Another Ice Age

The Ventura County chapter of the hip-hop nation will descend upon the venerable Ventura Theatre for a pair of weekend shows. According to the venue staff, the Q104 Cupid Concert featuring Voices of Theory and Third Storee will probably sell out by the day of their show, which is Saturday, so act accordingly. Vanilla Ice will headline the Valentine’s Day gig Sunday.

Vanilla Ice, you may recall, was the white rapper who swayed a generation of teenage girls and alienated a generation of music critics while selling 13-million copies of his debut album, “To The Extreme,” in the early ‘90s.

If hip-hop and rap is the top-selling genre of music today, then one can at least partially praise or blame Vanilla Ice. While hip-hop began in black America, Ice was one of the first white guys to make it big in the genre, and thus helped to popularize (or pasteurize) this form of black music to white America.

Universally reviled by critics, Ice (actually Rob Van Winkle) made a bunch of dough and went away, but now he’s back. The current Ice Age isn’t so much about rap anymore but about rock, or to use his terminology, “skate rock.” Ice has a new band and a new album called “Hard to Swallow,” which Ice discussed, among other things, from a tour stop in Nebraska.

So what’s skate rock?

Hard-core, metal, punk rock and hip-hop. A lot of stuff on this album is totally explicit, and there’s probably only two songs that could be played on the radio.

Before, your crowd was screaming teenage girls. Who goes to a Vanilla Ice show these days?

Not the crowd I played to before. A lot of young girls still come out to the shows, but they probably wished I’d made another pop record because this may be a little too hard for them. Now my crowd is the body-piercing and tattoo crowd. A lot of people are buying the new record and showing up to the shows, and it’s good to see so many enjoying the music.

Tell me about the new Ice as opposed to the old Ice?

There’s no new Ice--it’s all still the same. I didn’t change my name like Prince did--I’m not running away from anything. Everyone knows who I am. It’s not about the name but about the music. I went through a lot of changes and the music changed with me. There’s a lot of anger and anxiety on this record on songs like “Scars,” and a lot of it’s not pleasant. It ended up being like therapy for me. Now I feel very spiritual and very comfortable about things.

And before?

My first record made me millions of dollars, and I didn’t spend it, either. I had a boat in my backyard, a $600,000 car--all that stuff--now I’m set for life, which enables me to do what I want. The first time around, I played a puppet role for the record label. I was 19 years old and doing a full-on hip-hop thing--playing for black audiences, opening for Ice-T. The record label told me they wanted me to take it to the pop market, and at first I refused. But at that time, I was just barely surviving--I was three payments behind on my car--and they handed me a check for one-point-five with my name already on it, and I said, “What do you want me to do?” So I did it. Then, it was all about money. I was just like Jerry Maguire, “Show me the money!”

So you had too much money, then what?

From 1991 to 1994, I was heavily into drugs, and the press was always beating me up. The whole thing was very depressing, and I was using drugs to escape from reality, and in 1994 I OD’d and tried to escape permanently. I went to a shrink and took the right meds, got rid of my crowd and started praying to God, and now I feel I’ve been totally blessed. The first time around, it was a rough road that almost killed me. I couldn’t find happiness despite the money.

How has becoming a father changed you?

Oh, for the better. It may be hard to get this off the new record, but I’m happy. My daughter has changed me for the better. She’s something to live for--the love of my life. I don’t focus on those people who don’t appreciate what I’m doing, but I do appreciate my fans and I care about them.

BE THERE

Vanilla Ice and Ultraspank at the Ventura Theatre, 26 Chestnut St., 8 p.m. Sunday. COST: $14. CALL: (805) 653-0721.

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Boogie-woogie is “conducive to dancing,” says Webster in the mother of all understatements--a notion that will be proven again when Rob Rio & the Revolvers incite widespread dancing at the Borchard Community Center in Newbury Park on Saturday night.

Boogie-woogie is more or less rock ‘n’ roll and blues played on a piano; and if more blues sounded like boogie-woogie, there’d probably be more blues fans. Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons helped popularize boogie-woogie in the ‘30s, followed by the likes of Amos Milburn.

These days, when it comes to keepin’ the joint jumpin’, Rio is about as good as it gets. For the technically inclined, Rio recently defined the soundtrack: “Boogie-woogie is a uniquely American form of early blues piano characterized by a steady percolating left hand while the right hand plays syncopated riffs.”

Rio, with about half a dozen albums to his credit, will tenaciously tickle the ivories on lots of songs about cars he can’t afford or women he can never have or be rid of--the usual blues topics. It’s worth the drive just to hear him do Jenny Craig’s potential theme song, “Fat Girl Boogie.”

The percolation and syncopation process will begin at 7:15 p.m. with dance lessons, and the three-hour show will begin at 8 p.m.

BE THERE

Rob Rio & the Revolvers at the Borchard Community Center, 190 Reino Drive, Newbury Park, Saturday, 8 p.m. COST: $10, or $8 for students. CALL: (805) 381-2791.

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And finally, for those who care little for those Simpsons or the ongoing weirdness that weekly engulfs Mulder and Scully, imagine Salsa Sundays at Alexander’s in Ventura. This gig has been happening for six years at the venue, located near the entrance to the Ventura Harbor, but the Valentine’s Day version promises to be something special.

Salsa, the dance--not the stuff you pour all over a burrito--is popular music of Latin American origin that has absorbed characteristics of rhythm and blues, jazz and rock.

Dance instructor Rolando Padilla is so upbeat, he could probably coax a bar stool onto the dance floor.

“Salsa is romantic,” Padilla said. “In salsa, couples dance together in the traditional way. A lot of people tell me that salsa reminds them of swing. People have heard it on TV and seen it in the movies--salsa is strong.”

Generally, Padilla’s lessons begin when Homer Simpson’s troubles begin--at 8 Sunday nights. The lessons last for about an hour with Padilla’s extensive CD collection providing the soundtrack. But this Valentine’s Day session will feature a live band, The Latin Fusion, beginning at 9:30 p.m. with a salsa dance contest also on tap. The cost for the Valentine’s show is $12 per person, with dressy attire recommended.

BE THERE

Salsa Sundays at Alexander’s, 1080 Navigator Drive, Ventura, 8 p.m. COST: $12 this Sunday, $5 other Sundays. CALL: (805) 658-2000.

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‘Boogie-woogie is a uniquely American form of early blues piano characterized by a steady percolating left hand while the right hand plays syncopated riffs.’