For the love of rock: CU alumnus sets up scholarship fund
Program Council directors will receive $1,000 a year
By Brittany Anas (Contact)
Friday, June 6, 2008
Phil Lobel introduces the Eagles before their July 1978 concert at Folsom Field. The former director of CU’s Program Council has donated money to set up a scholarship fund for future directors.
The University of Colorado was rocking during the summer of 1978: During a three-month span, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and the Eagles played for students at Folsom Field.
In his aviator sunglasses on a sunny July day, Phil Lobel commanded the crowd and introduced the Eagles.
Lobel led CU’s Program Council during its glory days. Now, the alumnus who runs a Los Angeles publicity firm has donated money to CU to set up a scholarship fund for future leaders of Program Council, which has been bringing entertainment to the Boulder campus over the past five decades.
Student directors will receive about $1,000 a year from the $25,000 endowed scholarship fund, said Kirsten Steinke, a spokeswoman for the CU Foundation. The program will roll out next year.
Lobel — who has a professional portfolio that includes representing clients like actor Brad Pitt, magician David Copperfield and teen pop star Aaron Carter — said he can credit his career path to his experience with Program Council.
As a 17-year-old freshman, Lobel had never been to a concert when he sneaked into Folsom to hear Leon Russell. Rock ‘n’ roll strummed his heart strings.
“I was in such awe of the production and the ability to gather so many people in one space,” Lobel said. “I said ‘Wow. I want to do this. It was my epiphany.’”
He began volunteering with the Program Council, hanging up posters and eventually landing the top spot as a director.
Lobel remembers the hurdles that came with winning over city and university leaders who were miffed with the large-scale events tearing up Folsom and the noise rattling houses out near Table Mesa. He helped foster an agreement with then-football head coach Eddie Crowder to open up the stadium for concerts by agreeing that 50 cents from each ticket would go to the Athletic Department.
And just as aviator sunglasses are back in style, today’s generation of music-loving students faces some of the same problems their predecessors did three decades ago.
The Program Council over past years has seen its role on the campus shrink as a result of neighborhood concerns about crowd control and noisy concerts, as well as scheduling conflicts with the Athletic Department.
Lobel said he hopes the scholarship will help alleviate the financial stress that goes along with being a college student, and eliminate some of the hours that Program Council leaders have to work elsewhere.
“It will give the Program Council a little extra time to put a thinking cap on,” he said. “There’s no greater resource than the minds of college students.”
Today’s Program Council leaders say they’re excited about the support to carry on the program — which has brought dozens of music icons to campus over the years, including Bob Dylan, Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton and Alice Cooper.
Christine Cao — a CU senior marketing major who will direct the program during the upcoming academic year — said the group is busy organizing concerts for homecoming and the start of the fall semester, but is mum on details. The Program Council, which receives student fees and has some paid positions, gives students real-life experience organizing, booking and promoting events, Cao said.
“It allows students to immerse themselves in the music or entertainment industry,” she said. “It allows you to understand the basics, and every integral part of running an event.”
Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com
