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Booking Britt Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Mike Sturgill, director of programming and production at Britt Festivals, says this time of year can be a "cliffhanger" when it comes to booking headliners for the 2,200-seat venue. Sturgill must balance Britt�s mission of offering a variety of music with its goal of drawing sell-out crowds. Nailing down the festivals� lineup is �always a cliffhanger� for Sturgill By Bill Varble The first act Mike Sturgill ever booked for Britt was jazz saxophonist Grover Washington for the 1995 season. After the deal was done, Washington�s people came back to the fledgling entertainment presenter, then all of 27. "We want more money," they said. "No," he said. "OK," they said. The 27-year-old neophyte exhaled. "That�s cool," he thought. Like a rookie who hits a home run in his first major league at-bat, Sturgill could be forgiven for thinking it�s that easy. It�s not. Booking performers each season for the 2,200-seat Britt hillside is a multilevel balancing act that requires Sturgill, Britt�s director of programming and production, to be part impresario, part fortune-teller and part horse-trader. His year heats up in January and reaches a fever pitch in February, when deals for headliners must be nailed down. As of today, 10 contracts are inked, and a couple dozen remain. "Don�t remind me," Sturgill says. "It�s always a cliffhanger." Britt announces its pop season at the Britt Bash for members March 3. The classical season was announced Nov. 28. Since the 1960s, Britt has grown from a tiny festival presenting classical music by light bulbs strung over the stage to a venue for Natalie Merchant, Bill Cosby and Clint Black. "They�ve really grown compared to even 15 years ago," says Tom Olbrich, a concert presenter for Southern Oregon University. "They�re very successful, very diverse." Last year was Britt�s best ever, with a $300,000 surplus at the end of a $2.2 million season. As a nonprofit, Britt plows the money back into capital improvements, educational activities and an endowment fund. Unlike those old Mickey Rooney movies ("Hey, let�s put on a show!"), it�s usually not simple. Once Sturgill has identified his targets using trade journals and working the phones, faxes, databases and the Internet, he focuses on those willing to talk six months ahead. "If they�re booking two months out, they may not want to talk about summer," he says. Last year, he wanted to book Mary Chapin Carpenter. He heard through the grapevine that singer-songwriter Shawn Colvin would be performing with Carpenter in Seattle in June. "Is that for real?" he asked the manager shared by the singers. It was, and a June 24 date was doable for both. The show came off with Colvin opening and joining Carpenter on-stage. Tickets topped out at $45, and the show sold out easily. Sturgill must constantly ask himself if an agency�s first quote is really the bottom line. Should there be an opening act? Will the artist bring sound and light systems? Will the act draw here? (Country yes, jazz no.) Is it risky to book the artist? Last summer, a country singer with a reputation for canceling shows took a long time to come on-stage, prompting some commotion and catcalls. Will a show tilt the season lineup too much toward one kind of music? "We want a balance," Sturgill says. Last season�s pop schedule was split fairly evenly between pop/rock, jazz, country and folk. Some shows � classical and jazz � are expected to lose money. They�re subsidized by pop and country acts. "If we weren�t a community organization, we probably wouldn�t be doing Dave Brubeck with a big orchestra," Sturgill says, referring to a show last August with the jazz great and Britt�s Chamber Orchestra. Sturgill, 32, saw his first Britt show as a boy in 1974. He helped build the set for "Grease" in 1985. Armed with a bachelor of fine arts degree in theater with an emphasis on sound from Southern Oregon University, he joined Britt in 1995. Britt has several assets in luring talent. It�s on the path of artists heading up and down the West Coast. It can double up the hottest performers for two shows, in effect becoming a 4,400-seat venue. And then there�s the venue itself � a pavilion on the estate of Southern Oregon pioneer and festival namesake Peter Britt. "It�s phenomenal," Olbrich says. "Artists who have played there want to come back." The hardest part of Sturgill�s job? "To not take the easy way out," he says. "Maybe we can get it done today, but it might not be the best for Britt, so you say maybe." The price an entertainer can command is an example of market forces at work. "They know what they are able to make," Sturgill says. An artist�s stock may move up and down. Huey Lewis isn�t the star he was in the 1980s, but he�s a hot ticket at Britt, where he played two nights. Solo, Natalie Merchant may or may not enjoy the success she had with 10,000 Maniacs. The Grateful Dead�s Mickey Hart spent the first half of the 1990s in the only American band consistently filling stadiums, played Britt-size venues with his band early last summer, then stepped back up to bigger venues again with Dead offshoot The Other Ones. Canada�s Cowboy Junkies sold out quickly, but singer-songwriter Richard Thompson played to a half-empty house. The average Britt headliner now costs $28,000. Add the cost of sound and lights (most bands use systems provided by Oregon Stage Lighting and Sound, of Medford), ground transportation, lodging, maybe an opening act and a good bit of administrative overhead, and it�s another $25,000 a show. At an average ticket of $30, Britt would have to sell nearly all its seats to break even. The festival prefers flat deals to percentage arrangements. Britt has pushed the price envelope, with acts such as Bill Cosby and Vince Gill breaking the $50 ticket barrier and beyond. Despite annual howls of protest at rising ticket prices, the most expensive tickets always sell first. Sturgill will admit to keeping a wish list. More than once he hoped he was getting Dolly Parton, only to be told she decided against going on the road that year. Bob Dylan reportedly won�t consider Britt because of its 90-decibel average sound limit. Sturgill says his A-list includes singer-songwriter James Taylor, pop icon Paul Simon, former Dire Straits guitarist Mark Knopfler. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.