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

The Sun Shines on a Blue Dawg

In October, at a benefit concert for an OB keyboardist (and now cancer patient) named Joe Longa, a gathering of the usual suspects were on hand. The bill that night included Private Domain, the Farmers, Mojo Nixon, Chet Cannon, the Mentals, and Scottie Blinn’s new Black Market Baby.

There was also Blue Dawg, an otherwise unknown blues band that played covers and originals about such topics as whiskey, disappointment, and reptiles. In the coming months they would again surface at the Blarney Stone and Winston’s, and, to good-sized crowds.

Who is this Blue Dawg blues band, and, where did they suddenly come from?

It turns out Blue Dog is a fairly popular band name. A Google search turns up several: Blue Dog in Austin, BLUEDOG (sic) in Minneapolis, Bluedog in Minnesota, and the Blue Dogs in Charleston. Then, there is the Blue Dawg String Band in Greenville, the Blue Dog jazz ensemble in Detroit, Dog Named Blue in Chico, the Blue Dawg power wash in New Hampshire, and Blue Dog Red Dog, a pair of actual dogs that howl pitifully while their master plays blues harp on YouTube.

But, no Blue Dawg blues band.

They are an East County band and as such have been flying under the radar while getting their collective act together. One of the founders is Victor Gross, a guitarist from the Midwest who has lived in Lakeside for years. Some may remember Gross from his six-year residency in the saloon of the Lakeside Hotel, long before it became a rehab center.

“When I moved here, everybody told me to stay away from that place,” says Gross. “But I said it looks like Montana to me – cowboys, Indians, and bikers.”

Gross is one of the band’s songwriters. He says a blues-rock favorite called “Whiskey In My Coffee” is really about addiction. He leaves it at that. “You play in bars all your life," he says, "you get to see that happening.”

Gross says Blue Dawg has been around in various incarnations for the past eight years. The present lineup includes John Thompson, Rudy Tyler, Mark Winberry, and singer/harpist Gary Sipperley, a mountain man from Campo who is the source of those songs about reptiles.

San Diego’s East County has long been known as a breeding ground for all manner of musical talent. And, music journalism: Rolling Stone/Creem critic Lester Bangs grew up in the El Cajon valley with Jerry Raney and Joel Kmak. Dan McClain (Country Dick Montana) went to high school in El Cajon as well, and between the three of them, Raney, McClain, and Kmak, they represent founding membership in a rock and roll dynasty of bands including Glory, the Shames, the Hitmakers, the Penetrators, the Snuggle Bunnies, and the Beat Farmers.

In high school, Victor Gross recalls seeing an El Cajon band called the Dark Ages with Jerry Raney. He recalls playing similar teen gigs himself at the all-ages Parkway Bowl in El Cajon as well as at area high schools. “Back then,” Gross says, “there were lots of places that would hire young bands.” He thinks that may have been a factor in the development of East County musicianship. But if the truth be told Gross says, El Cajon's music roots run even deeper.

“Back in the early 1950’s you had a couple of guys from L.A., Cactus Soldi and Smokey Rodgers, who came down to El Cajon and started up the Bostonia Ballroom (2nd and Broadway) and, the Valley Music store on Main.”

Under their management the Bostonia Ballroom became a major stop on the West Coast Country circuit and hosted everyone from a young Willie Nelson to Lefty Frizzel, Bob Wills, Jerry Lee Lewis, and dozens more of country music’s glitterati.

Later, in the ‘60s, a teenager from Rancho Santa Fe named Chris Hillman had aspirations to master bluegrass. He brought his mandolin to El Cajon and there, he learned to pick. He joined the Blue Guitar's Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and with them played his first public gig on the stage of the Bostonia Ballroom.

“El Cajon,” says Hillman, “was as important as Bakersfield. They just never got the credit.”

Chris Hillman, now a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer would go on to co-found the Byrds, Manassas, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Desert Rose Band. In 1964 he was joined in the Squirrel Barkers by another local San Diego teen singer/guitarist named Bernie Leadon; Leadon would eventually found the Eagles. Yes – those Eagles.

In its day, Valley Music was known as the place to trade if you were a big name musician. Johnny Cash bought a guitar there and Frank Zappa (although a no-name at the time) was said to have bought records from Valley Music when he was a teen. Owner Cactus Soldi’s son, Jim Soldi mastered guitar and went pro, touring with both Johnny Cash and Ricky Scaggs and locally, Eve Selis.

Blue Dawg co-founder Gary Sipperley grew up in El Cajon not far from Valley Music and played in more teen bands with the Kmak brothers than he can remember. He also spent a lot of time in the surrounding fields looking under rocks and such. In his adult life Sipperley became a professional herpetoculturist - a person who studies reptiles, an unlikely subject that he occasionally incorporates into his John Mayall-flavored blues.

There’s a picture on the cover of Blue Dawg’s debut CD What I Hold So Dear of a road that cuts through the Borrego Valley called S-2 and known to snake collectors as prime territory. It's a road that Sipperley knows well.

The song “S-2”, says Sipperley, who wrote it, is about “a piece of heaven on earth that is disappearing.” The earth, ecology, and the natural world are themes not common to the blues in general but surface frequently in Sipperley’s writing:

Down on the highway / Down on the desert floor / There's a silence / Like I've never heard before / The stars used to fill the sky / Shining down on the magic of life / Now the glow of the city / Stole the black from the night.

“All the precious stuff,” he says, “earth stuff, people stuff, treating people right? It’s all slipping away.”

Blue Dawg's schedule for 2012 is www.bluedawgbluesband.com

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

Previous article

JamPinoy: one cafeteria line, two cultures

Pick your island cuisine in Vista's new Jamaican-slash-Filipino eatery
Next Article

Frank Zane has already won

But don’t call former Mr. Universe retired

In October, at a benefit concert for an OB keyboardist (and now cancer patient) named Joe Longa, a gathering of the usual suspects were on hand. The bill that night included Private Domain, the Farmers, Mojo Nixon, Chet Cannon, the Mentals, and Scottie Blinn’s new Black Market Baby.

There was also Blue Dawg, an otherwise unknown blues band that played covers and originals about such topics as whiskey, disappointment, and reptiles. In the coming months they would again surface at the Blarney Stone and Winston’s, and, to good-sized crowds.

Who is this Blue Dawg blues band, and, where did they suddenly come from?

It turns out Blue Dog is a fairly popular band name. A Google search turns up several: Blue Dog in Austin, BLUEDOG (sic) in Minneapolis, Bluedog in Minnesota, and the Blue Dogs in Charleston. Then, there is the Blue Dawg String Band in Greenville, the Blue Dog jazz ensemble in Detroit, Dog Named Blue in Chico, the Blue Dawg power wash in New Hampshire, and Blue Dog Red Dog, a pair of actual dogs that howl pitifully while their master plays blues harp on YouTube.

But, no Blue Dawg blues band.

They are an East County band and as such have been flying under the radar while getting their collective act together. One of the founders is Victor Gross, a guitarist from the Midwest who has lived in Lakeside for years. Some may remember Gross from his six-year residency in the saloon of the Lakeside Hotel, long before it became a rehab center.

“When I moved here, everybody told me to stay away from that place,” says Gross. “But I said it looks like Montana to me – cowboys, Indians, and bikers.”

Gross is one of the band’s songwriters. He says a blues-rock favorite called “Whiskey In My Coffee” is really about addiction. He leaves it at that. “You play in bars all your life," he says, "you get to see that happening.”

Gross says Blue Dawg has been around in various incarnations for the past eight years. The present lineup includes John Thompson, Rudy Tyler, Mark Winberry, and singer/harpist Gary Sipperley, a mountain man from Campo who is the source of those songs about reptiles.

San Diego’s East County has long been known as a breeding ground for all manner of musical talent. And, music journalism: Rolling Stone/Creem critic Lester Bangs grew up in the El Cajon valley with Jerry Raney and Joel Kmak. Dan McClain (Country Dick Montana) went to high school in El Cajon as well, and between the three of them, Raney, McClain, and Kmak, they represent founding membership in a rock and roll dynasty of bands including Glory, the Shames, the Hitmakers, the Penetrators, the Snuggle Bunnies, and the Beat Farmers.

In high school, Victor Gross recalls seeing an El Cajon band called the Dark Ages with Jerry Raney. He recalls playing similar teen gigs himself at the all-ages Parkway Bowl in El Cajon as well as at area high schools. “Back then,” Gross says, “there were lots of places that would hire young bands.” He thinks that may have been a factor in the development of East County musicianship. But if the truth be told Gross says, El Cajon's music roots run even deeper.

“Back in the early 1950’s you had a couple of guys from L.A., Cactus Soldi and Smokey Rodgers, who came down to El Cajon and started up the Bostonia Ballroom (2nd and Broadway) and, the Valley Music store on Main.”

Under their management the Bostonia Ballroom became a major stop on the West Coast Country circuit and hosted everyone from a young Willie Nelson to Lefty Frizzel, Bob Wills, Jerry Lee Lewis, and dozens more of country music’s glitterati.

Later, in the ‘60s, a teenager from Rancho Santa Fe named Chris Hillman had aspirations to master bluegrass. He brought his mandolin to El Cajon and there, he learned to pick. He joined the Blue Guitar's Scottsville Squirrel Barkers and with them played his first public gig on the stage of the Bostonia Ballroom.

“El Cajon,” says Hillman, “was as important as Bakersfield. They just never got the credit.”

Chris Hillman, now a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer would go on to co-found the Byrds, Manassas, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Desert Rose Band. In 1964 he was joined in the Squirrel Barkers by another local San Diego teen singer/guitarist named Bernie Leadon; Leadon would eventually found the Eagles. Yes – those Eagles.

In its day, Valley Music was known as the place to trade if you were a big name musician. Johnny Cash bought a guitar there and Frank Zappa (although a no-name at the time) was said to have bought records from Valley Music when he was a teen. Owner Cactus Soldi’s son, Jim Soldi mastered guitar and went pro, touring with both Johnny Cash and Ricky Scaggs and locally, Eve Selis.

Blue Dawg co-founder Gary Sipperley grew up in El Cajon not far from Valley Music and played in more teen bands with the Kmak brothers than he can remember. He also spent a lot of time in the surrounding fields looking under rocks and such. In his adult life Sipperley became a professional herpetoculturist - a person who studies reptiles, an unlikely subject that he occasionally incorporates into his John Mayall-flavored blues.

There’s a picture on the cover of Blue Dawg’s debut CD What I Hold So Dear of a road that cuts through the Borrego Valley called S-2 and known to snake collectors as prime territory. It's a road that Sipperley knows well.

The song “S-2”, says Sipperley, who wrote it, is about “a piece of heaven on earth that is disappearing.” The earth, ecology, and the natural world are themes not common to the blues in general but surface frequently in Sipperley’s writing:

Down on the highway / Down on the desert floor / There's a silence / Like I've never heard before / The stars used to fill the sky / Shining down on the magic of life / Now the glow of the city / Stole the black from the night.

“All the precious stuff,” he says, “earth stuff, people stuff, treating people right? It’s all slipping away.”

Blue Dawg's schedule for 2012 is www.bluedawgbluesband.com

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

Please Like the Nformals

Next Article

History and Myth

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