The annual hanging and show trial — in that order — of Music Festival producer Gary Mandell resumed on cue last night. The judges, who had pre-determined the outcome, were three grim-faced ladies, stiffly formal of manner, self-ordained social arbiters who comprised the severely downsized Cultural Affairs Commission.
In their boldest stroke yet against the routinely targeted Mr. Mandell, the ladies of the commission eschewed any hint of drama or emotion in coldly approving the most radical recommendations in the 16-year history of the popular weekly series:
• Reducing this summer’s record-small 8 Thursday evening concerts to 4 for next year.
• Moving the concerts to Sunday afternoons at 4 o’clock for two reasons: To avoid “conflicts” with other previously unacknowledged Thursday night concerts in the Los Angeles area, and also in the hopes of replacing at least some of the aging members of the capacity audiences with younger blood and much darker hair.
• For the remaining four budgeted weeks of concertizing, the commissioners agreed to supplant the already diminished Mr. Mandell, a 35-year concert producer and owner of the Boulevard Music store, with a younger producer who is more hip. Said producer would sign undefined younger acts that hopefully would appeal to the children of commission members and perhaps other junior-agers throughout the Westside.
And who would be selected as the mystery producer?
In the spirit of the vaguely worded third item, Cultural Affairs Commission member Gayle Smashey mystifyingly recused herself before the discussion began. But she broke with tradition in declining to give the reason for removing herself.
Guessing at a Motive
This much is known: She yearns to be a producer herself. In the past, she has competed against Mr. Mandell, and perhaps she sees herself as the mystery producer for next summer with the abstract agenda for undisclosed genres of music at an undetermined location.
(The fifth commissioner, Chair Ronnie Jayne, was absent, traveling out of the country.)
Like a freshman biology class charged with dissecting a frog, the Cultural Affairs Commission has been critically picking apart Mr. Mandell and seeking to constantly recalibrate his hugely successful concert productions in the Courtyard of City Hall for most of the past decade. He took over a failing concert series for the summer of 2000 and quickly converted the event from the gutter to the penthouse. Shortly afterward, the Cultural Affairs Commission was organized. Mr. Mandell has been the No. 1 bullseye for the would-be cultural mavens ever since.
In the funereal tradition of arguing over burial arrangements at the bedside of a sinking patient, his sternest philosophical opponents on the commission have made an art form of loudly lauding him with one hand and unstintingly rebuking him with the other. The rhythms of riposting do not vary from year to year. Only the faces.
The latest undoing of Mr. Mandell was executed with attention to tidiness and a strong accent on irony. Even though his supporters said beforehand that it would be an embarrassing, even humiliating, evening for him, nonetheless Acting Chair Marla Koosed actually invited Mr. Mandell to leave his final-row seat at the outset, step to the lectern and lead the Council Chambers in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mr. Mandell did not testify during the pre-packaged meeting.
After Ms. Smashey pivoted from the meeting, the three surviving commissioners completed their task in less than 25 minutes. Since Marlyn Musicant and Michelle Bernardin formed the subcommittee that made the far-reaching recommendations, that clinched passage since Ms. Koosed was the only other voter, and the ladies were of one mind without the slightest deviation.
True to the critical path of past commissioners, they preferred ambiguity over clarity in criticizing Mr. Mandell’s work and in struggling, unsuccessfully, to describe their replacement intentions. They appeared uncomfortable and unfamiliar with non-Mandell concepts.
Ms. Musicant, who complained about the lack of families at this summer’s series, and Ms. Koosed both indicated — without overtly stating — that each only attended one of this year’s 8 concerts. Ms. Bernardin chose not to reveal whether she was a concertgoer.
Attempting to characterize the restaurateurs and other entrepreneurs whom the commissioners want concertgoers to patronize, Ms. Musicant called the Downtown Business Assn. “the Downtown Business Administration.” Twice — to prove or disprove that the first time was an error.
Speaking of vagueness, at an undetermined date, perhaps around the year’s end, the recommendations of the Cultural Affairs Commission will be handed over to the Redevelopment Agency for a more thorough inspection and final decision.
