Notes from the smoking patio

When L.A.-based Live Nation acquired a majority interest in Street Scene, Southern California president Nick Masters told CityBeat he wanted to retain the event's multicultural identity.

Then they announced the 2007 lineup.

From an unscientific, yet fairly accurate survey, it seems the performers' demographics mirror that of its new host city of Del Mar: 94.14 percent white folk.

"[There's] no diversity in the first confirmed lineup,"wrote "Frances"on CityBeat's blog, lastblogonearth.com. "Why? Del Mar Fairgrounds... where there's white, there's fright."

For a festival with a long tradition of incorporating world music, rock and, in recent years, hip-hop, it seems things have changed. However, the "Great Whitening"of this year's event isn't without precedent. Since 2003, when the genre had its own stage, world music's presence at Street Scene has declined. So far, there are no acts that could be considered world music on this year's lineup.

Hip-hop's presence at the festival peaked with seven acts in both 2003 and 2004, but shrunk to five in 2005 and three in 2006. From that perspective, the number of hip-hop acts at this year's event-with Too $hort, Gym Class Heroes and Mickey Avalon confirmed-is equal to last year (whether you consider Gym Class Heroes "hip-hop"is another story).

In comparison, this year's Lollapalooza has more than a dozen acts that fall in the hip-hop and world music category. Austin City Limits has over 20 world music acts, but virtually no hip-hop whatsoever.

Local club promoter Sergio Almada isn't surprised at the decline of hip-hop at Street Scene.

"It's not even a slap in the face anymore,"he said. "The hip-hop community is constantly being alienated by bigger clubs, venues and promoters for the reason of lack of exposure by bigger sponsorships. It seems that Scion and others like Heineken are on the right track by putting out mix tapes by local DJs and sponsoring shows to promote their products."

"We love the history of Street Scene and the eclecticism of the event-we're still going to be adding about 15 acts,"said Live Nation's Southern California senior publicity manager Greg Terlizzi, who is not directly involved with booking acts. Terlizzi wouldn't comment on whether booking hip-hop or world music acts was a priority.

Sales of hip-hop albums are down 33 percent this year, according to a recent article in USA Today, but Terlizzi said those figures did not affect Live Nation's decisions on the lineup. Masters and others directly involved with booking talent for Street Scene were not available for comment.

For a full list of acts booked for Street Scene, visit lastblogonearth.com or street-scene.com.

-Troy Johnson

Notes from the smoking patio...

The San Diego Music Foundation (which runs the San Diego Music Awards) is launching a year-round series of artist development seminars on June 23 at the Lafayette Hotel in North Park. The discussions are meant to give aspiring local artists some insight into the music business with topics like "Music Industry 101: The Basics,""The Media and Your Music,""Label Deals"and "Building Your Brand."Panelists include Robby Lloyd (Interscope Records), Len Paul (Soma owner), Pete Giberga (Epic Records), Pall Jenkins (Blackheart Procession), Eric Howarth (M-Theory Music), Neils Schroeder (Surfdog Records), Matt Phillips (Silverback Management/ Slightly Stoopid), Ben Moore (Big Fish Studios), Dave Brown (VMix), Troy Johnson (CityBeat), Tim Pyles (FM 94/9), Petey-X (Merch Lackey/Rocket From the Crypt), Tim Mays (Casbah owner), John Pantle (United Talent), A.J. Croce (Seedling Records), Jon Pebsworth (Side One Dummy Records/Buck-O-Nine), Josh Higgins (fluf), Anya Marina (FM 94/9), Mike Halloran (FM 94/9), Phil Manning (91X), Mark Balanky (Amplify SD.com), Dave Uesikken (VMix), Jon Pikus (MySpace), Mike Badami (8 East Productions) and Joe Maggini (BMI). Other seminars will take place monthly throughout 2007. www.sdmusicfound ation.org.

The local jazz scene takes a hit this summer with the temporary closing of downtown nightspot, Dizzy's. The historic 1911 Walter Keller Building which hosts the club is being retrofitted to meet earthquake standards. The owners will take the opportunity to renovate the facility-increasing seating capacity (from 49 to 200) and adding new bathrooms, a larger stage and a green room for artists. No date has been set for reopening, and all scheduled shows have been cancelled. www.dizzyssandiego.com.

The local house party scene has enjoyed a renaissance lately, but you can scratch Golden Hill's infamous Habitat House off your "to do"list until August. Due to increasingly large crowds and complaints from neighbors about noise, public urination, etc., they've cancelled July shows. It's hoped that this move is enough to appease area residents in order for organizers to hold a pop festival on Sept. 1, with Kite Flying Society and Bunky amongst the acts. www.myspace.com/thehabitat.

Reeve Oliver are indie rockers once again. The pop-centric trio has ended association with Capitol Records without ever actually releasing anything on the label. A savvy move in the face of consolidations at the imprint's parent company, EMI. Capitol invested a significant six-figure sum into their new album, Touchtone Inferno, with work done at the label's legendary basement studios, but the band gets to leave with the completed album. Reeve Oliver intend to issue the album themselves later this summer. www.myspace.com/reeveoliver

Del Mar City Councilman and North County Transit District board member David Druker said they are working to set up a temporary Coaster stop in Del Mar for Street Scene. No location is determined yet, and Druker said financing such a stop is a challenge.

Kyle Pulverenti of Mt. Helix Productions is looking to book an all-local acoustic show on Sept. 15 at the Mt. Helix amphitheatre. The concert promoter is trying to resuscitate it as a live-music venue. The event will serve as a "pre-party"to Street Scene. mthelixproductions.com.

CityBeat fave, yet terminally under-the-radar pop band, Wilderness Survival will release its third album on June 26, a 21-song opus called We Were 21 in '03. On the same day, ancillary member Shane Reed will drop the new album by his project, Cosmo Speedway, called Evolution of the Bicycle. MS/wildernesssurvival, MS/cosmospeedway.

-Bart Mendoza

Got tips? E-mail our music editor at troy@sdcitybeat.com.