In 2011, a longtime member of the local music scene was tapped to help run the Del Mar Fairgrounds. David Lizerbram, 35, is the youngest on the nine-member board that oversees the state-owned racetrack and venue.

Lizerbram occasionally sits in with Rio Peligroso when the Americana band plays the Riviera Supper Club. The bass player/singer is no longer a full-time member due to time constraints. He has also played and recorded with the Kite Flying Society and Paper Saloon.

As an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and business law, he says he could be of help when the Del Mar fair board scrutinizes contracts made to grandstand headliners. “I heard there was an opening, so I put in my application. There was no lobbying. I think the people in Sacramento wanted some [appointees] who were not the usual suspects.”

Lizerbram grew up in La Costa and Rancho Santa Fe and now lives in South Park. He studied at USC film school and Loyola law school. His most memorable Fairgrounds show?

“I saw Soundgarden in ’92 or ’93...I also saw the Flaming Lips, Weezer, and the English Beat.” Currently, AEG books the headliner bands for the shows held during the racing season. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club — not the fair board — controls those shows.

“Historically, the perception in the music industry was that playing the fair doesn’t look good on the back of a tour T-shirt. In recent years the reputation has been elevated, and I want to continue that.”

Would Lizerbram step up at a board meeting and suggest, for instance, that the Del Mar Fair grandstand concert lineup would be better off with fewer tribute bands and more compelling original bands?

“I’ve played in quite a few cover bands. You have to remember, this is not the Casbah.”