Despite Woes, Promoter Still Hopes to Make Starlight a Hit

Tom Griffin will always remember the summer of 1984 as the season when his dream started to come true. But he hopes he won’t look back on 1985 as the year his dream and his career came apart at the seams.

Griffin, 27, the operator of the Starlight Amphitheatre in Burbank, said he still feels a rush of excitement when he reflects on the joy he felt while standing at the rear of the open-air theater last summer, watching commercial acts performing on the Starlight stage for the first time in five years.

Although the facility was far from full for most of the shows, Griffin, a relative newcomer to the professional concert promotion circuit, thought it would be only a matter of time before he could turn the Starlight into a viable entertainment venue comparable to the Greek Theatre or the Universal Amphitheatre.

He dreamed of presenting not only top music and stage productions, but also local community events that would reflect the culture and character of Burbank.

Failure to Get Financing

But Griffin’s vision began to fade late last year when crucial financial backing he had counted on for the continued operation of the Starlight failed to materialize. In early April, he filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S Bankruptcy Code to allow his firm to repay almost $180,000 in debts while searching for new investors to salvage the operation. So far, the search has not been fruitful.

In addition, the troubled history of the Starlight, which is owned by the City of Burbank, resurfaced in recent weeks to haunt Griffin in his attempts to secure investors. The specter of past censorship came to light again last month when the Supreme Court agreed that the city had acted unlawfully in banning rock concerts during the late 1970s. In addition to the rock group ban, a citizens advisory group in 1983 had instructed another promoter not to book acts that it considered “undesirable.”

And the uneven handling by another production company of a benefit music festival for African relief has further blemished the reputation of the facility because of the “unprofessional” activities of the promoters, Griffin said. That event is scheduled for next weekend at the Starlight. But organizers have repeatedly promised big-name entertainers who have not formally committed themselves to perform.

Continued Optimism

Despite his difficulties, Griffin is optimistic about the future of his enterprises and the Starlight, which can accommodate up to 6,500 spectators. He said that he still hopes to reach investors who can share in his dream and that his plans for the Starlight are even more ambitious, adding that the facility would be ideal for a rehearsal hall or for filming rock videos.

But time is running out.

If Griffin is unable to secure sufficient financing for the Starlight’s future by May 31, he and the city will terminate their contract “by mutual agreement.” Without investors, his production company, Griffin Productions, most likely would be liquidated and he would be personally responsible for at least a portion of the Starlight debt, which he had guaranteed to pay back.

“Yes, it could be said that the Starlight is on my mind 25 hours a day,” Griffin said, managing a slight smile. “At times I think, ‘What an incredible burden this thing is,’ especially with all the publicity that has been going around. But it’s all part of the entertainment industry and part of life. How I deal with it is a reflection of the kind of person I am. Running away is not going to make this any better, so I’m facing the problems head-on.”

Potential Cited

Griffin said he has not felt satisfied with his search for new investors, “but we’re still trying our best to get out there and talk to anyone who will listen. Not many projects have as much potential as the Starlight, even with all the negatives surrounding it. We just need to find the right investors. I still see a dream of a sparkling little theater. And as I walk around, I know it can be done.”

Nowadays, when Griffin walks around the theater, he does it by himself. His 50-member staff, which included his wife, Linda, no longer works with him as it did last year when Griffin presented acts such as music satirist “Weird Al” Yankovic and comedian Howie Mandel. Griffin now answers his own phones in his sparsely furnished office. A poster of the Gap Band, a soul group that headlined the most successful concert last summer, is taped to a wall near drawings of the Starlight.

“Friends of mine had come up to me and said, ‘It’s really too bad, but you’re just getting the brunt of all this bad history,’ ” Griffin said. “One friend told me, ‘The city is responsible for all this trouble at the Starlight. Too bad they can’t get behind it and what’s going on now.’ Folks don’t realize that we’re not bankrupt, we’re reorganizing. Some people still think the city has banned rock ‘n’ roll.”

Dan La Brado, recreation services manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, said that although the city supported Griffin, it was in a difficult position as far as “helping” him.

“We want the amphitheater to go and be successful,” La Brado said. “All Burbank wants that. But right now, there’s nothing we can do. We have to wait and see how Griffin and Griffin Productions do within the industry. The situation is beyond our control. We will support Tom as much as we can, but in the entertainment industry, the bottom line is dollars and cents.”

“Bottom lines” were the furthest things from Griffin’s mind when he and his wife “accidentally” discovered the Starlight during a late summer afternoon in 1983.

‘Manicured and Ready’

“We were taking a walk up here and saw this facility that was locked up,” Griffin recalled. “We hopped the fence, just like everybody else did, and saw this incredibly well-maintained theater that was like a jewel. It wasn’t like a ghost town in the Twilight Zone that was all rusty and abandoned. The grass was freshly mowed and the place was all manicured and ready.”

At the time, the facility was under contract to Eric/Chandler of Chicago, a concert promotion firm that failed to stage any events at the Starlight that year. Eric/Chandler officials blamed adverse publicity and competition from other area concert facilities for their inability to book concerts.

Griffin then was involved mostly with Griffin Productions, which specialized in staging cabaret revues and productions for dinner theaters, convention groups and local small theaters.

Interest Told

Griffin, thinking that it was an opportunity to stage local, community-oriented productions as well as acts by commercial artists who were more widely known, expressed his interest in operating the Starlight to Parks and Recreation Department officials and former Mayor Larry Stamper.

Griffin said he encountered numerous delays before the city decided not to renew Eric/Chandler’s contract. Griffin was awarded a contract to operate the Starlight in March, 1984.

During this period, Griffin said he had not been aware of the troubled past of the Starlight. “I saw only the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “But there was a lot more history I didn’t see, particularly with Cinevision,” the city-authorized promoter in the late 1970s that asserted that the city prevented it from booking acts such as Jackson Browne, Blue Oyster Cult, Al Stewart and Patti Smith at the outdoor arena.

Financial Commitment Cited

While he was negotiating with the city, Griffin said he obtained commitments for financial backing from Dr. Edward McDonald, an entertainment promoter. He said McDonald showed enthusiasm for the project, toured the facility with him and committed in writing to investing $500,000 to $1 million in the operation, “as we saw fit,” Griffin said.

“Without that financing, we would not have gone after the contract as aggressively as we did,” Griffin said. “We even had McDonald checked out by a private investigator, and we know he had the money. He was very encouraging and wanted to see the project work, or so he said.”

In the 1984 summer season, Griffin presented five commercial shows, but only the concert featuring the Gap Band drew a sizable audience. At least two shows had to be canceled when artists could not come to an agreement with Griffin and his representatives. Other shows were canceled because of poor ticket sales.

Need for Time

Griffin said he was unable to put together a financially successful 1984 season at the Starlight because his contract with the city was not made final until March. He also said that turning the Starlight around would take more than one season “in order for all the wounds to heal.”

However, as the operation accumulated more and more debts, Griffin said that he kept appealing to McDonald to help him, but that McDonald, although continuing to promise to do so, never provided any backing. “Finally, late last year, it was obvious that he was not going to honor his commitment,” Griffin said. “McDonald told me that he had all his money tied up with boxing promotion and he didn’t have any funds available for us. Soon after that, we filed the Chapter 11.”

Despite repeated attempts, McDonald could not be reached for comment.

Additional Plans

If Griffin were to secure the proper backing, he said, he would try to put on a mini-season at the Starlight this summer and would make plans to use the facility for other purposes.

“In the off-season, this would be a perfect place for bands to rehearse,” he said. “They could also use this place to film rock videos. There are so many possibilities. Then, after that, we can get the exposure with the groups and start promoting more concerts.”

Despite a less-than-successful season last year, the city renewed its contract with Griffin. It runs through October.

Griffin said that he and the Starlight “could get back on our feet” with about $50,000 to $60,000 for about a six- to eight-month period.

Griffin said he feels “a little battered” by his difficulties. “My wife and I have a hard year,” he explained. “It’s not easy working under this kind of strain, and we’ve both felt it. Luckily, we both know how to deal with it. But if we can’t make a go at it, we will bow out gracefully. She wants to go back to her first love, which is singing and dancing, and I don’t blame her.”

And if the financing fails to come through, Griffin said, he will consider other career options. “I studied music and I can play the piano, so I have that to fall back on,” he said.

But he would rather get the Starlight--and himself--back into comfortable financial shape. “Right now, it seems like my hands are tied and I’m living day to day. But I still have so much hope for this place, and I still have the enthusiasm. And we still intend to pay the creditors. I know with the proper backing we can turn a profit at the Starlight.”