Local Music Awards Gain Momentum in Infancy

In one year, the San Diego Music Awards program has picked up a surprising amount of momentum for an event experiencing the normal flux of infancy.

The scope, the venue, the sponsors, the number of awards categories, the live performers, the celebrity presenters, most of the nominees, and even the beneficiaries of the show’s charitable largess have changed since the inaugural gala, held last August in La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium. Yet, the net result is a qualitative improvement that makes tonight’s program at the Humphrey’s amphitheater on Shelter Island a coveted ticket.

The San Diego Music Academy, a loose-knit aggregate of local media, music professionals and entrepreneurial types, is presenting the second annual installment in conjunction with KTTY (TV-69) and Corona Extra beer. The awards will honor local artists in 21 categories (nine more than in 1991).

Adding to the evening’s cachet are several well-known musical personalities who will present the awards. These include John Entwistle, the Who’s bassist, and guitarist Jeff (Skunk) Baxter, of Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan fame. Co-hosting the program are local comedian and radio personality Russ T. Nailz and original MTV veejay Nina Blackwood.

Scheduled to perform live through Humphrey’s excellent sound system are local artists who either won kudos at last year’s show, or who are nominated this year, or both. They are: Mark DeCerbo (1992 double nominee, Best Solo or Duo, Best Album, signed to the Bi zarre/Straight label this past year); the band Bordertown (Best Contemporary, 1991); Tobacco Road (1992 nominee, Best Dixieland); Cindy Lee Berryhill (1992 double nominee, Best Solo or Duo, Best Folk or Acoustic); Calman Hart (1992 nominee, Best Country); and Earl Thomas (Best Blues, 1991; 1992 triple nominee, Best Blues, Best Album, Artist of the Year). Closing the show will be local band Robert Vaughn and the Shadows, which recently signed a deal with major-label Epic Records.

Tonight’s program at Humphrey’s (2241 Shelter Island Drive) begins at 7:30 p.m. At press time, there were only a handful of reserved seats ($25) left, but a number of general admission seats ($10) were still available at all TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS). Proceeds will be donated to the elementary school music programs to offset budget cutbacks. For more information, call 274-SDMA.

The “Songwriter Signature Series,” which begins Thursday night at the Village Emporium in La Mesa, promises an intimate, nuts-and-bolts experience of the tunesmithing craft as practiced by local musicians.

The series coordinator, Sven-Erik Seaholm, leader of local band the Wild Truth, drew his inspiration for the series from the touring chat-and-sing fest, “The Bottom Line’s ‘In Their Own Words’ (A Bunch of Songwriters Sitting Around Singing),” two lineups of which have passed through town in recent months.

Each evening of the three-part “Signature” series will be thematic, and a guest moderator will conduct an informal, round-robin Q-and-A with the participants, both to ascertain individualistic approaches to song craft and to illustrate the various modes of expression.

Thursday’s maiden voyage, called “Pop Complexities,” will focus on the all-important interplay between melody and lyric. Featured in the program are CiCi Porter (of the band Bordertown), Carlos Olmeda (Ryebabies), John Katchur and Seaholm. The guest moderator will be Steve Saint, leader of the band Club of Rome, editor of San Diego Music Magazine, and candidate for the La Mesa City Council.

Future presentations include an Oct. 1 program of songs with social or political content, featuring Saint, Buddy Blue, Dave Howard, and Ed Tennyson of the San Diego Songwriters Guild; and a November 20 show, featuring as yet unnamed performers, that will concentrate on “spiritual songwriting.” Based on the public’s initial response to news of the series, it should prove successful enough to become a regular entry in the local music calendar.

“Pop Complexities” begins at 8:30 p.m. The Village Emporium is at 8371 La Mesa Blvd., in La Mesa. A donation is requested for admission. For more information, call 463-5475.

Chula Vista is dusting off a couple of pop relics for its “Third Avenue Festival,” to be held Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Third Avenue, between G and E streets. Besides the fixed attractions, which include arts and crafts booths, diversions for kids, and an international food fair, the event features a “Blast from the Past” segment of live entertainment on a large stage at the corner of Third and F.

Larry Keen and His Country Band will the open the daylong show with a 90-minute set at 0:30 a.m. Buffalo Springfield Again (only original member: drummer Dewey Martin) takes the stage at 1 p.m., followed by songwriter Bill Lynch (he penned the theme for “The Gary Shandling Show”) at 2:45 p.m., and, finally, songbird Maria (“Midnight at the Oasis”) Muldaur at 4:30 p.m. Admission to the festival is free. For more information, call 422-1982.

Although you might not know it from the fizzy ephemera that pass for musical theater these days, America has a rich tradition in that regard. Fortunately, there are plenty of performers around to keep the ghosts-of-theater-music-past alive and well. If many such acts are corny beyond belief, there are those who do the genre proud.

Among the latter is cabaret pianist-singer Bill Wright, who will perform with pianist Joel Silberman in a show Saturday night at the Lyceum Theatre downtown. The program, called “It Takes Two,” features Wright at the ivories for the opening medley, after which he moves center stage while Silberman mans the keys. The tag-team presentation has garnered critical raves in New York in the two years since Wright left San Diego.

Tickets for “It Takes Two” are $22.50, and are available at all TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS), and at the Lyceum box office (235-8025). Conscientious souls who can’t attend the show can purchase tickets and then donate them to a favorite charity. To make such arrangements, call 1-800-435-8597.

GRACE NOTES: Two Sound FX shows have been postponed because the headliners got offers they couldn’t refuse. Last Sunday’s scheduled show featuring Faster Pussycat, Slik Toxik and Blackboard Jungle was rolled over when Faster Pussycat accepted an invitation to open several shows for Ozzy Osbourne. The band’s new Sound FX date is Sept. 18. Friday’s Sound FX show, featuring Soul Kitchen, was moved off the board when the group was asked to join the tour of Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo. Soul Kitchen will play Sound FX sometime in mid-September.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets unless otherwise specified.) Tracy Chapman has been added to the list of pop artists being presented as part of the San Diego Symphony’s SummerPops. Chapman will give an acoustic solo performance at Embarcadero Marina Park South on Sept. 18 (on sale at 10 a.m. Monday at the Copley Symphony Hall box office and at the Marina Park box office after 4 p.m. on the day of the show. . . .

A pre-Halloween double-bill of the B-52s and Violent Femmes will play the Sports Arena on Oct. 25. Tickets ($25, $22.50, $18.50) go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. Random-numbered wristbands will be distributed at the arena at 8 a.m., with no lineups allowed before then. All other TicketMaster outlets will be distributing random numbers at 9 a.m. Tickets are 2limited to eight per person.

CRITIC’S CHOICE: SHADES OF ‘YES’

Technically, it might not live up to the subtitle one local wag gave it--the-every-musician-who- -was-ever-fired-from-the-band- -Yes show--but when the Chris Squire Experiment performs Thursday at Sound FX, the audience no doubt will be liberally seeded with fans of the constantly evolving progressive-rock band.

Squire, Yes’ long-time bassist, will be joined by Yes drummer Alan White and Steve Porcaro for the 8:30 p.m. show. Tickets are $15, and can be purchased through TicketMaster (278-TIXS) or at the Sound FX box office (560-8022).