He leaps from his seat! In the broad daylight of Pier Avenue, he throws his hands from right to left like a seasoned matador, then slinks his body to the ground to deftly avoid the imaginary bulls raging towards him.
This is how he answered the question of “What was running with the bulls like?”
Thus begins an interview with local ukulele musician Jack Tracy.
“They called us ‘Los Mozos,’” he says with a laugh, referring to what the Spaniards call the young and valiant few who choose to run with the bulls in Pamplona for the San Fermin festival.
It’s a term that aptly describes Tracy. He is youthful, vibrant and undaunted. He is absolutely brimming with exuberance for life, art, and people. It is this exuberance that has put him in the natural place of leading a new effort to bring music ever more into the forefront in the South Bay.
His first challenge: Assembling a profusion of song he hopes will ring out on Thursday nights in Hermosa Beach, and in so doing provide a spark for local businesses and the community itself.
An Early Start
A naturally gifted singer, Tracy did not start out as the performer he would later become.
“That very influential woman chose me,” he says lovingly of stage director and military wife Nellie Hartsoe, who pulled Tracy from the church choir at age 13 and forced him on stage in the lead role of a musical. “She tricked me” he says with a smile.
Hartsoe lived on the military base in Germany where Tracy grew up until the age of 13. She would organize fantastical plays full of magic and whimsy for the military base and local children.
“I lived a childhood that was full of magical delights,” he beams, “Castles and stars and mermaids and fairies and lights and snow and bells and songs.”
He picked up his first ukulele influences by listening to the likes of Tennessee Ernie Ford and Arthur Godfrey on the radio.
At 13, he moved to Colorado Springs, where he spent his high school years before starting his studies in Spanish and Literature at Washington University in St. Louis. He then jumped at the chance to study for a year in Spain.
In Spain, Tracy got his first formal guitar lessons in classical and flamenco guitar and honed his street playing skills by playing with a band of South American and Spanish musicians on the streets of the Plaza Mayor. And it was there that he had a young love affair with a beautiful woman named Gail.
When he returned to the United States, he settled in Denver, Colorado.
For the next 30 years he would continue acting on stage, even once performing at the Kennedy Center. He would set up his own publishing business. He would raise his children. He would write a screenplay. He would see his marriage end.
And while snowed in with his dog Roxy, he would find a new love to bring his heart and soul back to life, back to his merry childhood. Memories remembered, sung by the sweet, cheerful ukulele.
It was also in Denver that he met Harry Tuft, the founder of The Denver Folklore Center. Tuft, along with others, established a folk music tradition in Denver where he brought musicians into the community. It’s that same atmosphere that Tracy seeks to build here in Hermosa Beach.
First Thursdays
Two Years ago, when the construction on Pier Avenue felt as though it would never end, Gum Tree café owner Lori Ford decided to try something new.
The backdrop of grinding jackhammers and yellow caution tape was not particularly inviting to customers. So she set up music on her patio and stayed open a few hours late and encouraged other businesses to do the same.
Ford, who is vice president of business improvement for the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce, says the idea was borne out of necessity.
“I started First Thursdays as a way to save our business,” she says. “…I wanted everyone to stay in business.”
Two years later, the Chamber of Commerce officially sponsors the initiative. On the First Thursday of every month, the shops stay open late from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Many offer special deals on merchandise or food. Gum Tree has an Aussie style barbecue complete with homemade sangria and a henna tattoo artist.
“We wanted to bring families out,” Ford says. “We wanted to bring community out to see all that Hermosa has to offer.”
“We have a beautiful, quiet, fun, beach community right here,” says Matt Bennett, public relations and events manager for the Chamber.
Putting music in the streets is not a foreign concept to the Hermosa community. The Chamber’s signature events are Hermosa Fiesta on Memorial Day and Labor Day, which prominently feature local musicians.
The shops themselves often bring in musicians for special events. Bryce Toney, owner of the eclectic shop Curious likes having music incorporated. “In the past I’ve often had people playing music out here and it’s great,” Toney says.
Jack Tracy has now been tapped as the Chamber member and resident musician in charge of coordinating the music for First Thursdays.
“I feel fortunate that we found somebody who’s willing,” Bennett says. “It gives musicians exposure, gives them a chance to get involved with the community.”
Tracy has helped tie the vibrant local musician community that congregates at places like Suzy’s Bar and Fat Face Fenner’s to the businesses along Pier Avenue.
Rick Busbea, a local musician also known as ‘Kid Rick’ due to his long blond hair and cool fedora, is excited to be included. “That’s the first two times I’ve played down there” says Busbea. “I’ve always wanted to.”
Music is now stationed outside of Paciugo Gelato, Java Man Cafe, and Gum Tree. And people like it.
“Every song that was their favorite, I knew,” says Busbea, pointing to a family sitting under the umbrellas on the patio of Gumtree. “Jimmy Buffet, Jim Croce, Alan Jackson.”
The musicians take time out of their busy schedules to play these venues for free and they don’t accept tips. That’s something that Tracy is firm about for First Thursdays.
“This should be a gift to the community,” he says. “No one should feel like they need to reach into their pockets for this.”
Folk singer Kaye Reznick says First Thursdays allow local musicians to connect in personal way to their larger community.
“There is just something special about playing into the open air in Hermosa,” she says. “We send out something special to us, and let it fall where it will. Each time, we are rewarded by the response we get and the contacts we make.”
Redemption songs
As his interview ends, Tracy, ukulele in hand, walks to the roof top of the 200 Pier Avenue building, where he will be performing for the Chamber of Commerce’s Centennial Celebration. The ocean is strikingly blue and the Pier Avenue renovations that birthed First Thursdays scream with redemption.
For a man who has only lived in Hermosa Beach for a little over a year, he has a lot to celebrate himself. He’s opened his own ukulele business, become a member of the Chamber and made wealth of new friends. Tracy hopes to be a pied piper for leading a local confluence of music and community.
“I am who I appear to be,” he says, with the same glee as he gave in his earlier matador performance. “…I like seeing people be happy together.”
Suzy Husner is a special contributor to the Easy Reader.
