[Harp-L] Huge loss to San Diego Blues

[John Frazer <harmonicajohns@xxxxxxx>]

San Diego harmonica legend, Kenny Schoppmeyer, took his life last weekend.

Kenny was the reason I started playing in the first place. Awesome player,
great bandleader, Excellent singer. Too cool for words.

I am heartbroken.

"Ken Schoppmeyer, RIP King Biscuit <http://www.froggerdogger.com/?p=3435>
by Michael Kinsman on September 1, 2010

Nobody seems to have a good handle on how many people passed through the
King Biscuit Blues Band, which was launched in 1966 by some San Diego kids
who wanted to play real blues.

Some people estimate there were more than 100 members of King Biscuit; some
say 150.  Others say it could total as many as 300 people.

  But Ken Schoppmeyer was always there, from 1966 to 1986. And, during those
years, King Biscuit was the king of the hill of the San Diego blues
community.

Schoppmeyer¹s death came to light Tuesday. He committed suicide in an
Oceanside hotel room over the weekend, but further information is sketchy.
He was 62.

³I¹m just trying to find out the facts myself,² said Paul Cowie, a talented
guitarist who helped shape King Biscuit and was one of those who came and
went with the group. He remained Schoppmeyer¹s best pal.

Schoppmeyer grew up in Clairemont and for some reason took a deep interest
in the blues in the early 1960s when most San Diego kids were listening to
surf guitar and British rock bands.

³He would hear the Rolling Stones do a blues song and he¹d say, ?That¹s not
a blues band,¹² said Mike Fields, a longtime friend. ³It wasn¹t that he
disliked the Rolling Stones, but it was because he didn¹t feel the band was
doing it right. Kenny was a blues man.²

Oceanside filmmaker Mike Sosebee interviewed Schoppmeyer last spring for his
upcoming documentary ³San Diego Gives Me the Blues² that explores the growth
of blues in San Diego over the decades.

In the interview, Schoppmeyer recalls going to a junior high school friend¹s
house, where he heard a 45-rpm version of Howlin¹ Wolf¹s ³Smokestack
Lightning.²

³It was my first real exposure to Chicago blues,² Schoppmeyer said in the
interview. ³There was something about Howlin¹ Wolf. The hairs just came up
on the back of your head. It was really a turning point for me to hear
that.²

Schoppmeyer¹s interest in the blues led him to eventually write Muddy Waters
and Howlin¹ Wolf at Chess Records in Chicago.  Howlin¹ Wolf answered one of
those letters and said he wanted to meet Schoppmeyer when he came back
through town. The meeting eventually did happen.

King Biscuit¹s desire to play blues led the teenagers to open for acts such
as B.B. King, Albert King and Bobby Blue Bland, in San Diego venues that
were filled with African-Americans.

As a bandleader, Schoppmeyer was known as a taskmaster and perfectionist.

³He had a real specific sound he was looking for,² Cowie recalled. ³He
didn¹t always say it in the most tactful way, but he knew what he wanted.²

Schoppmeyer was notorious for going through musicians in King Biscuit.

³Everybody seems to have a story about how they were fired by Kenny,² Fields
said. ³He could be abrasive and wasn¹t as tactful as he might have been, but
if he stepped on your toe to get what he wanted, that¹s the way it was.²

Despite that, Schoppmeyer was widely appreciated for his talent as a
musician and bandleader.  His harmonica playing was a direct link to the
Chicago blues and his voice was pure and powerful.

³Not being as tactful as he could have been is about the worst thing you can
say about him,² Fields said. ³He knew what he wanted and he had an ear. You
can¹t deny that.²

Saxophonist Jonny Viau spent eight years with King Biscuit and thinks that
Schoppmeyer¹s perfectionist attitude kept him from ever being happy.

³He was always finding faults to what he was hearing on stage,² he said. ³It
was likehe couldn¹t match what he was hearing in his head.²

During the life of the band, King Biscuit was one of the biggest local
bands, playing regular weekend gigs to packed houses. In 1984, it was the
first band to place the first Street Scene, Rob Hagey¹s eclectic music and
arts festival.

In addition to being  talented musician, Schoppmeyer was a blues historian.
Through his friendships and band leadership, he guided many people through
their journey through the blues.

Today, most of the blues bands in San Diego either have a former King
Biscuit member in the mix, or they were tutored by them. In that sense,
Schoppmeyer had a dramatic impact on blues in his hometown.

For all his talent, Schoppmeyer rarely toured. He did go to Germany and
South America, as well as a tour through the western U.S., but for the most
part, he stayed close to home. He had a steady job at United Parcel Service
and had family responsibilities that kept him in town.

The past year had been tumultuous for Schoppmeyer. After completing a new CD
with the band, Delta Heat, Schoppmeyer moved to Uruguay and Ecuador with his
wife, Jan, only to grow uneasy in the rural town they had emigrated to. He
returned to the United States, spending some time in the central Washington
town of Chelan at a ranch Cowie shares with his mother.

He recently returned to San Diego. Fields saw him two weeks ago playing with
Delta Heat.

³I was having such a good time, I stayed for three sets,² he said. ³Ken was
in a great mood and we were laughing and just having a great time.²

Last Tuesday, Schoppmeyer attended a birthday dinner for his daughter
Lindsay, with family and friends. ³He joked and talked about upcoming gigs,²
a former wife, Rosemary, said. ³There was no sign that he was anything but
normal and didn¹t seem to be under any distress.²

But days later, the Ken Schoppmeyer obits would be written."