THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030426
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
A new outdoor stage with a roof high enough for the brightest spotlights is drawing the biggest names in country music to Virginia Beach this spring and summer.
Billy Ray Cyrus, John Michael Montgomery, Tim McGraw, Clint Black and Little Texas are coming, but not to the city's famed resort area. Their destination is Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, where Cyrus inaugurates the new Eagle Haven Amphitheater with a performance this Saturday.
Little Creek started its concert series last year, drawing about 7,000 people per show to see acts including Sammy Kershaw and Kathy Mattea.
``We soon realized that this is the best spot, on or off the base, for concerts,'' said Linda Wagner, Little Creek's marketing director. ``If we could build a better stage, we could draw bigger names and bigger crowds. Bases are a business now; if you don't make money, you're in trouble.''
The new stage is more than three times the size of the old one, at 125-by-50 feet, and promoters are hoping for twice the crowd.
The giant platform, which resembles the stage erected at Woodstock 25 years ago, was built by Mountain Productions, the largest staging company in the country, said Rick Dodd, project supervisor.
``It's spectacular, first rate,'' he said. ``No one else in the area has anything like this.''
The stage is on Heutte Drive at Little Creek, in a natural amphitheater. A road, closed to traffic on concert days, separates the stage from the fans. Bordering the amphitheater is Eagle Haven Golf Course, and just beyond it, the Chesapeake Bay - a source of cool breezes during the summer series.
At the far end of the amphitheater is a tower once used as an incinerator and now converted into seating for VIP guests. The perch gives them a bird's-eye view of the concert, and of the Bay.
The new stage is available for rent and can be used for command functions, retirement ceremonies, public speaking engagements and civilian entertainment.
The stage was built for about $300,000 with money from the private Morale, Welfare and Recreation, or MWR, fund at Little Creek. The fund includes proceeds from recreational activities such as base clubs, golf courses, bowling alleys and last year's concert series.
``This is our job - service to sailors and good public relations with the community,'' Wagner said. ``Anyone can come on the base for these concerts, and we can be good neighbors.''
MWR also has boosted entertainment offerings at Little Creek with the opening of ``Planet Beach,'' a nightclub designed with tips from Navy personnel - especially those under 21 who are too young to drink alcohol.
``It's all lights, camera, action! It's like any other nightclub, but it's geared to 18- to 21-year-olds,'' said Marlin Wagner, MWR director.
It took a year to remodel the Helm, the old enlisted club at Little Creek, into Planet Beach, complete with a rotating sphere that shoots out light, two 360-degree bars, a multilevel dance floor and 30 television monitors.
There traditionally have been three clubs at Little Creek - one for officers, one for chief petty officers and one for enlisted personnel. But ``all hands'' clubs and recreational centers are beginning to sweep the Navy.
``We still find, however, that the younger enlisted personnel are the ones that come to Planet Beach - mostly because they can't get into a lot of the outside clubs,'' Wagner said.
The club is open to all active-duty, reserve and retired personnel and their guests, as well as civilian employees of the base and their guests. The club opens at 4:30 p.m. weekdays, 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It is open until 3 a.m. weekends. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Richard L. Dunston/Staff
Workers finish up the new stage at Eagle Haven Amphitheater at
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach. Billy Ray
Cyrus will inaugurate the new stage - which is more than three times
the size of the old one - with a performance this Sunday.
Graphic
COUNTRY CONCERT SERIES
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB