THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 31, 1995 TAG: 9508310426
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
It arrived in the dead of night in a caravan of three flat-bed tractor trailers and a box truck, straight from Knoxville, Tenn. Weighing in at 85 tons, it has enough aluminum in it to build a small office building.
When the 24-man construction crew secures the last bolt early today, the main stage for the American Music Festival will stretch across 134 feet of Oceanfront beach, stand 47 feet high and offer an expansive 4,800 square feet of concert stage.
``It's pretty incredible when you think about it,'' said Bobby Melatti, a production manager for Cellar Door Productions of Virginia, the company promoting the second annual event.
Getting the stage at 5th Street to stay put is every bit as complicated as getting it built in the first place, Melatti said.
The twin demons of beach integrity - wind and waves - have to be stemmed long enough for the three-day event to unfold.
To that end, the city has erected a small sand berm at the water line, drawing excess sand from 2nd Street beach, while pumping additional sand from Rudee Inlet, which filled a little during the near-miss from Hurricane Felix.
The beach from Rudee Inlet to 6th Street was closed Wednesday.
Once the earth movers are finished and the beach is reasonably level, sheets of plywood are laid along the stage's foundation. Then sheets of plastic are put in place to prevent wind erosion.
Then the pre-fabricated aluminum frame is erected, piece by piece, until done.
``If we don't plan for the wind and the surf, then we could be left with the leaning tower of Virginia Beach,'' said Melatti, who was overseeing part of the stage construction.
``The city has opened all its resources to us,'' he added.
``They have bulldozers, dredges, whatever it takes to put back what Felix took away. There will not be a problem with erosion, but this does take a lot of planning and forethought.''
The stage cost $30,000 and is being erected by Event Planning Services of Tidewater, a Virginia Beach-based manpower company hired by Cellar Door.
``It's one of the biggest stages, if not the biggest stage, built on the East Coast this year,'' said Bill Reid, Cellar Door's local president.
As at last year's show, generators will power the concert. But new this year is an additional sound-delay tower to enhance music quality, Reid said.
The acoustic demands for outdoor performances are different than for indoor shows. Outside, the audience is spread over a wide area.
Some people in the back may not hear the sound as quickly as people closer to the stage.
The reason is that when a performer strikes a note, the electronic signal that runs from a microphone or an amplifier reaches each speaker at the same time, regardless of where it is.
But because the speakers are so far apart, the sound that comes from speakers in the front does not reach the audience in the back at the same time as the rear speakers.
The result is that sound waves are out of phase and thus harder to understand for listeners. To overcome the problem, sound engineers incorporate delaying mechanisms in speakers furthest from the stage. If all goes well, when a note is struck, there is a slight delay in the electronic signal reaching the back speakers - a delay that allows the sound traveling from the speakers up front to reach speakers and the people in back at the same time.
``It's what we call `cleaning up the sound,' '' Reid said. ``No matter where you walk, the sound from each speaker will reach you at the same time.'' MEMO: A guide to the festival also is available on the Fun page of Pilot
Online at the World Wide Web address http://www.infi.net/pilot/
ILLUSTRATION: DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
Staff
After a water break, this worker goes back to the job of building
the stage for the American Music Festival. The stage weighs 85 tons,
will stand 47 feet high, stretch over 134 feet of sand, and offer
4,800 square feet of space.
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Today. Festival hours: 5 to 10 p.m. America will perform at 24th
Street Stage at 6:30 p.m.
Friday. Festival hours: 4 to 10 p.m. Three Dog Night, 17th
Street Stage, show time 7 p.m.; Delbert McClinton, 24th Street
Stage, show time 5 p.m.
Saturday. Festival hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Leon Russell, 24th
Street Stage, show time noon; Rare Earth, 17th Street Stage, show
time 6:30 p.m.; Beach Boys, 5th Street Stage, show time 2 p.m.
Sunday. Festival hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Band, 17th Street
Stage, show time 6:30 p.m.; The Rhondells, 24th Street Stage, show
time noon; Sawyer Brown, 5th Street Stage, show time 2 p.m.
Monday. Festival hours: noon to 7 p.m. Kingsmen, 17th Street
Stage, show time noon; Kool and the Gang and the O'Jays, 5th Street
Stage, show time 2 p.m.
Festival satellite parking available at the Pavilion for $3,
which includes shuttle bus to and from the 5th Street Stage.
All shows are free except the Beach Boys, Sawyer Brown and Kool
and The Gang and the O'Jays. Tickets for those are $10 in advance
from Ticketmaster or $12.50 at the gate. Children 12 and under are
free. Some shows will have supporting acts before the main event.
by CNB