One for the Books

Blues in Thousand Oaks? Yep, some real blues come to Borders on Saturday night when Steve White & the Barstool Pigeons make their Conejo Valley debut. The Oxnard band has a brand new album “What’s a Man to Do?”--featuring a dozen originals--that will be available at the show.

The Barstool Pigeons is the latest in a series of bands with funny names featuring most of the same players. There have been the Reverbs, the Convertibles, Garage-a-saurus Rex, the Elmo Nails Band and the Ordinaires. The Pigeons are Steve White (vocals, sax, keyboards and harmonica), Mike Fishell (guitars and vocals), Bernie Travers (bass and vocals) and Kelvin Ammons (drums and vocals).

The Pigeons, led by White, who gets top billing, and Fishell, the guitarist, have been flying for a couple of years. White has a great blues voice, but he can also do Jackie Wilson and, better yet, pull it off. Fishell is one of the area’s best players, and as a teacher usually has around 50 students--all with Eric-Clapton dreams. One of his notable former students is Scotty Morris of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Fishell said he and White met at a party when they were in high school.

“We ended up standing by the stereo talking about music. Steve was playing harmonica and I was playing guitar to the stereo. Since then, we’ve played hundreds of gigs a year for a million years, and now we know how to do it.”

White agrees.

“There’s a lot of telepathy with this band--it’s the Oxnard sound. I’ve known Mike forever and I’ve been playing with Bernie for about 25 years and Kelvin for probably 20 years--I guess, he’s the new guy.”

While they were in all these bands, these guys played just about everywhere imaginable. But White said the band is looking forward to its first adventure at the great big bookstore.

“There’s not a lot of places to play anymore, but there’s still a few,” White said. “The Hi Cees [in Ventura] is fun in the summer, and I think this Borders gig will be good because the bulk of our listeners do know how to read, plus it’s great playing music without the neighbors complaining.”

Not only is their new CD professional music by a bunch of old pros, but band members did everything themselves from recording to cover art. More important, the songs have been tested on real blues fans. Plus, “What’s A Man To Do?” is on their own label, Sugar Beat Records. Fishell, for one, likes it a lot, but he may be prejudiced.

“The songwriting is just great--all the songs are good and the lyrics are really good, too. It’s a funky sound with lots of guitar solos, and the songs are all barroom tested. When you play originals, you know right away whether the people like them or not . . . . If you can get away with playing a dozen originals, then you’re in there.”

The Pigeons are, indeed, in there. Here, too: Feb. 5 at Calypso’s Bar & Grill in Ojai with the official CD release party set for Feb. 26 at Hi Cees at the Ventura Harbor.

DETAILS

Steve White & the Barstool Pigeons at Borders Books & Music, 125 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks; 7:30 p.m. Saturday; free; 497-8159.

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“Elvis is everywhere.”-- Mojo Nixon

Even in Moorpark? But hey, if Abe can live in Fillmore, then why not Elvis in Moorpark? It’s a little-known fact, but Don Ancell, the spittin’ image of Honest Abe Lincoln, portrays the first Republican president at Civil War reenactments all over California.

That should be no more surprising than The King himself alive and well, living in Moorpark. Raymond Michael is Elvis and he does live in Moorpark. Raymond will be The King for a night during a fund-raiser for his old school, Cal Lutheran, at the Civic Arts Plaza on Saturday night.

With a bio thicker than the King’s waistline at the end, Michael has been impersonating Elvis for many years, actually longer than the King did himself. A high school music teacher by day, Michael actually makes more dough as a part-time Elvis than he does as a full-time teacher. And the sleek Michael, the most famous and successful Elvis impersonator, portrays the King in his prime.

This wingding will be the 12th annual “Tribute to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and Michael will be ably supported by a 24-member CLU all-star alumni band plus back-up singers. Proceeds from this event will go toward performing arts programs at the school.

DETAILS

Raymond Michael presents a “Tribute to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” at the Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, 8 p.m. Saturday; $10 to $35; 493-3161.

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Meanwhile, not far from all this, the youngsters of the Conejo Valley have their own festivities, namely a Saturday night Battle of the Bands at the Teen Center, part of the venue’s 10th anniversary celebration. A community-funded operation, the Teen Center is a hit, and these shows routinely attract more than 500 kids.

Rock stars on the rise 8 Stops 7 were supposed to appear, but they got a cooler last-minute gig in Colorado, yet the five-bands-for-five-bucks scenario is still a deal. All the bands are made up of local high school students except for X-Cell Factor, whose members graduated from T.O. High a few years ago.

Opening from T.O. High will be Off the Deep End, followed by Phlip from Newbury Park High, then X-Cell Factor, then the 88th Mark out of Newbury Park High; closing will be Antenna from Westlake High.

Other municipalities should take the hint from Thousand Oaks, a city with a long history of youth-oriented events, going back to the teen dances at T.O. High hosted by Casey Kasem 35 years ago. Kids gotta go somewhere--better a somewhere like this than out stealing your hubcaps.

DETAILS

Battle of the Bands at the Thousand Oaks Teen Center, 1375 E. Janss Road; 7 p.m. Saturday; $5; 494-5156.