One of the enigmatic vagaries of springtime in Culver City is how the uncomplicated annual renewal of the Summer Music Festival contract manages to sink, utterly confuse, if not overwhelm, the City Council.
For the 10th consecutive year, it happened again at last night’s City Council meeting.
After 30 minutes of circular arguments that would have made a seasoned spinning top dizzy, the cleanly divided Council voted 3 to 2 to support six concerts instead of four, Mayor Andy Weissman and Councilman Mehaul O’Leary dissenting.
How they got to that point would have confused Chris Columbus and Galileo’s twin brother.
City Manager John Nachbar and entrepreneur Gary Mandell were reasonably confident they had struck a deal to repeat last year’s abbreviated schedule of four Thursday night concerts in the Courtyard of City Hall.
One caveat: If Mr. Mandell’s fundraising is successful, the two men agreed that the menu could be expanded to six. But four remained the likelihood.
All Council members acknowledged that they yearned for the halcyon days of several years ago when City Hall underwrote the entire gig and there were 9 or 10 dates, extending to Labor Day.
Four Is Sufficient
With City Hall’s coffers groaning, Councilperson Megan Sahli-Wells, often the first member to speak, seemed to speak for the majority when she said she was not comfortable “putting forth city money for additional concerts.”
No eyebrows were raised until Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper, expected to be elected to the top post later this month, made an opposing point.
“I would like to see six concerts,” he said. “Four takes away the momentum of the series just as it gets going.”
Since the 4th of July fireworks show at the high school field has been canceled because the turf will be under renovation, an unspent, unassigned $20,000 was available – and where better than on the Summer Music Festival? Mr. Cooper asked.
When Mr. Mandell was summoned to the microphone, he said that he was satisfied with the four-night format. If extra money were offered, he thought it should be channeled toward better-known performers.
Mr. Weissman, resisting the temptation to inch back toward the old schedule, struck a balancing note, as is his wont.
After listening to colleagues bat back and forth the delights of unspent revenue, he interjected:
“It isn’t as if we have extra money.”
Changing Minds
Eventually, Ms. Sahli-Wells, after conferring with Mr. Cooper, seated next to her on the dais, joined his argument for expansion. Jim Clarke, who spent most of his time crunching and clarifying costs, soon linked arms with the Cooper-Sahli-Wells coalition.
Even though City Hall’s commitment now has grown from $7500 to $17,564, Mr. Mandell said he has an undetermined amount of fundraising to do while booking a half-dozen acts for July and August.
Afterward, Mr. Mandell made a thoughtful pause before responding to the question of how he felt about how the new contract just had been massaged and restructured.
He exhaled and said, “I am fine either way,” as he had told the City Council.
“As for the idea of doing more shows – I got an email from John Nachbar asking what it would cost to do more shows. I was prepared to do four.
“Beyond four, now it’s a job” as opposed to an unfettered joy.
“I will do it and help the city, and yes, it does benefit (my business) Boulevard Music,” because, as of last year, the store’s name has been added to the formal title.
“But whether I actually wanted to be the producer of my own festival on a bigtime level, that was not necessarily my goal in life. Otherwise, I would have done it a long time ago.
No Choice
“It kind of happened more as a necessity than anything.”
Mr. Mandell said he still needs to sit down and closely review the dense figures that were blithely bounced around on the dais like a beach ball.
But no, he added, the so-called extra two concerts will not increase fundraising pressure.
Not that the final arrangements have been settled.
Mr. Mandell said he earned $500 for each of last year’s four shows, “which is quite a bit less than what I get as a guitar instructor.”
Sporadically, a higher fee for Mr. Mandell was mentioned during the zag-zig discussions. He would like more, but the fungible numbers remain buried this morning inside verbal clouds.
