All that is night

Mad world

In keeping with a the-more-the-merrier philosophy, the eight-piece gypsy-rock outfit Mad Juana—fronted by ex-Hanoi Rocks/current New York Dolls guitarist Sami Yaffi and his wife Karmen Guy (vocals, melodica)—made their local splash at The Casbah on April 2.

The core duo are newly relocated Ocean Beach residents who do an eclectic mix of Euro-traditional jazz, Dixieland horns and Velvet Underground-meets-X onstage cool.

With the help of bass player Steve Rodriguez (ex-Dragons, ex-MEX), the crowded lineup deftly ran through about an hour’s worth of loud, cacophonous, post-modern gypsy-jazz and alt-rock jumbles to close out a diverse evening that also included MEX (the Mario Escovedo Experience) as an opening act. It might not be the first, but it was certainly one of the few times you’ll ever see accordions in consecutive acts on stage at The Casbah.

Despite a congested stage for Mad Juana—which also includes saxophonist Danny Ray, trumpeter Nico Camargo, percussionist Paul Garisto, violinist Fernando Apodaca and Marni Rice on accordion and vocals—the band made the complicated arrangements and high-density melodies sound engagingly easy.

Yaffi’s usual slash-and-burn guitar gave way to muted, Bo Diddley-esque chords and highly tuned ornamentation while Guy, a dark-haired beauty with strong pipes and commanding stage presence, never really had to strain to project over the danceable din. All of which bodes well for Mad Juana’s new full-length, Bruja on the Corner.

The album was originally slated to be released last week on the Azra imprint, but—after some disagreements between the band and the label—it will now be released on Acetate Records in early July.
—Will K. Shilling

Out of exile on Fourth Street

It wasn’t long ago that anonymous cynics (OK, fine, it was me) were all but writing off 4th & B as a live-music venue in San Diego.

Part of it had to do with my frustration over the fact that I can’t, for the life of me, write an ampersand (it’s the “&,” nimrod) without a computer. But most of it had to do with the fact that the Downtown club went from consistently booking musical acts to sporadically hosting shows to barely bothering to unlock its doors.

A primary reason for the venue’s depleted music lineup had to do with a booking contract with House of Blues that led to a noticeable decline in the quality and frequency of concerts at 4th & B. Rumors swirled that House of Blues was merely taking over the reins in order to squelch a competitor. Some events were moved to HOB before shows stopped altogether last fall after 4th & B’s entertainment license expired.

Subsequently, the club ended its contract with HOB and has spent the last few months working to resuscitate its image as a consistent and independent venue. But 4th & B general manager Harlteen Stamps Jr. says it’s taken some time to convince promoters and customers that the club is still viable.

“A lot of people were kind of turned off when House of Blues came in here,” Stamps says. “It made it harder for independent promoters to do shows. Now that people know we’re independent again, we’re getting a ton of calls.”
It wasn’t until recently that those calls began to manifest into actual shows. Currently, 4th & B has an expanding slate of bookings that includes Morcheeba (April 12), Cat Power (April 19), Spiritualized (April 25) and a slew of hip-hop acts like M.I.A. (April 28), E-40 (May 3) and Flo Rida (May 16). In addition, the club will host a variety of other acts ranging from comedians and DJs to cage-fighting matches and Vegas-style cabaret.

“We’re not trying to cater to just one crowd,” Stamps says.

For now, the club is operating primarily as a rental space for promoters—ranging from local independents to powerhouses like AEG and, yes, even House of Blues—but Stamps says 4th & B will gradually get back to booking and promoting more of its own shows.

“I think a lot of people assumed that we were basically closed down,” Stamps says. “But we’re not. We’re back—back from the dead.”
—Nathan Dinsdale

‘Something groovy’ this way comes

After closing at the end of February, Club Montage is set to reopen with a show by San Francisco DJ Mark Farina Friday, April 11. The details behind the temporary closure are complicated, but we think we finally got it all cleared up.

A San Diego Police Department spokesperson told CityBeat last month that there was no record of incidents at Montage within the last 60 days, but Vice Unit Lt. Kevin Ammon later said in an e-mail that the club had received a five-day suspension for “numerous violations in the last year.”

CityBeat also reported that the club’s liquor license had expired. Montage owner Chris Braga says the expired license had been a misunderstanding with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC). The new license is in good standing and doesn’t expire until 2009, ABC confirms.

Braga noted that the club’s hip-hop night was partially responsible for the closure. “Vice flat out didn’t want a black night in this neighborhood,” he said. “We fought a good fight, and we eventually won, and that’s it, but we did have to get rid of that night.” Ammon confirmed that Montage’s hip-hop night was the issue. He said the music attracted problem-causing gang members.

For the reopening of Montage, Braga has teamed up with Los Angeles-based promotional powerhouse Giant. He says San Diegans can expect some new things—there was mention of a rooftop pool and a redesign—and he said he’d like to open up the impending venue-name change to his customers.

“We’re going to have a sweepstakes for the name,” said Braga. “I hope someone can come up with something groovy.”
—Kinsee Morlan

The Kinsee Report

Maya Lin is a freakin’ genius. The artist and architect’s Systematic Landscapes installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s Downtown location is both beautiful and smart. The 50,000 boards balancing on end that make up her “2x4 Landscape” piece are quite the engineering feat; the end result—a giant rolling hill that, from a distance, looks as smooth as a baby’s butt—is simply fun to look at and wander around.

And so is the rest of the exhibition, which makes you feel like you’re walking through a gigantic 3D map. At the museum’s TNT event last Thursday, one poor security guard was left trying to keep the capacity-level masses from wandering too close to the crack in the middle of the museum’s cement floor, which Lin had enlarged and inlayed with silver leaf to mimic the look of a meandering river. The guard was approximately .01-percent successful.

But where did the art-stomping folks go after TNT? They certainly didn’t go to the official TNT After Party at J6Bar and Hotel Solamar. Aside from the usual scenester suspects, only a few managed to trickle over to enjoy the electro sounds of Dubbadeez, the art of local painter Sean Brannan and take in the rooftop views.

Thursday night rolled into Friday and with it the much-anticipated opening of the new-and-improved Caliente Race Track (Blvd. Agua Caliente #12022) in Tijuana. What was once a rundown place to bet on greyhound races is now a fancy-schmancy “gaming center” with hundreds of class-II gaming machines—which aren’t quite slot machines because slot machines are illegal in Mexico—plus multiple new bars and stages for live entertainment. The races are still the main attraction, but now you can watch Disco Dave and the rest of the greyhounds race around the track in style.

Saturday night was a surprise. The current show at R3 Gallery (2421 India St.) flew under the CityBeat radar due to e-mail problems, but, luckily, the artist had a birthday to celebrate and was able to open the gallery for a last-minute closing show. Marliis Newsome’s Flat Field: Photos from Home exhibition is stunning. As well as being a history lesson on Estonia and the end of Soviet rule (which left the tiny country worse off), Newsome’s photographs take viewers to a mystical and surreal land where freedom is as exciting yet uncomfortable as being nude in the snow.
—Kinsee Morlan