Concert Heavies to Convene in San Diego for First Time

Performance magazine, a weekly trade publication that deals with various aspects of the international concert business, is one of the music industry “bibles.” For the last 11 years, the Fort Worth-based magazine has held an annual summit conference to convene hundreds of the industry’s tour-related hotshots for several days of trade speeches, round table discussions, back-patting and revelry. The event site has alternated between the two coasts, with last year’s conference held in Tampa, and the 1993 edition to take place in Boston. But it’s never been held in San Diego. Until now.

Due to the efforts of San Diego Convention Center entertainment coordinator Rob Huff, “Summit ‘92” will be held in San Diego this weekend.

Naturally, having the affair here is something of a business coup. It’s especially important to the Convention Center, the adjacent Marriott Hotel and the Chamber of Commerce, because it will give 300 of the top tour managers, promoters, booking agents and other behind-the-scenes operators a close-up look at the city and those facilities. It probably won’t damage the prospects of local promoters, either.

It remains to be seen whether the rather drastic downturn in concert business in 1991 will affect the mood of the conventioneers, who will be given ample opportunity to let down what’s left of their hair. On Friday night, for example, attendees will be entertained by A.J. Croce and Janiva Magness at a reception at Croce’s Top Hat Bar and Grille, downtown.

The following night, local promoter Bill Silva will host a “Touring Roast and Reception” at Iguanas in Tijuana. Strolling mariachis and Mexican food will complete the south-of-the-border theme at the annual soiree, at which an unwitting industry insider is made the butt of music-biz jokes. (Keep it under your hat: This year’s dubious-honoree is Morris Lyda, tour and production manager for Pink Floyd and Genesis.) The roast/reception will be followed at 11 p.m. by a concert featuring Infectious Grooves--the only part of the evening’s festivities that will be open to the public.

On Sunday, the “Readers’ Poll Awards Show and Dinner” will give kudos in such categories as best touring club act, best touring concert act, best talent buyer, best production company and best concert facility. And, just to emphasize how far rock ‘n’ roll has come (gone?) since its rebellious origins, the whole weekend-long affair opens with a “Summit Golf Tournament” at a local course.

Speaking of A.J. Croce, Humphrey’s concert producer Kenny Weissberg recently agreed to manage the son of the late folk-pop star Jim Croce and local restaurant-club proprietor Ingrid Croce. The 20-year-old Croce, a blues-boogie-woogie-jazz pianist and vocalist whose influences are deeply rooted in the 1930s and ‘40s, is a fixture on the local music scene. One observer has described Croce--who won “Best Solo or Duo” honors in last summer’s San Diego Music Awards--as being equal parts Fats Waller, Tom Waits and Harry Connick Jr. But there is a more fundamental reason why he is the first major outside project Weissberg has taken on since he started booking the Humphrey’s series a decade ago.

“I have been asked to manage people several times over the past 15 years, and I’ve always said, ‘No,’ ” Weissberg said Monday. “Frankly, I’ve never wanted to devote that much of my personal time to managing someone else’s career, and, in each previous case, I wasn’t moved enough by the music to get involved. But I found the passion and musical commitment of A.J. and his band so infectious that I decided to participate.”

According to the soft-spoken Croce, the confidence was mutual.

“For the past year or so, I’ve been trying to get a record deal,” he said by phone Monday. “Last year, I did a show at a club in L.A. called At My Place, and some record company people came to hear me. After that, Warner’s took me to Nashville to cut some demos, but things just didn’t work out. Then, I did some demos for Columbia, and we’re still talking. But, I like the idea of having someone else do the talking for me.

“A couple of weeks ago, I discussed playing and everything with Kenny and he felt he could help me out,” Croce continued. “I could have gone with someone from New York or L.A., but I felt really comfortable with Kenny, and I figured, ‘Why not someone in my hometown?’ ”

Already, the Croce-Weissberg axis has produced results. The new manager’s first move was to send performance videos of his client to several industry types, including his favorite agent, a few major record companies and a manager friend in Colorado. Every one of them has responded by flying to San Diego to see Croce perform. In the meantime, Weissberg has contracted Croce to a personal-appearance agency, Triad Artists, whose artist roster includes Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Bobby McFerrin, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Mathis and about half the acts that have appeared at Humphrey’s over the past few years.

“Triad is thrilled,” Weissberg said, “and they’re looking at setting up some selective showcases and festival appearances for A.J. and his band over the next several months. But my main goal is to get him a record deal with a major label before his 21st birthday in September. So far, representatives from Geffen and Sony have come down to see him, and they’ve been very impressed.”

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all Ticketmaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) Folk singer Steve Gillette and his wife, Cindy Mangsen, will make a rare appearance in these parts Feb. 28 at the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church in Vista (for ticket information, call 943-1141). . . .

Tickets go on sale Feb. 15 for Swedish rock band Roxette’s March 17 show at the Spreckels Theatre.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: UNYIELDING SOCIAL COMMENTARY, WITH HUMOR

Fred Small, whom many have dubbed this generation’s answer to Pete Seeger, will bring his topical songs to town Friday in a special double-bill with Rosalie Sorrels. On five albums and in numerous concerts, Small has demonstrated an acumen for the sort of unyielding social commentaries that kept Phil Ochs and Woody Guthrie on the fringes of the musical mainstream. But he’s also capable of quirky humor, as witnessed by his song “If I Were a Moose.”

The “Travelin’ Lady,” a sobriquet by which Sorrels is widely known, brings to this show not only immense talent for singing and story-telling, but also an element of poignancy. Not long ago, the poet-songwriter was stricken with a brain aneurysm. Her near-miraculous return to form would be enough incentive to attend this show, but that form itself is a rare and wonderful kind that isn’t often available to local audiences.

The Small-Sorrels concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Church, 1600 Buena Vista Drive, Vista. Tickets are $8 at the door. For more information, call 943-1141 or 632-5596.