Knott’s, Bucking Trend, Increases Musical Menu : Theme parks: Six Flags Magic Mountain has shaved its lineup of Top 40 acts and Disneyland has all but eliminated live pop, rock, and country music.

Knott’s Berry Farm, bucking a five-year downward trend of presenting live music acts at Southern California theme parks, has started serving up with its famous chicken dinners an expanded series of pop entertainment acts. A total of 19 acts appearing in 58 shows are booked this summer, as many as were booked at Knott’s in all of 1988.

For the first time, rap performers--including Mellow Man Ace and Snap, who appeared Friday at the Good Time Theatre--are performing at the theme park. Young M. C. appears Aug. 30.

Last year, more than 30 million people passed through the turnstiles in Southland theme parks, but this year attendance has, for the most part, either lagged or remained flat. While live music and comedy has always helped to boost attendance, two of three theme parks booking live entertainment now report a cutback.

Six Flags Magic Mountain has shaved its lineup of Top 40 acts by a third over the past five years to “offer quality, not quantity.” In the face of increasing competition for live-music concert-goers, Disneyland has all but eliminated live pop, rock, and country music during this period.

But at Knott’s, the addition of entertainment has been made integral to its summer marketing strategy. “By keeping our entertainment fresh, we have a new ‘product’ we can market every week,” said Joe Meck, vice president of entertainment and operations at Knott’s.

However, Mike Davis, director of entertainment at Disneyland, is feeling the pinch in the Orange County concert market. “It wasn’t really a policy change as much as it was a business decision,” said Davis. “The amount of talent we’re doing now compared to 10 years ago has a lot to do with the growth of the area and the number of concert venues that have opened up, like Irvine Meadows and Pacific Amphitheatre.”

Knott’s, meanwhile, has attracted crowds to its shows (some of which are free with admission to the park) by booking name talent. Director of public relations Stuart Zanville estimates that Jerry Lee Lewis, who played four shows earlier this month, drew about 20,000 customers. Comedian Gallagher, who followed Lewis, attracted about 50,000 spectators over a five-night run as part of the park’s “contemporary series,” which features well-known rock, pop, country, and comedy acts.

Limited seating and limited budgets put constraints on all the parks in determining who will play, but Meck said security also figures into which artist gets to appear at Knott’s.

“The acts draw well-behaved crowds, which is something we foresee beforehand--we keep that in mind when booking the acts,” Meck said “The bottom line is that we take every precaution with regards to security, and we won’t book any kind of act that would cause a problem or wouldn’t draw a well-behaved crowd.”

Rap artists are new to the park, and a departure from the typical types of acts that play there, but Meck feels comfortable presenting rap artists at Knott’s; Mellow Man Ace and Snap “look very clean,” he said. He also cited Young M. C.’s positive, pro-Establishment message as a plus.

“You hear so much about 2 Live Crew,” said Meck, referring to the controversial Miami rap group, “and they look like the complete opposite of Young M. C. (He) doesn’t beat up on society, he doesn’t degrade society. He promotes society.”

Magic Mountain’s concerts, like the teen series at Knott’s, showcases groups vying for Top 40 success; some perform with one or two hits under their belts. “Four or five years ago we had anywhere from 18 to 22 dates a year, but we’ve scaled it considerably down from there to 12 to 15,” said Courtney Simmons, public relations manager.

Meanwhile, at Disneyland name talent is now only done on certain occasions, such as “Grad Night” parties for departing high school seniors, New Year’s Eve, and occasional promotions to attract locals.

The park’s largest concert venue now plays host to a musical stage show and a Dick Tracy stage show that manager of publicity Bob Roth said has been “doing phenomenally well.” The park, however, books name-talent big band jazz acts for weeklong runs through September in its Plaza Gardens.

The Knott’s contemporary series continues with Menudo Saturday and Sunday, Expose Aug. 4 and 5, the Smothers Brothers on Aug. 17 and 18, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers on Aug. 25 and 26, Johnny Cash on Sept. 1 and 3, and Juice Newton on Sept. 2. The Knott’s teen series continues with Tyler Collins and Shalamar on Aug. 3, Paris By Air and Alisha on Aug. 10, and Young M. C. on Aug. 30.

The Magic Mountain concert series concludes with Glenn Medeiros on Aug. 3.

The Disneyland Plaza Gardens series continues today with Ray Anthony and his Orchestra. The New Xavier Cugat Orchestra will play Sunday-Aug. 4, Myron Floren and his Orchestra Aug. 5-11, Lionel Hampton and his Big Band Aug. 12-18, Mickey Finn and his Orchestra Aug. 19-25, Ray McKinley and his Orchestra Aug. 26-Sept. 1, and Louie Bellson and his Big Band Explosion Sept. 2-Sept. 9.