Costumes, Music to Blend During Halloween Revelry

Tonight being Halloween, you can get an eyeful of good costumes in practically every bar, disco, and Top 40 club in town. But, if you want to get an earful of good music, too, here’s where to go:

* The fourth annual Pink Panther Halloween Ball at the Bahia Resort Hotel on Mission Bay, produced by the owners of the trendier-than-thou Pink Panther watering hole in Bay Park, will once again feature a trio of top-notch original-music bands, including Los Angeles glam-rockers Celebrity Skin and local rhythm-and-blues group the Bedbreakers.

The real treat promises to be the third act, Merry Go Down, a hot new San Diego band led by a pair of accomplished musicians. Singer-songwriter Marcelo Radulovich is a former member of Playground Slap, one of the more respected local ‘new music’ groups of the 1980s. Drummer Steve Espinoza graduated with a performance degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

And together with keyboardist Dan Pritchard, bassist Pete Johnson, and guitarist-keyboardist Frank Gaeta, they’ve come up with a beat-happy hybrid of urban funk and sophisticated techno-pop--something along the lines of Tone Loc meets INXS.

Tickets are $11 in advance, $14 at the door. Proceeds will go to the California Center on Victimology, a local organization that assists victims of violent crimes.

* The Killer Halloween Party at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa will showcase two of San Diego’s finest hard-rock groups: The Woof, winners of this year’s annual “Rock Wars” battle-of-the- bands contest, and Big Talk.

Tickets are $2 if you come in costume, $5 if you don’t.

* The Cardiff Reefers, a bunch of white surfer dudes playing authentic Jamaican reggae, will headline tonight’s Halloween Party at Winston’s Beach Club in Ocean Beach. Tickets are $6 in advance, $7 at the door.

* And at the umpteenth annual Halloween bash at the Spirit in Bay Park--the granddaddy of San Diego’s original-music nightclubs--four talented local ‘alternative’ bands will share the spotlight: Caustic Truth, Den of Thieves, Shark Avenue and Mae Dae. The cover charge is $3.50.

Vladimir Kuzmin and Dinamik, the Soviet rock band that made its San Diego debut last fall during the San Diego Arts Festival seems to have made San Diego its second home.

Kuzmin, the 34-year-old singer, guitarist, and songwriter, married La Jolla model Kelly Korzan last February in Moscow. The two now share homes in the Soviet capital and San Diego.

The rest of the band members flew into San Diego last September for Michelob Street Scene ’90 and haven’t left since. Along with Kuzmin, they’re holed up in a Carlsbad recording studio, cutting demos for their Soviet record company, Melodiya Records.

Most nights, they’re out on the town, “aggressively trying to familiarize themselves with American rock ‘n’ roll,” said Scott Pedersen, the group’s American representative.

Thursday night, Vladimir Kuzmin and Dinamik will be appearing in concert at San Diego State University’s Backdoor. It’s their final U.S. performance before they return to Moscow for another extensive tour of their homeland.

LINER NOTES: Musicians Who Care, the San Diego association of socially conscious musicians, is throwing a record release party next Tuesday night at the Bacchanal for “The Care,” its long-awaited compilation album of topical originals by local pop acts. You’ll be able to meet the bands, hear the album, and show your support for the local music scene by buying a copy or three. Tickets are $5, and proceeds will go to help cover production costs. . . .

Talk about finicky performers: The rider for Robert Fripp and the League of Crafty Guitarists’ show last Friday night at the Bacchanal specified, “Purchaser shall ensure that food and drinks are not served on the floor during the performance, and that if there is smoking allowed in the venue, either smokers are positioned away from the stage or there is no smoking during the performance.” . . .

The debut performance last Friday night of the resurrected Jacks--er, Buddy Blue and the Jacks--at Bodie’s in downtown was such a smash (capacity crowd, lots of great new tunes) that the talented local rockers have been asked to encore next Saturday night. . . .

Tickets go on sale Friday at 3 p.m. for the Robert Cray Band’s Dec. 4 concert at the Civic Theater downtown. Joe Ely will open. . . .

Best concert bets for the coming week: Ambrosia, Thursday at the Bacchanal; Chris Isaak, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; the Havalinas, Friday at the Casbah in Middletown; Jane’s Addiction with 24-7 Spyz, Friday and Saturday at the UC San Diego Price Center Ballroom; the Indigo Girls with the Rave- Ups, Sunday at Symphony Hall downtown; Warren Zevon, Sunday at the Bacchanal; the Forester Sisters, Sunday at Leo’s Little Bit O’ Country in San Marcos, and the Heart Throbs with the Railway Children, Tuesday at the Backdoor.