Story Singer

In the pantheon of famous folk singers, Woody comes first. Then Pete. Then Bob, and then probably Joan. Woody Guthrie is gone now, and Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan won’t be on hand, but folk legend Joan Baez, with a wealth of stories to tell and songs to sing, will perform at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday.

Baez, who made her debut at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, has sung and marched her way through a career of activism, along the way earning eight gold records and a number of humanitarian awards. The famous folkie graciously submitted to a brief grilling before the making of her Conejo Valley debut.

So where did you get that voice?

Let’s see, good protoplasm from my mother and father and some help from the good Lord or whatever you want to call it.

How many Joan Baez albums are there?

Well, I met some German woman backstage and she had done a discography of me with pictures and everything of every album. Including the rip-offs, there were about 360 albums, but only about 50 studio albums. The latest one, “Gone From Danger,” is doing OK.

Any place you haven’t been yet?

Never been to China, never went to India, never been to Thousand Oaks. I’ve been to a lot of places, and I’m cool with that. I have a family of people I travel with that I’m comfortable with. This time, I just have a guitar player and a guy that plays sax, mandolin and everything else. I just felt like getting on a bus again, although this is going to be a short tour.

Do you ever get tired of doing “Blowin’ in the Wind”?

No, because I don’t always play that song. I do it when I feel like doing it. Even though there’ve been some wonderful songs, sometimes I quit doing them for a few years. Some come back and some don’t. If I’m playing in a country in turmoil, I’ll probably play “We Shall Overcome,” but if I’m playing at the Greek Theatre in L.A., I probably won’t do that song. I mean, what do they have to overcome, higher prices at Neiman Marcus?

How do you go about choosing a song to record?

There’s not one specific thing that rings that little bell in me. It used to be a bit more difficult than it is now. I’m listening to a lot of newer music and younger writers who should write me a great song so I can do another album.

What was it like being a famous musician in the ‘60s?

As opposed to what? Being a waitress in the ‘60s? That’s all I ever knew. I was already a little political entity by the time I was 13. I was always out there marching and singing, often on the same day. It’s very different now, but there are lots of interesting things happening now in different parts of the world.

How do you view the folk scene today?

Contemporary folk, a reaction to the nothingness of popular music, still has people telling their stories as opposed to the “Bebop, I love you, baby,” stuff which will probably always be with us. For women, when Tracy Chapman went worldwide, suddenly other women had a platform. Folk music is about storytellers, and storytellers tell real stories about real lives and real events. Woody Guthrie was probably the first--he lived what he sang and sang what he lived.

What’s the most misunderstood thing about you?

That I have no sense of humor. I hid it so well for the first 30 years.

BE THERE

Joan Baez at the Civic Arts Plaza, with Hank Dogs opening, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; Wednesday, 8 p.m. COST: $39 or $29. CALL: (805) 449-2787.

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With a light show that rivals anything Capt. Kirk could conjure up on “Star Trek,” Stingers is the primary venue for Latino rock in Ventura.

After a mere month as a rock ‘n’ roll venue when it opened in 1992, the spacious club fell on hard times, to the point of being closed on Fridays, an unthinkable situation in the bar business.

Enter new owners Max Guerrero and his son, Raul, who have big plans for the place.

The potential is definitely there. Inside, Stingers has a huge dance floor with a mind-bending light show, plus a great sound system. The bar area will be moving soon to the Main Street side of the building to allow more space for hanging out in the band room. Live bands, mostly local, play on the weekends, but Wednesday, of all nights, is the big night. On that night, Stingers becomes Club X-Treme as an array of DJs plays rock en espanol, house and KROQ music.

“We want people to feel comfortable here,” said the elder Guerrero through his son, translating. “We have a dress code--no baggy clothes, none of that stuff. Wednesday nights we get a lot of college kids, but on weekends, we want to bring in the older people--the 25-to-40 crowd. We want to have a place where you’d feel comfortable bringing your wife. Right now, we’re just trying to build up our clientele so we can open more evenings.”

BE THERE

Stingers Night Club, 2815 E. Main St., Ventura. Grupo Nueva Imagen, Grupo Divino and Grupo Nuevo Amanecer play Latin music Friday; Grupo Sisma and Grupo Nuevo Amanecer play Latin music Saturday; rock en espanol Wednesday. COST: $7. CALL: (805) 653-8086.

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Have you always wanted to amaze your friends with your happening harmonica playing, or maybe just annoy your parents? To either end, the Arts Council of the Conejo Valley will offer an eight-week introductory harmonica course taught by virtuoso player Bobby Joe Holman.

Holman will introduce students to the various styles of harmonica music, teach them to alter and blend notes, and perhaps even discover a future Rod Piazza or Harmonica Fats.

Classes begin Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and will last for 90 minutes weekly through March 31 for ages 12 and older. This transition from noise to music will be enacted at the Arts Council Center at 482 Greenmeadow Ave. in Thousand Oaks. The course will cost $75, and students will also need to buy a copy of “Complete Harmonic Method: Book I,” available at the class for $15.

All students need to bring a 10-hole, diatonic harmonica with standard tuning in the key of C. Harmonicas will be on sale at the site for $10, which is way cheaper than a guitar, Mom. A second session begins April 7. For more information, call 381-2747.