CONTEMPORARY MUSIC / JOHN D’AGOSTINO : Croce Music Anthology Due Out in September

Many San Diegans are aware that Ingrid Croce owns and operates four downtown eating and entertainment establishments bearing her last name and that she is the mother of up-and-coming musician A. J. Croce.

Few, however, know that she was once a recording artist. Ingrid’s writing and singing are among the surprises in store for those who purchase a forthcoming compact disc-audiocassette anthology of music by Ingrid’s late husband, popular singer-songwriter Jim Croce, who died in a plane crash in Natchitoches, La., on Sept. 20, 1973.

Croce and her current husband, former attorney and musician Jim Rock, recently completed their work on the two-CD, 49-song retrospective, titled “The 50th Anniversary Collection” (Jim Croce would have turned 50 on Jan. 10, 1993). Croce and Rock helped compile the material, wrote the extensive liner notes and provided data about the individual songs. The reissue will be released on the Saja label and be distributed by the Atlantic Recording Co. on Sept. 15.

Although Croce’s songs have been reissued in previous greatest-hits packages, “The 50th Anniversary Collection” represents the first effort to chronicle his entire oeuvre , including the late-’60s period when he and Ingrid performed as a duo. All 49 tracks have been digitally re-mastered from the original tapes.

Besides the familiar hits--”Time in a Bottle,” “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels),” “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown,” “I Got a Name” and “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song”--the new retrospective features a number of earlier songs co-written and performed by the husband-wife team. Many of them first appeared on the 1969 Capitol Records album “Jim and Ingrid Croce,” but the new compilation also includes six previously unreleased songs.

One of these, “Cigarettes and Whiskey” (author unknown) was recorded in the Croces’ farmhouse in Lyndell, Pa., in 1971; another Jim Croce original, “Cotton Mouth River,” was recorded at a rehearsal for an ABC-Dunhill Records audition that same year.

In a way, “The 50th Anniversary Collection” is the ultimate payoff to Ingrid’s herculean effort to wrest control over her late husband’s music from Terry Cashman, Tommy West and Phil Kurnit, a trio of industry heavies who once owned the rights to the Croces’ music “from 1968 to perpetuity.”

In 1974, with the help of Lefrak-Moelis--a two-family conglomerate that owns record companies and publishing companies--Ingrid began the reacquisition process. After 11 years of litigation, and with Ingrid’s blessing, Herb Moelis was able to buy the Croces’ master tapes and the publishing rights to the songs. Lefrak-Moelis has reissued all subsequent Jim Croce CDs.

Moelis’ son Larry and Atlantic’s Yves Beauvais helped compile “The 50th Anniversary Collection.” Croce, Rock and Deborah Ogburn, who handles all advertising for Croce’s restaurants, designed the package’s graphics.

By now, Jim Croce’s story is a familiar entry in pop lore. The native of South Philadelphia attended Villanova University, then spent his post-college years performing with Ingrid in coffeehouses and rural bars. After the “Jim and Ingrid Croce” album failed to ignite, the couple moved from New York to the small town of Lyndell.

“In Lyndell, Jim got a construction job and waited for Cashman, West and Kurnit to release him from his contract,” Ingrid Croce said Friday. “Then, when we found out I was expecting A. J., Jim sat down and wrote several new songs, including ‘Time in a Bottle’ and ‘You Don’t Mess Around With Jim.’ He made a demo of his new tunes for Cashman and West, who found him a manager and got him a new deal with the Philips (Holland) label, which led to the deal with ABC-Dunhill.”

Croce’s 1972 album, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim,” went to No. 1 on the strength of the title track and “Operator.” Ingrid stayed home to be with A. J., but she kept her hand in the songwriting, co-penning the subsequent album cuts “Hey Tomorrow” and “Age” with her husband.

When the singer was on the road, the time he and Ingrid could spend together was hard-bought and precious. Neither liked the fact that when Jim had 24 hours off between road gigs, they wasted three hours driving round-trip to the airport from their home in rural Pennsylvania.

“We moved to San Diego in July, 1973, for several reasons, one of which was that the airport was only five minutes from our new home in Point Loma,” Ingrid said.

In the weeks before Jim’s death, he and Ingrid would take walks in downtown San Diego, including the stretch of 5th Avenue where her restaurants now stand. Croce’s Top Hat Bar and Grille is named after one of the late musician’s songs.

“I feel a great sense of satisfaction and closure now that this project is finished,” Ingrid said. “The timing is perfect, not only because of Jim’s 50th birthday, but also because A. J.’s career is starting to take off. It’s a wonderful feeling.”

San Diego Music Awards executive director Kevin Hellman has announced the live performers and presenters for the Aug. 19 fete at the Humphrey’s venue on Shelter Island. Local artists who will perform at the event include Mark DeCerbo, Bordertown, Tobacco Road, Cindy Lee Berryhill, newcomer Calman Hart, Earl Thomas and Robert Vaughn and the Shadows.

Co-hosting the affair will be local comedian and 91X deejay Russ T. Nailz and former MTV veejay Nina Blackwood. Presenters will include former Who bassist John Entwistle, guitarist Jeff (Skunk) Baxter of Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers fame, former San Diego Padre and current Channel 8 reporter Tim Flannery, former San Diegan and Frank/Dweezil Zappa guitarist Mike Keneally, and a bevy of local radio personalities.

Tickets are on sale through TicketMaster (278-TIXS). For information about the awards program, call 270-0505.

GRACE NOTES: The Aug. 14 San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium show featuring Guns N’ Roses, Metallica and Faith No More is a sellout. . . . Friday’s lineup at the Belly Up Tavern has changed. The Blasters are still headlining, but the opening acts will be James McMurtry and the Hooligans (exit Gin Blossoms).

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) Tickets for Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s Aug. 26 concert at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre, with Bonham opening, go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. . . . The Moody Blues will perform at the same venue Sept. 13 (tickets, pre-fee priced at $35, $21.50 and $18.50, go on sale Friday at 3 p.m.). . . . Slayer makes a rare club appearance at Iguanas on Aug. 10 (on sale Thursday at noon). . . . Quiet Riot and Nemesis form an Aug. 16 double-bill at the Zoo (1340 Broadway, El Cajon). The $14.75 admission price includes an all-you-can-eat Mexican buffet. . . . Local singer-songwriter Jon Kanis will open several dates on Peter Case’s upcoming tour, which stops at Sound FX on Aug. 6. Other Sound FX gigs include Lemonheads, Juliana Hatfield and Contra Guerra on Aug. 1; the Stray Cats Aug. 12 and Steve Morse and T Lavitz on Aug. 31. . . . Eddie Daniels and His Amazing Platters, the Mar Dels and Ken and Casey (a man and his duck) will perform at the seventh annual “Concert on the Green” show, Aug. 14 at the Grand Tradition in Fallbrook. The outdoor program is a fund-raiser for the Fallbrook Music Society’s symphony concert season. Call 723-9571 or 433-1276.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: RETURN OF CHRIS PROCTOR

In his last performance at the Del Mar Shores Auditorium, acoustic guitarist Chris Proctor so enchanted the sellout audience that they grabbed up every CD and tape the artist had brought along to sell. One assumes that Proctor will be better-stocked Saturday night for his return to the venue--now known as the Folk Heritage Auditorium (9th Street, Del Mar).

The reason for the crowd’s enthusiasm is easily placed: The one-time national finger-picking champion is becoming as innovative in composing for guitar as he is in articulating the steel-string guitar’s tonal charms. Proctor’s superb technique, eclectic approach and winning stage persona add up to a very enjoyable evening of acoustic music. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $9 and can be reserved by calling 436-4030.