George Varga | 05.01.2004 09:27

Java Joe's will re-open as a venue by SDSU after closing in OB last year.

There's doubly good news for San Diego music fans in 2004, especially those eager to discover the next star-bound singer-songwriter in our midst.

Java Joe's, the live-music club that helped propel Jewel, Jason Mraz and other gifted young unknowns to prominence, will open Thursday at its new home in Rolando after closing in Ocean Beach late last year. If all goes according to plan, a second Java Joe's ? this one alcohol-free and all ages ? will emerge in North Park by summer.

The bands Vertibird and Plural will perform at Thursday's opening. Vertibird and a guest act will play subsequent Thursdays at the club, which will feature live music every night except Mondays.

Rising troubadour Tristan Prettyman performs this Friday, followed Saturday by the Hatchet Brothers and Jose Sinatra & The Troy Dante Inferno. Sunday nights this month will feature Miff Larecy's Jam Session, while Tuesdays will offer an open blues jam hosted by C.J. Hutchins. Singer-songwriter Tommy Price performs Wednesdays. Music starts at 9 nightly except Sundays, when shows will begin at 6 p.m.

To promote the opening, admission to all Java Joe's shows this month will be free.

Located between San Diego State University and La Mesa at 6344 El Cajon Blvd., Java Joe's will occupy what was previously Kelly's Pub. Escrow for the 21-and-up club is expected to close this week, according to Joe Flammini, the owner and namesake of Java Joe's since its inception in Poway in 1991.

"The short-term goal is to get the college kids from SDSU to come here, because they don't seem to be supporting the place as much as they should," said Flammini, who began booking musical acts into Kelly's several months ago.

"The long-term goal is get more music in here and continue the Java Joe's tradition of supporting singer-songwriters. Starting in the summer, I hope to begin unplugged shows on our back patio."

Flammini opened the original Java Joe's in Poway with his then business-partner, Wayne Price. A word-of-mouth phenomenon, the intimate, all-ages venue soon outgrew it 49-seat capacity, thanks to such leading area singer-songwriters as Lisa Sanders, John Katchur, Steve Poltz, Gregory Page, Dave Howard, Elizabeth Hummel and a very young Jewel.

"Jewel was hired as a waitress and started singing at our open-mike nights. Then she met Steve Poltz, who helped her with her songwriting, and the rest is history," said Flammini, 48, a San Diego native who lives in University Heights.

"She was a great waitress and did better in tips than almost any employee I've had. She was only 16, but I could tell she was on the ball, headstrong and determined to get on stage. And when she did, we all saw why."

Flammini moved Java Joe's to Ocean Beach in mid-1993, where it opened on Newport Avenue at the former site of Rumors Coffeehouse. Capacity tripled to 150, and the all-ages club was often packed for local favorites and such established and rising national acts as Dan Hicks, Tish Hinojosa and The Negro Problem.

"Joe has a knack for making artists feel really special, no matter what their standing is in the music industry," said Cindy Lee Berryhill, who performs Jan. 17 at Java Joe's with her latest band, The Wigbillies.

"The Negro Problem asked me: 'Where do you play in San Diego?' And since Joe makes area artists feel so cool, we tell our peers in other places about him. He's reaped the rewards for treating us so well."

Former Padres third base coach Tim Flannery, also a frequent Java Joe's performer, is equally effusive.

"Joe has been unbelievably good to all the singer-songwriters in San Diego," Flannery said.

"For a lot of years I was afraid to go to Java Joe's, because I knew that's where the musical varsity hung out, and they were the real deal. But I started playing there about eight years ago, and they and Joe welcomed me. It's a real nurturing environment for the kind of stuff I play."

In early 2000, Flammini moved Java Joe's around the corner in Ocean Beach to a site on Bacon Street, where he could provide restaurant service. He also obtained a state liquor license to sell beer and wine, but only after agreeing to not use microphones or amplification of any kind.

Convinced that downtown San Diego would be more welcoming, Flammini sold his Ocean Beach venue in late 2002 and began searching for another location.

He soon discovered downtown sites were beyond his means, and started looking in North Park, Golden Hill and Hillcrest before finding Kelly's Pub. He and his business partner, Michigan-based music aficionado Allan Vanryckeghem, are paying $100,000 for Kelly's, which Flammini plans to remodel in order to improve its potential as a live music venue.

"I got to know Joe over the years and saw his devotion to the music scene and it's a passion to him," said Vanryckeghem, who considers San Diego his second home. "I was drawn to him and the whole scene, and I like his ideas."

The new Java Joe's has a capacity of 143, and Flammini's confident he can make the venue as successful as the previous Java Joe's. He has already stocked the club's jukebox with CDs by Jewel, Mraz, the Rugburns, Vertibird and other Java Joe alums.

"The band CLA kind of broke out of this place, and Jose Sinatra also liked it. He used to frequent it years ago when it was a bar called the Cross Barrel," Flammini said.

"A lot of people I know had played here at one time or another, including Steve Poltz, and they all encouraged me to come check it out."