Hansen: Music is Laguna's artistic stepchild

"Our grounds, where the waterfall is currently, was going to be an open amphitheater, kind of like the Hollywood Bowl or Red Rock in Denver or something to that effect, but it never materialized, mostly because of the neighbors and sound ordinances," he said.

Indeed, music has sound, which proves to be a challenge for people who like quiet.

It's no secret that local nightclubs have made significant, ongoing investments to keep their neighbors happy: Mozambique, Marine Room, White House, Hennessey's and the now-closed Royal Hawaiian.

In many cases, however, it is working. Mozambique has recently brought in marquee diverse talent like Macy Gray, George Clinton, Bill Medley, the English Beat and members of the Rolling Stones. Marine Room showcases strong, emerging independent artists, anchored by the very popular local band, The Missiles of October.

In addition to the clubs, clearly there is other music in the city, with local parks and other sites hosting small events. But on a festival level, Laguna Beach is not on anyone's radar, except maybe Conkey, who continues to plug away and even pulls together private home concerts "to promote outstanding musicians in an intimate atmosphere."

Getting anywhere from 35 to 250 people, Conkey usually wraps a local worthy cause around the effort to help provide an additional incentive. He is gearing up for another local concert on July 15 at the Cliff Restaurant that he's calling "Music Matters."

"I think the town's becoming more conservative," he said. "I think we're turning into Carmel very quickly, and the history of Laguna Beach is not like that. This is a town that has a history of music and the arts."

Music matters to Conkey. It matters to a lot of people but not enough, apparently, to do it big. Not enough to complement Doheny Days. Not enough to complete the artistic of picture of Laguna Beach.

It's as if we are looking at a beautiful plein air painting of Main Beach, but the water is missing.

DAVID HANSEN is a writer and Laguna Beach resident. He can be reached at davidhansen@yahoo.com.