Dog Beach Jam an Effort to ‘Lighten’ Things Up

For years, keyboardist J.J. Frank has felt annoyed by what he calls the “dark, bleak, ‘alternative’ music” being played by deejays at various local rock clubs. Recently, he decided to provide an alternative of his own. A month ago, the 35-year-old Ocean Beach man formed the Ocean Beach Music Coalition for the sole purpose of organizing a concert of more upbeat rock ‘n’ roll that would both reflect and take advantage of the community’s natural resources.

This Sunday, the OBMC will host “The Dog Beach Jam,” from 1 to 9 p.m. on Dog Beach, at the west end of Voltaire, in Ocean Beach (the stage will be set up near the parking let, and the event should not impede normal beach activity). Scheduled to play at the free outdoor gig are three local bands: Travel Agents, Mud, and Frank’s band, Time Travelers. The event will showcase music that Frank feels is more “geographically correct” than that heard in the area’s black-clothing venues.

“I’m a native San Diegan, and the music I write is influenced by the geography and the natural feel of the area--you know, sunshine, bright colors, that sort of thing,” Frank said Monday morning by phone. “I believe the fans of the dark-bleak stuff are just following a trend that started in England, where it is dark and bleak. But it’s not like that here, and I’m proud to stand behind my San Diego heritage and the local culture. I chose Dog Beach because I grew up nearby, and because Ocean Beach has a beach-community consciousness you can’t find anywhere in California except Venice Beach and Santa Barbara.”

Frank, whose personal listening habits run to such ‘60s-’70s stalwarts as Santana, Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers, has worked as a pianist at Gustav Anders and Pacifica Del Mar, and currently plays happy hours at Dick’s Last Resort downtown. When he’s not “paying the rent,” however, his main creative focus is playing rock ‘n’ roll in Time Travelers.

“We have about 20 real solid original tunes, which we’ll be doing at this show,” he said. “In the past, we’ve referred to ourselves as a ‘new-generation hippie band,’ but what we play is really blues-funk.”

“The Dog Beach Jam” is Frank’s first stab at entrepreneurship. While he claims to have had no specific difficulty landing the necessary permits, he rues what he believes are municipal restrictions on the type of alfresco entertainment that should be thriving in San Diego.

“In general, the city makes it so hard to do something like this, or to just go out on the street and play,” Frank said. “People should be able to just set up and perform, like they do in other cities. San Diego doesn’t take advantage of its own outdoor culture, and the restrictions only strangle what musical vitality we have. But if this thing goes as well as I think it will, I see no reason why we shouldn’t do more shows of this type in the future.”

While I plead guilty of occasionally questioning the motives of celebrities who get involved in public charity events, I actually hope that such causes as homelessness, child abuse, disabling diseases and the environment remain “trendy” for the next hundred years. Certainly, you can’t find fault with an event that offers no “photo-op” for participating celebs, but instead sells their personal belongings to help those in need.

The San Diego Youth and Community Services organization is so good at being a conduit from the haves to the have-nots that last year’s “Celebri-T-Shirt Auction to Benefit Homeless Youth” raised $80,000 and helped more than 1,000 adolescents with outreach, shelter, food, counseling, educational and health services. Saturday’s sixth annual installment promises to do even better.

Among the hundreds of star-kissed collectibles up for grabs are Cher’s jeweled, Versace-designed bustier; Hammer’s magenta suit; Emmylou Harris’ pink cowgirl boots; Whitney Houston’s tuxedo jacket from her “Moment of Truth” tour; guitars autographed by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Steve Vai and Mark Knopfler; framed, platinum albums from Michael Bolton, the Doors, Neil Diamond, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Jimi Hendrix; and items from such sports figures as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Bill Walton and Tony Gwynn.

Saturday’s auction, which begins at 8 p.m., will be at the San Diego Marriott in Mission Valley (8757 Rio San Diego Drive). Tickets are $25, and can be purchased at any TicketMaster outlet (278-TIXS). For information on specific items for auction, call 297-9310 between 3 and 6 p.m. today through Friday.

GRACE NOTES: 91X-FM will celebrate its ninth anniversary June 13 with a “Listener Appreciation Concert Party” at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre. Comedian/actor Bobcat Goldthwait will host the 4:30-11:30 p.m. event, which will feature Los Lobos, Social Distortion, Material Issue, Soup Dragons, the Catherine Wheel and one more act to be announced. Reggae star Eek-A-Mouse originally was scheduled to perform, but canceled due to scheduling conflict.

Rather than sell tickets to the show, the station has been giving them away in conjunction with various local retail outlets. From today until June 12, however, the only means of obtaining tickets is by listening to 91X (aha!). One pair of tickets will be given away over the air every hour between 6 a.m. and midnight.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) Tickets ($26) are on sale for Hammer’s “Too Legit World Tour,” which hits town June 28 for a show at the Sports Arena. The three-woman rap/vocal trio TLC opens. . . .

The summer concert schedule at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre just got fuller with the addition of several shows that will go on sale this week. “An Evening with Natalie Cole” will feature the Grammy winner performing with a 31-piece orchestra July 2. Opening is “nouveau-flamenco” guitarist Ottmar Liebert (on sale Monday at 10 a.m.). The Gipsy Kings play the outdoor venue July 15 (on sale Saturday at noon). Dan Fogelberg headlines a July 17 show that also features Eliza Gilkyson (on sale Sunday at noon). And a worldbeat triple-header brings Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear and Majek Fashek to the campus July 31 (on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.)...

Metal-rockers Tesla will play the Sports Arena on July 7, with Firehouse opening (on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.).

CRITIC’S CHOICE: A GLIMPSE INTO JAMAICA

The movable Caribbean music feast, “Reggae Sunsplash ‘92,” is the largest touring reggae show in the world. Now in its eighth year, the touring version of the annual festival in Jamaica gives purists and neophytes alike the opportunity to see and hear some of the genre’s best performers.

This year’s model, to be presented Friday at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre, features the British reggae trio Aswad, South African reggae star Lucky Dube, Britain-based Jamaicans Barrington Levy and John Holt, Jamaican Papa San, the Sunsplash “house band” Skool, and Jamaican-born emcee Tommy Cowan. Tickets are $20 and $17, available at all TicketMasters outlets (278-TIXS) and at the Aztec Center box office (594-6947).