CIVIL WRONG: The term bomb is...

CIVIL WRONG: The term bomb is a positive one in current street slang, but last week’s “Countdown to Eternity” concert honoring the civil rights struggle was a bomb in the negative sense. Instead of the 10,000 people promoters hoped would come to the outdoor Watts festival featuring Fishbone, MC Lyte, Solomon Burke and the Watts Prophets, only 200 showed up--many of them members of the press who didn’t have to pay the $15 for tickets.

Nonetheless, Kevin Morrow, the talent booker for the House of Blues, which co-sponsored the event with the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, says plans are already being discussed for another attempt next year.

“A lot of festivals start out like that when you’re trying to get sponsorships and get the word out in the community, and this is going to be a building process,” says Morrow. “I was really disappointed at first, but after 30 years of negative press on Watts, it’s just going to take a few years.”