Merriweather

Two Columbia residents and six others from as far as Colorado were indicted by a Howard County grand jury yesterday on drug charges stemming from a concert July 28 at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Trey Anastasio, former guitarist for the group Phish, which disbanded in the spring, played at the concert center in Columbia last month. Phish played at Merriweather Post last fall, in a concert that elicited 55 arrests and 15 drug indictments, police said. Yesterday's charges include conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute.

It may say "Summer, 1992" at the top, but looking at the artists included in the subscription lineup announced by the Merriweather Post Pavilion yesterday, it's hard not to wonder if they really meant "Summer, 1972."Starting with a season-opening show by Lynyrd Skynyrd on May 21, the Pavilion will feature performances by such '70s superstars as Jimmy Buffett (May 22-23), Ringo Starr (June 17), Chicago & the Moody Blues (sharing a bill June 19-20), James Taylor (Aug. 15), John Denver (Aug.

It may say "Summer, 1992" at the top, but looking at the artists included in the subscription line-up announced by the Merriweather Post Pavilion yesterday, it's hard not to wonder if they really meant "Summer, 1972."Starting with a season-opening show by Lynyrd Skynyrd on May 21, the Pavilion will feature performances by such '70s superstars as Jimmy Buffett (May 22-23), Ringo Starr (June 17), Chicago & the Moody Blues (sharing a bill June 19-20), James Taylor (Aug. 15), John Denver (Aug.

The place where Jimi played is the hole in a doughnut. Merriweather Post Pavilion - the summertime stage for music from Hendrix to now, and one of Columbia's most visited tracts - is at the center of what could be the initial test in the planned community's first large-scale makeover. If the concert venue is the hole, then the surrounding 37-acre ring of land, owned by the community association that essentially governs Columbia, is the doughnut. But the Columbia Association has had a cool relationship with General Growth Properties - the developer that owns the concert venue and much of downtown Columbia, and has unveiled a $350 million plan to transform the place.

If last summer's subscription series at the Merriweather Post Pavilion seemed the work of someone stuck in the '70s, this year's offerings can only mean one thing: Someone bought the booking agent a new calendar.True, many of the names included on this initial listing are as old as they are familiar: Chicago (June 12); Jimmy Buffett (June 20); Barry Manilow (July 24); and the Beach Boys (date to be announced). Strictly VH-1 material, just like last year.Others, though, are as fresh as anything in the MTV Buzz Bin. Take the June 23 show, a bill that matches jam-oriented sound of the Spin Doctors with high-energy alternative rock of Soul Asylum and the Seattle grunge of Screaming Trees.

"We're going to take a little journey back in time," Steve Winwood told his approving audience last night at Merriweather Post Pavilion.Mr. Winwood and a crack five-piece band -- the best he's played with since he and Eric Clapton fronted Blind Faith more than 20 years ago -- did just that, performing two hours of music that revisited all the highs of Mr. Winwood's three-decade career.Too bad Mr. Winwood's no longer the draw he was at the height of his pop stardom in 1988, when he last played here.

Let's be honest -- at first glance, the concept behind Concerts for the Environment seems like a great way to raise money and maybe raise some consciousness. But change the world? Get real.Yet that's pretty much what Michael Martin and his colleagues at Concerts for the Environment have been doing since they organized their first Earth Day concert in 1990. Since then, they've not only expanded their base, moving from a single annual concert to this year's three-show approach (the others were held over the weekend in New York and Los Angeles)

Thursday night's double bill at Merriweather Post Pavilion was the next best thing to a 1970s rock 'n' roll revival.All that was missing at the show featuring Damn Yankees and Bad Company were sign-up sheets for the "70s Preservation Society" at the exit door.Despite its roots being drenched in music that's almost 15 years old -- with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw from Damn Yankees doing their big hits and Bad Company rolling through an unabashed and unabridged greatest hits package -- it was hardly an "oldies" show.

The idea behind building Merriweather Post Pavilion in the late 1960s was to create a permanent summer home for Washington's National Symphony Orchestra, a place in the woods of Columbia for culture to flourish, as carefully planned as the community that would grow up around it.That idea lasted only a few years before rock and pop music moved in to pay the bills for what was one of the first outdoor amphitheaters with covered seating in the area.Now, like so much of Columbia, the 15,000-capacity Merriweather Post Pavilion has reached middle age and finds that it has lost a step as it races the bigger and more technologically hip youngsters on the industry block.

* Emilia Braxton, 43, of Columbia, nurse in Howard County:It should, (otherwise) Merriweather Post will lose business. More people will go outside of Columbia to find their entertainment. Things are higher in this area, specifically Columbia. You find a lot of people go outside the area even to shop. Merriweather Post creates jobs. If they can't bring the good acts here, people will go outside.