The B-Side Gives Off an Eclectic Jolt

Anyone who has checked out this column in the past 14 months has, I hope, found a place or two to let loose. Still, some continue to mumble there’s nothing going on (even yours truly is guilty of this some weeks).

At issue here is not so much that there’s nowhere to go but that there’s nothing exciting and innovative happening. The ‘70s thang has lost its chic novelty and deserves to die again. Country doesn’t do everyone right. Relatively few clubbers can take techno for an entire evening. Apparently no deej is doing anything worthwhile with house. And acid jazz is still a genre no club here dares to experiment with--at least not for a whole set, let alone an entire night.

So Santa Ana resident Tony Vick decided to perk our bored ears and share his extensive music collection--which reaches into the thousands of albums--with whoever wanders into his favorite watering hole, the Lord Nelson in Laguna Beach.

Vick will spring Brazilian, acid jazz, Arabic disco, hippie pop, glam, punk and more on the English pub’s patrons, who include just about anyone 21 and over from the neighborhood and beyond, including Vick and many of the other “locals” there.

The Thursday-night-only spin fest is appropriately dubbed the B-Side. Vick experiments with an eclectic batch of tracks that some will discover for the first time, as well as tunes that have been long lost and those that, some would say, should remain lost.

This is Vick’s first try as a club DJ, but no matter. The 34-year-old’s caring knowledge of music--commercial and unconventional, as well as his job at a compact disc import distributor--more than compensates for any absence of a resume as a DJ.

Less than a month old, B-Side is still developing a following, but it shows potential, which could be maximized if the word gets out to those seeking an atypical night.

Ironically, the setting for these crazy tunes is a very typical British pub that serves typical English grub and suds (yes, there are even real live English folk from England working and imbibing here).

The tap includes Guinness, Bass, Newcastle Brown Ale, Carlsberg, Fosters, Pilsner Urquell, Watneys, McEwans Export and Black Thorn Cider for $3 to $3.75. Domestics such as Miller and Coors are also available on tap for $2.75. Bottled Bud, Bud Lite and Corona are $2.

Well drinks are $2.75, wine $3.25 a glass and sodas $2. During the weekday happy hour, from 4 to 7 p.m., all well drinks, domestic drafts and glasses of house wine go for $1.75; appetizers are half price.

You can snack on appetizers such as sausage rolls or Scotch eggs (both $4.25), or you can scan the whole list, which ranges from from $2.25 for fries to $12.95 for three pounds of the pub’s special hot wings.

The club is open to all ages until 10 p.m., when it turns into a 21-and-over bar after the kitchen closes.

Dishes such as Ploughman’s Platter (meats, cheeses, bread), Brit Surf and Turf (fish and chips and a banger) or Cajun chicken salad with lemon-lime dressing, are served for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; prices range from $3.75 to $6.95.

From 5 to 10 p.m., dinner includes bangers and mash, fish and chips and steak and mushroom pie ($3.75 to $10.95). You can also fill up on this heavy English fare for Sunday brunch, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for $5.95 to $7.95.

Besides Thursday’s B-Side, the Lord Nelson features live local bands Friday and Saturday nights for cheap. The cover is rarely more than $3. On Monday nights during the football season, American fans drop in.

As for those of you who like a place with a little history, the pub, which is part of a Canadian franchise and the only one south of that border, opened in the summer of ’92. Its namesake, however, is deeply rooted in and lives on in British history. He is not, however, a pirate, as a few have assumed.

In a nutshell, Lord Nelson, a.k.a. Adm. Horatio Nelson, led his naval troops to victory at Trafalgar, Spain, in 1805, saving his motherland from the clutches of Napoleon Bonaparte and catapulting England to naval supremacy for the next century.

If you want more, hit up the night bartenders. They’re always ready to tell a good story . If you want facts, however, visit the library.

* THE LORD NELSON

* 1464 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach.

* (714) 494-5707.

* Open daily at 11:30 a.m. Closing time varies Sunday through Thursday, depending on customers. On Friday and Saturday, doors are open until 2 a.m.

* Cover: Only $1 on Thursday nights; rarely more than $3 on Friday and Saturday. None the rest of the week.