Guitarist Heads East to Boost Stalled Career

A few months ago, in an installment of the local public-access cable program “Songwriters Spotlight,” San Diego musician Mark DeCerbo discussed a song from his 1991 debut album, “Baby’s Not in the Mood.” The tune, called “House on the Edge of the Tracks,” is a paean to rural, Upstate New York, and specifically the Binghamton area, where DeCerbo grew up.

“That’s about my grandmother’s house, where I spent many summers being the center of my relatives’ attention,” DeCerbo told host Brad Cahill. “My memories of that time are of the train going by, and the smells of the countryside. It was a great place to grow up. I loved it.”

Now, DeCerbo is planning a return to New York’s Mohawk Valley for a period of rest, succor and battery recharging that he hopes will boost the momentum of a recording career that seems locked in first gear. A year after the release of “Baby’s Not in the Mood” on Bizarre/Straight--the long-dormant independent label revived by industry mogul Herb Cohen--the CD hovers in commercial limbo, the result, DeCerbo feels, of passive marketing and distribution.

It was an inability to find “Baby’s Not in the Mood” in New York-area record stores, in fact, that prompted DeCerbo’s cousin, a successful health-industry attorney, to inquire as to the musician’s career status. Learning of DeCerbo’s frustration, the attorney sent a copy of the CD to Camille Barboni, who manages several acts on the Arista Records label through her New York City-based B3 Productions. Barboni was impressed, and agreed to help DeCerbo, who is negotiating to get out of his contract with Bizarre/Straight.

“Camille has great connections in the industry there, and she is going to develop the business part of things for me,” DeCerbo said in a phone interview Monday. “I want to take some time out to work on new songs with the goal of putting out another album. To do that, eventually I will need to find some musicians, get a producer, and get back into the studio. Hopefully, with Camille taking care of the other stuff, I will be able to do that.”

According to DeCerbo, his sophomore recorded effort will be a much more focused, organized project--unlike “Baby’s Not in the Mood.”

“While I was doing the last album, there were a lot of time lapses, delays and no real continuity. Sure, I can say that I have a nationally released album, but because of the way it has been handled, it is almost like I don’t have one. The point was to get national exposure and feedback, but Bizarre/Straight hasn’t really promoted the album, so I have sort of reached a stalemate with them. I had a lot of fun doing that album, and it was a great experience, but. . . .”

Although the major thrust of DeCerbo’s trek East will be professional, it also will give him an opportunity to renew bonds with his extended East Coast family, whose members knew he had recorded a CD, and assumed that he was doing well.

“When I was growing up in that area, my cousins and I used to get together several times a year, and I would play songs for them. They were always very supportive, but since I have been out here, we have sort of lost contact. Now, my grandmother, cousins, and everyone--most of whom live in the Schenectady area--have offered to provide me with moral and even some financial support, to give me a better shot at success. I will actually be living with my cousin, the attorney, who lives about an hour’s train ride outside of New York City.”

DeCerbo played for years with the local band Four Eyes. In recent years, he has been a singer-guitarist in the popular quartet Rockola--which won Best Classic Rock honors in both the 1991 and 1992 San Diego Music Awards competitions--and recently sang the National Anthem at a Padres game. A month ago, DeCerbo notified the band that he would be leaving in late November, and Rockola quietly began the search for a replacement. DeCerbo acknowledged that the move East will give him a much-needed rest from playing as many as four nights a week.

“I am going to miss playing with Rockola,” DeCerbo said, “mostly because of the great people in the band. They are so much more than a bar band. I really think they are on their way to doing big things in terms of preserving certain aspects of American rock culture. But, I could use a break from the routine of being in a band.

“There are other people in San Diego I am going to miss,” he said, “including my fiancee, my daughter--who doesn’t live with me--my brother and sister, and a lot of good friends. I am taking my son, who is really looking forward to going to school in New York. And, anyway, for a while, I will be traveling back and forth between New York and San Diego, so maybe the change won’t seem quite so drastic.”

* Rockola, with DeCerbo, plays tonight at Johnny M’s 801, 801 Fourth Ave., downtown. (233-1131).

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets--278-TIXS--unless otherwise specified.) The Zoo featuring Mick Fleetwood returns to the Belly Up Tavern on Nov. 9 ($10). . . .

Paul Weller (formerly of Style Council) plays SDSU’s Montezuma Hall on Nov. 19 ($18 and $20 in advance, $22 night of show, on sale Friday, 10 a.m.). . . .

Former Eagle Glenn Frey brings his band to the Spreckels Theatre on Nov. 19 ($22.50, on sale Friday, 10 a.m.).

CRITIC’S CHOICE

SHARKSKIN AT THE BELLY UP

Since Stax-Volt-type soul music got derailed by hard funk and then hip-hop, the form has seemed mostly absent from the San Diego scene.

A couple of years ago, local band Sharkskin performed a gig at the now-defunct Rio’s nightclub that demonstrated great promise, but the group needed seasoning. Now, they have it.

With the recent release of its new, independent album, Sharkskin has given notice that it will carve its own path in the local music consciousness with original music that takes its cue from the funky stuff of the ‘70s--from Parliament and the Ohio Players to War and Chicago. After numerous personnel revisions and a lot of woodshedding, the nine-piece Sharkskin is emerging as an R&B; force, and the band’s gig tonight with Monkey Meet at the Belly Up Tavern is a worthy event. Admission to the 9 p.m. show is $4.