Singer/guitarist's pick? Long Beach
By Ryan Ritchie, Special to the Press-Telegram.    Article Launched: 07/06/2007 - 12:00:00 AM PDT

Kern Richards plays Long Beach so often it would be easy to think he lives here. That's fine by him. "I used to live in downtown Long Beach, and I intentionally play there a lot," says Richards, who plays the Pike Restaurant & Bar Saturday. "I prefer Long Beach over any other area in Southern California. That's where the most musical stuff is going on. Supposedly everyone wants to play out in Hollywood and L.A., but as far as Hollywood goes, I could never stand the place."

The 37-year-old guitarist/singer first showed an interest with the six-string instrument at the age of 3 and later joined an Orange County punk band named Pig Children during his formative years. But it wasn't until Richards discovered folk icon Ramblin' Jack Elliott that he put all his efforts into a solo career. After leaving Pig Children, Richards spent nearly a decade away from the stage constructing material and says watching Elliott did more than simply inspire him. "I spent a long time during that period when I was thinking and writing following him (Elliott) around," Richards says. "One time I followed him up to this folk festival - he didn't know me, I just went - and watching him was how I figured out how to finger pick."

Richards rotates between playing solo and with a backing band and says his show Saturday at the Pike will feature bassist Mike Heinle. The singer/songwriter is currently at work on his third full-length disc, but says this weekend's show won't feature any new material. Although the singer is influenced by topical songs by the likes of folk hero Woody Guthrie, Richards applies a different lyrical technique that he describes as "based on loneliness."

Much of his lyrical content deals with accounts of life's hardships, but Richards is quick to point out that not every word that comes out of his Tom Waits-esque voice is a first-person recollection. "I'm not really writing about myself," Richards says. "It's more feeling oriented. It's stuff that could possibly happen to anybody. People take it literally and miss the whole point...I guess it's normal for people to relate everything you say in a song to themselves."

Richards' apprenticeship with Elliott came full circle when the pair ran into each other before one of Elliott's shows in Covina in 2005. Richards showed up to the gig three hours early and ran into Elliott, which turned into the duo sharing dinner and, later that evening, the stage. Richards, who at the time kept his gear in his car because he was playing so often, was prepared when Elliott invited him to perform an impromptu show and says since then the pair has formed a friendly bond. "While we were eating," Richards says, "he asked me if I wanted to open the show for him. It was pretty surreal eating dinner with him at a Mexican restaurant. It sort of happened in slow motion. I started playing with him occasionally after that, and at one of our shows, he heckled me."

Ryan Ritchie is a Long Beach freelance writer.
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KERN RICHARDS, 9 p.m. Saturday, 7/7/07. The Pike Restaurant & Bar, 1836 E. Fourth St., Long Beach. $5. (562) 437-4453 or www.myspace.com/thepike. 21 and over.