Backstage Spotlight™
Concert Promoter Gina Zamparelli
Gina Zamparelli has worked in the live concert
industry for 23 years and was the first woman in the Los Angeles market to produce
concerts with national-level artists. Shows she produced at the legendary Perkins Palace
are still talked about in rock circles, including a Guns ‘n’ Roses show credited
amongst GNR fans as being the one that put that band on the map. Gina is active in
historic preservation and has been a theater financial consultant for 13 theaters around
the US. She heads Friends of the Raymond Theatre, a non-profit group dedicated to saving
the former vaudeville theater (built in 1921) that was known in the 80’s &
90’s as the concert venue Perkins Palace (which Gina’s company managed for more
than a decade). Once her preservation work with the Raymond Theatre comes to a close, she
will start producing concerts in LA once again.
MBADC: I read that being a woman, at one point you were such a novelty in the
business, people would line up at the box office asking for you and there were so many of
them you couldn’t work box office at your own shows. And that eventually you had your
own fan base. Is this true? Tell us what that was like, and what you thought about it.
GZ: Yes, strange as it sounds, it’s true. Press would be at every
show I produced and followed me even in my off time to concerts or industry events. The
press fueled the public’s interest in my concerts even more. I couldn’t stand
outside at my own shows, or come out of the box office because I would be mobbed by people
wanting to talk to me. I had to ask security at The Raymond Theatre (Perkins Palace) to
help me get from one end of the building to the next. I was signing autographs for fans
and I would on occasion come home to find bands camped out on my front doorstep. At some
point, I couldn’t even go to a grocery store without being stopped. The loss of
privacy was not anticipated or expected. I’m not sure I ever really got used to it. I
was always a little uncomfortable, because I felt the artists deserved the notoriety, not
me. But in retrospect, they were fun and wonderful times.
MBADC: But the bottom line is, you produced shows at the Roxy, Whiskey, Santa Monica
Civic, and Perkins Palace, and the majority of your shows were sold out. What do you feel
was the key to your success as a promoter?
GZ: What is important to me is not to not just give the public a
show, I want to give them an event. I’d rather produce 50 great concerts a year and
sell them out, than 150 shows in which half or more fail. Bill Graham knew the meaning of
producing a show. He was not just a promoter, he was a talent; there was something
personable about the shows he did. His events are still remembered fondly. To me that says
he did something right. Who today remembers a show that happened a week ago? My notion of
what a good promoter is might be very old-fashioned. But I think we have strayed too far
from the hands-on promoter, who cared about the artists they worked with, and understood
what it took to be a good showman.
I know I feel a responsibility to both the artists and the public, to give them the best
event possible. For me all the right ingredients need to come together, or the show’s
not worth doing. I really strive for quality in billing, production, and advertising above
all. But if you know me, I care about every last detail, sometimes far too much. I have
been known to worry that the stage crew’s deli sandwiches might have too much
mayonnaise on them, I really do. That’s just me. For me, nothing is better than a
sold out concert that’s well produced and runs like clockwork.
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