One Performer, Many Hats

It was one of those affairs that screams “Los Angeles”: the industry showcase.

Here in the vortex where the forces of art and commerce collide, the industry showcase comes in all shapes and sizes, with budgets ranging from shoestring to Gulf War levels.

For budding singers/musicians/actors/comedians with limited resources, the industry showcase is a daunting experience, since participants are not only expected to perform as artists, but function as entrepreneurs.

This means they rent the room, get on the phone, invite industry people, media types and all their friends to come and generally work their butts off even before they step on stage. All in the hope of causing a stir, arousing someone’s interest, getting a deal, getting an agent, raising some money, whatever.

Del Harley, a talented country-flavored singer who has performed many times over the last couple of years, did a showcase at the Blue Saloon on Wednesday. Harley sings with a raspy passion that’s loaded with crossover potential, but whether she eventually makes it in the biz is still up in the air.

Harley was born in Northern California but spent her childhood in a variety of places throughout the United States--including Iowa, Colorado and Illinois. She wasn’t an Army brat, Harley said, she just had a confused mother. Confused or not, even Mom was at the Blue Saloon showcase, and Harley had her come up to introduce the band--a nice, homey touch.

But Harley was the official songwriter, singer, greeter, hostess, hand-shaker and smiler. She had to pay the sound guy, pay the person at the door, and trade favors with her band members.

The band, with guitarists Howard Yearwood and Robert Tepper, bassist Maria Werth, drummer Brad Swanson and singer Tracy Barns, rehearsed for the first time at the sound check, less than an hour before their performance.

But when push came to shove, the band sounded good, and so did Harley.

“I’m exhausted,” she said. Harley said she wanted to do the showcase because she’s making a trip to Nashville to record some tracks and meet with industry types there.

And so it goes.

*

Ain’t Nothin’ but the Blues: Blues man James Harman comes to the Santa Clarita Brewing Company on Saturday.

The veteran singer-harmonica player has just returned from Europe, where he was singing the blues in places like Switzerland and Sicily. Harman, who lives in Orange County, came rambling out of his native Alabama when he was still a youngster. He cut his first record in 1962 when he was 16 and he’s been gigging ever since--to the tune of about 250 dates a year. He currently records for Black Top Records.

* The James Harman Band plays Saturday night at the Santa Clarita Brewing Company, 20655 Soledad Canyon Road. $10 cover. (805) 298-5676.

*

Other Clubs: Owner Dennis Mancini tells me that tribute bands are doing great business at his club in Canoga Park. This includes Ratt-N-Roll, a tribute to Ratt; Line of Fire, a tribute to Journey; Caress of Steel, a tribute to Rush; Operation Queensryche, a tribute to Queensryche; and Bad Medicine, a tribute to Bon Jovi.

This weekend, you can catch the Atomic Punks, a tribute to early Van Halen; Blizzard of Ozz, a tribute to Ozzy Osborne; and Led Zepagain, a tribute to Led Zeppelin.

And another tribute band of sorts, Disco Inferno, is coming to Borage, a newly opened supper club in Calabasas.

And it’s only fitting since the club, in its former manifestation as Pelican’s Retreat, is where the Boogie Knights phenomenon started a few years back. Pelican’s Retreat closed about 16 months ago, even though it was still drawing large crowds. The Boogie Knights started out as a band and has now become a cottage industry, with about 10 different bands performing under the Boogie Knights banner. One of them is Disco Inferno. They’ll be playing Thursdays at Borage indefinitely.

Disco--the music people are ashamed to say they enjoy--lives on.

* Borage, 24454 Calabasas Road, Calabasas. $5 cover. (818) 225-8090.

* Mancini’s, 20923 Roscoe Blvd., Canoga Park, Cover varies. (818) 341-8503.