Concert commissioner Claybrooks quits

Citing a lack of support and campus conservation as some of the reasons for his decision, Matthew Claybrooks quietly resigned from his position as Associated Students Inc. concert commissioner on Oct. 20.

Claybrooks said that his problems stemmed from not being able to book concerts in The Pyramid or Carpenter Performing Arts Center on the dates desired and not being able to work well with the people currently holding A.S.I. office positions.

When Claybrooks was brought on as concert commissioner, he said his sole responsibility was to plan big concerts, a role that would fulfill A.S.I. President Carl Kemp's election promises.

Claybrooks said he had worked with a consultant since summer, learning the "ins and outs" of putting together a concert.

"I came in and talked to people, contacted artists, found out how much stuff costs, and put together packages to do the concerts," he said. "But we weren't getting the right cooperation from the people that we needed to.

"I was handicapped because basically our school as a whole is kind of conservative," he said. "They really don't want to rock the boat, they really don't want to do big types of things. To me, that's the basic impression I got with working with different people on campus."

Claybrooks said he studied other campuses and found big concerts at UCLA, USC and San Diego State.

"We have a pyramid, a performing arts center and George Allen Field, why can't we do these concerts?" Claybrooks said. "Basically I found out why we can't. People have to be willing to put the money in.

"In concert promotions, you have to have the money to do the job. There's a huge responsibility. You can make a lot of money, but you have to be willing to up-front the money. If you want to be conservative on that, then you don't want to do big concerts."

LaBelle Foote, A.S.I. administrator, said that this year, the Associated Students Senate allotted $35,000 for the big-concerts budget.

Claybrooks said he found the allotment was less than what was needed to put on a good concert.

"We just didn't have enough money to put it on. You have to pay all these different entities and they're not going on IOUs," he said. Claybrooks said that The Pyramid is not equipped to stage concerts. He said stages, lights and sound systems need to be rented. "The Pyramid was really made to do basketball and sporting events, not concerts," he said.

Claybrooks' big project for the year was to stage a huge spring-break concert that would be a Southern California version of Lollapalooza.

The idea derived from the observation that many students, who could not afford to go anywhere else, were still in the area during spring break, Claybrooks said.

Six big-name artists representing alternative, reggae, hip-hop, and rhythm and blues music were being gathered for the event along with vendors and other sponsors, he said.

"If we couldn't do anything this year but the spring-break thing, I would have been happy because that's where 15,000 to 20,000 students could have come out and saw bands," Claybrooks said.

But Claybrooks said he lost his drive to do this concert when he did not receive the support he wanted. "The big concert was going to cost us a certain amount of money. There was large room to make a profit, but at the same time, they had to put money into it in order to make money," Claybrooks said. "It would have benefited students as a whole because it would have been the only thing of it's kind in Southern California during spring break."

Foote said that the A.S.I. needs to see a successful track record for other concerts before funding a large spring event, but that the event is not necessarily a dead one.

"The spring concert will depend on the success of a concert before that and will determine our capability," she said. "Matt's vision and plan of action before had a lot to do with our current plan of action."

Foote added that Claybrooks was fundamental in establishing the groundwork for organizing concerts.

"Matt has taught us a lot about concerts," she said. "I knew nothing of concerts and Carl had limited knowledge of concerts."

She said that Claybrooks brought in a strong team of players, made some good plans and gave the A.S.I. some guidelines and directions on how to pursue its concerts.

"Matt definitely did do a lot of the hard work as far as the concerts," she said.

Foote said she does not view Claybrooks' resignation as a setback, but rather as part of a series of phases in the grand scheme of things.

"During the campaign, that was the dream phase, the ideal phase, the brainstorming phase," she said. "From the summer on, that was our research phase, ad-learning phase, and now, we know that big concerts are going to happen," Foote said.

"We try, learn and keep trying," she added. "That's normal business. You make a plan of action and continue to make adjustments until your plan of action is successful."

Claybrooks said frustration played a big part in his resignation.

"I came in, I was excited, excitement turned to frustration, frustration turned to anger," he said. "Being a voluntary-staff person, I feel that I deserved a lot more support and I don't feel I got that."

Claybrooks said he hopes the new concert commissioners will be able to assess the situation and figure out a way to make these concert plans a reality.

"I hope that they can do it," he said. "I told them that if they had any questions about the work that I've done thus far, I would be glad to help them because I really do want to see big concerts on campus."

"Matt is among the most gifted and visionary students that we have here and that's the reason why I appointed him in the first place," said A.S.I. President Kemp. "I think that it's unfortunate that we're unable to work together."

Student Jesse Ervin has temporarily replaced Claybrooks as acting concert commissioner in charge of big concerts and Tom Londo is co-commissioner responsible for noon-time concerts.

Kemp said he feels optimistic that the change in hands will not be an obstacle to the A.S.I.'s plans.

"I think we'll be able to achieve our goals of putting on concerts for students and raising money with student money for student projects," he said. "I don't see any setbacks."