THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210248
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 188 lines
AS ONE OF COUNTRY music's hotter stars, Tim McGraw stood center stage at Little Creek Amphibious Base last Sunday and looked upon several thousand expectant fans.
His album, ``Not A Moment Too Soon,'' sat snugly near the top of Billboard magazine's Top 75 Country albums. His audience, a mix of military personnel and civilians, was gathered on a base more commonly used by amphibious warfare planners or SEAL teams than country music fans.
But when the music started, all guests blended into one happy mix of foot-stompin', hand-clappin' country folk out for nothing more than a rousing good time.
It was everything the show's promoters, the Morale, Welfare & Recreation program, could expect - and everything that Bill Reid, president of Cellar Door Productions of Virginia, had feared.
For months, Reid and the base have feuded quietly over the role of MWR, a well-known military program that for generations has raised money to entertain troops, airmen and sailors the world over in times of war and peace.
MWR money is spent on a wide range of programs. Some may go for simple amenities like athletic equipment or movies, while some may pay for tour buses for sailors in foreign countries.
The department has not bothered private businesses that much because normally its programs are confined to military personnel.
But in recent years, the MWR program - particularly the one at Little Creek - has expanded its role dramatically by booking top-rated musical acts. MWR has built a large stage next to the base's golf course and in doing so become a force in the off-base entertainment industry.
This comes at a time when Reid and his partner, the City of Virginia Beach, are financing a $17.7 million amphitheater now under construction on a site near Princess Anne Park. And it comes as competition for musical acts of all varieties is becoming increasingly more competitive.
Already this year, the base has played host to country stars Billy Ray Cyrus; John Michael Montgomery, whose album is No. 1 on Billboard's charts; and the 103 Jamz Music Festival, a contemporary urban show that brought an estimated 14,000 people to party on the base.
In August, country superstar Clint Black is scheduled to appear, followed in September by a hot, upcoming band called Little Texas.
For Reid, the McGraw concert was further proof that the base is intent on competing in the entertainment business.
And it made him ill with anxiety.
``This is a business I've built up for 15 years,'' Reid said recently. ``I know the market. And I can compete with private business because I think I'm better than they are. But I cannot compete with the federal government.
``If this is legal,'' he added, ``why can't I go to the base and buy my groceries?''
Base officials believe Reid's fears are exaggerated. They say the concert series is intended for the benefit of the region's extended military family. The money for its concerts is not supported directly by tax money, and this year's concert series is limited to nine shows.
But Reid counters that more than tax-supported facilities are at stake. In the music business, Reid said, there are a limited number of acts on tour in any given season.
In order for private companies to have a reasonable chance at making a profit, they need access to all acts. But once an act has played in Hampton Roads, that act's marketability for the year has expired and thus, Reid argues, Little Creek's program is drying up the market.
Last week, it appeared a resolution to the dispute was at hand, and the growing list of notables involved shows just how far Reid and the city have gone to make their case.
In May, Sen. Charles S. Robb wrote Rear Adm. Robert J. Natter, the Navy's chief of legislative affairs at the Pentagon, expressing his concern about the concerts. Tickets for the concerts were being sold through commercial outlets, Robb believed, and admission was open to the public - not just the military.
It's an important distinction. Few would argue against the military's right to provide entertainment for its personnel, and it has largely been limited to the military. Further, entertainment was not allowed to compete with the private sector.
``While I applaud the Navy's efforts to provide quality entertainment to military members and their families, I am concerned that opening attendance to the non-military public goes beyond the mission of the MWR department,'' Robb wrote.
``My office has received numerous complaints that this practice is adversely affecting many business enterprises in the private sector,'' Robb said. ``The use of federal, taxpayer supported facilities to host concerts such as these raises several questions which may not have been considered by the local command.
``These include the loss of tax revenue to the City of Virginia Beach, government liability, security costs and promotional expenses, which may be indirectly supported by the taxpayer,'' Robb wrote.
A letter released last week to Robb from Rear Adm. H.C. McKinney, the deputy chief of Naval Personnel, appears to have done little to settle the issue.
``First, let me assure you that it is not the intent of the base to compete with private enterprise,'' McKinney wrote. ``. . . The practice of allowing (non active-duty personnel) to attend on base concerts is intended to enhance community relations.''
McKinney also noted that fully 60 percent of Virginia Beach residents are eligible to attend the shows through their retired or reserve affiliations with the service. He said the concerts are booked, promoted and put on without tax money.
His letter did offer one important clue to the base's plans for next year.
``. . . starting next year, concerts will not be offered as frequently.'' But it stopped short of saying how many acts would be booked and who would be playing.
Construction of the Virginia Beach amphitheater is under way with the schedule calling for an April 1996 opening. The first show is likely to be the Virginia Symphony.
If the letter was meant to soothe jangled nerves, it apparently failed.
``I still don't think they understand what competition means,'' said Moody E. Stallings Jr., the former state senator and attorney hired by Reid to make the case. ``They are on a government facility using government security and not paying insurance and who knows what other benefits they enjoy.
``I think the military is confused,'' he added. ``It's interesting that they don't try to justify these concerts having any military value. We go back to the same question: Why are they in the concert business?
``Their concert series, which has everything from country music to rap, is the entertainment business. . . . They're in the concert business. I don't care whether they want to justify it or not. I want it to stop being open to the public as an on-going series.
``If they want to have a couple of concerts a year for the sailors, wonderful. But that's not what they're doing. Bring in Bob Hope. Bring in some dancing girls. But don't bring in entertainment of a national nature to compete with local business.
``They have lost their compass somewhere,'' Stallings said. ``No, the compass has fallen off the ship.''
City Councilman W.W. ``Bill'' Harrison Jr., who represents the Lynnhaven borough and who has championed the amphitheater, also has concerns.
``I think they have potentially crossed the line from providing morale for military families when they open them to the general public and advertise them through commercial outlets,'' Harrison said. ``To me that's an unfair competition with private enterprise because they're providing a service that has no military activity whatsoever.''
Virginia Beach has little recourse save complaining. But when it realized that tickets for Little Creek shows were being sold through Ticketron, the national ticket sales company, the city moved to tax the tickets.
``When we saw the size of the entertainment program at Little Creek, we decided to take a look at it,'' said Bobby Vaughan, the city's commissioner of revenue. ``We since have had full cooperation with the Navy.
``We have found the admission tax is applicable. We are now looking at what those receipts are.''
The city's tax would be 10 percent on the face value of the ticket, but Vaughan said he did not have figures to show how much the city might stand to collect by taxing military concerts.
Where all this leads Cellar Door and the city is unclear. Even Bill Reid admits that the issue is oddly unsettled.
``What happens next? All I can say is we love the Navy and we'd like to be in business and have a successful amphitheater,'' Reid said.
``We're just trying to understand why the Navy wants to compete in the private sector. We're trying to understand the Navy's perspective. The Navy is here to preserve and defend the country and to get our troops ready. Those of us in the private sector are here to create businesses and pay taxes so the government can do what it needs to do.
``I don't know why the Navy needs to compete.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos, including color cover, by L. TODD SPENCER
Steve Grossman, a member of a warmup band, tees off on the driving
range near the large stage built for the Navy's concert series.
Country music's Tim McGraw performed before a large, enthusiastic
mix of military personnel and civilians in a concert promoted by the
Navy's Morale, Welfare & Recreation program.
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Construction of the Virginia Beach amphitheater, costing $17.7
million, now is under way with the schedule calling for an April
1996 opening.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
``This is a business I've built up for 15 years. I know the market.
And I can compete with private business because I think I'm better
than they are. But I cannot compete with the federal government,''
said Bill Reid, president of Cellar Door Productions of Virginia.
Photo by L. TODD SPENCER
In 90 degree weather, several thousand fans turned out for the Tim
McGraw concert as they did for Billy Ray Cyrus and John Michael
Montgomery.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH U.S.NAVY CONTRACT CONCERT COMPETITION
CELLAR DOOR PRODUCTIONS U.S. LITTLE CREEK AMPHIBIOUS BASE
AMPHITHEATER
by CNB