Thursday, October 10, 1996
CLUB:
Founder meshes modern sounds with a multicultural flare
By Sona Stepanian
Daily Bruin Contributor
When Ed Pearl, founder of the original Ash Grove club, opened
his doors to the legendary folk and blues acts of the ’60s, he did
it not only for the love of music, but also for the love of a
particular woman.
"When I opened the Ash Grove, I had no idea what I wanted it to
be," recalls a soft-spoken Pearl during a recent interview on the
Santa Monica Pier, the location of the new Ash Grove Club. "I was
21 years old and in love. I did it primarily to stay with a woman,
We did it together and we got married eventually."
From its inception in 1958 to its untimely end in 1973, the Ash
Grove was home to many performers such as Muddy Water, Lightnin’
Hopkins and Jackson Browne. The 250-seat auditorium and coffeehouse
offered an alternative to the mainstream and an opportunity for
various musical cultures to be heard.
"The Ash Grove started in ’58 and it was part of a search for a
greater meaning in music and culture than what was provided on
radio and television at that time," says Pearl. "The Ash Grove was
not the first coffeehouse, but it quickly became the central
one."
But in ’73, after two small previous fires, a third fire claimed
the Ash Grove. The club, where musicians such as Mick Jaggar and
Bob Dylan had polished their acts, closed its doors, ending a
15-year legacy. However, both Pearl and Mike Minky, a consultant
and broker for the club, feel that it was the proper time for a
closing.
"It was a strange time in ’73. It seemed like it was almost the
time for closing," says Minky, who started going to the Ash Grove
while he was still in high school. The end of the Vietnam War
signaled the dwindling of Ash Grove’s role as a meeting ground for
political activists.
Additionally, the growing popularity of the bands they booked
diminished the club’s uniqueness and appeal.
"The music we were presenting was starting to develop more of a
mass audience and other clubs were coming in to take up where we
had left off," Pearl says.
"You can only go on vision and sheer energy and emotion for a
certain amount of time," he adds.
Now, after a 23-year hiatus and repeated unsuccessful attempts
at a comeback, Pearl has finally gathered the money and resources
necessary, and the Ash Grove reopened this July on the Santa Monica
Pier, miles away from the original soul house on Melrose Ave.
"When I moved onto Melrose, it was an old Jewish neighborhood
where my cousins owned a drug store across the street. Melrose
didn’t become Melrose until the very end of the Ash Grove," says
Pearl. "The promenade was too wide and commercial, and this (the
pier) is one of my favorite childhood places. The new Ash Grove
happens to look almost exactly the same as the old one."
Along with the new location comes an understanding that the
music scene has changed in the past few decades. Pearl assures that
the new Ash Grove is not about nostalgia or trying to rekindle a
by-gone past.
"I no longer look at bluegrass as a form that has vitality, nor
is blues," says Pearl. "I look for the same sense of vitality and
reflection of community and something like a real experience
instead of something that will sell briefly and then die. Now I am
much more open to rock music than I was, because that’s more and
more what kids play today."
The new club promises to stay true to its predecessor and offers
a variety of musical and cultural acts. The club combines country
music with African music, hip hop with poetry readings and even
presents children’s concerts. A healthy mix of ethnic and regional
music still can be heard from within the light green building.
"We display a lot of good music today. We still do the
cross-cultural thing, the African music and Tex Mex," says Minky.
"We are also trying to present the old master with the new
musicians. We don’t reject commercialism, we reject someone whose
whole act is based on commercialism. We want somebody singing from
the heart and soul, singing for the sense of the music as opposed
to trying to make a buck."
Pearl also echoes the same sentiment and admits that the second
incarnation of the Ash Grove does have a greater scope.
"There definitely is a vision, maybe not as grand as changing
the world, but it has to do with providing a platform for many
cultures and establishing a place within the artistic community
where you can talk about things rather than how many records are
sold," says Pearl.
At the same time, Pearl is not intimidated by the task of
re-establishing the Ash Grove in a highly competitive and corporate
club scene.
"I’m now aware that the Ash Grove has prestige because of its
absolute integrity. Whatever my politics may be, my artistic
integrity has never been violated," says Pearl. "The Ash Grove is
important in trying to bring cultures together and trying to have a
human understanding at an artistic level."
"The House of Blues has taken music one step further in that
they pay such astronomical salaries  so the music is no
longer folk music, the artists are no longer listening to their
souls or their communities or their churches," adds Pearl. "But
that whole scene has been taking a nose dive in the last couple of
months, so the blues may again become real folk music."
By allowing local new bands the opportunity to play on the same
stage alongside musical veterans, the Ash Grove is forging its way
back into the fickle and changing music scene.
Pearl intends to maintain the level of musical integrity the
club is revered for by holding firm to his initial goal of bringing
the "sands of various cultures together into the center of the
funnel."
"We seem to be fulfilling a niche in the community again," says
Pearl. "We allow the voices of black people and hillbillies in this
country to speak. We now have people from Africa, Mexico or Brazil.
There is a more international character to the population now and
the music that is being presented. Somehow people are beginning to
find their way back to the Ash Grove."
CLUB: Cover charge for the Ash Grove varies. Call (310) 656-8500
for ticket info.