Council Opinion Split Over Marley Concert

Members of the Undergraduate Council yesterday said they were pleased with Saturday night's Ziggy Marley concert.

In fact, they were so pleased that they gave the council's executive committee a $35,000 "blank check" to negotiate another concert for next fall.

But while council officers said the concert was a success, some council members said the event may have lost the body thousands of dollars.

"As far as I can tell, financially, we did well," said Council Treasurer Christopher J. Borgen '91 of this weekend's performance. "I'm happy," he said.

Borgen said that although figures will not be available for several days, "preliminary estimates show that we've done well, that there are no big losses."

"The last day of selling tickets was certainly phenomenal," said concert organizer Eugene S. Kim '92. "We sold well over 1000 tickets on Saturday. The concert itself was incredible."

Kim and Borgen agreed that approximately 3000 of the 3400 available tickets were sold.

Borgen added that floor seats were completely sold-out and that the bleacher section was almost filled.

But some council representatives said they disagreed with Kim and Borgen's rosy assesment, saying unsold tickets and tremendous cost overruns may have lost the council thousands of dollars.

"There were a significant number of bleachertickets left, I would have to say 700," saidcouncil member Nhan T. Vu '93, who worked at theadmission stand. "There's no doubt that we lost alot of money. There were a lot of cost overruns onthis project."

Vu said the council paid $600 for last-minuteemergency labor because not enough council membershelped set up before the performance. "I think thefood for the day was $1000," he added.

"There were very few Harvard students there,"Vu said. "Door ticket sales consisted almostmainly of $14 non-Harvard tickets." Vu later addedthat he found an extra 250 tickets to the concert,bringing the number of unsold tickets to almost1000.

Student reactions to the performance werevaried.

Michael E. Minor '92 said he attended theconcert and estimated that the floor was sold-out,and that three-quarters of the bleachers werefilled. But John A. Rubin '92 and Matthew G.Vicinanzo '92 said the floor was only two-thirdsfull, while the bleachers were only one-thirdfilled. They added that much of the audienceconsisted of non-Harvard students.

But most students said they enjoyed the show.

"It was really good, he put on a good show, butit went a little short--a little shorter than Iwould have liked," said Muneer I. Ahmad '93,adding that "the opening band was really bad."

Citing the recent concerts' success, thecouncil in a close vote approved a resolution togive this year's executive committee $35,000 tonegotiate a concert. Marley's performance andJimmy Cliff's performance in the fall werenegotiated through similar arrangements.

"I think there were a couple of good concertsthis spring so I think it would be good to haveone in the fall," said Kim, who won theChairperson's Award for service to the councillast night because of his work negotiatingconcerts.

But Lori L. Outzs '91, former chair of theacademics committee, urged the council not tocontinue pursuing big concerts.

"I think concerts just are not things we shouldbe doing," Outzs said. "We're losing money and Ithink not a lot of Harvard students go.