2nd Folk Heritage Festival Boasts Multicultural Lineup

One year ago this week, the San Diego Folk Heritage intensified its local folk-arts advocacy by convening the likes of Utah Phillips, Spider John Koerner, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliot for its first-annual “Folk Festival.” Although that very successful event leaned heavily on traditional folk, installment No. 2 promises an even more varied menu, in keeping with this year’s theme--”A Celebration of America’s Multicultural Traditions.”

The festival opens at 7 p.m. Friday with a concert at Choice’s Restaurant (10820 North Torrey Pines Road, $4.50 admission) featuring members of the SDFH board. At 8 p.m. that evening, a dance will be held at the Trinity United Methodist Church (3030 Thorn St., $6 admission) featuring caller Laura Me Smith and musicians Jim Mueller, Amber Roullard, W. B. Reid and Barbara Reid, and members of the Growling Old Geezers String Band.

The meat of the festival takes place Saturday in the Del Mar Shores Auditorium of the Winston School, 215 9th St., Del Mar. Tickets are $5 to attend the daytime events (10 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.), which include music, dance, and children’s workshops, and concerts every half-hour by area musicians. A free, outdoor concert (5:15 to 7 p.m.) will feature Sam Hinton, the Liffey Folk, and Malaika.

For the 7:30 p.m. concert, a rich array of talent has been imported, including saucy, 68-year-old accordionist Antonia Apodaca from New Mexico; traditional harmony singers Ginny Hawker and Kay Justice; Cajun singer, fiddler, guitarist and accordionist Tracy Schwarz; Piedmont-style blues-and-ragtime guitarist John Jackson; and Bayou Seco, a band that blends Cajun, Norteno and zydeco styles. Admission is $12 for this concert; $6 for children 12 and under. For more information, call 436-4030.

Norteno music originated in the late 1800s when the accordion-blown polka music of the German settlers in South Texas merged with the Spanish-guitar and Mexican ranchera music of Northern Mexico. Today, the popularity of conjunto bands is so widespread that the Texas Tornados, whose portfolio of Tex-Mex styles includes a healthy representation of Norteno , are a major draw as far away as Amsterdam. The octet, fronted by guitarists Doug Sahm and Freddie Fender, keyboardist Augie Meyers, and button-accordionist Santiago (El Flaco) Jimenez, will perform at Theatre East on Sunday. For information, call 440-2277.

Besides being the music’s most viable commercial force, the Tornados remind us of Norteno’s geographical roots. But San Diego, too, had its share of cross-cultural activity during the late 19th Century, and historians tell us that range wars and rustling drove a number of Southwestern settlers west along the U.S.-Mexican border to our own burg. As if to prove that we’ve retained some of the Norteno legacy, San Diego even has a young conjunto band of its own.

Los Bravoz, a quintet that plays regularly at Oceanside’s El Coco Loco, will perform in Old Town this weekend as part of the Old Town State Historic Park’s “Fiesta Cinco de Mayo.” The festivities, scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, include folkloric dancers, mariachi musicians, trick roping and re-enactments of famous Mexican battles. Los Bravoz will perform both days at 4 p.m. at the park’s Main Plaza Stage. For more information, call 296-3161 or 237-6770.

Chula Vista’s “Cultural Arts Festival” will be presented Saturday and Sunday on a stretch of that city’s 3rd Avenue, between E and G streets. The highlight of Saturday’s many free attractions is a 3:30 p.m. performance by the Mighty Penguins. For information about all the other activities, call 691-5071.

The L.A.-based I.R.S. record label has been involved in a number of youth-oriented film ventures in recent years, among them “Urgh! A Music War” and “The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.” Now, the label has a new project whose wacky, futuristic concept is uncomfortably close to reality.

The proposed film, with the working title “Blow My Mind,” takes place in the year 2030, by which time a steady barrage of MTV presumably has reduced the average youth’s attention span to mere microseconds. A new television show (from which the film takes its title) relies on increasingly outrageous acts to hold its audience. And there’s the potentially local rub: I.R.S. is looking for wild, provocative, outlandish bands to cast in the film.

Of course, musical skill is preferred, but the zaniness quotient is paramount. In their own words, the I.R.S. scouts are seeking “deranged individuals” whose “stage antics defy description and (even) logic.” A compilation album will be released in conjunction with the film, and a subsequent tour of the participating bands is being discussed.

If you think you qualify, send a demo tape, a photo or video, and a description of your live show to: Nick Turner, “Blow My Mind,” I.R.S. Records, 3939 Lankershim Blvd., Universal City, 91604. The selection process ends May 15, so act soon.

GRACE NOTES: Because of a scheduling conflict in Los Angeles, Van Halen’s Saturday gig at the Sports Arena has been moved up a day to Friday. Tickets already bought for the May 2 show will be honored, and refunds are available at the point of purchase.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) The Cure returns to San Diego for a June 23 concert at the Sports Arena, with the Cranes opening. Tickets go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. at all TicketMaster outlets. Random-numbered wristbands will be distributed at the arena box office beginning at 8 a.m., and no lineups will be allowed before that time. All other outlets will distribute random-numbered wristbands at 9 a.m. (May Co. stores will not sell tickets this Saturday only). The Cure’s 1989 show at the same venue sold out in six days.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: SINGER CAROL MCCOMB RETURNS TO VISTA

Singer-songwriter Carol McComb has been a treasure of country-folk cognoscenti for more than two decades. Once half of the Elektra Records duo, Kathy and Carol, McComb sings of life’s pains and pieties in a clear-creek alto-soprano that can break your heart. On Sunday, the former Vista resident will return home for an 8 p.m. concert--accompanied by jazz guitarist Ed Johnson--at the Palomar Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Concert Hall, 1600 Buena Vista Drive, Vista. Opening is local favorite Peggy Watson. Tickets are $10 at the door, and reservations are recommended. Call 630-9266.