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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 1, 1996 -- Behind the scenes and mostly out of sight, Richard Nader has been laboring furiously to get the National Music Foundation's first full summer music series off the ground. The nationally recognized concert promoter has been involved with the foundation as a member of its advisory board since its inception, so when foundation president Gloria Pennington needed someone to head up this summer's effort, she didn't have to go far to find someone up to the task.
With the season's first, big three concerts -- featuring Paul Anka, Kenny Rogers, and Victor Borge -- behind him, however, Nader concedes that in commercial if not artistic terms, the series so far has been a disappointment.
"In the hope to make a statement and an impact and to present the full spectrum of American music, I probably bit off more than I can chew," said Nader, speaking in a phone interview from his office at the center in Lenox last week. "If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have followed Gloria's advice, which was to have eight events, each one comparable to the first three acts we have in this series."
Nader blames a late start for much of the sluggish action at the box office this summer. "I think we actually missed the season by starting as late as we did," he said. "By the time we got the word out it seemed like summer plans were already made by the bulk of the people who visit this area and for the locals, who were already committed to Tanglewood or some of the other cultural tasty bites available around the area."
Regarding ticket prices, which for the first three shows were at a hefty, two-tiered $100 and $40, Nader said, "I received very few complaints," adding affably, "but I also received very few customers." The tickets were priced that high in order to attract the big-name performers Nader wanted to inaugurate the center's debut season. "The only way to get big names is to offer them the best deals for them to make the most money."
Nader said that his own money is backing the series, and thus he incurs the risk if at the end it winds up in the red. "The foundation has provided the hall for me at a favorable exchange, and they've lent their credibility and name to soliciting acts," he explained, adding that any potential profit would be shared between him and the foundation.
This wouldn't be the first time Nader took a risk in the music business. Back in 1969, he proved himself to be something of a marketing visionary when, just two months after Woodstock, he staged the first Fifties rock 'n' roll revival show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Dick Clark -- the chairman of the board of the National Music Foundation -- was one of the people Nader approached at the time to invest in his then unprecedented idea of an oldies revival. Ironically, said Nader, Clark thought it was a "dreadful idea," and wishing him well, he passed up the opportunity to be a part of what was to become a tremendously successful business.
At the time, oldies shows were unknown. Once the Beatles hit in the mid-'60s, artists from the '50s, with a few, rare exceptions like Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry, were shut out of the concert business altogether. Nader says he found Bo Diddley playing a truck-stop bar as a way to pay off a $300 debt he incurred trying to sell used car parts. [See related story below.]
With his successful revival shows -- he says he staged 25 sellout concerts at the Garden between 1969 and 1979, featuring over 200 artists -- Nader made it possible for many vintage performers, particularly black doo-wop groups like the Drifters and the Coasters, to earn their living in the music business once again. His press bio boasts that his oldies revival series "changed the face of the music industry and American culture forever," and he claims that his shows inspired George Lucas to make the movie "American Grafitti" and record companies to re-release their back catalog.
Nader spoke of the magic of the oldies concept. "It takes on a different chemistry when the Coasters and the Shirelles and the Drifters and Chuck Berry and Sha Na Na play together," he said. "It takes on a whole different meaning. It now represents a whole piece of your own life. What I found is the people were standing and cheering and crying and having a wonderful time. But when I heard the tapes of that night's performance, the acts were singing off-key, out of tune, with missed lyrics. But what the people were cheering was not necessarily the artist's performance, but they were cheering their own memories that are associated with that song." It was a lesson, no doubt, that wasn't easily lost on Nader, who to this day promotes oldies shows around the world through his business based on Long Island in Manhasset, N.Y.
Nader got his start in the music business as a teen-ager growing up in Masontown, Penn., a small, coal-mining town of under 5,000, in the southwest corner of the state. His father, a Lebanese immigrant, owned five retail shops in the town, including one with a small record department which Nader managed.
Nader went on to become a disc jockey at the local radio station and later in the Armed Forces radio network in Korea. "This has been my life's work," said Nader, "and this is my opportunity to give back to an industry that has really been terrific to me. I've had the American dream life. It's been absolutely terrific."
At this point, Nader is not yet panicking about the summer. "But we're definitely reevaluating everything," he said. "One question is should I put more money into this, or should we just play the rest of the season out and give major discounts? We're trying to see based on our market research what can be done to improve the soft ticket sales."
Nader isn't discouraged, however. He is already making plans for next summer. The key, he says, is to get corporate sponsorship for the series, to help defray the cost of marketing beyond the immediate area, to potential concertgoers in Boston, Hartford and New York. He would also like to see some more contemporary acts on the bill at the center. He tried to get them this summer, he said, but they were either already booked elsewhere or not interested in "giving up a payday for their fellow artists who may be going into retirement as much as the older, vintage artists who got so much out of the industry already. They're in the fast lane, and they don't see an end to anything, especially their careers."
Having been in the business for so many years, Richard Nader is a fountain of stories about the cast of colorful characters he has met along the way. He seemingly has a story for each and every person he has ever presented on stage. The story he tells of reviving Bo Diddley's career is typical in more ways than one.
"Bo has many times acknowledged me for virtually saving his life and getting him back in the business.We found him working in a truck stop with his former bass player and his niece. I offered him a five-city tour.
"He was so bitter and mean and so nasty on that first date, which was up near here somewhere, maybe Albany, in the winter of '69. He had been so uptight about having been virtually shoved out of the spotlight for so many years that his performance was just downright dreadful. He was doing humor that was off-color, that belonged in some juke-joint. He was moaning about the Rolling Stones recording his song, `Mona.' And he refused to play it. And he was insulting the audience.
"When he came offstage I grabbed him by the vest and shook him and said, `What do you think you're doing? This is a family show.' I told him, `We're playing Buffalo tomorrow. You are to come out and you are to do `Hey, Bo Diddley.' You're not going to say a word. Then you're going to go right into `Bo Diddley.' You're going to then say good evening, and you're going to thank the people for your survival in the music business all these years, and you're going to tell how old you are and that you're celebrating what year in the business, and you're going to thank the Rolling Stones for recording your song, and you're going to sing the song, and then you're going to do "Can't Judge a Book By Its Cover," then you're going to do "Road Runner," and then you're going to get off the stage.'
"Sure enough, the next day he did it exactly the way I requested. The place went crazy. They loved it. He hasn't changed his act since."
[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 1, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.]
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