An R&B; Oasis for the In Crowd

It’s the place where you can see Stevie Wonder, completely unannounced, play a medley of his favorite hits. Or see Chaka Khan, just off the plane from London, singing up on the bandstand.

You might hear Thelma Houston doing “A Natural Woman.” Mick Hucknall crooning “Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Miki Howard and Brenda Russell wailing a blues jam. Earth, Wind & Fire sharing the stage with the Ohio Players.

It’s the club where you expect the unexpected: R&B; Live, L.A.’s best-kept musical secret. From the time it opened its doors in January, R&B; Live has quietly built a reputation as the hip home for a wide variety of music industry insiders, Hollywood celebs, studio execs and sports stars. Operating out of the 20/20 Club in Century City each Wednesday night, R&B; Live has become L.A.’s premiere showcase for African-American pop and R&B; performers.

“If there was a great R&B; variety show on TV, this would be it,” says Benny Medina, senior vice president of A&R; at Warner Bros. Records. “The place has a great vibe. The crowd is very pretty and they come out to parade. But what makes it special is the atmosphere. It feels so intimate. When I saw Stevie Wonder, I felt like I was right in the studio with him.”

The brainchild of management and publicity executive Ramon Hervey and his partner, Bill Hammond, R&B; Live offers three or four different performers each Wednesday. Each performs a mini-set, accompanied by a rotating house band, organized by such all-star musical directors as Eric Gale, Marcus Miller, Phil Upchurch, Freddie Washington and Patrice Rushen.

“We see this as a musical haven for African-American music,” says Hervey. “We wanted to create a intimate place where you could see great music. The key is surprise. We never announce who the guests will be. As far as we’re concerned, everyone is a headliner here. So people come for the rawness and energy in the music, not for a polished show.”

The 650-person capacity club is open to the public, but it has become such a popular industry hangout that it often has a two-to-three week waiting list for table reservations. Many firms, including Warner Bros. and Motown Records and TriStar Pictures, now reserve monthly tables so they can accommodate guests and celebrity visitors.

It’s no wonder the crowds keep coming. The club’s ever-changing cast of top musicians draws a steady flow of celebrities, who range from actors (Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Peter Weller) to sports stars (Darryl Strawberry, Magic Johnson, Mike Tyson and Moses Malone).

“I was there one night and saw Francis Ford Coppola, wandering around, looking for a place to sit,” recalls Motown communications vice president Michael Mitchell. “I’m a big fan, so I asked him if he wanted to sit at our table. So he stuck around and watched the show with us.”

Part of the club’s unique appeal is that it has become an oasis for black entertainers and executives, who appreciate its relaxed atmosphere and relish the rare opportunity to network with peers from other industries. “It’s a great cultural environment,” says Medina. “It’s a place where upscale black professionals can hang out and let loose.”

R&B; Live has also become a hot spot for record labels to create some positive buzz for their artists. Hervey says Columbia Records just called, eager to book Mariah Carey there. Motown recently had Louis Price, one of the label’s most promising artists, play there. “It really helped get the word out about him,” says Mitchell. “People who saw him were talking about him the next day. It started some real momentum for us.”

Hervey and Hammond have plans to eventually establish their own permanent location, where they would run an upscale restaurant and club, loosely based on New York’s Jezebel’s. They’d continue the Wednesday-night jams, but also offer weekend music and comedy entertainment.

“The key thing is that we want to keep the spontaneity we have here,” says Hervey. “We can’t get too predictable.”

In the past, popular clubs have abandoned that very spontaneity--and often lost fickle clubgoers to the hip new joint down the street. “It could happen to us too,” Hervey admits. “But it’s the music that’ll keep us going. If the musicians decide R&B; Live is over, it’ll be over. But as long as it’s a great place for them to play, we’re going to do OK.”

NO BIZ LIKE SHOW BIZ: Remember that nasty little feud between Geffen and Mercury Records that erupted this spring after Geffen accused a Mercury promotion exec of leaking a bootleg tape of a much-anticipated Guns N’ Roses song to several rock radio stations? Geffen initially threatened to take legal action against Mercury unless the label coughed up the inside scoop on how the information was obtained. And indeed we hear Mercury execs have just sent an affidavit to Geffen’s legal department offering an apology--and details about how Mercury staffers had obtained and circulated the bootleg GNR tapes. Geffen insiders say they are now willing to let the matter rest. But many observers, perhaps unschooled in the mysterious mores of the record industry, have been wondering--whatever happened to Doug Burton, the promotion exec whose circulation of the purloined tape almost provoked a war between two major record companies? Was he fired or disciplined by Mercury? Guess again. He was hired away to a new, improved promotion job by . . . SBK Records.

NYMPHOMANIA: Rock bios are usually a yawn. But trust us--you won’t fall asleep reading up on the Nymphs, a much-touted local band led by vocalist Inger Lorre, whose bizarre antics have earned the group considerable notoriety (upset with her Geffen A&R; exec, she urinated on his desk earlier this year). Due Oct. 15, the band’s debut album features a host of unsettling rock cautionary tales. Highlights include the hypnotic “Imitating Angels,” which was inspired by the drug-induced suicide of one of Lorre’s friends, and “Supersonic,” which features a guest shot by Iggy Pop, who reads a poem that calls music “the only thing holy left to our miserable dying civilization.” Lorre, who describes herself in the band bio as a “self-absorbed, out-of-touch alchemist-artist,” offers an acidic description of her teen life: “I was thrown out of five schools. I was beaten every day until I was 18. I turned the amp up to 10. When I was 11, I felt rock ‘n’ roll was my destiny so I told my parents that I didn’t have to go to school anymore. They put me in reform schools and then mental hospitals.” Lorre says she’s found solace in music. “I’m manic-depressive but when I get depressed, instead of putting on some beautiful music, I play the most depressing thing I can find. It’s comforting to know that others are in as much pain as you.”

NEW KIDS: Our Rock Rookies of the Week? The Odds, a Vancouver-based quartet whose new album, “Neopolitan,” is due out next week from Zoo Records. The engaging pop quartet offer such songs as “King of the Heap,” “Love is the Subject” and “Domesticated Blind.” . . . And don’t expect a sophomore slump from the Scottish band Texas. Due out Oct. 8, the group’s new album, “Mother’s Heaven,” features the striking title cut, “In My Heart” and “Dream Hotel.”