Gonzo Report: Marcela Mendez’s tip with a barb at the mall

Normally, musicians are drilled in the art of capturing an audience’s attention. And if that’s your training, then performing where people don’t pay attention — and aren’t even meant to — can be a challenge. But it’s one to which some performers are happy to rise. “I absolutely do not mind that I’m more background music,” says OB resident Divina Jasso (Boostive). She’s just one of the local artists who books intimate restaurant and mall gigs via Acoustic Spot — gigs that ask you to shine without being a star. “A lot of the times, I don’t get any applause, but that makes for me trying new things and getting to experiment with what works best, what people enjoy most. This is such great practice for me, and it makes me feel great when people enjoy my music with their food and drinks.”

Mission Valley musician Marcela Mendez, a Bay Area native who showed up here in 2001, plays Waterbar in Pacific Beach, Loews in Coronado, and Kona Kai on Shelter Island. “I come from the world of restaurants, so it wasn’t a big deal for me,” she says of her background status. “I was a waitress-bartender for 22 years before I was a singer. I just do my thing and tune it out. The only thing that drives me nuts is when there’s a table right next to me, and they start watching videos or playing music on their phone with the volume on full blast. I compare it to trying to count money while someone else is counting their own money out loud, right in your ear.”

Both women are happy to take on a variety of gigs. “I’ve played at Westfield UTC, L’Auberge, Loews Coronado, and Estancia La Jolla most frequently,” says Jasso, who grew up in Costa Mesa and Laguna Beach before arriving in San Diego around four years ago. “Westfield is an outside mall, so people are constantly walking around. You get a little of everyone, and I love that. The other spots are restaurants [at] hotels, so it’s more of a lounge-y kind of atmosphere. I perform a mix of my own content and covers. My setup is quite unique, and the way that I perform covers often sounds like my own twist on them.”

For her part, Mendez mainly performs songs by others. “Truthfully, I’m new to songwriting. It’s like my guitar playing: I’m good in my living room when nobody’s looking. My show differs on whichever guitar player I’m working with. They play, and I follow. I just know it’s always going to be entertaining.”

The entertainment isn’t always confined to the stage. “I was doing a gig at a local mall,” remembers Mendez. “We were playing ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ and there was a woman there who seemed to be enjoying it. Right when we finished, she came up and threw some cash in the tip jar. So I said, ‘Thank you,’ and she said, ‘Go fuck yourself’ and walked away. Not a second later, security was there asking what she had said to me. Apparently, she was a regular at the mall and they had been having problems with her lipping off and verbally assaulting the performers. She clearly had some issues, but it was classic.”