POP MUSIC : Early Birds Disappointed at May Co. Ticket Outlets

Last Sunday, promptly at 10 a.m., tickets for the April 5 Rush concert at the San Diego Sports Arena went on sale at the usual countywide network of Ticketmaster outlets--except at the six local May Co. stores.

The department-store chain refuses to allow its local stores to sell tickets to certain upcoming pop shows on the first day tickets are available. The practice is apparently an effort to keep large crowds of young rock fans from crowding the stores. One industry insider, who asked to remain anonymous, said May Co. doesn’t want the “wrong element” in the stores, especially on the first day of ticket sales, when business is brisk. For example, the Rush show sold 7,000 tickets--slightly more than half the available seats--on the first day.

May Co. Chairman Ed Mangiasico denied that his chain has it in for rock ‘n’ roll.

“Our interest is not in how loud it is, or what type of music it is,” he said. “It has to do only with the fact that we try to control

ticket sales commensurate with our traffic patterns and our own promotional calendar. It has nothing to do with the character of the music, if it’s one kind or another.”

Then to what does he attribute the fact that hard-rock and heavy metal shows appear to be singled out for first-day-of-sale exclusion? Coincidence?

“I guess so,” Mangiasico said.

Ticketmaster President Bob Leonard said he has learned from experience that first-day sales for hard rock and heavy metal concerts are generally taboo at May Co. outlets.

“They haven’t sold tickets to many rock shows that I know of in the last year,” Leonard said, citing the March 30 concert by the Cult at SDSU’s Open Air Theater as another recent example.

May Co.’s apparent anti-rock stance doesn’t rest well with San Diego concert promoters.

“It’s not good for the market,” said David Swift of Avalon Attractions, which is producing both the Cult and Rush shows. “We spend a lot of time and energy trying to educate the public as to where they can get tickets for our concerts, so when six outlets decide not to sell for a particular show, it throws a wrench into this whole process.

“People are used to going to the same outlet time and time again for concert tickets, and when that outlet all of a sudden doesn’t have tickets, it discourages them.”

Ticketmaster’s Leonard is remarkably nonchalant about the whole affair.

“It’s no big deal,” he said. “Sure, we would prefer to have all (24) outlets sell everything, every time, but not everybody is willing to do that.

“Besides, you have to look at the realities. The (rock fans) all go to Tower Records and Mad Jack’s anyway, while May Co. gets huge crowds--for family shows like the circus and the Ice Capades--that won’t even go into record stores.”

Donny Osmond may be making a March 31 appearance at Sea World’s Nautilus Amphitheatre, but that doesn’t mean the marine park is reconsidering its decision to get out of the concert business following an abortive trial series at the 7,000-seat venue in 1988.

Rather, the Osmond double-header--two shows, at 7 and 9 p.m.--is a one-shot deal, a fund-raiser for San Diego’s Trauma Research Education Foundation (TREF).

The foundation’s beneficiaries include six local trauma hospitals and the Life Flight helicopter airlift program. Proceeds from the two Osmond concerts will be used to produce a music video on trauma prevention that will be distributed to San Diego-area high schools.

The video, starring Osmond and a bunch of local high schoolers, will be shot in early April in the “City Streets” section of Sea World.

“Donny is writing a new song to teach the kids about how to be a little safer--the dangers of drinking and driving, what to do if you see someone getting in a bike accident, that sort of thing,” said Sea World publicist Michelle Fortier.

“He’s very involved with the Children’s Hospital in Orange County, where he now lives, and he approached us about doing the concert and the video at Sea World. He’s even bringing in his own production company to shoot it.

“Initially, the video will air only in local high schools, but hopefully, it will eventually be distributed on a national basis.”

Tickets to the March 31 Osmond concerts are $10. The price includes admission to the park, which will remain open until 11 p.m.

LINER NOTES: Foghat has just been booked for a May 6 show at the Bacchanal in Kearny Mesa. It’s the veteran British blues-rock band’s first San Diego appearance since the return of original lead singer-guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, who prior to Foghat’s 1971 formation was in Savoy Brown. . . . Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday for the April 4 appearance by the Dave Edmunds Rock ‘n’ Roll Revue at the California Theater downtown. The revue includes Dion, Graham Parker, Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the Memphis Horns. . . . Best concert bets for the coming week: Peter Murphy with Exene Cervenka, tonight at the California Theater downtown; Earl Thomas Conley, tonight at the Circle D Corral in El Cajon; Johnny Taylor, Thursday at the Bacchanal; Chris Isaak with the Kingbees, Thursday at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach; Mary’s Danish, Friday at the University of California at San Diego’s Triton Pub; the Bus Boys with Robert Vaughn and the Shadows, Saturday at Rio’s in Loma Portal; L.A. Guns, Saturday at Iguanas in Tijuana.