Open Air Theater, Fleetwood Mac in June and Anita Baker in August, sold for a record $51.50 apiece.

Also in 1990, other things that were neither good nor bad but just interesting include:

* The Beat Farmers’ getting around, finally, to releasing a live album, the appropriately titled “Loud and Plowed and . . . LIVE!!” Recorded last New Year’s Eve at the Bacchanal, the double album, with more than 70 minutes of music, is the best thing these guys have ever put out. The Beat Farmers have always sounded better live than in the studio, and this album comes awfully close to capturing the intensity of their concerts.

* Earl Thomas’ putting out a positively dazzling debut album, “I Sing the Blues,” on his own Conton Records label. The talented young blues singer and his band, the Blues Ambassadors, began playing around town and by late summer were drawing standing- room-only crowds to their Friday night gigs at Croce’s Top Hat downtown.

* Merry Go Down’s leading the pack of promising new bands to emerge. Led by singer-songwriter Marcelo Radulovich, formerly with Playground Slap, their music is a beat-happy hybrid of urban funk and sophisticated techno-pop.

Merry Go Down didn’t hit the clubs until October, but already, they’ve built up a strong local following. And having seen a couple of their shows and listened to their demo tape, I’m convinced these guys have what it takes to make it big on a national level. All they need is a record deal and some good promotion.

* Mojo Nixon’s splitting from his longtime sidekick, the washboard-strummin’ Skid Roper, and recording his sixth album, “Otis,” with a rock ‘n’ roll band that included John Doe, formerly with pioneering L.A. punk band X, on bass. The album came out in late summer, and Nixon subsequently formed a road band, the Toadlickers. They’ve just gotten back from a two-month U.S. tour.