Apr 8, 2008 8:00 AM

The Reprise of Ash Grove

Once upon a time in the late '50s and '60s in the land of West Hollywood, there stood an idyllic folk-music club called the Ash Grove.

An unassuming venue on Melrose Avenue, the Ash Grove eventually became the epicenter of a California folk music earthquake that radiated shock waves throughout the country, felt by devotees of folk-rock, the blues, psychedelia, country-rock and even explosive punk.

Ed Pearl, a UCLA alumnus who opened the Ash Grove in 1958, brought in top music figures, mentored up-and-comers and created a place where the broadest range of American folk cultures, from blues to bluegrass, Cajun to comedy, could thrive.

"I knew ... that there was a folk club in Los Angeles called the Ash Grove," reminisced Bob Dylan in his personal history, "Chronicles: Volume One." "I'd seen posters of folk shows at the Ash Grove and used to dream about playing there."

"The Ash Grove brought together people that never, ever would have gotten together before," Pearl recalled. "Every crazy [music-lover] from the '60s walked into the place, whatever their ideology — hillbillies, black people, Latinos, hippies ... ready to learn and live together." Pete Seeger, Taj Mahal, Roger McGuinn, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters, Country Joe McDonald and many others pinpointed the Ash Grove as instrumental to their then-fledgling careers.

The club became a microcosm of perhaps the most dynamic era of the century, Pearl said, mixing people of different ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations and political beliefs. He launched a second Ash Grove on the Santa Monica Pier in 1996, but sadly, it only lasted a year.

In 1973, after 15 years, the fairytale came to a blazing end when an arson fire reduced the West Hollywood club to little more than ashes. It was the third such fire. After the first suspicious fire in 1970, Canned Heat, the Byrds and Taj Mahal headlined a concert to raise funds to rebuild the club. But not this time. Today, the Improv Comedy Club now occupies the site.

However, the venue's legacy as a pioneering musical and political crossroads lives on. On April 18-20, the Ash Grove will celebrate its golden anniversary with concerts and campus workshops, courtesy of UCLA Live and the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Department of Ethnomusicology, and supported by the Evelyn & Mo Ostin Endowment for the Performing Arts. The events will bring together a small army of fabled singers, pickers, producers, writers, scholars and even Dr. Demento (aka Barry Hansen), a former Ash Grove employee.

"The Ash Grove 50th Anniversary: Legend and Legacy" will unfold in two UCLA Live concerts, each with a different lineup, April 18 and 19 at 8 p.m. in Royce Hall. Among those performing will be Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Culture Clash, John Hammond, Michelle Shocked, Holly Near and the Watts Prophets. Other campus events will offer free performances, workshops and conversations with musicians, professors, songwriters and poets.

The celebration will be more than just a nostalgia trip, noted Ethnomusicology Professor Anthony Seeger, director of the Ethnomusicology Archive and a key festival organizer, along with Pearl. It's also meant to "introduce the club and its ideals to a new generation," Seeger explained.

And UCLA is the ideal place to celebrate because its bonds with Pearl run deep. In his student days, Pearl organized landmark concerts as a member of UCLA's Folk Song & Dance Club. This year, the Ethnomusicology Department's Regents' Lecturer is legendary musician/folklorist Mike Seeger, Pete Seeger's half-brother and Anthony Seeger's half-nephew. He'll play at the April 18 UCLA Live concert and an April 19 workshop.

For UCLA Live tickets, go to www.uclalive.org. For information on other events, go to www.ashgrovemusic.com/Pages/UCLA_event.htm. Programs and locations are subject to change.

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