The ‘Magic’ of Christmas Is Found on a Golf Course

The news about professional basketball star Earvin (Magic) Johnson testing positive for HIV adds poignancy to an anecdote related last week by record producer Michael Lloyd, who produced the upcoming San Diego Children’s Hospital benefit recording, “The Christmas Album . . . A Gift of Hope.”

“A few months ago, Magic was all set to record his half of a Christmas narration with James Earl Jones,” Lloyd said. “Instead, he flew to Michigan to get married. Several days later, he returned to L.A., but immediately got involved in various charity events.

“Around this time, I was getting anxious about the deadline to finish the album. Magic, as it turned out, was playing in a celebrity golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades on the very day that I absolutely needed to get his part finished. So, I took a portable DAT tape recorder to the Riviera, drove a golf cart to the seventh hole, and sat with Magic as he narrated ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ right there on the green.”

Lloyd, who attended the press conference last Thursday at the Great Western Forum when the L.A. Lakers star announced his retirement, said he hopes to record Johnson’s charismatic voice “on many, many Christmas albums to come.”

The “Gift of Hope” album, scheduled for release to a number of outlets late next week, already is available at the Bullock’s stores in San Diego and L.A., and by phone at (800) 858-8998.

San Diego Music Magazine’s current issue includes a ballot to let readers vote for local performers in 14 categories--including one, “Band Most Likely to Get Signed,” that is certain to spark some debate. But, before you complain that San Diego is getting polled out, with last August’s San Diego Music Awards and the next North County Entertainer Awards (scheduled for sometime in early 1992) covering much of the same ground, you should know that SDMM’s entry is designed for maximum comprehensiveness.

Besides the Readers’ Poll, the local-music organ also is conducting customized surveys of talent bookers, record retailers, the press, radio deejays who promote local music on their shows and even SDMM’s own writers. The purpose, according to SDMM publisher and local musician Steve Saint, is to “combine the points of view of everybody involved in or affected by the local music scene, to see if there’s convergence on key points.”

“One of the questions we’re asking the bookers, for example, is ‘Who are the top-drawing bands you book?’ That’s something only they will know, and their answers will provide musicians and club owners alike with valuable information about who’s getting the crowds,” Saint said. “We’re asking the media to tell us which press kits have been the most memorable. We’re asking retailers what local releases have sold the best. And so on. We think the combined information will be very valuable to all concerned.”

The magazine, with a monthly circulation of about 400 (including 250 subscribers), is sold at most independent record stores and at selected newsstands around town. Only the ballots contained in the magazine itself will be counted (in order to discourage “ballot-box stuffing”), and these must be returned to the magazine by Nov. 21. Results will be published in SDMM’s December issue. For information, call 462-8485.

PLAYBACK: The Alarm’s Dave Sharp performed a solo acoustic show at Sound FX Friday night. The opening act was anyone who wanted to perform. On his current one-man tour, Sharp is inviting people in the audience to hop on stage for an “open-mike” segment. At Friday’s show, three members of a local band led off, followed by two different solo performers from the paying seats. A trend?

Same night in another part of the county . . . Television star Woody Harrelson (“Cheers”) elicited repeated chants of “Wood-y! Wood-y! Wood-y!” from a packed-to-the-ceiling-fans crowd at Belly Up Tavern. Backed by a 10-piece band that included several L.A. session cats (Johnny--not Jeff--Porcaro on drums), Harrelson gave a full-hearted performance of mostly original material whose more topical messages probably were lost on the party-hearty throng.

Not everyone in attendance, though, was impressed with the Wood-man’s abilities. Quoth opening act Jerry McCann: “I considered telling Woody that I promise not to act if he promises not to sing.”

GRACE NOTES: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) David Lowery (the ex-Camper Van Beethoven dude, not the Aztecs’ quarterback) plays the Casbah with Spot 1019 on Friday. . . . Friday night also was to have found the Bristol, England-based band Massive Attack producing one of its “sound system” shows at a San Diego venue. But before a location could be nailed down, the band’s entire West Coast swing was canceled when the band was called back to England for reasons unclear. . . . Buddy Blue and the Jacks pay another visit to the Spirit on Saturday night, this time with the Rugburns in tow. . . . The garage-pop band, Field Trip, will make a stop at the Casbah on Nov. 22. . . . Also on Nov. 22, Henry Rollins will be joined by Don Bajema (author of “Boy in the Air”) for a spoken-word program at SDSU’s Backdoor. . . . Transvision Vamp has been added to the Dec. 7 Buzzcocks-Vandals show at Sound FX. . . .

The band Tin Machine (featuring David Bowie) has been booked to play the Spreckels Theatre on Dec. 14. The Neighborhoods will open (on sale Friday at 3 p.m.). . . . Paula Abdul’s “Under My Spell” tour will bring her to the Sports Arena for a Dec. 17 move-buster. Color Me Badd opens (on sale Saturday. . . . Tickets for the Dec. 19 Winter Solstice concert at Symphony Hall (featuring Philip Aaberg, Barbara Higbie and Nightnoise) are on sale. . . . The Red Hot Chili Peppers will heat up the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ O’Brien Pavilion on Dec. 28. Also on the bill: Nirvana and the much-ballyhooed Pearl Jam, featuring former San Diegan Eddie Vedder (on sale Saturday).