Early Morning Kenny Loggins TV Concert Hits a Sour Note

A predawn Kenny Loggins concert for Japanese television earlier this week drew angry, pajama-clad residents to the show’s stage in front of this city’s historic Old Mission.

“Our switchboard lit up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree,” Police Lt. Don Williams said Thursday.

Complaint calls began coming in at 4:49 a.m. Wednesday.

Officers found the stage full of musicians, speakers, electrical generators, lights and cameras--plus a Japanese television crew numbering 75.

“Apparently they were broadcasting a Kenny Loggins concert live by satellite back to Japan,” Williams said. “Without permission.”

Officers had to stretch themselves between ordering the crew to shut down and holding back angry area residents, many of whom came in their nightclothes.

“Understandably, it resembled a lynch mob,” Williams said.

He said the producer, James Okumura of Los Angeles, “kept complaining he was losing millions of dollars and insisting he had all the permits,” Williams said.

Okumura, representing Thirtieth U.S.A. Inc., did apply for permits, Williams said.

Okumura checked “yes” on the forms, which arrived by FAX machine late Tuesday, to a question on noise, but added a disclaimer, “Lip-synching, low volume, no live music,” the lieutenant said.

“He made a point in his conversations with us and with other city departments that the show would be lip-synched, and the whole production wouldn’t create much noise,” Williams said.

Father Virgil Cordano of the mission said he had also been told that the production would be quiet. The priest said he granted permission to use the mission as a backdrop because “it was good for Santa Barbara and good for the mission. . . .”

“I thought I was doing the city of Santa Barbara a favor and spreading the good news to Tokyo,” he said. “I should have looked into it, and I apologize to the people in the area.”

The city attorney’s office will review the matter for possible violation of noise ordinances.