POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Tiny Crowd Cottons to Miramar Show

“Welcome to the Miramar, small but mighty,” said PaulCotton, onetime Poco front man, opening his performance at the venerable venue Saturday night.

The “small” he was referring to wasn’t the facility itself. With about 550 seats, the 1937 Spanish-style, movie-plus-stage theater has the potential to be a concert force in South County. Between the days of surf music and punk, the Miramar hosted any number and variety of shows, and its management hopes to revive that tradition.

Regrettably, by “small,” Cotton meant Saturday’s attendance, which topped at about 60 people.

The turnout suggests that the promoters might want to tighten a few screws in the booking and promotion departments; but the theater itself seems to have the requisite production aspects well in hand. The sight lines are good from nearly every seat. While the acoustics of a room can change considerably--often for the better--when it is filled with people, the sound Saturday was acceptable if not fabulous. The bass often was boomy and the vocals echoey, but the latter problem, at least, seemed to be originating at the mixing board. There is a movie screen right behind the stage, which might come in handy if they decide to screen Abel Gance’s “Napoleon” during a reggae fest someday.

The Miramar also seems to have the potential for performances to take on that “intimate” quality that so many rooms lack (for example, the Wiltern in Los Angeles may be lovely, but there always seems to be a barrier between artist and audience there). With so many empty seats Saturday, the Miramar mostly seemed chilly and drafty, but one easily could imagine that being otherwise, given the right artist and a full house.

In any case, both Cotton and openers Biloxi put a full effort into their performances Saturday, and the few folks in attendance didn’t let the rows of empty seats dampen their fun overmuch.

Some 23 years ago, singer/guitarist Cotton was a frequent performer in Orange County with the Illinois Speed Press. Manager William James Guercio had moved both the Speed Press and the Chicago Transit Authority (soon shortened to Chicago) to Southern California to develop them. One band, of course, took off and still plagues us, while Cotton’s group recorded two all-but-unnoticed albums for Columbia and performed at such local events as 1968’s Newport Pop Festival at the Orange County Fairgrounds (come to think of it, Tiny Tim, one of the stars of this year’s County Fair, also was at that Pop Fest).

When Jim Messina (soon to join the firm of Loggins and Messina) departed Poco in 1970, Cotton joined and, except for steel guitarist Rusty Young, he wound up being the group’s longest running member, hanging in until its breakup in 1987.

Saturday, Cotton dropped in a few chestnuts from his Poco days, the 1979 hit “Heart of the Night” and the following year’s “Down to the Wire,” a bit of overblown rock-drama. Poco further was recalled through the strong vocal harmonies that wound through most of the show. But much of the 15-song set was taken from Cotton’s own album of last year, “Changing Horses” on the independent Sisapa label. He was backed by a competent, if ‘70s-bound, five-piece band that included Los Angeles sax perennial Joe Sublet to good effect.

The set started off steaming, particularly with “I Walk the River,” a song from “Changing Horses” that has a moody menace and a touch of Creedence to it. With “Here in Paradise,” Cotton’s voice revealed a ragged romanticism that brought to mind English techno-folkie John Martyn.

But well before the end of the 80-minute performance, Cotton started sounding pretty thin, particularly when he followed “Down to the Wire” with a number of sailing or island-themed tunes that were just so much aqua-fluff. Were he to work up more material to equal his best songs, Cotton could be quite a potent performer still.

The Los Angeles-based hard rock quartet Biloxi displayed a fair amount of talent, particularly with flawless vocal harmonies, but it was largely wasted in an attempt to sound like a cross between Journey and Boston. Once around was enough for that sound, thank you, which also might be said of the band’s choice of a cover tune, Kiki Dee’s “I’ve Got the Music in Me.”