by Mark McDermott
Imagine a summery Sunday late afternoon in Manhattan Beach. You walk the winding path through Polliwog Park, the softening golden light anointing this idyllic scene with a just-lucky-to-be-here kind of feeling. Kids are playing on a sparkling new playground, shrieking with delight, and families are watching their dogs happily rumble through the new dog run. Ducks circle in the glistening little pond below. You smell the waft of food trucks as you approach the amphitheater. And then you see him. A tall man with sideburns wearing a jumpsuit, shaking his hips. You can’t believe your eyes. Elvis is in the park.
Well, he’s not quite Elvis, but a singer named Scot Bruce who looks and sounds uncannily like the man from Tupelo. Such is the magic of the City’s annual Concerts in the Park that anything seems possible, even an Elvis sighting. But the real magic is in all the blankets and lawnchairs spread out on the grass, neighbors, friends and families congregating.
Eric Brinkman, the City of Manhattan Beach’s Cultural Arts Senior Supervisor, said that Elvis’ appearance was one of several highlights at last year’s Concerts In the Park.
“Elvis has this unique ability to kind of pull together multiple generations,” Brinkman said. “So there were young kids and older adults who were all singing in unison to ‘You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog.’ It was a really special moment, all these different generations kind of in fellowship, experiencing this one thing together. And it just felt very unifying and great.”
And this is what the City’s 49-year tradition of concerts at Polliwog Park is all about: community happening. The origins of the music series are a little bit hazy, because the concerts arose from the community itself.
“It gets a little bit funky in terms of what would be considered the very first one,” Brinkman said. “The early incarnations were very kind of DIY and sort of grassroots.”
A couple of years in, the City had formalized Concerts in the Park and were booking bands. In the summer of 1979, a local band no one had heard of managed to get in the lineup for July 22. They sold themselves as a “light jazz” band who played Fleetwood Mac songs. The band was Black Flag, and what ensued was one of the most famous (or infamous) moments in the concerts’ long history (and in South Bay punk history). As the Easy Reader reported at the time, “Black Flag’s ardent fans, with hair in every conceivable (and unconceivable) color, jumped up and down in the traditional punk ‘pogo,’ pelting the band and the nearby crowd with oranges, tomatoes, watermelons, cans, rocks and bottles as the band played their brand of frenetic, anarchistic rock. Lead singer Keith Morris, meanwhile, spewed obscenities while challenging the crowd to fight. Parents quickly collected their children and fled the park.”
This wasn’t exactly what the City had in mind. And while locally beloved bands are always in the mix, as well as occasional bands with some regional drawing power, the Concert in the Park lineups these days have developed a human algorithm of a sort — that is, city staff threading a needle — that balances drawing the right sized crowd with an ongoing sense of good old fashioned musical fun.
“Black Flag was well before my times, but we’ve all heard stories from back in the day,” said Mark Leyman, the City of MB’s Park and Recreation director. “They’d have some big names play out there. Over the last 25 years, I think the evolution has been finding the balance of some of the headline bands with that community feeling.”
It’s a fine line. For example, a few years ago, they booked a Queen tribute band, which seemed a safe enough bet at the time. But what staff failed to realize is the show was timed just as the hit movie “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a Queen biopic, was in theaters. Brinkman called it “a perfect storm situation.” Staff was shocked when 12,000 people showed up for the concert.
“Many,” Brinkman said. “Too many. On average, our crowds range from about 2,500 to around 5,000 so the sweet spot is really 3,500 to 4,000. That’s a really full crowd that’s not trampling over each other and tenable for staff and everybody that’s trying to enjoy the music.”
The event keeps evolving in other ways as well. Last year, a rotating cast of seven food trucks were added, which helped add to the low key festival vibe. City staff is constantly surveying attendees to see which band and what features are well-liked. The food trucks will be back this year.
“You know, in the history of the Concerts in the Park, a lot of people bring their own food,” Brinkman said. “They picnic there, which is a really cool aspect. But we’ve always had food sponsors or some kind of food access, but with the new model of food trucks, it was something that we thought would work really well with the layout of the park. We had a rotating list of food trucks that we worked with, about seven different vendors that were staggered throughout the year. We’re going to stick with that same model, so there’ll be two food trucks on Manhattan Beach Boulevard for each concert this summer.”
And though none of the trucks are serving his favorite meal (a peanut butter sandwich with banana, bacon, and honey), Elvis will be back.
Concerts in the Park are from 5 – 7 p.m Sunday nights at Polliwog Park Amphitheater. June 29 Satin Dollz, July 6 Scot Bruce’s Rockin’ Tribute to Elvis, July 13 Petty Party, July 20 ACME Time Machine, July 27 Savor, August 3 Doobie Doubles, August 10 The History of Pop, August 17 Blue Breeze Band, August 24 The Amplified, August 31 Britain’s Finest. ER
