Burbank Will Be Listening : It’s Show Time for Equidome

Following the spirit of one of its opening act’s hit songs, “The Show Must Go On,” the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Griffith Park tonight launches a concert series marked by conflict, cancellations and planning difficulties.

Despite efforts by a group of Burbank residents who live near the center to block the concerts and the recent withdrawal of the series’ biggest attraction, the season will begin with a 7 p.m. performance by the rock band Three Dog Night at the Equidome, center officials said.

Burbank city officials said Friday that they will monitor the concert to determine whether the music is too loud. City Councilman Michael Hastings said he will stand outside the equestrian center with a noise meter, and will have center officials turn down the sound if the music disturbs residents.

“We haven’t heard the sound level yet, but we have been told by the center officials that, if the music is too high, they would turn it down,” Hastings said. “You can’t ask for much more than that.”

The latest setback for the concert series came last week when soul singer James Brown canceled his July 27 concert. Center officials said they did not know why Brown pulled out. Brown could not be reached for comment Friday.

Country singer Ronnie Milsap, who was scheduled to perform in August, had previously canceled his appearence, citing scheduling conflicts.

The concert series, which was designed to bring a more diverse audience to the financially troubled equestrian center by combining professional polo matches with concerts, was delayed for two weeks because of conflicts between residents and center officials.

Residents had complained to city officials in Burbank and Los Angeles for several weeks that the concerts would disturb their neighborhoods and that the music events fall outside the scope of the equestrian center.

The center, on the Los Angeles side of the Los Angeles-Burbank border, is owned by the City of Los Angeles.

Each concert will be preceded by a barbecue and followed by a polo match.

Other scheduled performances are by country group Sawyer Brown on July 20 and by the Wolfman Jack Show on Aug. 3, featuring the 1950s groups the Platters, the Diamonds and Little Anthony.

Series promoters said Friday that, in place of James Brown, they will have a Beatles night, featuring a tribute to the Beatles, the cast of the Broadway show “Beatlemania” and actors from Dick Clark’s television movie “Birth of the Beatles.”

Syd di Craiker, spokesman for the center, said an Aug. 10 concert has been added, featuring jazz group Tower of Power and singer Frank Stallone. He said the center is trying to arrange a Beach Boys concert in August to benefit Ahead With Horses, a nonprofit organization that works with severely handicapped children.

“We really want this thing to work and we want to work together with the concerned, responsible leaders of the community,” Di Craiker said.

‘Phone Ringing Off Hook’

Di Craiker would not disclose figures on advance ticket sales for the series, but he said “the phone has been ringing off the hook” all week since the broadcast of radio spots about the concerts.

Geoffrey Sindon, an attorney who lives near the center, said he and his neighbors are not happy about the concerts. Center director Albert Garcia has antagonized the neighborhood by staging many noisy events such as rodeos, he said.

“He says he is interested in being a real good neighbor, but he never does anything,” Sindon said. “It would not be difficult to get some kind of compromise. The center would benefit with support from the neighborhood.”

The center has been trying to recover from financial problems.

Center officials last year filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The center is also involved in a multimillion-dollar legal battle with its principal lender, Gibraltar Savings of Beverly Hills, and has fallen thousands of dollars behind in tax payments to the state and in rental payments to the City of Los Angeles.