Local Artists Get Chance at Seminar : Scouts: Industry reprsentatives will get a look at performers at weekend event organized by Rockpress Publishing.

If Gary Hustwit’s hunch proves accurate, the L.A.-based music industry might train more concentrated attention on the San Diego music scene this weekend than it has in all previous years combined. To facilitate that up-close look at local performers of original music, Hustwit’s Rockpress Publishing (which publishes the Rockpress Music Directory) organized the Independent Music Seminar, a two-day, three-night event that will enable industry scouts to hear a large number of local artists in one visit, while providing area musicians with insights into the machinations of the music industry.

The core of the IMS is a conference to be held Saturday and Sunday at the Marriott Mission Valley. Presentations will include panel discussions, workshops, demo tape critique sessions, talks by industry professionals and a trade show featuring exhibits by 30 local and national music businesses.

In addition to the centralized, info-oriented attractions, 120 bands--all but about 10 of them local, and representing diverse musical styles--will give “showcase” performances at 15 area venues on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Several local bands will also perform poolside at the Marriott following the daily panels.

Because of logistical and spatial considerations, Hustwit limited attendance at the two-day conference to 1,000. As of Monday afternoon, more than two-thirds of the $30 advance registrations had been snapped up, leaving Hustwit confident that the first-ever local event will be a sellout. Already, the 28-year-old entrepreneur is looking for a larger venue for the 1993 sequel.

Hustwit, an Orange County native and former San Diego State University student, first received local notice last fall with the announcement of the first edition of the San Diego Rockpress Music Directory, a reference source for local musicians modeled somewhat after similar publications in other cities. The directory became an instant hit, and now is a quarterly boasting a circulation of 15,000. Rockpress will publish its fourth edition Dec. 1 (deadline for listings is Nov. 14).

Hustwit, meanwhile, has broadened his scope to provide various other professional services to struggling bands.

Speaking Monday from the new Rockpress offices near the Casbah club on Kettner Boulevard, Hustwit seemed almost surprised at the commotion stirred by the IMS.

“The response to this thing has been overwhelming, way more than I ever could have wanted,” Hustwit said. “Apparently, word has spread throughout the industry, because we’re getting lots of calls from people who want to come down here and check out all these bands.”

Hustwit said bands from Canada, Seattle and the Bay Area will also perform at the showcase concerts and that the number of acts from outside San Diego could have been even greater.

“We have a waiting list of bands that wanted to play, and I can foresee having 200 bands playing at 25 different clubs next year,” Hustwit said. “In years to come, I’d like to have even more touring, independent bands included in the concert schedule.”

Exhibitors at the IMS will include recording studios, video production facilities, CD manufacturers, cassette duplicators and other music-related businesses, but Hustwit hastens to emphasize that the thrust of the event will be to move San Diego bands closer to that elusive record deal.

“There’s been a real buzz recently about a few of the local bands, and that’s attracting industry people who want to see what’s going on down here,” he said. “By bringing the industry and the local scene together, we’re hoping to make things move faster for local bands.”

Those interested in attending the IMS can call the Rockpress offices at 234-9400. If tickets are still available, they will cost $40 and will be sold on a walk-up basis from noon to 9 p.m. Friday at the Marriott Mission Valley, 8757 Rio San Diego Drive. The price includes all three days of activities and concerts. Complete schedules of the showcase concerts are available at San Diego County’s three Off the Record stores.

Those interested in “world music” tend to look to the far side of the globe for exotic sounds, without realizing that a number of musical forms indigenous to our own region have equal merit.

On Tuesday, a program at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium will underscore the diversity of world music by showcasing native, immigrant and ethnic master artists representing Native Californian, Mexican-American, East and West Asian, African Diasporan, Anglo-American and Pacific Islander traditions.

“California Generations” will feature a broad selection of music and dance, including Afghani music by Aziz and Omar Herawi; punta , or Caribbean coastal drumming, performed by the ensemble Chatuye; ancient Hawaiian hula and chant by Sissy Kaio and family; Hmong ritual dance by Ge Xiong and his students; cowboy poetry by Jesse Smith; the Veracruz-Jarocho musical ensemble Los Pregoneros del Puerto, and traditional Tibetan music and dance by Chaksam-Pa, a trio of recent Tibetan immigrants.

Emceeing the evening is Native Californian Julian Lang, who will perform the traditional music and dance of his Karuk tribe. Another Native Californian, Jimmie James, will sing in the traditional style of his Yurok tribe.

Tickets to “California Generations” are $12 and $14 general, $9 and $11 for UCSD students. They can be purchased at TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS) or at the UCSD Price Center Box Office (534-4090).

Winston’s in Ocean Beach inaugurates its “Big Wednesday” concert series tonight with singer-songwriter Peter Himmelman and his band.

According to sources at Malcolm Falk’s Office, official bookers of the 250-seat Winston’s, the purpose of the series is to bring top-quality music attractions to the beach area at a reasonable price--usually under $10 per ticket. The Himmelman show, with Blacksmith Union opening, has a $7 admission tag.

The last time Himmelman (best known to some as Bob Dylan’s son-in-law) was scheduled to appear here, he canceled because the date fell on a Jewish holiday. No such problem this time, although one uncertainty hovers over the show: Himmelman sometimes shepherds his audience away from the venue--to a lake, a river, the beach or merely up on the roof. You never know.

Other “Big Wednesday” bookings this month include a double-bill of the Doors tribute band, Wild Child, with Australian rockers Fire and Ice, Nov. 11; the Northwest’s irreverent Young Fresh Fellows, Nov. 18, and the Orange County-based, dance hall-reggae-cum-rap-funk band, On Root, Nov. 25.

GRACE NOTES: San Diego Convention Center entertainment coordinator Robb Huff has been trying to bring Jimmy Buffett to the building’s upstairs-outdoor “special events area” for three years, and he finally did it. Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will perform Friday night “under the sail.” Landing the salty king of the sea-and-sand lifestyle, however, was no easy task.

In recent years, Buffett has grown accustomed to performing back-to-back shows at San Diego State University’s 4,000-seat Open Air Theatre. Last June, Avalon Attractions booked Buffett into the campus’ Aztec Bowl, where he played to a crowd of 14,000. Buffett decided he liked performing to the larger crowd, but this time around, Aztec Bowl was under reconstruction, and it looked like Buffett would pass on San Diego altogether. Huff, however, was persistent.

“I badgered Buffett’s management all year, and eventually I wrote him a letter saying, ‘Forget two nights for 8,000 (fans), why not do one night (at the Convention Center) for 7,000?’ ” Huff said Monday. Trying to find a tie-in for the trade-oriented venue, Huff even suggested calling the show a “Parrothead Convention,” after the nickname for Buffett fans. That, and the fact that the boat-minded Buffett reportedly liked the idea of playing “under the sail,” cinched the deal, Huff said.

“His agent wedged him into San Diego before he would go to Hawaii for the last date on his tour,” Huff said. “Jimmy apparently liked the nautical theme, and we’re even going to try to get the America’s Cup people to make him a presentation. But the best news is that the show sold out in 29 minutes. So I feel like three years of effort paid off all the way around.” . . .

A triple-bill that would have brought Sugar (a band featuring former Husker Du-er Bob Mould), Throwing Muses and the Boo Radleys to SDSU’s Montezuma Hall on Monday has been canceled due to poor ticket sales. Refunds are available at the point of purchase.

BOOKINGS: (Tickets for the following concerts will be sold at all TicketMaster outlets (278-TIXS) unless otherwise specified.) White Zombie, MotorKKult and DFA play Club 860 in Pacific Beach on Thursday. Tickets are $8.50 advance, $10 day of show, available at TicketMaster or the club’s box office, 272-1513. . . . The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, which was the hit of the latest Lollapalooza tour, will bring such oddities as Matt the Tube Crowley, Slug the Sword Swallower, BeBe the Circus Queen, the Torture King the Amazing Mister Lifto and Rose himself (in a human demolition spectacular) to Club 860 on Nov. 12. Tickets to the 18-and-up show are $8 in advance, $10 day of show, at TicketMaster or the club box office.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

STOUT SCREAMERS

The rock foursome Screaming Trees hails from Ellensburg, Wash., and it shows.

When the stout-bodied band brought its intense mix of ‘70s-’80s-’90s rock to the Letterman show Oct. 16, its members looked and sounded like lumberjack-musicians. After their performance, Letterman praised the Trees, but admitted to Paul Shaffer that he’d been “a little scared” while watching them.

The band will join Luna and Rust at Iguanas on Friday night. Tickets to the 8 p.m. concert are $10.91 in advance, $12 the day of the show and are available through TicketMaster (278-TIXS).