Post Pavilion

A Howard County police officer and an auxiliary police officer are suing the driver of a bus for Jimmy Buffett over an accident that injured them after a concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion in August 1998.Officer Richard L. Rutledge and Auxiliary Officer Kurt T. Sturr were directing traffic after Buffett's concert as Kevin J. Cieslinski was driving away in a bus.The suit claims that Cieslinski ignored the officers and struck them as he was leaving the concert. Both officers claim they sustained serious injuries.

IF YOU build it, they will come, is the mystical message in the baseball movie, "Field of Dreams." Maybe, but first you have to build it.New parking decks are being constructed to serve Columbia Mall and nearby Town Center restaurants. But by the time all the parking space is available, some establishments may have lost customers whom it will be difficult to lure back.A garage is being built on the site of what was a surface lot at Little Patuxent Parkway and Wincopin Circle. It will double to 280 spaces the amount of parking available for patrons of lakefront restaurants such as Clyde's, the Tomato Palace and Sgt. Pepper's.

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.

The rubric "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" may be good advice elsewhere, but in pop music, change for its own sake is sometimes the best thing an artist could do. John Mellencamp is a case in point. Even though he had established a solid niche for himself with the folksy, Appalachian-influenced sound he introduced with his 1987 album "The Lonesome Jubilee," he gave his music a complete make-over last year with "Mr. Happy Go Lucky," an album that found him working contemporary club rhythms into his heartland sound.

It's summer, summertime is here. Hot fun in the summertime. Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty. There ain't no cure for the summertime blues. Summertime and the living is easy.Summer is music. And the rites of summer in Maryland include the concert lineup at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Read it and weep.The listing never ceases to make baby boomers feel extremely old. The bands of our youth are the bands of our middle age. Just to hear that Chicago and the Beach Boys are still touring is enough to consider finally giving classical music a chance.

A building contract could be signed as early as this week for renovations at the Merriweather Post Pavilion that will expand bus parking areas and loading bays and upgrade an enclosed lounge area for artists and crew members, the facility's manager said.The 14,200-seat performance venue also will get a new covered area for setting up stage equipment, an addition that will make it easier and faster to change acts, said General Manager Jean Parker.The renovations come as the 30-year-old arena faces increasing competition from larger, more modern concert sites in the region.

The Augustin era at Centennial High School is over.Matt Augustin, 17, became the eighth and final Augustin to graduate from the Ellicott City school yesterday -- ending 15 years of family ties to the school."

Attempting once again to enliven downtown Columbia after business hours, the Rouse Co. has asked county officials for a rezoning that could add 345 apartments or condominiums to the planned community's Town Center."

The owners and operators of Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia insist they have no plans to overhaul their operation, even though the 28-year-old concert facility is no longer state of the art.But the growth in the number and size of competing sheds -- as open-air concert venues are known in the music business -- means that, like it or not, Merriweather will have to change.Already, hugely popular acts such as the Eagles, Pink Floyd, and the Grateful Dead refuse to play the 15,000-capacity Merriweather.

The big concert season may be thinner than last year's, but there are still several star acts coming to the area. Here are a few highlights.May rocks to a close tonight with Bonnie Raitt at Merriweather Post Pavilion.June starts with a bang at WHFS' daylong HFStival (Saturday) at RFK Stadium in Washington, headlined by Soul Asylum. Also at RFK, the Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan perform (June 24-25). At Merriweather Post Pavilion, look for Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band (June 13-14)

As the officer in charge of a Howard County police detail at Merriweather Post Pavilion concerts, Capt. John McKissick says that "different bands draw different kinds of crowds." In the case of Phish, often compared to the Grateful Dead, some in the crowd of 20,000 were doing drugs Saturday night, when police made 31 drug-related arrests - the most of any concert in recent memory, McKissick said Tuesday. Four out-of-state men were arrested and charged with drug possession, intent to distribute and possession of paraphernalia, police said.

By naming their latest - and most critically acclaimed - album Merriweather Post Pavilion, one might assume Animal Collective holds the concert venue in high esteem. Or that the Baltimore natives carry some nostalgia for shows they once saw there. Or that someone in the band lost his virginity there. Something. Not so much. The band named their album Merriweather Post Pavilion simply because they like the way the words sound together. "They were the first group of words we came up with that we thought would be really cool to name the record," says the band's David Portner, who now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. "It sounds kind of futuristic to us."

Zoo says goodbye to famed 'Lady' Gretchen, age 22, a giraffe at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, was euthanized after her lifelong problems with arthritis gradually worsened. Staff members offered tearful goodbyes to a sweet, inquisitive animal many had come to call "The Lady of the House." BikeJam draws thousands Organizers estimated that about 5,000 people took part in BikeJam 2008 at Patterson Park. It featured nine divisions of races, a 12-mile recreational ride that looped through downtown Baltimore, a demonstration by a professional stuntman and vendors selling items ranging from food to sculptures made from spare bicycle parts.

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.

Kenny Chesney -- Nissan Pavilion / Kenny Chesney (pictured below), two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year, plays Nissan Pavilion tomorrow and Saturday with opener Dierks Bentley. Doors open at 5:30, show starts at 7 both nights, Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge is in Bristow, Va. Tickets are $36.50 and $70.50. Call 410-547-SEAT or visit ticketmaster.com. O.A.R. -- Merriweather Post Pavilion / Maryland-native band O.A.R. hits Merriweather Post on Saturday night with Jack's Mannequin.

Def Leppard, Journey -- Nissan Pavilion / Catch rockers Def Leppard and Journey at 7:30 tomorrow night. Def Leppard released Yeah! in May, featuring cover songs of their favorite 1960s and 1970s influences. Doors open at 6 p.m., at Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge, Bristow, Va. Only $25 seats (the cheapest) are still available. Call 410-547-SEAT or visit ticketmaster.com. Paul Simon -- Merriweather Post Pavilion / Folk rock legend Paul Simon hits Merriweather at 7:30 Wednesday night in celebration of his newest CD, Surprise, released in May. Merriweather Post Pavilion is on Little Patuxent Parkway in Columbia.

New Jack Reunion Tour -- 1st Mariner Arena / Be prepared to do the snake, the running man and other old-school dances as New Jack Reunion Tour featuring Guy; Tony, Toni, Tone; and After 7 takes over 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St., at 8 tomorrow night. Tickets are $40.50-$73 and are available through Ticketmaster by calling 410-547-SEAT or visiting ticketmas ter.com. Tom Verlaine -- 9:30 Club / Television frontman Tom Verlaine, who recently released two new albums after a several-year hiatus, performs at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. N.W. in Washington, at 7:30 Monday night.

Alien Ant Farm -- Recher Theatre / Alt-metal band Alien Ant Farm, once ubiquitous on MTV with its quirky hit remake of Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal," will headline Recher Theater, 512 York Road in Towson, Tuesday night at 7. Tickets are $15 and are available through Ticketmaster by calling 410-547-SEAT or visiting ticketmaster.com. Debby Boone -- Rams Head Tavern / Seventies pop star Debby Boone will light up Rams Head Tavern, 33 West St. in Annapolis, tonight at 8. Tickets are $39.50.

Ian Kennedy Occupation: Co-founder and president of the advocacy group Save Merriweather. In the news: For two years, Kennedy and other group members fought to preserve Merriweather Post Pavilion -- a popular concert venue that was built in 1967 as one of Columbia's original amenities -- as an open-air facility. The pavilion's owner, General Growth Properties, had wanted to convert it into a smaller, enclosed theater in order to build on its parking area. Group members attended planning and zoning hearings, distributed information at Merriweather concerts and created a political action committee to support candidates who wanted to preserve the pavilion as an open-air venue.

The owners of Merriweather Post Pavilion -- a venerable concert venue that has played host to everyone from Janis Joplin to Evanescence in its nearly 40 years -- announced yesterday that the facility will remain open air. General Growth Properties' decision settles the uncertainty that has swirled around the Columbia pavilion for two years and is being cheered by residents who have fought the development company's original plan to convert it into a...