Pop Music : San Diego’s Street Scene Heavy on New Orleans Style

“Now, this is what I call a party,” said the man with the black Chargers cap, waving a beer in toast Saturday night as he stood by the Louisiana Heritage stage near the end of the 10th annual San Diego Street Scene.

There was still 90 minutes left before the warm, invigorating two-day music and food fair concluded, but the 32-year-old North County machinist was calling it a night.

He figured he had already gotten his money’s worth at the event, which is a combination “Lollapalooza” for adults and old-time county fair (face painting booths to portable ATM machines).

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By his count, the machinist had seen all or part of 22 musical performances and sampled food from almost as many booths, Hungarian sausage to Louisiana gumbo.

The weary fan chose the Louisiana Heritage stage, where Cajun-styled rocker Zachary Richard was performing, to bid farewell to this year’s Street Scene because the area was the nerve center of the festival, which involved performances by more than 90 acts on 13 stages over a 21-block area of the city’s historic Gaslamp Quarter.

The strong New Orleans feel--there was also a Mardi Gras stage and almost a dozen booths tempting you with crawfish and other trademark dishes--is because the Street Scene is patterned after the acclaimed New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Even if Zachary Richard proved disappointing (far too much jive and anonymous rock shading undercutting a genuine vocal talent), the audience danced and embraced each other so much during his set that 4th Avenue, where the stage was located, seemed like Bourbon Street West.

“This has a lot of the same spirit of the Jazz and Heritage Festival,” said Wayne Toups, a Louisiana native who lives in San Diego, as he hawked boiled shrimp at his Cajunland Cafeteria booth. “It’s getting there all right.”

The Street Scene, which drew an estimated 60,000 fans total Friday and Saturday, is like “Lollapalooza,” the alternative-rock summer showcase, in the liberating sense that it challenges the narrow-mindedness of the nation’s radio formats by offering everything from World Beat and jazz to gospel and border music on adjoining stages.

The weekend line-up wasn’t ideal. There was no stage for country music (especially surprising given the music’s unparalleled popularity), rap or even contemporary R&B.;

Still, for $20 Saturday, you could have pieced together quite a musical package. My six-hour expedition opened with outdoor sets by Juliana Hatfield (a college-rock newcomer who needs more charisma to make her troubled, introspective tales work live) and the Beat Farmers (the country-rock band reunited with Country Dick Montana).

It was then off to the indoor, 250-seat Hahn Theatre for the Joshua Redman Quartet (the acclaimed young musician was as comfortable and confident talking to the crowd as he was tasteful and accomplished playing saxophone).

After that, it was a race to catch acts on rival stages at the same time: veteran blues-jazz singer-pianist Charles Brown, gospel favorites the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the reggae-accented Big Mountain and the crowd-pleasing Re-Birth Brass Band.

By the time Zachary Richard finished, it was 10:30 and the party was winding down. It was time to say goodby to the exotic daydreams of New Orleans and return to reality of the urban Southern California landscape.

What better guide than X?

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Performing on the 91X Rock stage in a stark, industrial area, the trailblazing Los Angeles punk-inspired band filled the cool night air with its anxious, high-speed tales of contemporary values and challenges.

X was as far from Joshua Redman or the Mighty Clouds of Joy as you can imagine, yet there was something exhilarating about the way its super-charged sounds blended in your memory with the other musical genres and artistic ambitions of the evening--a mix that is all too rare in contemporary pop culture. Yes, it was quite a party.

The challenge for the Street Scene organizers is to better reflect the rich sounds of Southern California--which would lead to more Latino, rap and R&B; strains--rather than depend so much the infectious New Orleans styles. That way, the Street Scene may rival the Jazz and Heritage Festival, not just mirror it.