Hermosa summer concert series is rescued
Hermosa’s popular concert-at-the-pier series, which was thrown into limbo by a lack of funding, will continue uninterrupted this summer. Allen Sanford, owner of the highly regarded music venue St. Rocke, stepped in to produce four shows beginning Sunday, Aug. 22.
Sanford stepped in when cash-strapped city officials axed funding for the concert series, as well as the popular St. Patrick’s Day Parade and downtown New Year’s Eve celebration. Sanford agreed to book the acts and seek sponsors to cover the cost.
“It’s important,” he said of the venerable series of concerts, which take place at sunset on some summer Sundays. “It’s one of the things about Hermosa Beach I really love.”
Sanford said he will spend about $35,000 on the series, and has lined up LA Car Guy, Bank of Manhattan, Time Warner and some smaller companies to cover the costs.
Sponsors will receive mention on signs near the stage, will be allowed to set up promotional booths, and will be invited to after-concert parties at St. Rocke on Pacific Coast Highway, where they can bring clients to mingle with the musicians.
Sanford said he has worked hard to book musicians who will please audiences while avoiding attracting huge numbers of largely young people to the Hermosa sands. Last year the city-booked an appearance of Rebelution, a pop reggae band with a huge young following, freaked out many Hermosans.
“It is a very tough situation because on one hand the city does not want a bigger show, and they don’t want to pay the bands, and on the other hand the sponsors want to get as many people as they can, to get the most visibility they can get,” Sanford said.
“It’s a balancing act,” he said. “I didn’t see [the Rebelution show] as a problem, but the style of bands determines what kind of crowd you will have there.”
Rebelution’s fans tend to be 18 to 24 years old, and can be drawn to a show in droves in the age of Facebook and Twitter, he said.
“We have to keep in mind that people coming to the show include 10-year-old kids, people in their 30s, people in their 60s and 70s,” Sanford said. “We’ve got to appeal to everybody.”
Sanford booked both established acts and up-and-coming musicians who have proven their mettle in the pop culture zeitgeist, but have not (at least yet) blown up so huge with the young people that the oldsters will see their beach Rebelutionized.
The series opens Sunday, Aug. 22 with Trevor Hall, an acoustic rock/reggae performer who has toured with Stevie Nix, Steel Pulse and Ziggy Marley. Jeremy Buck & the Bang will open.
On Sunday, Aug. 29 singer-songwriter Tyrone Wells will perform, having recently completed a tour with Sheryl Crow. Wells’ music also has been heard on TV’s “One Tree Hill” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” His opener is Chris Pierce, whose music has been all over TV in a Gap clothing store commercial.
On Sunday, Sept. 12 a godfather of New Orleans jazz and funk, and founder of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, will bring his Big Sam’s Funky Nation to Hermosa.
On Sunday, Sept. 26 Cash’d Out, a Johnny Cash tribute band officially endorsed by the Cash family estate, will play. Sanford is not a big booker of tribute bands, but he said he made an exception for Cash’d Out. ER