Spin Doctors Concert Lost Money

The two financiers of the first Undergraduate Council-sponsored concert of the semester said yesterday that the event did not make money.

Michael P. Beys '94, the council's newly-elected treasurer, and Scott B. Logan '94 said they expect to lose approximately $80 on Wednesday night's Spin Doctors concert due to a smaller than expected crowd and a last minute price hike by the band.

"It was a smaller crowd than we anticipated," said Mike Tallon, the manager of the Black Rose, the bar where the concert was held. "We were figuring on filling up near our capacity."

Not a Full House

Tallon estimated that 280 students attended last Wednesday's event. The bar can hold up to 379 customers.

Beys said only 252 individuals purchased a $7 ticket.

Although some of the remaining 28 were let in for free, the rest were admitted on a promise of future payment.

Beys said it is highly unlikely that the concert will turn a profit because he and Logan do not expect to recover all the money owed to them.

"If we collected on everything, we stand to make a profit. But we won't," Beys said.

Hoped For Profit

Logan said he and Beys approached the concert as a non-profit venture, even though financial success seemed likely.

"When we originally budgeted for it, we thought it might be profitable," Logan said. "We thought we would give the profits to Mather House or the Undergraduate Council."

Tallon said he did not think Beys was trying to make a profit off the venture.

"My impression was that it was a Harvard College gig, and I don't recall it being a money thing," Tallon said.

Beys and Logan put up $1787 for the event. Besides the $1200 fee for the funk and metal band, the show required a sound system, invitations, catering, supplies and dinner for the members of the band.

Beys said that the Spin Doctors pulled a last-minute coup by raising their price from $1000 to $1200, threatening to cancel the concert if Beys did not pay them.

Beys said that although the band changed the terms of the contract after it was signed, he was stiff-armed into paying them.

The band unexpectedly demanded towels, cigarettes, potato chips, fruit baskets, blank tape cassettes, batteries, dinner and taxi-fare, according to Logan.

Concert a Success

Despite the unanticipated haggling, the backers said the concert was a success.

"It was a relatively inexpensive way for us to throw a very good party," Logan said.

"Since we weren't working on this as a true business venture, we were not concerned with an avalanche of ticket sales, but with getting people we knew would enjoy the Spin Doctors at a very low price," Logan said.

Logan said the backers publicized the concert through "word-of-mouth."

"We relied on 25 people to have a broad enough base of friends to get the word out all over campus," Logan said. "We worked very hard, calling anyone we knew."

Band Met Demand

Beys said he undertook the project to silence those who complained that the council could not bring a band to Harvard.

"My dream was to bring a band to Harvard as a service to the students. I wanted to have a string of three or four little bands by the end of the year."

Beys said he wants to brings three or four more bands to Harvard this semester, such as Blues Traveler and Dryer Brothers.

But he added that in the future he would avoid any personal stake in the outcome.

"It would have nothing to do with my checking account. If I had the time, I would have put the UC's money on the line [for the Spin Doctors concert]," Beys said.