Mike Watt and Dave Widow Play a Night of Music in San Pedro

Please note: Out of an over abundance of caution by the LAPD regarding the main event at 6th and Mesa Streets this week the PBID has postponed the Watt/Widow show to Sept. 2 as part of Fleet Week. The PBID wanted a breakout show to kick off the summer and when it was apparent that it could be delivered the police got nervous, about imagined crowd control issues, and pulled the plug. Their decision was beyond our control.

HOWEVER, THE REST OF THE SHOWS WILL GO ON AT ALL OF THE OTHER VENUES THIS JULY 1ST AS SCHEDULED! 

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San Pedro is having a night of music July 1, with the perfect musician to set the night off right: Mike Watt + the secondmen will perform live at 6 p.m. on the corner of 6th Street and Mesa along with Dave Widow & the Line Up in the first of six performances to occur in downtown San Pedro within the next several weeks (Mike Watt and Dave Widow postponed until Sept.2).

Watt, known as one of the best bassists of all time, said, music is life for him. 

“I’ve recorded every … day,” he said. “I have it well set up here. The Internet’s not all bad, you can decide to spread BS or you can trade files with people and you don’t even have to be in the same room.” 

Luckily, Watt had already been doing that for 20 years. He said it’s just like being in a band when you have to be in the room with the cats, but it’s still a way of making music. Making music never stopped for him through the pandemic. In fact, it increased. He also has a weekly show on the Internet called The Watt from Pedro Show. He did one show a week except when he was touring. Since November, he’s started doing five shows a week. When I remarked that’s almost a full-time job he said it’s not so much a job but a payback for the movement. 

“Up in Hollywood, back in the day, there was a scene where they would actually let you get on stage and play and we got involved in the movement,” Watt said. “People were open-minded, musically. It was a rare time … Why can’t them ethics survive?”

By getting that kind of exposure on the stage, trying out and using music as a form of expression, Watt said his way to pay back is with a music show. He plays music that’s not being played elsewhere, and listens to people’s personal journeys. He said maybe other people hear that and get inspired thinking, “If he did it, I can.” The bassist noted that that worked for him many times. 

“Remember the days of the mixtape?” he asked. “Your friend gave you a cassette that had all the shit you never heard before. That’s how you got turned onto things. That’s the ethic that I’m trying to [carry on].” 

When it comes to music, Watt said he’s matured and this idea of genres is bullshit; music is music … a righteous thing humans can do to connect.

“I believe music is art,” Watt said. “There is no separation between a painter and a bass player. 

That’s what I did in this period. I have enough material for over a dozen albums with these cats I never even met who I’ve collaborated with … trading files on the Internet in the last 14 months.”

Watt, who is in his early 60s, said they had to be careful, he couldn’t be in the room with the person. 

“We had to be safe,” he said. “I tour, that’s how I make my living.”

Watt has done 67 tours but said, “the bungee cord yanks me back to Pedro.” He explained a strange feeling he had. He was on a 45-day tour and did all the driving. This was immediately prior to COVID. Something told Watt he couldn’t get sick at the beginning of the tour. So instead of shaking anybody’s hand, “They’re going to get elbow or knuckle,” he said. 

 “It’s just weird, not that I could even suggest that I got a premonition or can read the future,” he said. “I didn’t know that two months later [COVID] was going to come down. After 40 years of recording and rolling through everybody’s town [sometimes] you got to play with a … fever. Life’s a classroom … but I think it’s a new way of being healthy; watch out with the … hands.”

Watt tours every fall and spring. He said recordings are documents, so people can hear you when you’re gone but they’re also flyers for your gigs so, “you always want to keep recording and put stuff on people,” he said.

Watt has been on both major and independent labels. He said he’s met good people by doing that, but he posited maybe now the paradigm is more like Vaudeville, playing in front of people, working the room. 

“It’s a very legitimate tradition to come from,” he said. “It’s an old word opportunity. But you got to get healthy to do that shit. That’s how that came about. I was just a pragmatist. I had no idea that this was coming down. 

Watt noted, on the other hand, music is a lifeline. If things get rough, go to music, do more shows, more records and use the Internet as a conduit. 

“In fact, music got me through this, because I never thought things were going to be canceled, just postponed,” he said. “That’s where my faith was. I always thought the vaccine was the way. 

“This is the way I’m going to start doing gigs again.”

“In the old days here, me and D. Boon got our first guitars at the pawn shops that used to be there, they weren’t on Pacific Avenue, for $10,” he said. “I’m most grateful to James [Preston Allen] for that. It’s bitchin’ and Dave Widow is a good cat.

Watt has local gigs lined up now that things are opening up, people are getting vaccinated and we’re taking care, he said. Watt + the secondmen featuring Pete Mazich and Jerry Trebotic will play for Todd Concgelliere at Sardines on Pacific and 11th Street for a three-day festival, Aug. 13 to 15. Watt plays on Aug. 14.

Details: www.mikewatt.com

July 1 Downtown San Pedro Free Music Schedule

Public Works Improv Presents “Pop Up” Storyphile @ Sacred Grounds

With host: Lee Boek

Featuring: Greg Palast, James Preston Allen, Jack Landron,  Anna Broome, Matt Sedillo, Camille Jacob, Paul Fleisher, Peter Coca

Time: 7:30 to 9 p.m. July 1

Venue: Sacred Grounds, 468 W. 6th St.

Architecture And Music @ COLLAGE

Enjoy “Classics to Cabaret” with Christina Linhardt and Paul Pezzone. Virtuoso pianist Pezzone will play while Linhardt sings in English, German  and Italian.

Time: 7 p.m. July 1 

Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Linhardt and http://www.circussanctuary.com

Venue: COLLAGE Gallery, 731 Pacific Ave., San Pedro

The Glass Family Electric Band @ JDC Records

Psychedelic music from the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Time: 7:45 p.m.

Venue: JDC Record Store, 447 W. 6th St.

Ken O’Malley @ The Whale & Ale

Irish folk music.

Time: 8:45 p.m. July 1

Venue: The Whale & Ale, 327 W. 7th St., 

Haywood Nighttrain and the GTX @ San Pedro Brewery Co.

Time: 9 p.m. July 1

Details: 310-831-5663

Venue: San Pedro Brew Co., 331 W. 6th St.