Welcome to the Pit

San Diego’s newest music impresario isn’t even old enough to drive.

“I wanted to promote the music I like,” Jack Habegger told the Reader last week on his 16th birthday.

He co-promoted the Burger Revolution in March at the now defunct Stronghold in Barrio Logan. The high school junior also publishes his own music ’zine: It’s The P.I.T.S.: Panic In The Streets. Last month’s issue featured an interview with Jordan Krimston of Big Bad Buffalo and Mike Rogers of Future Crooks.

Although he lives in San Marcos, Habegger decided to launch his own all-age music series called “The Pit” in Pacific Beach.

“I looked everywhere to try and find a space. I wanted to find a VFW hall.”

But he says the natural acoustics and the sweet lady he spoke with at a Pacific Beach Women’s Club helped him find just what he was looking for.

He says the Pit will be a once-a-month occurrence at the club at 1721 Hornblend Street.

“I definitely don’t want anyone to think I’m in competition with them,” he says about the established all-age venues. “I just want to start a new venue that fills a need.”

For his first show at the Pit, Habegger selected the Bassics and two of the bands from the local surf-punk scene, Vito and the Trees and Fake Tides .

“A lot of venues are closing down,” says Fake Tides bassist Sal Samano. “We’ve ended up playing at a lot of house shows. Everyone has a good time but sometimes those shows get sketchy.”

“We played this one show called ‘Skinny and Long’ at this house that had a long and skinny backyard,” says drummer Edgar Alejandre. “Someone brought out a water hose and it got really muddy. Louis’s [Mireles, guitarist] pedals got all dirty. The neighbors fence almost got pushed over.”

“You never know what could happen,” says Samano. “You might have a 14-year-old drinking or a 16-year-old with a big bong.”

Fake Tides also played at the six-band all-age “Get Wet” show organized by their fellow Imperial Beach neo-mod band the Bassics at the I.B. Boys and Girls club in June.

“There were tons of people but the venue was just too huge,” says Alejandre. “It was an auditorium.”

The Bassics, Fake Tides, and Vito and the Trees appear 7–10 p.m. Friday at the Pit. $10 admission.