Festival of Low-Impact Rock

Now that there is a rock festival for just about every taste and trend in today’s youth culture, here comes Doheny Days, a two-day waterfront festival in Dana Point that has a different idea:

How about a festival for people who like rock but don’t care much for the latest tastes and trends?

“We want to gear it to the adult music fan,” said Rich Sherman, head of Omega Events, the Tustin company that will put on Doheny Days on Sept. 13-14 at Doheny State Beach.

Sherman thought KSCA-FM was on to something with its now-defunct adult-album-alternative rock format, and he has booked a festival of local and national acts aimed at the same we-rock-but-moshing’s-the-pits set.

The Monkees, Cracker and Duncan Sheik are the top acts Sept. 13. Dick Dale, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Violent Femmes, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Young Dubliners and Dave Wakeling are booked for Sept. 14. Additional acts will be announced in the next few days.

*

“It would be easy to get some popular ska bands and fill the park, but you’re working in kind of a delicate environment, a state park,” Sherman said. “Our goal is not just to do it this year, but to do it for some time.”

Sherman is familiar with Doheny, having been part of the production team for the Orange County Blues Festival that played there in 1994 and ’95. “The site is made for events,” he said. “People really supported [the blues fest]. I even heard other promoters in the county saying they didn’t know why it was so successful, given the lineup. I think it’s a testimony that there needs to be an event in South County.”

Doheny Days will feature two stages, the second geared to local talent. The concerts are priced at $20 per day in advance and $25 at the gate, with $10 tickets for children ages 3 to 12. Special stage-front tickets are $45 per day. The shows run from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Taped information: (714) 262-2662.