Beach Blast

The Bombay Bar & Grill in Ventura will be party central for the west county this weekend with its annual three-day beach party.

This year’s event has probably the best music lineup in years. Suzanne Paris, who can sing better than everybody, will kick things off at 5 p.m. today, with the Ska Daddyz finishing--a typical night at the Bombay.

Saturday, things will get rolling with eight bands, many of which haven’t been heard from in a while. Few can remember the last time Finnhead played its waterlogged brand of reggae rock. In addition, the greatest ska band in all of Carpinteria, the Upbeat, will play Saturday, as will local faves Chris Jay & the Army of Freshmen.

On Sunday, listen to Spencer the Gardener, for years the preeminent local dance band. STG and the Wedding Band will combine, since they have interchangeable members, for their first local gig in more than eight months.

All this excitement couldn’t be more timely than for the Upbeat.

The veteran eight-man outfit has just released a new album, “Backyard Knowledge.” Its 15 songs include two redone from the 1994 album.

“It probably has a little bit harder edge,” said bassist Brandon Seider. “It’s a step up in musicianship for us. We’re down to eight players right now--have been for a while. We’ll probably keep it at eight unless we can find a really ripping trombone player. But we’ve been together for 14 years, and six out of eight guys are original members. Pretty good, huh?”

Things can be pretty good at the Bombay as well, a site with several simultaneous scenes in one big building. There’s a stage and a band playing just inside the front door, and a really long bar with tables and chairs. A model train circles the wooden rafters above the mild uproar. Pictures of the good ol’ days before development cover the walls. Plenty of TVs with the sound turned off show what passes these days for Dodger baseball.

The front bar on weekends is populated by mostly older people dancing to familiar songs.

In the back bar, the Oasis Room, it’s a younger crowd dancing to wilder music, often the Ska Daddyz. Then there’s a newly constructed outdoor patio where folks can chat and actually hear one another. Dominka Pilic runs the place along with sisters Cynthia and Mary.

“We have a great location,” Pilic said. “You can drive by and see the band through the front windows and see whether or not the place is packed. We have good entertainment, a welcoming staff that’ll probably remember you when you come back, plus we have great food.”

On the walls in the hallway leading to the bathroom are numerous photo collages of past Bombay beach parties. There’s even a Met & Married Club, complete with photos of the Happy Couple and the date of their first meeting, then their marriage. Some have the date of their divorce. Pilic and her sisters appear in just about every beach party photo.

“Some people have met here and gotten married and then stopped coming,” Pilic said. “But when they get single again, they come back. It’s a place for everyone. Our clientele goes from 21-year-olds to people 60 years old. . . . Everyone from surfers to business people comes here.”

The Bombay beach party is probably about the same price as the city’s version, but with far less walking and about a thousand fewer cops. Some lucky person will win a surfboard in a drawing, and--cowabunga!--there are always plenty of Bombay T-shirts, not to mention all those bands.

“That’s why the beach party is a good thing,” Pilic said. “People may come to see Custom Made, but they may end up seeing the Upbeat, too.”

Beach party aside, the Bombay is one of the few venues in the county that still offers live, original music every weekend, even though half the time it seems to be those Ska Daddyz.

“We try to present live--and especially local--music,” Pilic said. “It’s hard to bring in new bands, and people are always asking us for new bands. But for the bands, it’s hard to get a following. People will say ‘Oh, it’s the Ska Daddyz again,’ or ‘They’re not the Ska Daddyz.’ It’s sort of a Catch-22 for us, but we love that band.”

DETAILS

Bombay Bar & Grill’s 15th annual beach party, 143 California St., Ventura, tonight through Sunday. Today: Suzanne Paris & David Holster (5 p.m.), Custom Made (9:30 p.m.) and Ska Daddyz (9:30 p.m.); Saturday: Smoothie Jones & the Mighty Angels (2 p.m.), Cynthia Manley (2 p.m.), Dr. M (5 p.m.), Sound Effect (6 p.m.), Chris Jay & the Army of Freshmen (8 p.m.), Custom Made (9:30 p.m.), Finnhead (9:30 p.m.) and the Upbeat (11 p.m.). Sunday: The Bomb (2 p.m.), Spencer the Gardener and The Wedding Band (5 p.m.), Custom Made (6 p.m.) and P.Y.N. (9:30 p.m.). Cover varies, $3 to $8; 643-4404.

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The seventh annual summer concert series at Heritage Square in Oxnard will kick off tonight with Harry Selvin and his Orchestra doing that swing thing. Plaza seating is a reasonable two bucks, and hanging out on the lawn is free. It’s all on a first-come, first-served basis for the 6 p.m. performance. Refreshments will be available.

The 10-week concert series will run through Aug. 20, once again offering a wide variety of music during each of the two-hour shows. Worthy of note are the Pontiax, those jump blues and West Coast blues specialists fronted by the energetic Mitch Kashmar, playing July 2.

The local connection is alive and well, with blues from Oxnard locals Steve White & the Barstool Pigeons on July 9, and Cajun dance music from Acadiana on Aug. 6. The party-ender will be Latin jazz from the most famous band in all of Oxnard, the Estrada Brothers, playing Aug. 20.

Here’s the complete Heritage Square lineup: Harry Selvin and his Orchestra (tonight), Psychedelic Summer (June 25), the Pontiax (July 2), Steve White & the Barstool Pigeons (July 9), Societe (July 16), Sweet Country (July 23), Conjunto Hueyapan (July 30), Acadiana (Aug. 6), the Barflys (Aug. 13) and the Estrada Brothers (Aug. 20).

DETAILS

Harry Selvin and his Orchestra play swing music tonight at Heritage Square, 7th and A St., Oxnard, 6 p.m.; $2; 483-7960.

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A benefit concert will be held Saturday night at the Ventura Theatre in honor of Doug Clark, bass player for Black Opal, who was killed in a car accident June 2 just days before his graduation from Santa Clara High. Six bands will perform beginning with Satin about 7 p.m. and ending whenever with Blotter. There will be raffles and a silent auction featuring all sorts of donations, including items from James Hetfield of Metallica, the band that inspired Black Opal. The cost is $8.

Three days later, one of the original punk bands in the area, Oxnard’s Dr. Know, will make a rare appearance at the venerable Ventura Theatre. Dr. Know is fronted by Brandon Cruz, the older of the Cruz brothers. Darren is in the Ska Daddyz and Blake is in No Regrets.

Brandon used to be this cute little TV kid who hung out with Bill Bixby in those silly ‘60s. As he grew up and away from his role in “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” Cruz’s watch seemed to stop around 1980. He’s been a punk rocker ever since.

Dr. Know started in 1980, and Cruz joined for two years in 1981. In the early ‘90s, he had another band, Harmful If Swallowed, but now Dr. Know is back, alive and kicking--and screaming. Cruz explained what happened in an interview a few years ago.

“Music helped me get away from being Eddie to being myself, being Brandon. Eventually, people would find out that I used to be Eddie, but it was no big deal because I was in Dr. Know. Also, I’ve had the same friends all my life in Oxnard. I had a real life as a kid, so I wasn’t just Eddie from TV. The angry youth phase has passed me; now I’m an angry, confused adult.”

DETAILS

Satin, Missing 23rd, Encoma, 7 Day War, Whereabouts and Blotter at the Ventura Theatre, 7 p.m. Saturday; $8, 653-0721.

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MORE DETAILS

Dr. Know, D.R.I., Outahand, Tongue and Viagro at the Ventura Theatre, 8 p.m. Tuesday; $15, 653-0721.