Reggae to Test Compatibility of Pops, Convention Center

When the Grammy-winning reggae band Steel Pulse performs Friday as top totem in a five-act bill at the San Diego Convention Center, it also will be an important player in a high-stakes test of the center’s viability as a multiple-use facility.

The reggae show, a “four-hour music party” called “Ram Slam Dub Jam ‘91,” is now touring the States with a lineup that also features ska kings Special Beat and reggae rappers Daddy Freddy and Shelly Thunder. Local reggae band the Cardiff Reefers have been added to the San Diego program, which will be presented “under the sail,” in the indoor-outdoor space known as the Special Events Area.

The reggae fest is scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m., about 15 minutes before the baton comes down at the nearby San Diego Symphony “Summer Pops” concert, whose outdoor, bayside site is separated from the Convention Center only by a small marina.

Aside from the obvious culture clash, the potential for an unwanted, cross-current mingling of amplified reggae with the tempered strains of the Pops’ tribute to big-band music presents the center’s think tank with a challenge. Robb Huff, the center’s entertainment coordinator, is confident the challenge will be met.

“Our ultimate goal is to demonstrate the center’s strengths as a multiple-use facility,” said Huff in a phone interview Wednesday. “Toward that end, we’ve taken steps to minimize any potential conflict between the two shows. For example, we know that the acoustics (in the Special Events Area) are better if the temporary stage faces the bay. But, for the reggae concert, we’ve turned it so that it’s aimed more toward the city and away from the Pops site. We found that makes a big difference.” Huff added that a 12-foot-high glass windbreak, which has been affixed to the south, or bay side of the Special Events Area, will assist in containing the music.

The “Ram Slam Dub Jam” represents the first major amplified-music show at the center to coincide with a Pops concert. But other events presented there on non-Pops nights have enabled officials to monitor sound levels from the symphony’s grassy peninsula. Large-scale, live-music Latino events have been staged at the center on a regular basis, including one on June 23, called “The Dance,” which drew a crowd of 9,000. Several months ago, John Denver played a private party under the sail for 2,000 representatives of Quality Inns of America.

But the center’s communications manager, Donna Alm, cited an even truer test of the two venues’ compatibility. “One recent night there were two large parties, with music, going on simultaneously at the center, and either or both could have impacted the Pops show then in progress,” said Alm. “We had (Convention Center) people go out to the Pops site to test the volume (coming from the Special Events Area), and there was no problem whatsoever.”

Alm believes that another question about simultaneous shows--that pertaining to traffic and parking--also will be answered in the affirmative on Friday.

“We have a total of 3,000 parking spaces available to us, if you include underground parking at the center itself,” she said. “But I’ve noticed that on Pops nights a lot of people seem to be using the trolley--sometimes it looks full when it arrives.” The San Diego Bayside Trolley line stops directly across the street from the convention center. “Trolley use should prevent any serious tie-ups.”

If Friday’s experiment proves successful, it will be a green light for Huff’s long-range plan to make the Convention Center an attractive alternative for local concert promoters. To some extent, Alm’s good faith is tied to her hopes for Huff’s success.

“We’re always looking for new sources of revenue for the summer months, which traditionally are slow times for conventions and such,” she said. “So, Robb’s efforts to book concerts fit in very well with our overall goals for the center.”

In its usual configuration--which will be in effect for both Friday’s reggae show and an Aug. 2 appearance by country star Reba McEntire--the Special Events Area has a capacity of 7,500. That count places the center squarely between the 4,000 cap of SDSU’s Open Air Theatre and the Sports Arena’s hard-to-fill, full-configuration cap of 12,000. When necessary, the Special Events Area’s capacity can be increased to 8,700 with the addition of extra risers and seats.

But Huff believes that the setting’s aesthetic advantages are its most salient feature. “The center is new and modern, and it has a nice feel to it that people seem to appreciate. Plus, the sense of being outdoors should make the room an ideal place for summer concerts,” he said of the open-air Special Events Area, whose only “roof” is its sail-like cover. “We think it’s a really great place to see a show.”

Local promoters are starting to take the bait. Bill Silva Presents is responsible for taking the “Ram Slam Dub Jam” there, and Huff acknowledged that other shows featuring major artists loom on the immediate horizon (because the bookings are only in the talking stages, he asked that the acts’ names not be printed).

Regardless of the effect of Friday’s show on future events, reggae fans should emerge richer for the experience. Steel Pulse has been an international favorite for years. Its recently released “Victims”--the sextet’s first album in almost three years--is a quirkily inventive outing that manages to coalesce Caribbean, pop, hip-hop, rock, and funk elements while maintaining the integrity of its patented vocal harmonies.

Special Beat is a British ska super-group made up of English Beat-General Public singer Ranking Roger, three former members of the Specials (vocalist Neville Staples and the rhythm section of drummer John Bradbury and bassist Horace Panter) and guitarist Bobby Bird. This quintet’s danceability should blow what remains of the Special Event Area’s sail-roof into orbit.

* “Ram Slam Dub Jam ‘91,” featuring Steel Pulse, Special Beat, Daddy Freddy, Shelly Thunder and the Cardiff Reefers, will take place at 7:15 p.m. Friday, “under the sail” in the Special Events Area of the San Diego Convention Center on Harbor Drive, downtown. For tickets, call 570-1222 or 278-TIXS.