LAKE COUNTY — When Bruce Latimer moved from Pacifica to Blue Lakes to retire in 2007, he didn”t dare leave behind the award-winning weekly live TV show he had put on for more than 18 years.
Now in its 22nd year, the “Bruce Latimer Show” has brought some of the best national and local musicians together every week on Pacifica TV Channel 26 and on the web.
Latimer thrives on the live TV format. “It”s pretty amazing,” he said. “A lot of people don”t mess with that ? you know, everything has to be perfect. You”ve got to know every place you sit or look. I”m not into that. I”m into the spontaneity of the deal.”
That love of live TV has kept Latimer and his wife of 41 years, Sandra, traveling every Wednesday down to Pacifica to put on a live broadcast at the Pacifica TV station that night.
Having put on more than 900 shows with more than 5,000 guests, it is believed to be one of the longest-running live musical variety TV shows in the country and is put on each week by an all-volunteer team. Latimer estimated some 1.5 million TV viewers watch his show every week. He said the show”s presence on the web is all over the world.
“They do watch from around the world because I get emails and stuff to know,” said Latimer, citing emails he”s received from people in South Africa, Kenya, England and Japan.
Latimer said his goal when starting his show in 1989 was to give all musicians a format to come and play. “It”s certainly mostly musical but I do have comedians. I do have authors. Generally, the authors have something to do with some musical timeframe in history. The show is musical/variety,” he said.
When hosting his show, Latimer, 65, comes off as kind of a beatnik; a sort of free-styling poetic artist who is passionate about what he is doing.
“That is my timeframe so I carry that baggage,” he said. “It helps me relate to people that are in my timeframe and then also, having all the younger folks on, it helps me to get an idea of what is going on and how these folks are making it through the world.”
Latimer was inspired to do the show after years as a musician and writer.
“Music was a large part of my life,” he said. “I was in a band but I was not really a musician. I did it for the love of it, not to make money. I started off early as a writer. I thought I was a writer. I wrote a couple three-act plays. I realized that anyone could write was I was writing; sort of social commentary trash.”
Each week, Latimer writes the skeleton scripts for the show. “We use a script for the show so that all the camera people?three cameras, the director, technical director, audio person, floor manager?all kind of have an idea of where we”re going. It”s a sort of sculptured-but-unsculptured hour of live television. And that”s really cool.”
Latimer began the show when he was living in Pacifica, a place his family called home for 26 years. During his time there, he worked as the supervisor of the Colma Cemetery.
Some of the things that attracted the Latimers to Lake County from Pacifica were the clean air and the heat. “I”m a heat man,” Latimer said, adding that he also loves the winters here.
But there are aspects of Lake County life he is still getting used to. “Down there, any city I go to, people know me because I”ve been doing the show for so long,” he said. “Here, it”s a little different. I”m still easing my way into the social community, so to speak. And that”s fine. I”m OK with that.”
At the beginning, it wasn”t easy for Latimer to do his show. He has booked the show on his own from day one. “In the very beginning, I would go to every dive, every bar, every concert and really put my work in to get people,” he said. Over time, and as word-of-mouth spread, booking musical acts and guests has become much easier, he said.
There are many parts of the show that he enjoys, he said.
“Just the idea, the genesis of doing it, and being the only person in America that has done it this long, and doing it on a fairly consistent quality basis, is pretty darn cool,” he said. “As I”ve gone on and gotten to know some of these entertainers, you have a relationship with them. You know them as human beings.”
Latimer said he enjoys providing local college students the opportunity to be a part of the show”s all-volunteer crew each week. “I really enjoy that it”s a training ground for people that are looking to really learn something not out of a book,” he said. “It”s wonderful to watch interns feel that they”re doing something great. That”s very important.”
Latimer has won many awards for the show over its 22-year run. The show has earned the Western Access Video Excellence (WAVE) Award numerous times. “We”ve won about 10 or 12 or 13 of those,” he said. “It”s for most of the western states of America.”
After all these years, Latimer intends to keep the show going until it is the right time to stop. “Most of my friends that have said so say, ?Well, why don”t you go to 1,000 (shows)?” That”s a long time. When it”s done, that”s the best answer.”
The “Bruce Latimer Show” can be seen live on Pacifica Coast Television Channel 26 Wednesday nights at 9 p.m., with repeats on Friday nights at 10 p.m. and Sundays at 9:30 p.m., or online at www.pctv26.com Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14.
