University of Virginia Library

Concert Competition

As if our friends in the University Union
and the PK-German Dance Society didn't
have enough problems getting first-rate
entertainers on the Grounds, a new one has
surfaced. It is no secret that in recent years
the demand for folk and rock concerts has
increased as the ability of the concert
organizations to attract top talent has waned.
Now CNC Enterprises, an entertainment
coordinating firm from Richmond, has
scheduled a concert featuring Richie Havens
for the first Thursday in April to help fill
that demand.

It is reassuring to see the free enterprise
system working in this area. But on the other
hand we are somewhat upset because CNC
Enterprises, although they apparently are able
to succeed where student organizations have
failed, will take the profits from this concert
back to Richmond. In the past the profits
made by student organizations have in some
way gone to improve some aspect of student
life in Charlottesville.

It would not be fair to simply ban groups
like CNC from using University Hall to stage
concerts. They certainly have a right to use
the place, particularly since they will have to
pay more rent than student groups.

The CNC concert will occur between the
IFC concert with Steppenwolf and the
PK-German Easters concert. Too many
concerts in a period of only a month may
mean poor attendance at the last concert,
sponsored by the beleaguered PK-German
Dance Society. That group, unwilling to face
any further loss, may cancel the Easters
Concert.

If student groups want to regain the
monopoly they once had on concerts at the
University now is the time for them to be
bold and imaginative. For if they cannot do
any better than they have so far this year, we
can easily see a time when only outside
groups will be able to put on concerts. The
University Union and the PK-German Dance
Society will have to work hard to get an
Easters Concert together which will have the
attraction of Richie Havens, a difficult task. If
they do not succeed then the sizeable profits
which were made by student organizations
sponsoring concerts will no longer be there
for the charities, service fraternities, and
student clubs who depended on them for
financial stability.