Post stories offer analysis of local music events

This weekend's Post-Dispatch has two stories offering some analysis and commentary on local music events, and both are worth a look.

First, there's pop music critic Kevin Johnson's article recapping the recent US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival. Based on an interview with Cultural Festivals' executive director Cindy Prost, there are three bits of important news included. With all sales accounted for, the 2006 fest drew a total crowd of 16,000, far more than the 8,000 who atttended last year, but less that the record of 20,000 set in 2002 and thus, less than Prost had hoped for when I spoke to her last week. The other significant news bits are that the festival's agreement with lead sponsor US Bank has not yet been renewed for 2007, and that the event may have to find a new location due to upcoming renovations in Clayton's Shaw Park.

Let's take these in order. The fest's 2006 attendance definitely rebounded strongly from last year, when it bottomed out thanks to terrible weather and a Saturday night headliner (Norman Brown's Summer Storm smooth jazz package) that didn't deliver big crowds despite being allotted two sets. Doubling the attendance of the previous year is a significant achievement, one which can be attributed to better weather, better marketing and booking a better balanced musical lineup. While the weather is out of anyone's control, those business practices than can be continued year to year, regardless of whether or not a major crossover headliner like George Benson (who played to record crowds in 2002) is available, and so overall, the trend looks positive.

I did find it interesting that when asked for her wish list for future festivals, Ms. Prost named Harry Connick Jr. and Diana Krall. Both are fine musicians, and I'd enjoy seeing either one perform at a St. Louis festival. But let's get real here. There are only so many artists who have the crossover potental of Krall, Connick or Benson, and to structure the concept of a festival around the hope that you'll be able to land one of them seems, to me, to be inviting failure in those years when none of those headliners are available.

As for the other news contained in the article, one would hope that US Bank would renew their sponsorship, but if not, there are other corporations that might be persuaded to step up, especially since attendance at the fest increased sharply this year. The potential loss of Shaw Park could be a bigger problem, though as she is quoted in the story, Prost doesn't seem too concerned about the prospect of having to find a new site.

"One thing that might change is the location. Prost says resurfacing work slated for the ballfields at Shaw Park could mean the festival will have to find a new home.

"There is a question of whether we would go back there from the standpoint of would we want to assume liability of replacing the turf. We're looking around, and it's unresolved now," says Prost, who adds that the festival sponsorship with U.S. Bank is up for renewal. If the event relocated, she says, it would remain relatively the same size."

Guess we'll just have to wait and see how these situations continue to develop.

Also of interest in the the weekend P-D is a story about the "Live on The Levee" concert series in which the organizers essentially admit that the headliners they've booked aren't that enticing, but that they think lots of people will show up anyway. I was glad to see that they had added at least one night of music featuring African-American artists, by booking the funk acts Cameo and Morris Day and the Time for Friday, August 4. And it was good to to see the article noting that fans of jazz and country music were both pretty much shut out by the series. However, the organizers' stated hope of averaging 20,000 people per night seems like some mighty wishful thinking to me. We'll know in a couple of months how accurate that prediction really is.