Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Scum suckers gotta get paid

"It’s pretty conservative up here. But then so is San Diego."

Ramona Mainstage: hard rock and country, yes. Rap, no.
Ramona Mainstage: hard rock and country, yes. Rap, no.

Ramona Mainstage owner Orrin Day has bitten the bullet and says he has agreed to pay some $3000 annually to music licensing groups he has called “scum suckers” in the past. “You can’t get away from it. You have to pay the bastards even if you only do a couple of [music] shows a month.”

The upshot is that after a year without big shows, the Ramona Mainstage is bringing back major name concerts. Prior to that, the Mainstage had hosted major music acts for six years. Day he says he will not focus solely on the metal and hard rock acts that seemed to have put the back country venue on the map.

“We’re going to mix it up,” says Day, who fully expects to bring back pop singer Eddie Money, country swingers Asleep at the Wheel, and country maverick David Allan Coe, all headliners who have previously sold out Ramona Mainstage.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“On his last tour, David Allan Coe skipped Southern California altogether,” says Day. “He loves it here.”

Another artist who seems much more at home in Ramona than, say, North Park, is right wing rocker Ted Nugent.

“The last time Ted played here, he flew his Citation Jet here and took a limo to the Mainstage. That was the day his wife was caught with a handgun in her handbag trying to board a plane in Dulles [Washington D.C.] to come here. It made national news that she was coming to join her husband in Ramona [with a gun]… It’s pretty conservative up here. But then, so is San Diego. At least in comparison to the rest of this fucked up state.”

There is one genre of music Day won’t host at the Mainstage. “Rap is not a thing that would work up here.”

Day says he knows it has gotten harder to attract big name headliners. “The Belly Up now books 25 shows a month at the Music Box, on top of what they put in the Belly Up. They are taking an awful lot of shows. But I feel there’s enough for everybody.”

And then there is the proliferation of casino talent buyers who famously give huge guarantees to headliners at the expense of independents. “It’s like they don’t treat [contracts] as money. If a band is worth $10,000, they’ll pay $15,000 or $20,000.”

Courtesy https://ramonamainstage.com

But Day says his ace is in the hole is the acoustics of his room. “This is an old movie theater built for sound. It has a vaulted ceiling and a sloped floor. Once bands play here, they love this place.”

But will greater San Diego make the trek? “I built [an adjacent] steak house and a BBQ restaurant... I just finished my third remodel. The concession area next to the stage was turned into a bar…The Mainstage will be all ages and we will serve liquor. Ramona is now a destination. It’s no longer just a place you drive through on the way to Julian.”

Day says he will soon announce his concert calendar. He says local bands will be welcome only as openers for headliners and may be better off playing Ramona pubs like Cheers and the Waypoint Saloon (which was renamed from Molly Malone’s after a 2015 episode of Bar Rescue).

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Fiesta de Reyes Dia de los Muertos, Summer Salt and The Symposium, Scream Diego

Events October 10-October 12, 2024
Next Article

More on San Diego inventions – Spike Bite and disappearing ink

The scandal of county supervisors at the library
Ramona Mainstage: hard rock and country, yes. Rap, no.
Ramona Mainstage: hard rock and country, yes. Rap, no.

Ramona Mainstage owner Orrin Day has bitten the bullet and says he has agreed to pay some $3000 annually to music licensing groups he has called “scum suckers” in the past. “You can’t get away from it. You have to pay the bastards even if you only do a couple of [music] shows a month.”

The upshot is that after a year without big shows, the Ramona Mainstage is bringing back major name concerts. Prior to that, the Mainstage had hosted major music acts for six years. Day he says he will not focus solely on the metal and hard rock acts that seemed to have put the back country venue on the map.

“We’re going to mix it up,” says Day, who fully expects to bring back pop singer Eddie Money, country swingers Asleep at the Wheel, and country maverick David Allan Coe, all headliners who have previously sold out Ramona Mainstage.

Sponsored
Sponsored

“On his last tour, David Allan Coe skipped Southern California altogether,” says Day. “He loves it here.”

Another artist who seems much more at home in Ramona than, say, North Park, is right wing rocker Ted Nugent.

“The last time Ted played here, he flew his Citation Jet here and took a limo to the Mainstage. That was the day his wife was caught with a handgun in her handbag trying to board a plane in Dulles [Washington D.C.] to come here. It made national news that she was coming to join her husband in Ramona [with a gun]… It’s pretty conservative up here. But then, so is San Diego. At least in comparison to the rest of this fucked up state.”

There is one genre of music Day won’t host at the Mainstage. “Rap is not a thing that would work up here.”

Day says he knows it has gotten harder to attract big name headliners. “The Belly Up now books 25 shows a month at the Music Box, on top of what they put in the Belly Up. They are taking an awful lot of shows. But I feel there’s enough for everybody.”

And then there is the proliferation of casino talent buyers who famously give huge guarantees to headliners at the expense of independents. “It’s like they don’t treat [contracts] as money. If a band is worth $10,000, they’ll pay $15,000 or $20,000.”

Courtesy https://ramonamainstage.com

But Day says his ace is in the hole is the acoustics of his room. “This is an old movie theater built for sound. It has a vaulted ceiling and a sloped floor. Once bands play here, they love this place.”

But will greater San Diego make the trek? “I built [an adjacent] steak house and a BBQ restaurant... I just finished my third remodel. The concession area next to the stage was turned into a bar…The Mainstage will be all ages and we will serve liquor. Ramona is now a destination. It’s no longer just a place you drive through on the way to Julian.”

Day says he will soon announce his concert calendar. He says local bands will be welcome only as openers for headliners and may be better off playing Ramona pubs like Cheers and the Waypoint Saloon (which was renamed from Molly Malone’s after a 2015 episode of Bar Rescue).

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Ben Folds takes requests via paper airplane at UCSD

A bunch of folks brought theirs from home
Next Article

Our riparian woodland begins to look like fall, Orb Weavers help decorate

Comet of the century?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader