3-Day Event for Starving Africans at Starlight Amphitheatre : Burbank Will Host Music Festival for Famine Relief

The troubled Starlight Amphitheatre in Burbank is to be the setting next month of the latest entertainment-industry effort to aid starving Africans, a three-day music festival featuring mostly unknown local talent.

The Burbank City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to allow a newly formed production company, headed by a nostalgia singer and a private investigator, to stage the concerts May 3-5. Tickets, which are scheduled to go on sale Friday at Ticketmaster outlets, will range from $25 for lawn seating to $100 for box seating, prices one of the promoters conceded are “somewhat steep.”

The promoters said 56 artists have been booked to perform at the festival, which will feature country music the first night, rock the second night and gospel and rhythm and blues the third night.

Although the promoters told the Burbank council that there would be a festival of “major big-league talent,” the most prominent names booked so far are the Chambers Brothers, Billy Vera and the Beaters, actresses Danielle Brisebois and Mabel King and a group called Memories of the Drifters, which imitates the 1950s act.

Griffin Productions, the city-authorized operator of the Starlight, which had financial difficulties while attempting to book acts at the facility last summer, is not involved in the benefit. Tom Griffin, director of Griffin Productions, said his firm is contracted only for productions staged during the official summer season, which begins June 1.

The Starlight, which can accommodate up to 6,500 spectators, has been plagued in recent years by troubles ranging from poor ticket sales to efforts by city officials to ban several acts from the facility because they were deemed “disruptive.” Griffin earlier this month filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, a move he said would allow his firm to repay almost $180,000 in debts while searching for new investors to salvage the operation.

But, despite the history of problems at the Starlight, the producers of the benefit concerts said they expect to sell out all three nights and raise as much as $1 million. They said proceeds from the concerts, being staged under the name “You and Me Because We Care,” will go to the Burbank chapter of the American Red Cross, which will pass the money to its national headquarters for its campaign to relieve famine in Africa.

The festival is the brainchild of Michael Evans Boyd, 28, of Burbank, an entertainer who said he was inspired by God to start a crusade to feed starving Africans. Boyd said he had been encouraged by the success of the USA for Africa recording featuring well-known entertainers and by its British counterpart, Band Aid, but that not enough “ordinary people” had become involved in the cause.

“I saw separatism among all the organizations, and I want to unify all the people through emotion,” said Boyd, whose stage name is Mike Magik and whose act is mainly a singing impersonation of 1950s singer Sam Cooke.

“Nobody is out there preaching that this is all of us who have this problem, not just the entertainers,” he said. “Let’s stop putting the whole thing on entertainers and start doing things ourselves.”

Burbank officials said Boyd, who approached them early this year, impressed them with his idea and determination.

“Mike participated in this tree-planting ceremony we had, and he performed a song there which was very well received,” said Dan La Brado, recreation services manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. “He approached us then with this tremendous idea, and that started the wheels rolling.”

Boyd also enlisted the services of a Hollywood private investigator, A. Michael Pascal, who is serving as manager of operations for the concerts.

“We have a staff which has been involved in several areas of the entertainment business, and I have been involved in business,” Pascal said. “So even if we’ve never put on a concert before, we have all the ingredients to put on a good one.”

Pascal said the overhead cost of the concerts would be $225,000. “After we finish paying people like the vendors and a small renumeration to our staff, we hope to turn over between $500,000 and $600,000 to the Red Cross,” he said. He also said a videotape and albums of the event would be made.

The production company posted a $30,000 bond with the city, which is providing standard fire and police protection.

The company is contracting with private companies to provide concessions, stage equipment and parking management.