Sun’s Backers Ready to Take On the Galaxy, Not to Mention the Coach House

For the past 14 years, Gary Folgner has driven off all would-be competitors to remain the dominant force on the Orange County concert-club scene.

But he concedes that won’t work this time. Now he is David, the new guys are Goliath, and a slingshot isn’t much use in the highly competitive music business.

The Sun Theatre in Anaheim, which opens Sept. 2, has twice the capacity of Folgner’s two venues, the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana. It is bankrolled by a huge national catering and venue-management company, Ogden Entertainment.

What’s more, the Sun has hired away Folgner’s entire concert booking department: Ken Phebus, a highly respected talent buyer who was a key part of Folgner’s success, and Lisa Sexton, Phebus’ assistant.

Folgner no longer is in a position to win by flexing muscles, as he did to keep prime acts from playing such past challengers as Peppers Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, Michael’s Supper Club in Dana Point, and Hamptons and the Rhythm Cafe, which occupied the Galaxy site before Folgner bought it.

Folgner, 57, said the Sun already has outbid him for two acts he had hoped to corral: Ten Years After and Robert Palmer. And it has announced a show by Young Dubliners, a popular Los Angeles band that has become a Coach House and Galaxy regular.

But Folgner says his clubs can succeed even if the Sun skims off the cream from the market. He hopes some big acts that have prospered at the Coach House and Galaxy will stick with him out of loyalty. But local bands with proven draws figure to get more prominent weekend bookings to help fill the gaps, and Folgner is about to experiment with six nights of minor league pro wrestling at his two clubs over the next two months.

Folgner said he won’t get into any bidding wars with the Sun Theatre. And, he said, his lower overhead, including rent and staffing costs, will enable him to succeed with a wide array of acts that figure to draw only 300 fans or so--an avenue not open to the Sun, which is hunting rarer, bigger game.

Folgner also has a potentially effective ally in West Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre: Nikki Sweet, who worked 12 years as Phebus’ assistant at the Coach House, is concert director at the 500-capacity Roxy and remains steadfastly loyal to Folgner.

Sweet said the Roxy has been able to land its share of big name acts in a parallel situation, competing against the nearby 1,000-capacity House of Blues. She said she and Folgner will now offer every artist’s agent they talk to a cooperative package deal for dates at the Roxy and Folgner’s venues.

“I look at [the Sun Theatre] as being experimental,� Sweet said. “It could be difficult getting acts that size consistently.�

By booking Dwight Yoakam, one of country music’s biggest stars, the Sun also has sent a warning flare to the 250-seat Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, Southern California’s leading country-music nightclub. Crazy Horse officials had specifically cited Yoakam as an act they would like to book when they relocate in December to a new, 600-capacity room at the Irvine Spectrum center.

“It certainly looks like they’re going to be competition for us,� said Brad “Paco� Miller Jr., a Crazy Horse co-owner. “But it’s good in a way. It’ll help Orange County’s reputation as a market for live music,� which could lead to a steadier flow of talent to all the county’s major venues.

Wayne Shilkret, executive director of the 1,700-seat Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, also sees a positive side to stepped-up competition in the O.C. market: “The more people go to performances, the larger the pool we have to draw from. And there are so many performers out there, I don’t think it’s going to have a negative effect� on Cerritos’ ability to book good pop acts.

Phebus said he expects to vie with Folgner’s venues and the Crazy Horse for acts only occasionally. “If it’s 10% of the time, I’d be surprised.�

Instead, he sees the House of Blues as a more significant rival.

“I expect to be in a competitive situation with them, and I intend to book aggressively,� said Phebus, who, while with Folgner, griped that the House of Blues unfairly tried to restrict the Galaxy from booking or advertising some of the acts that also were playing the House of Blues.

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The House of Blues is formidable: a national concern that runs eight clubs from coast to coast and recently acquired 20 larger concert venues, including the Universal Amphitheatre.

Kevin Morrow, the chain’s senior vice president of entertainment, doesn’t foresee a pitched battle for acts between the West Hollywood HOB, which is mainly a standing-room venue, and the sit-down Sun Theatre.

“I don’t imagine it’s going to impact us in Los Angeles,� he said. “I don’t have enough days in the month right now to take care of all the shows that want to play here.� Morrow said about 15% of advance-ticket purchases for the House of Blues are made in Orange County.

The Sun Theatre could complicate the House of Blues’ plans--still tentative--to expand to Anaheim at the Downtown Disney development in 2001.

Morrow said it would be premature to talk about the prospect of head-to-head competition. “I don’t want to get into that unless it’s a reality.�

Folgner says Phebus left his post of 14 years for a Sun Theatre offer that doubled his old salary, placing him in the six-figure range. Phebus disputed that on Wednesday but said he didn’t want to get into a public tiff with his old boss.

“I had a comfortable position [with Folgner]. Gary gave me all the breathing room in the world. But it wasn’t my club,� he said. “Gary would occasionally make the final call [on booking decisions and other concert policies]. It was his club, his policies. Now the buck stops on my desk. I’m responsible for the booking here.�

Folgner said he will book his clubs himself for the time being but hire a new concert director if expansion plans he has in the works outside of Southern California come through. Folgner recently ceased regular booking at his third club, the Coach House Santa Barbara, saying he will open it only for occasional concerts.