Like an unrepentant former spouse suffering from unrequited unlove, certain members of the low-visibility Cultural Affairs Commission appear to have pledged to haunt the entrepreneur Gary Mandell as long as he trods the earth producing concerts in Culver City.
Congenitally unhappy with the popular City Council-certified Summer Concert Series leader, their prickly criticism of Mr. Mandell, like Groundhog Day, surfaces every autumn and/or winter, whether invited or not.
More than a decade ago, Mr. Mandell, widely respected as a music producer and the longtime owner of Boulevard Music, rescued the failing Summer Concert Series while the Cultural Affairs Commission was otherwise engaged.
Certain members of the Commission have been determined to keep the pot boiling every off-season in spite of Mr. Mandell’s acknowledged expertise and success.
Going into last evening’s City Council meeting, with the 19th Summer Concert Series in the City Hall courtyard looming, city staffers, who often have encouraged Mandell rivals to apply, finally surrendered.
After years of advertising for entrepreneurs not named Mandell to replace him, striking out in every instant, they told the Council there no longer was any point in trying to supplant him.
A less creative mind might have been discouraged, especially in later years when Mr. Mandell’s workload has been increased and his remuneration decreased.
Mr. Mandell’s budget has been shrunk to peanut size.
Concert dates have been sliced.
Meanwhile, critics sometimes have spoken of him as if he has offended the law, or at least their law.
This year, staffers got religion. They would not suggest one more time that the Council send out what bureaucrats call a Request for Proposal. Since they never have found a worthy replacement anyway, they decided the years’ long losing streak should end.
All critics, however, did not go quietly into the night.
Marla Koosed, Chair of the Cultural Affairs Commission, said she could not believe she was the only community member who reported to Council Chambers last evening to comment on Mr. Mandell and the Summer Concert Series.
Ms. Koosed said she could not understand why a request for a fresh batch of Mandell competitors had not been recommended.
Ms. Koosed said she wondered – once again – after 18 consecutive years of Thursday night concerts if it it might be time to try, oh, say, Sunday afternoons.
This notion has been fruitlessly floated a number of times in recent years.
Perhaps most troubling to her of all, Ms. Koosed wondered why the Cultural Affairs Commission had not been consulted about the planning for the next Summer Concert Series.
Parenthetically, Asst. City Manager Martin Cole later explained that the Cultural Affairs Commission is “in transition” this calendar year. By January, he said, the Commission will resume its regular agenda.
Meanwhile, the City Council voted 5-0 to negotiate a new season of Mandell concerts.
