TURNING BLUE : It Took a While, but Even Orange County Was Bound to Get the Blues Someday

“The blues was born when God told Adam and Eve they had to leave. God had the blues then, and we’ve had the blues ever since trying to get back in. That’s why everybody gets the blues.”

--JOHN LEE HOOKER

For about a century, blues music has been the voice of black urban America--thick with pain, hope and emotional release.

But as much as it strikes a common chord, it was less than 40 years ago that Elvis Presley and other white musicians were criticized for performing “black music.”

Only over the last decade has the blues fully arrived in the country in which it was born. Blues festivals have become wildly popular, and clubs that feature blues have been springing up like notes from B.B. King’s guitar. The blues has even won the ultimate sign of widespread acceptance--inclusion in television commercials for wine coolers and beer.

But in Orange County, with its reputation as a homogenized haven for the white upper-middle class, the blues hasn’t had much of an impact--until very recently.

Over the past two years, owners of bars, restaurants and coffeehouses in the county have discovered that blues musicians work dirt cheap, and the music draws customers. Once, less than a handful of Orange County venues featured blues acts. Now, at least 20 regularly schedule them (see accompanying list, this page). Local blues acts aren’t getting rich, but they also don’t have as much trouble finding gigs.

“There’s a real hunger for blues music out there. I think it’s been sort of a myth that Orange County isn’t into the blues,” said Dan Jacobson, a blues promoter who also publishes Southland Blues, a monthly newsletter based in Long Beach. “We have subscribers in every city in Orange County, and there are more clubs than ever trying the blues.”

Many club owners hold occasional “blues nights” to pump up business on the slow days. The policy has paid off for several.

You wind up seeing the blues in the strangest places--like the Renaissance Cafe, a chain of trendy coffeehouses. Or Champions, a sports pub in Santa Ana. Even Taka-o, a sushi bar in San Clemente. And, for the well-heeled, there’s Cafe Lido in Newport Beach.

One of the best of the new Orange County blues spots is the Heritage Brewing Co. in Dana Point, a self-proclaimed “brews and blues” bar.

Sales have increased since owner John Stoner began regularly scheduling blues and other alternative music about two years ago. The pub features blues on Tuesday and Saturday. Stoner said that in September, he will feature it on Thursday as well.

“Blues just fits our atmosphere so well,” he said. “I think it’s perfect here because blues is meant to be seen up close. It’s not a stadium kind of thing.”

Saturday nights is when the place really smokes. Those evenings are reserved for what Stoner likes to call “undervalued” blues performers--talented local acts such as the Paladins, James Harman and Luke and Locomotives who have small-label recording contracts, tour nationally, if not internationally, and are inches away from widespread popularity.

Admission is $5, and the crowd on a recent Saturday was elbow to elbow by 8 p.m. to see a performance by the Paladins. The music is loud and raucous--pretty typical for the Paladins, who play full-bore, take-no-prisoners rock ‘n’ blues. The Heritage lacks the grime and grit of a good Chicago blues club, but as the band plays to 2 a.m. and the crowd still howls for more, it gets tough to see the difference.

There is a difference, though.

To be a blues musician in Orange County, you must love the blues more than you do most worldly possessions.

Nobody has ever gotten rich playing the blues here, which the musicians fully realize. Some Orange County bluesmen are encouraged by the upswing in gig opportunities. But others are bone-tired of trying to survive, and they either quit or move on down the road to other parts of the country, such as Chicago or Texas, where blues music seems to thrive.

Robert Lucas is 30 and one of the few Orange County bluesmen who, along with his group, Luke and Locomotives, has a chance to break into the national blues scene. He returned last week from a nationwide tour that won rave reviews and put about 8,000 miles on his van.

But the coffeehouse and sushi bar circuit of the Southland has worn Lucas down more than the dust from the road. He’s tired of waiting for Orange County to develop a vital blues scene and doubts that it ever will.

“I was born and raised here, and this has never been an area that has supported the blues,” he said. “Since I can remember, I never wanted to do anything but play Delta blues because it’s so raw and honest. The blues is real music, and (Southern California) is a plastic society. For a lot of people, blues is just a trendy thing.

“I don’t think you could ever earn a decent living in Orange County” playing the blues, Lucas added. “That’s why guys like (well-known Huntington Beach blues harpist) James Harman are on the road all the time.”

Lucas has been a fixture on the club scene for about 10 years, as both a solo artist and with the Locomotives. His gravelly voice and feel for down-home Delta blues have won him a number of fans, including blues great Willie Dixon.

However, Lucas is almost bitter about the status of blues in the Southland and plans to move soon, probably to Texas or Louisiana.

“I’ll never quit playing the blues,” he said. “This is something you can play for the rest of your life. I just want to play in a place where you don’t have to spit fire or wear a Mohawk to get any attention.”

Veteran bluesman James Harman thinks that trend-lovers have hurt rock ‘n’ roll far more than the blues.

Harman is on tour in Europe and couldn’t be reached by phone, but in a letter to The Times he wrote: “If there are more bars hiring blues it’s because rock went to hell! There are no Bob Segers today. It’s either aerobics with chanting or pissed off kids with black hair. Rock’s in a sad place.

“I see hundreds of new blues guys . . . (they) just got a haircut and bought a new ‘50s-style shirt. They open for me everywhere I go. It’s not that the blues is in a better place, it’s just that everything was phony and (rock has) run out of steam.”

Harman is part of a cadre of Orange County bluesmen that have chosen to stick it out in the Southland for the better part of 30 years. Will Brady has also shown that kind of staying power.

In the late ‘60s, Brady’s parents sent him off to college to be an engineer. That idea lasted about as long as it took him to change the strings on his guitar.

His rock pedigree is long and includes a stint with the veteran Laguna Beach rock band Honk. Ten years ago, Brady began playing blues exclusively and through the good times and (mostly financial) bad times, Brady has stuck with it.

“I don’t have two nickels to rub together,” said the 47-year-old Laguna Beach resident. “But when I took up the blues, it wasn’t as a career opportunity. Anybody who wants to be a musician better get used to being short-changed.

“But I love the blues so much, it sustains me. This has been my choice in life. Spiritually, blues music speaks to me.”

Brady plays solo in coffeehouses, or in slightly larger places with his musical partner, Jan Seigel. He averages 15 gigs per month and usually makes $50 to $75 per evening, or sometimes as much as $100. Teaching guitar helps make ends meet.

“I’ve been able to work and make what some loosely describe as a living,” Brady said. “It’s good enough for me.”

There are 2.4 million people in Orange County. About 39,000 of them are black. If for no other reason than this lack of numbers, the black blues musicians here are few.

And, similarly to what has happened throughout the country, the recent blues upswing in Orange County has been fueled by whites.

Nationally, the blues became popular with Caucasians at the end of ‘60s, when many fans were drawn by the attention and support given to the music by several rock ‘n’ roll megastars. Mainstream musicians such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones not only covered old blues tunes but also jammed with blues giants such as Freddie King and Buddy Guy and praised their blues influences.

“I think Anglos have always appreciated the blues; that’s nothing new,” said Alex Hodges, the head booking agent for the Nederlander Co., the firm that owns the Pacific Amphitheatre and the Greek Theater. Hodges, the former personal manager for Stevie Ray Vaughan, has impeccable blues credentials.

Despite the blues’ roots in the daily lives of the black community, Hodges said the music speaks to everybody.

“It’s a form of music that is true American expression, and it works for all people,” he said. “There’s a lot of healing and fun in the blues. It’s happening now because there are a lot of people taking the blues into the ‘90s. From B.B. King to Buddy Guy to Vaughan and the Blues Travelers, the baton is being passed forward.”

Bruce Iglauer, owner of one of the most prominent blues record companies, Alligator Records in Chicago, said his sales have risen from $2.5 million to $4 million annually in two years.

“It’s been an incredible explosion,” he said. “The potential has always been there; now the fulfillment is coming. It’s something that’s happened on a real grass-roots, word-of-mouth level with very little help from the media. People have been educated in the streets, not in print.”

In the early 1980s, blues festivals began cropping up around the nation. In neighboring Long Beach, a handful of blues lovers led by local musician Bernie Pearl set up a flatbed truck in 1980 and drew about 500 fans to see the likes of Big Joe Turner and Lowell Fulson. A few years later, the Long Beach Blues Festival became a weekend event that now brings in about 17,000 blues fans over the two days. This year, the event, sponsored by KLON-FM, will be Sept. 19 and 20.

Sacramento, San Francisco and Ojai have their own annual blues festivals (all in September), and for the first time this October, Las Vegas will hold a major blues event. Even Orange County has developed its own celebration of the blues. Now in its third year, the annual Pacific Amphitheatre show will feature the talents of Santana, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Dr. John and the Fabulous Thunderbirds this Sunday (see related story, Page 13). Festivals have starred Vaughan, John Lee Hooker and Joe Cocker.

Why Orange County has lagged in catching blues fever is probably related to the lack of opportunities at local venues, said Hodges.

“The reason why things have probably been slow here is that there isn’t a lot of mid-level clubs like the Coach House (in San Juan Capistrano) to support a talented blues act,” Hodges said.

Jacobson agreed, saying, “There’s now a lot of clubs in Orange County that play the blues at least occasionally. But they’re a place for a band to start and they don’t pay a lot. There’s only the top-echelon club (the Coach House) that can take in a top act and pay them what they’re worth.”

But even if only on a grass-roots level, the blues are alive in Orange County, Brady said.

“These club owners wouldn’t put the blues in if they didn’t sell more drinks,” he said. “And people come because blues has a vigor and energy and truth that cannot be denied.”

2 Groups Cater to Blues Lovers

There are two blues clubs in Southern California.

The Southern California Blues Society is a nonprofit group that helped launch many popular blues acts such as Robert Cray, Cleanhead Vinson and Big Joe Turner.

The club began in 1982 and has been active in promoting shows and programs such as a blues scholarship for musicians and a blues-in-school program in Los Angeles.

Membership is $25 and includes a T-shirt, bimonthly newsletter and entitles the member to discounts at area blues shows. For information, call (714) 821-6870.

Southland Blues is a publication owned by Long Beach-based blues promoter Dan Jacobson. The monthly magazine, in business for two years, is part of a membership package called Blues Plus that includes a discount card for area shows and major festivals such as the one in Long Beach, which this year will be held Sept. 19 and 20.

Although the two groups are in the same market, Jacobson said there is room for both.

“Hopefully, people will join the both of us,” he said. “I’m a member of the blues society. We’re both trying to promote and support the blues.”

For information about Southland Blues, call (310) 498-6942.