SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Mary McCaslin's Roundup

September 21, 2008

SNAZZY PRODUCTIONS TURNS 25!

Do you remember your first Snazzy Productions concert? If not, don’t feel alone. It turns out that “Sleepy” John Sandidge doesn’t remember their first concert either. After all, the inaugural Snazzy show took place in 1983. In a conversation last week John said that the first concert featured either Will Strickland at the Kuumbwa in Santa Cruz, Riders in the Sky at the West Abby Theatre (formerly a porno house and now a church) in Soquel, or Jesse Winchester at an outdoor amphitheatre in Scotts Valley.

I spoke with Pat Sandidge, John’s former wife and co-founder of Snazzy, who said that she and John have discussed the matter many times and neither can say for certain who performed at the first Snazzy concert. The last time Jesse Winchester played for them John mentioned in his introduction that Jesse might have been the first performer they presented all those years ago. Jesse marveled that they aren’t certain who the first Snazzy performer was and said they must have records. However, Pat’s house burned in the late 1990s and those records were lost.

John and Pat both grew up in the Los Angeles area. John was born in Santa Monica and grew up in the San Fernando Valley, attending North Hollywood High School. He attended Pierce College to be on the rodeo team, but never became a member of the team because he didn’t have his own horse. He said he has owned as many as eight horses at once, but just not at that time.

He and Pat and their son Ernie moved to Santa Cruz in April of 1977. They had been living in Venice, but that area was becoming increasingly violent and unsafe. John had visited Santa Cruz years earlier when he was in the army and stationed at Fort Ord. He liked what he saw. They came up to take a look at Santa Cruz and then John returned alone to look for a place for them to live. He stayed with a friend, Peter Horak, and while riding in Peter’s car he heard radio station KFAT for the first time. Dj Sully was on the air, John recalled. The combination of W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy and real country music got his immediate attention, and his life was forever changed.

When asked why he got into doing concerts, John mentioned a woman named Mirandi Babitz. He had known her in southern California and she had moved to Santa Cruz before John and Pat moved up here. Mirandi was involved in presenting benefit concerts with Jane Fonda. The first one John was involved with was for Cesear Chavez with David Crosby at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Mirandi had moved back to southern California to Ocean Park, near Santa Monica, and formed Ocean Park Productions with Fonda. John was her assistant here and took care of preparing the sites for the shows, along with many other details. They presented many benefit concerts for various causes with artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Little Feat (their last show with Lowell George) and the only Santa Cruz County appearance of the Grateful Dead.

After those days ended John decided to continue presenting music shows, but on a much smaller and less intense scale. He said that he disliked doing the large shows, especially outdoors, with all of their attendant problems, which very often included the egos of not only big name performers, but those of the partners promoting the shows. The tremendous financial risk coupled with the seemingly endless list of details was just too much for whatever rewards, financial or otherwise, that might come from the endeavor. Out of this decision came Snazzy Productions.

One of the trademarks of Snazzy is its unique logo – a drawing of a folding lawn chair behind a circle with a line through it. John explained that when Snazzy first started Bill Graham Presents had a rule that no bottles, cans or lawn furniture were allowed at their concerts, even the outdoor ones. Artist John Johnson drew the logo. John went on to say that the Snazzy folks never did care about bottles or cans, and that few people got the joke about the lawn chair.

Snazzy is still run by John and Pat, with their son Ernie and his wife Kathy as minority partners. From day one they have been very ably assisted by Tim (“the Doorman”) Adelman and his wife Cheri Adelman, who have been lifelong friends with John and Pat. Kathy has taken a serious interest in Snazzy and will be working with the other partners to expand into children’s concerts in the near future.

Over the years John has pursued many interests, from hosting public affairs and music shows on local public radio stations KAZU, KZSC, KUSP and KKUP, and doing air shifts on commercial stations KHIP and KPIG, to running an antique and collectable shop, Etc. Etc. Etc., with longtime partner Bette Mathieson. John and Bette are still in the antique and collectable business and have a space at the monthly Antique Fair in downtown Santa Cruz. For a brief time a few years ago John worked as a bail bondsman. Snazzy even produced the late Chris Matthews’ play, “A Flag to Fly,” and brought a pro soccer team (the San Jose Earthquakes) to the local area for exhibition games.

John’s career at KPIG started when Laura Ellen and her partner Frank asked him to handle the radio station’s merchandize at various events, such as concerts and the KPIG booth at the Santa Cruz County Fair. He eventually was hired to do air shifts and now hosts KPIG’s popular Sunday morning show, Please Stand By. The precursor of Please Stand By was the Feed and Seed show that John hosted at General Feed and Seed on Sunday mornings during the 1980s. The Feed and Seed show presented live performances by local and national performers, many of whom were playing for Snazzy Productions. It was originally broadcast on KHIP, the radio station that came between KFAT and KPIG. When KHIP’s relatively short run on the air ended, the Feed and Seed Show was broadcast on KUSP until the show ended. Please Stand By is similar in that local and national performers play live over the air, and that many also play for Snazzy Productions. The 499^th Please Stand By show will be celebrated with an extended broadcast from the KPIG parking lot on Sunday, October 12^th. When asked why they are celebrating the 499^th show instead of the 500^th show John answered that Dave Nielsen, who has recorded and engineered the outdoor part of these special broadcasts, is unavailable for the following Sunday’s show.

Since 1983 Snazzy has presented a who’s who of acoustic and Americana performers, including the aforementioned Will Strickland, Jesse Winchester and Riders in the Sky, along with Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider, John Stewart & Buffy Ford, Greg Brown, Fred Eaglesmith, the Austin Lounge Lizards, the Flatlanders, Bruce “Utah” Phillips, Rosalie Sorrels, Slaid Cleaves (who plays for Snazzy on Saturday, October 27^th at the Kuumbwa), the Waifs, John Gorka, Nanci Griffith, Paul Thorne, and others too numerous to mention. Snazzy is responsible, with the help of KPIG and some music programs on the local public stations, for making artists Robert Earl Keen, Todd Snider and Fred Eaglesmith household names around and beyond the Santa Cruz and Monterey areas.

On Friday, October 3^rd Snazzy will celebrate its 25^th year of producing shows with a very special concert at the Henry Mello Center in Watsonville. Robert Earl Keen and Greg Brown will each treat the audience to a rare solo acoustic performance. This is one show that is pretty much guaranteed to sell out, despite economy induced lagging ticket sales that have plagued concert and club bookers in recent times. Part of the proceeds from the October 3^rd concert will go to the Pajaro Valley schools.

At the end of our interview last week I asked John if he had anything to add. He said that he and the Snazzy folks were grateful for all the help over the years from volunteers, and the support from the radio stations and the newspapers. He said that it’s been rewarding to receive positive feedback about starting the shows early (7:30 p.m.) and that he feels fortunate to be involved in a community based business that has survived and grown over time. “It’s been a great ride!”

When asked about the future of Snazzy Productions, John said that his son Ernie and daughter-in-law Kathy, along with their son and daughter, Jake and Makenna, would probably keep the business going – like a family heirloom.

Email Mary McCaslin at roundup@marymccaslin.com.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Snazzy 25^th Anniversary Concert,

with Robert Earl Keen and Greg Brown.

WHEN: Friday, October 3, 7:30 p.m. at

the Henry Mello Center, 250 E. Beach St, Watsonville.

DETAILS: www.snazzyproductions.com or 479-9421.