Blue Santa : John Orvis has been a guitar-playing fixture in Ojai for years. Says he: ‘I am the blues, man.’

Quick now, what does Santa do during the off-season?

He plays the blues, naturally.

Santa, a.k.a. Brother John Orvis, plays his “Ojai Blues” at the 4-6 p.m. Happy Hour Fridays at Eric Ericsson’s on the beach in Ventura. He’s been playing around the county for more than 20 years.

Orvis and P.K., his wife of 15 years, have long been known as Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus; they begin booking appearances about Thanksgiving.

“I used to weigh 200 pounds, man, but I may be too skinny for that this year,” Orvis, 55, said recently. “I’ve been sick, man.”

Don’t tell the kids, but that’s why they make pillows. Anyway, recovering from a recent bout with diabetes, Orvis is back into the blues thing, and lots of other things too.

A musician for more than 40 years, Orvis moved to the Ojai Valley from Venice in 1969 to escape the fast lane. He raised his four children and sent two of them through college by working a number of jobs. Mostly he was an orange picker by day and a blues picker by night. Orvis was also a maintenance worker, an all-around Mr. Fix-It, Santa Claus in season, and, oh, a movie actor.

With white hair and a beard to match, Orvis looks as if he could be Jerry Garcia’s dad. Or Mr. Natural. Or one of the Smith brothers. Or, of course, Santa. He has appeared in a number of television shows, including “Designing Women,” plus several theatrical movies.

“Oh, I’ve been in quite a few things,” Orvis said. “The last show I was in was a show from east L.A. called ‘Ralph & Questor.’ The last movie I was in was ‘Hot Shots,’ which was about four months ago. I’ve also been in ‘Mobsters,’ ‘Blind Faith’ and lots of stuff. It’s a pretty good deal between this and the music.”

Even without big or small screens, Orvis is quite well known in Ojai. For years he was something of a tourist attraction. Orvis used to strap a pig-nosed amp to his back, plug in his left-handed Fender guitar and cruise around town on foot, serenading the locals or whomever he could corner.

“Every day around 5 or 6 when Ojai emptied out, and it was real nice, you would see Orvis and his pig-nosed amp playing around the arcade area,” said Michael Kaufer, promoter of the Ojai Bowlful of Blues.

“He was known for making up songs as he went along. Orvis would go up to some stranger and just make up a song about him. I’ve used him the last couple of years to work the line at the Bowlful of Blues shows before we opened the gate. This year, he got up on stage and did a song with Randy Rich.”

Orvis, a California native and a 1955 graduate of Hamilton High, has played with the likes of Muddy Waters, Little Richard, Jimmy Reed and the Coasters. Most of the members of Canned Heat played with Orvis at one time or another during the ‘60s when Orvis’ main gig was as a studio musician.

He had his own band called Smoke, which recorded a couple of albums, and opened for acts such as Neil Diamond, the Animals and Joe Cocker. Smoke, managed by Gene Autry, was a band that almost made it, just like the California Angels.

“Those Smoke albums came out on Uni Records in 1968, or something like that,” Orvis said. “The sound quality wasn’t really that good, but they’re both collector’s items now, if you can find them.”

A color photo of Orvis’ mug adorns the window at Eric Ericsson’s, where he has been playing for about three years. Initially, he was a solo blues guy, but lately, he has a three-piece backup band. But there is still no name on the drums, so the future remains uncertain.

There is no question about Orvis’ voice--it’s crystal clear and perfectly suited to his boogie and blues tunes. He plays a mixture of classic blues rock and originals, all punctuated by his lengthy guitar solos.

“My music is blues with a little touch of gospel,” he said. “Hey, I am the blues, man.”