I opened the store (Folk Arts Rare Records) on July 31, 1967
shortly after the first Folk Festival at our first location down at 3753 India
Street on the corner of Washington. The next five years were busy ones at that
location and around the city. My original partners Stan Smith, Carol McComb,
and Gerrie Blake moved on after about a year, leaving me as sole owner. I got
married to Virginia right after the second festival so it wasn't as sole as it
might have been. Stan, Carol. Gerrie, and I started doing concerts at the
Puppet Theater in Balboa Park. Texas bluesman Mance Lipscomb, Memphis bluesman
Bukka White, Peter Feldmann and the Scragg Family, the Blue String Grass Boys,
Kathy and Carol, and others all played there. That first concert-sponsoring
organization called itself the San Diego Folk Music Foundation (fancy name and
some pretty good music too).
Just about
the time I took over ownership of Folk Arts, a couple of old friends of mine
(Bob Cline and Monroe Jeffery) took over ownership of a La Mesa coffee house
called the Bifrost Bridge (formerly known as the Land of Oden) and they in turn
called in another friend of ours, Conrad Von Metzke, to put on a series of
blues concerts. Conrad asked me to help making contacts and co sponsoring. The
first show we did there in 1969 was Lightnin' Hopkins. For an opening act I
went to Ed Douglas who then, along with being an owner of the Blue Guitar, was
also trying to get somewhat into the artist management showbiz in L.A. He told
me about a young singer-guitarist named Mary McCaslin (I think she was just out
of high school) who was making quite a name for herself at the Troubadour scene
in Hollywood. She was about to do a record session for Capitol and was singing
some with Linda Ronstadt. Little did we know that Mary would go on to record
for Barnaby, Philo, Flying Fish, Mercury, Rounder, and a couple of her own
labels (plus become a near regular at the 35 or so festivals I would do, both
as a solo and with long-time partner, the late Jim Ringer). We just knew that
Ed said she'd be a good opener for Lightnin' and she was that. More about Mary
later. The Lightnin' show was a success and we went on to book Oakland Jesse
Fuller, writer of "San Francisco Bay Blues" and one-man band. That was a good
show too, and well attended. Next up was Sonny Terry Brownie McGhee. The show
was a near sell out, but then Sonny got sick and Brownie volunteered to do the
show alone, which he was more than capable of doing. However, more than three quarters
of the folks demanded their money back in spite of Brownie's fine picking. The
show was a flop, and the Bifrost Bridge lost a lot of money and went out of
business. That, I think, was one of those times when I was really disappointed
in a San Diego audience. A little more support and they might have put Bifrost
in a place to continue doing blues in concert. A couple years later when I was
bringing the likes of Juke Boy Bonner, Robert Pete Williams, Sam Chatmon, Model
T Slim, John Jackson, and others to the folk festival, there would have been
another place to play. for those guys. Oh, well.
I continued
to be involved with the local blues scene. Folk Arts co-sponsored Howlin' Wolf
and B.B. King at the Palace on Pacific Highway, T Bone Walker and Sonny and
Brownie (this time both of them) at a place called Funky Quarters, Albert
Collins at another place on University Ave. that I forget the name of, and
Albert King and Freddie King (together) at a place in Pacific Beach that had
once been a movie theater. I forget the name of that place too, but I remember
that for some reason I could never figure out why hardly anyone came). I guess
we blues fans who trekked up to L.A.'s Ash Grove two or three times a month to
see folks like Muddy Waters, Magic Sam, J.B. Hutto and his Hawks, Johnny Shines
(oh, yes, I also co-sponsored Johnny Shines at Escondido's In the Alley
coffeehouse), Son House, Fred MacDowell, Earl Hooker, Freddie King, and others
just couldn't understand why folks wouldn't turn out to a blues show in San
Diego during those years. Those were the years I started to do a blues radio
show to educate people about this great music, first on KPRI (later on KGB,
KDEO, and since 1986 on KSDS (88.3 FM/Jazz88.org on Sundays from 8-10pm). This
fall will celebrate my 40th year in radio in San Diego. Maybe some of you who
have listened and taken to heart my plea to "go see some kind of music that
you've never seen live before. You might find you like it," can come out to
some kind of celebration if we can get something together.
I mentioned
Mary McCaslin awhile back up the page. Mary quickly became after that Lightnin'
Hopkins gig a regular on the San Diego folk scene. Although she was living in
the L.A .suburbs at that time, she played regularly at the Heritage in Mission
Beach and other places and we got to be pretty good friends. She went with
Virginia and me to the Sweets Mill Folk Festival and met up with Jim Ringer;
she played with Jim or solo at nearly every festival I put together for the
next 45 years. In fact, it was probably a fight with the Adams Ave. Business
Association about having Mary at the Adams Ave. Roots Festival (they didn't
like Mary's music) that made me tell those Adams Avenue folks to "go fry their
hat." Mary still writes great songs, plays great guitar (still an expert on
guitar tunings), and is an all around exceptional performer who is still doing
it. I hope she plays another festival that I'm involved with; I'd like to sit
down with her and learn all the good stuff about the folkie scene as Mary sees
it. Someone ought to do a concert with Mary down this way soon. Take a look at
her website. For that matter, hell, take a look at mine (either the Folk Arts
Rare Records website or my Facebook page (Louis F Curtiss) for some 3,500
recordings of stuff I like and care about. Hope you will too.
Recordially,
Lou Curtiss