(excerpts from an interview by Troy Fresch)

Ken Phebus is a product of the 60's whose life began to revolve around music only after he stopped surfing and partying long enough to see The Beatles. Things changed quickly after that famous Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Matriculating at Newport Harbor High, in Orange County, California, and on to USC (to study business and Cinema) kept Ken, relatively, out of trouble, in one of America's most turbulent eras.

Ken survived the sixties, and after a stint in the restaurant and nightclub business, began booking concerts in Long Beach, California, in 1979. His first booking was with an up-and-coming comic named Leo Gallagher. (He let that first name go, shortly after Ken's show.) Once he caught the concert bug in a big way, Ken was in for the full career. In quick order, he produced shows with Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, and Yes. "I sure as hell can't perform anything resembling entertainment, but I really love presenting the real deal to people who appreciate talent". That creed has carried Ken throughout his career path.

Ken became the concert director at Fender's Ballroom, a one-story converted car garage in Long Beach, where he booked acts ranging in musical styles and fan bases, from The Ramones to The Righteous Brothers. In the mid-80s he ventured out into doing what's known in the industry as "4-walling", at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, California. "4-walling", is when the promoter/booking agent rents the facility, promotes the show and takes net door proceeds - while the club profits from rent and the bar. In that time he continued to book every ticket-selling act available, from Bow Wow Wow to Jerry Lee Lewis. Ken never once imagined conducting business beyond his telephone and a photocopied calendar erased and re-erased rice-paper thin. But he was soon hired on as in-house talent buyer for The Coach House, and later the Ventura and Galaxy Theatres. As that company expanded to venues in San Diego, Las Vegas, and Santa Barbara, Ken found himself having the distinction of being the biggest volume talent buyer in the concert business. Given the stressload of sometimes booking as many as six calendars at one time, he actually survived to book shows into the nineties.

The 90's: After a 13-year run booking the Coach House and that company's numerous additional venues, Ken was heavily recruited by The Sun Theater, in Anaheim, California, in 1999. Originally an Ogden Entertainment dinner theatre concept called "Tinsletown Studios", the $15 million, 40,000 square foot soundstage immediately took the concert business buy storm, with Ken helming the booking. Given the affluent Orange County populous, and the gorgeous appointments of the theatre, not to mention Ken's relentless booking acumen.. The Sun Theatre opened with Styx, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Nicks, and Bob Dylan, and was headed for international notoriety. But suddenly Ogden Entertainment sold the venue, as well as half a billion dollars worth of their other entertainment properties, to corporate conglomerate Aramark. Once a new path for the venue was determined, Ken broke ties with the facility.

Today: KenPhebus is booking the Headline talent for the 2002 Orange County Fair, as well as shows for The Canyon Theatre in Agoura, The Lake Mission Viejo Summer Concert Series, The California Speedway's Nascar, C.A.R.T. and IRL events, and private parties and corporate events. He also finds time to manage a local up-and-coming band called Sunchild (website: http://www.sunchildtheband.com).

With offices in LA and Orange County, Ken Phebus the ever prolific, one-man company, continues to hammer out concert bookings and promotions on a daily basis. When asked, Ken told us that his tombstone will read, "Here lies Phebus, waiting for the next call from an agent." No doubt.