MUSIC / RICK REEVES & THE FUTURE BLUES BAND : A Different Tune : If you’re tired of crowds and high prices, Summerland’s Big Yellow House is off the beaten track.

Can’t handle the Santa Barbara scene? Don’t have patience for a sea of smirking yuppie posers? Don’t have a quarter for the horde of pushy street people? Don’t feel like playing hide-and-seek with all those cops? Want to rock but don’t want to suffer? There’s an alternative down the road in Summerland where nothing much happens and the locals are glad of it.

There’s one band two nights a week in Summerland, that’s it. Rick Reeves & the Future Blues Band rocks every Friday and Saturday night at the Big Yellow House. It’s easy to find--it’s the big, yellow house on the main drag next to the freeway. The place looks like something out of “The Addams Family,” but there’s no Lurch, just Rick. The price is also right. It’ll cost you a walk up the stairs, that’s it.

It seems as though Reeves’ watch stopped; much of his future blues seems to be in the past. They know an hour-and-a-half of originals, but they know a lot more covers.

“We know close to 300 covers--the good stuff, or what I call the good stuff,” said Reeves in a recent phone interview. “Cream, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King. There’s stuff in our music that would attract the toe-tapping guy, but also some stuff in there for the thinking guy. The blues will always be there.”

It almost seems like Reeves has always been there as well. He’s been playing locally for a decade and at the Big Yellow House all this year. Reeves also plays Monday at Alex’s Cantina.

“The Big Yellow House is like having a rock band in your living room,” Reeves said. “The people there are just wonderful. They don’t have a dance license, so it’s more of a listening atmosphere. Also, people have to drive a little bit to get there. I don’t want to oversaturate the band, so we only play one night a week in town, and Alex’s is pretty cool.”

Reeves has had his share of weird gigs, the time they played for actor Herve Villechaize--of “Fantasy Island” fame--at his Westlake pad has got to be up there, or down there.

“We played at Tattoo’s wedding back in ’85 or ‘86,” recalled Reeves. “I think ‘Fantasy Island’ was still on then--he was a big, little star. No T-shirts and Cardinals’ hats that day, we had to wear polyester. His wife had to get up and sing ‘She Works Hard for the Money.’ ”

Reeves and his band have played the Ventura Theatre many times as well, strutting their stuff on the big stage, opening for a variety of acts.

“I’m most proud of some of our shows at the Ventura Theatre,” he said. “We opened for B.B. King, Eric Johnson, the Marshall Tucker Band, John Mayall twice and Leon Russell twice, and in Santa Barbara, Woody Harrelson’s band, and Jack Mack & the Heart Attack. I think we blew Leon Russell and John Mayall off the stage. We got a standing ovation, and that feels good. I can see the same thing happening to us in, say, 20 years.”

When he’s not playing with his band, which also includes Aaron Douglas on bass and Scott Flicton on drums, Reeves is still playing.

“I work for Castle Music, and I teach guitar, bass and drums,” he said. “I’m right at 40 students right now, but I’m probably going up to 55 or so. I love working with all ages, all sizes and all types. I teach black kids how to play funky bass. I teach white kids how to play Metallica, and I teach housewives how to play country and Western. I like it all. Music is my life, dude.”

Blame Reeves’ dad for his musical upbringing.

“I was deeply affected when I was 6 when my dad brought home “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin. I started playing ukulele when I was 6 or so and drums when I was 8. I was doing local high school dances back in East St. Louis, Ill. Later, I joined the Marine Corps because I couldn’t get along with my mom or my stepdad. I’ve been in Carpinteria since about 1980.”

Reeves, whenever he has time, is busily writing songs. He’s got a few out there, being pitched to some famous musicians such as Rod Stewart and Bette Midler. If he can’t line up some big-time cash for a full album he plans to do the local tape thing.

“I think I have been blessed with a very marketable name,” said Reeves.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Rick Reeves & the Future Blues Band Friday and Saturday nights at the Big Yellow House, 108 Pierpont St., in Summerland. Shows begin at 8:30 p.m. and all it’ll cost you is a walk up the stairs. Reeves also plays Monday at Alex’s Cantina, 633 State St., Santa Barbara. That one’ll set you back a buck.