Sugar Ray comes home for concert

Young Chang

NEWPORT BEACH -- Rodney Sheppard ate a chocolate-chip cookie at Ruby’s

Sandwich Saloon in Costa Mesa the other day.

It’s tradition that the anti-sandwich guitarist for Sugar Ray should

do this -- walk into a cozily cramped sandwich haven to buy a cookie.

Even as a Corona del Mar High School student, with classmates who are now

his Sugar Ray bandmates, Sheppard always ordered cookies while the rest

of the band ordered sandwiches.

In little ways involving cookies, his life hasn’t changed much since

reaching stardom as part of Sugar Ray.

In other little ways, Sheppard’s life has become what he calls

“fantasy.”

Take his beaten-up pair of Levi’s that have been patched 150 times.

The pair now hangs encased in glass at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.

If you look close enough, you’ll count exactly 150 patches.

On Saturday, Newport Beach’s Hard Rock Cafe will hang and encase a

Gucci outfit Sheppard wore during one of Sugar Ray’s music videos. The

memorabilia collection, which will hang in the foyer of the restaurant,

will also contain front man Mark McGrath’s guitar, autographed photos,

some posters and some surprises.

“Orange County has such a great music scene, and we always like to

celebrate any time a band makes it beyond the county and nationally,”

said Linda Frigerio, general manager of the Hard Rock Cafe at Fashion

Island. “We’re just as star-struck by them as anyone else.”

McGrath (vocals), Newport resident Murphy Karges (bass), Stan Frazier

(drums), DJ Homicide (turntables) and Sheppard will perform at the

invitation-only event, which will be heavily attended by friends and

relatives of the musicians.

“This’ll be the first time a lot of my family members will see the

entire band play,” Sheppard said. “It’s a show that a lot of our aunts

and uncles will come to. And a lot of old friends that have been

supporting the band for 13 years.”

The show is a homecoming of sorts, as the band hasn’t performed in

Newport Beach nor in surrounding cities since its first album, “Lemonade

and Brownies,” debuted in 1995.

Before Lava/Atlantic signed on “Lemonade,” Sugar Ray was called the

Shrinky Dinx -- a name referring to Mattel’s shrinkable plastic toys that

were popular in the 1970s. The band wasn’t allowed to trademark the

preexisting name, so McGrath came up with Sugar Ray -- because he loves

boxing (boxer Sugar Ray Leonard) and because the name sounded Americana.

“Floored,” containing the Billboard-topping track “Fly,” became a

double-platinum bestseller in 1997. “14:59,” the group’s third and

triple-platinum album, produced the hit “Every Morning.”

Their fourth and most recent record, simply titled “Sugar Ray,”

includes “Answer the Phone” and the smash single “When It’s Over.”

Returning now to the city each band member grew up in, Sheppard

becomes retrospective and admits no one expected the fame the band found.

“Deep down, we had our little hopes and dreams, but realistically none

of us are the best musicians, per se,” said Sheppard, who still lives on

the outskirts of Newport Beach near the Orange County Fairgrounds. “We’ve

played at concerts where one person showed up, or no one, and now [we’re

at] the Staples Center with Michael Jackson and it’s crazy.”

Stardom has turned out to be exactly as he suspected. Sheppard, a new

father, has been able to travel the world and even meet his musical

heroes.

Two years ago, he cried “like a baby” after meeting Paul McCartney in

New York.

“Besides my baby being born, it was the most moving thing I ever

experienced,” Sheppard said. “He was such a nice, down-to-earth, friendly

person.”

Meeting musical idols took some getting use to.

And not that Sheppard’s complaining, but so did the whole

encasing-of-clothes business.

“It’s very strange,” Sheppard chuckled. “It’s very surreal, walking by

and seeing the clothes you used to wear.”

* Young Chang writes features. She may be reached at (949) 574-4268 or

by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .