LIVIN' ON BLUES POWER LONG BEACH FEST HAS COME A LONG WAY SINCE 1980.

Byline: Phillip Zonkel Staff Writer

Gary Chiachi was one of about 700 people who attended the KLON Blues and Gospel Festival at Long Beach City College's Veterans Stadium in 1980. For the concert, which later was renamed the Long Beach Blues Festival, two flatbed trucks were backed up end to end as a makeshift stage.

The lineup featured more than 15 performers, including such blues greats as Lowell Fulson and Big Joe Turner.

Chiachi, however, couldn't afford the $6 donation at the gate. Instead, he was on the outside looking in.

``I watched the show through the fence,'' says the 49-year-old Lynwood native. Of course, not having the best seat in the house also means he didn't have the best view of the stage. And the sound ``wasn't great.''

Nevertheless, Chiachi didn't fret. He was psyched to take in a performance by guitarist Pee Wee Crayton, a West Coast blues titan.

``In 1980, blues was not at its (popularity) peak among other forms of music,'' Chiachi says. ``There was punk. There was disco. But the blues provided this little refuge for me.''

The blues still provide a sanctuary for Chiachi, but now he gets better seats. Since 1999, Chiachi has been the producer of the blues extravaganza. This year's two-day festival, Saturday and Sunday at the California State University, Long Beach, Athletic Field, is also a milestone.

The music mecca celebrates its 25th year with headliners the Blasters (Saturday) and Buddy Guy (Sunday). Guy is making his eighth appearance in the annual event. Other top draws include Macy Gray, Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmy Dawkins, Leon Russell, Clarence Carter, Solomon Burke and Little Milton and Dave Alvin.

``The Long Beach Blues Festival has come a long way since the first one in 1980 at Veterans Stadium with two flatbed trucks as a makeshift stage,'' says Bill Wasserzieher, the ``Blues Inside'' columnist for Ice, a monthly music magazine. ``The lineup that first year included Big Joe Turner, Lowell Fulson and Pee Wee Crayton - three giants of the blues - but only about 700 fans turned up. Now the festival draws upward of 15,000 each day.''

Twenty-five years ago, Dan Jacobson was KLON's music director and host of ``Blues Afterhours.'' (In August 2002, KLON became KJJZ.) That same year, he turned his radio show over to fellow blues enthusiast Bernie Pearl, who christened it ``Nothin' but the Blues.''

Shortly thereafter, the two tackled starting a festival.

``I always thought there was a niche for it,'' says Jacobson, now editor of Southland Blues magazine. ``It's not going to be the most popular form of music for the largest amount of people, but there's a hard-core (audience) there. If you find them, you can get a pretty good number out there to support it.''

But 700 people wasn't enough to support the show. Jacobson and Pearl convinced the station of their abilities, however, and the station realized the concert's money-making potential.

Over the years, the festival built credibility and was able to attract the likes of Clarence ``Gatemouth'' Brown, Little Milton, Johnny Otis Show, Taj Mahal, Willie Dixon, Albert King, Koko Taylor, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Etta James, B.B. King, Brownie McGhee, Bo Diddley and Otis Rush.

In 1999, Chiachi became the festival's producer (he had been assistant producer since 1993) and began implementing some new ideas.

``I started to bring in artists who were a little more crossover to try to get a wider range of people to come and be exposed to the blues,'' he says. ``That way, it would attract more people who weren't blues fans.''

That year, he booked Al Green, and 17,000 fans showed up. It was the festival's biggest attendance to date. The following year, Chiachi got the Allman Brothers to appear and the crowd reached 20,000, the festival's record attendance for one show.

While he's been criticized by blues purists for watering down the genre, he says other people have called him a purist ``because I haven't put on the bill a lot of these up-and-coming, hot-shot, guitar-playing type of guys.

``I say, 'Let them do the circuit. Let them do the clubs. To sing the blues, you have to live the blues or it's not real to me.

``What they do, they do good,'' he says. ``They're young. They're talented in terms of them being able to play an instrument and sing, but I don't consider them blues. I consider them rockers.''

This year, Chiachi says he again is challenging the audience's expectations of a ``blues'' musician by booking Macy Gray.

``Macy Gray is a stretch. She's the one I'm pushing the envelope on, but I'm trying to get younger people who might not be exposed to the blues,'' he says. ``It's an evolution.

``I'm trying to keep it where it isn't just a bunch of guys wanking away on guitars,'' Chiachi says.

``I'm trying to bring in the soul and r&b crowd that would relate to the Memphis sound that contributed to blues. I'm trying to show that blues came from this and went to this and went to this. Let's see where this fits in.''

25TH ANNIVERSARY LONG BEACH BLUES FESTIVAL

Where: California State University, Long Beach, Athletic Field, Atherton Street between Bellflower Boulevard and Palo Verde Avenue.

When: 11 a.m. to dusk Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets: Single-day advance $42 to $45; $50 at the gate; two-day passes $70 to $75, children 12 and under free. Call [phone] or go to www.kkjz.org.

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Buddy Guy will make his eighth appearance at the Long Beach Blues Festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Guy is scheduled to perform Sunday.