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Illegal Love?

Longtime San Diego musician John Pertle, aka Johnny Love, has been arrested on 37 felony counts of distribution and possession with intent to distribute child pornography. Pertle has played in various bands since 1989, most recently his namesake group Johnny Love Sound.

The Sheriff's spokespeople were unable to provide further details about the arrest as off press time, and what little information is out there is sketchy. Pertle's arraignment was scheduled for May 10.

A rather foreboding-in-retrospect message was posted April 6 to the Johnny Love Sound page on myspace.com. It begins, “Well I been having a swell time playing hide and seek with the FBI and checking out all the pretty girls downtown. Dig the weather.”

Dispelling a rumor spread around the Internet early this week, no venues have been implicated in the case.

Switchfoot lives up to the name

The shaggy sandy-blonde boys in Switchfoot grew up in Encinitas and, like all good, beach-living kids, loved to surf. But they haven't had too many chances to meld the music with the sport. Now, however, it looks like they're taking a page outta the Jack Johnson playbook.

After two years of pop-world domination, the group is living up to their surfy name and giving back to the city that bred them by hosting the “Switchfoot Bro-Am” on May 14. The surfing competition benefits Care House, an organization that helps homeless kids in San Diego.

“The band has developed a relationship with these kids over the past three years,” said Angelica Cobb, a spokesperson with Foot's record label, CBS. “Through the group's relationship with Care Kids, they've become more educated about the homeless situation in San Diego. Cobb said there are roughly 3,000 homeless people younger than 18 countywide.

At 7 a.m., the first of 16 teams will hit the water at Encinitas Moonlight Beach, and the band has planned a range of activities for CareKids.

“With Bro-Am, the band just wanted to create a great day at the beach for these kids, give them clothes and shoes and provide fun activities like surfing and guitar lessons,” Cobb explained.

While the public can watch the wave action from shore, the band's concert at the La Paloma Theatre that evening will be by invitation only, with the audience made up of event participants and Care House kids.

In related news, those fans who were responsible for the 2 million copies Switchfoot sold of their 2003 album, The Beautiful Letdown, may be motivated to buy a second copy soon. The disc has just been released in DualDisc format (CD on one side, DVD on the other) with 5.1 surround sound, videos, a making-of documentary and bonus songs. The band's two hit singles-“Dare You to Move” and “Meant to Live”-were certified both gold and platinum.

Locals get the Blues

“There is so much great music in San Diego, of course we're going to be looking at ways to use local talent,” said a good-natured Diana Martinez, talent buyer for the downtown House of Blues. Few local bands (Nickel Creek, Switchfoot, P.O.D., blink-182, Louis XIV) could pack the 1,019-seat venue, but Martinez says she plans to use smaller-name locals as warmers, such as Tristan Prettyman's opening slot for the John Butler Trio on May 15.

“It'll depend on the artist or show, but we hope to bring in all types of local acts, pending approval from management and that sort of thing,” said Martinez, who spent the past 12 years at the Belly Up Tavern and knows the local scene.

Martinez even made what sounded a lot like a promise that San Diego bands will no doubt keep her to: “There will be a lot of local homegrown talent at the House of Blues.”

Chuck P.'s in love

“I heard from one woman in Iowa who starts each day playing it,” Chuck Perrin said with a smile about his 1968 debut, The Last Word.

Best known as the man behind downtown jazz den Dizzy's, Perrin was part of a duo in the late-'60s with his sister Mary, who passed away two years ago. They recorded a pair of albums that didn't sell squat in the get-go. But as years went on, they picked up critical steam from that archaic marketing model: word of mouth.

Last year, British label Rev-Ola re-released The Last Word, setting in motion a plethora of new releases, including Perrin's solo album, :44 of Love. The collection is exactly that-44 minutes of music about love.

“[Rev-ola's] already into their second run of The Last Word compilation, now they're continuing with the catalog,” said Perrin. This month the label will re-issue Chuck & Mary Perrin's second disc, Life is a Stream, adding five demos to the original. With interest high in the duo, Perrin has now begun work on a project honoring his late sister.

“I've been working on restoring and mixing five songs recorded by Mary at a session she did in L.A. in 1979, but were never released,” Perrin said. “After she died, I found the original 2-inch, 24-track tapes, but they were in extremely poor condition. Geoff Gillette, who has a gold record for his work mixing and restoring Eva Cassidy's posthumous Songbird album, did some amazing work saving and digitizing it. We're remixing the tapes now.”

Asked if he's surprised by this resurgence more than three decades after the fact, Perrin gives an emphatic yes: “It's been a whirlwind of creative fun the last couple of months.”

Notables...

Louis XIV continues their bid for mainstream success on May 12 on NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien. Non-night-owls can catch the show when it's repeated the next night at 7 p.m. on CNBC. The band's debut for Atlantic Records, The Best Little Secrets Are Kept, peaked at No. 8 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart but has fallen to No. 24 in the last few weeks, suggesting a slowdown from the success of their single, “Finding Out True Love is Blind.” After nearly cracking the Top 150 on the Billboard Top 200, the album has fallen out of the chart. A headlining U.S. tour in May, plus some dates with The Killers, should help them regain steam.

Music fans who don't melt in the sun gather in Pacific Beach on May 14 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the annual P.B. Block Party. Along with some zydeco bands and blues hounds and national touring acts like Cowboy Mouth and the Young Dubliners, a host of local bands play at the seven stages, including Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Vegetation, Alfred Howard & the K23 Orchestra, Delta Nove, Berkley Hart, The Coyote Problem, Carol Ames, The Truckee Brothers, Holiday and the Adventure Pop Collective and a bunch'a others. www.pbblockparty.com.

Cable TV station Ovation: The Arts Network will screen Jewel's Live at Humphrey's by the Bay beginning on May 13. The concert was filmed over two nights during her 2001 tour.

Jason Mraz' latest single “Wordplay” officially debuts on radio May 16 in anticipation of his album Mr. A-Z. Mraz begins a major media push on July 30 with an appearance on NBC's Today Show. According to Lestat's website, Mraz and percussive cohort Toca Rivera will perform at the venue alongside his longtime buddy Carlos Olmeda on May 15 to celebrate the release of Olmeda's new CD.

On May 14, Lestat's will host a showcase dedicated to the music of Spinster Records, the gal-friendly indie label owned by local singer-songwriter Saba. Labelmates Steph Johnson and Joanie Mendenhall will perform at the showcase along with Saba. The event was supposed to be a CD-release event for Saba's new album, but shit happens to broke musicians. It's delayed.

Hot Snakes, currently on foreign soil in the midst of their European Take Over Tour, will next head to Australia in July and finally back to Scandinavia this fall. The band's own Swami Records is finishing up a few hotly anticipated li'l records from the likes of San Diegans Beehive & the Barracudas and The Heartaches, as well as Dan Sartain and Demolition Doll Rods.

Azariah's Dream release their new disc, Touch Me, at Humphrey's Backstage Lounge on May 14. Starting out in 2002 as the Cool Riders, the band formed to back guitarist Sandi Shaner. Azariah's Dream took on its current name with the addition of keyboardist Ann Heller. While the band plays is all original music, the members are also cover-band veterans and even have a side project-Fleetwood Mac tribute band Silver Springs.

Tired of the same crappy bands, the same crappy band posters and cheap beer with bad American names? Try “Popcorn Revolt,” held every second Wednesday at Thrusters Lounge in Mission Beach. It won't improve your suspect taste in beers, and we can't vouch for the poster art, but you will get a multimedia mix of short films, animation and music videos with your live music. Promising newcomers Flying Douglas play on May 11.

Alternative rockers Across the Room will have their song “Alright” included in upcoming British indie film Sparing Five Minute, with a European premier tentatively set for September.

As I Lay Dying's CD-release party at Soma has been moved from June 17 to June 24. Old tickets will be honored the night of the show. Meanwhile, the hard rockers are the cover stars of Hard Music magazine's May issue.

The Listen Local website, the creation of singer-songwriter and tireless local music promoter Cathryn Beeks, is now offering a perk to iPod fans. Free subscriptions are offered for a monthly Podcast featuring an abundance of local artists. http://hometown .aol.com/cathryn beeks/listenlocal.html

North Park residents will want to check out the “Ninth Annual North Park Spring Festival” being held on May 15 between 10 a.m and 6 p.m. Held along University Avenue between 30th and 32nd streets, the event boasts five stages, with a wide variety of music on tap including reggae favorites Tribe of Judah, MC Funk and the folk rock of Derek Duplessie.