Re “Mandell Ruminates in the Murky Afterglow”
Is the 16-year-old Summer Music Festival over, at least in its historic form, as produced by the entrepreneur Gary Mandell?
The answer will not be available until Special Events Coordinator Susan Obrow completes negotiations with Santa Monica’s stylish FM station, KCRW (89.9), whom the City Council has directed her to interview as their blue-ribbon replacement choice.
Not that Mr. Mandell has been fired.
Yet.
Just told to wait outside in the emotional rain while a perceived superior successor is assessed, his 10 years of service swinging, limply, from a suspension bridge.
In their delicate balancing act, the Council has ordered a young demographic of fans for future festivals without designing an explicit roadmap — and without losing their elders, a pairing widely seen as incompatible.
Except for declaring a majority, but not necessarily unanimous preference for developing a “partnership” with KCRW, the City Council, swaying in the wind when confronted by hardline decisions, made little else clear about the past and the future of the festival series. The objective is to supplant Mr. Mandell.
The Council indicated, without saying so outright, that a Mandell-KCRW teaming is the longest shot of all.
“You could bring KCRW in,” Mr. Mandell said, “but would the seniors (who comprise a significant slice of the weekly audience) really dig it? I don’t know. Are they going to want to listen to KCRW?” “
Suddenly, he remembered an Argentine group that appeared last July 22, Los Pinguos. “They kind of fit the bill the Council is talking about,” he said. “The night they appeared, there actually were quite a few people between 25 and 35 years old in the audience.
“But you are not bringing in the 18 to 25-year-olds. They say they are talking about that age group, but that group is very specific. Let’s talk 25 to 35. Or maybe they don’t know what they want?
“The KCRW crowd — those aren’t 18- to 25-year-olds listening to that station. “You know, the Courtyard (of City Hall) is not going to turn into ‘Social Security Becomes Eclectic,’ borrowing from a long-running KCRW morning program.
“The question the City Council has to ask is this:
“You have your disabled group. Your picnic group. Your senior group. Groups that come down just to check out the great guitar players. You’ve got families.
“The question, which group do you want to eliminate?”
(To be continued)
