Second in a series
Re “Mandell Is Upbeat for the Downbeat Tomorrow Evening”
[img]2657|right|Gary Mandell||no_popup[/img]Since City Hall several years ago drove a close-shaving lawnmower over what used to be a roomier budget for the Summer Music Festival that resumes this evening at 7, Gary Mandell has had to become, as he puts it, a hands-on and feet-on producer of the six Thursday performances.
He used to hire the performers, pay them from his allotted amount, introduce them, accept congratulations on another full house in the Courtyard of City Hall, and then go home to sleep the sleep of the sinless.
Nearly all maintenance responsibilities are draped around his slender shoulders these days, starting with tonight’s performance of Andre Thierry and Zydeco Magic to the strains of Cajun music.
For the re-re-re-renamed Culver City’s Boulevard Music Sumer Festival – plugging Mr. Mandell’s day job – City Hall paid him $17,000.
Not to be confused with a salary, which one newspaper did. “If I couldn’t write a letter to correct a misstatement, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself,” said Mr. Mandell, who has been in this corner a number of times.
Mr. Mandell’s letter to the newspaper was not mentioned in the blind correction.
From the $17,000, he had to pay six weeks of performers, cover the maintenance for every concert, and pay for the dinging kinds of expenses that arise throughout each season.
From what was left, he could take Ms. M to dinner, if only one of them were hungry.
(To be continued)
