Gorge general manager let go

Parsons will

treasure work with area youth

GEORGE - The Gorge Amphitheater's general manager was let go earlier this month.

Bill Parsons, former general manager and vice president of Live Nation, parent company of the Gorge Amphitheater, said the company let him go "in a budget-cutting decision" March 14.

"On that particular day, I believe there were six or seven other general managers across the country that were released, or laid off, for budget purposes," Parsons explained. "I was one of them, so I'm not quite sure how they're going to consolidate or what their plans are."

Parsons said he was told changes were being made and the company appreciated what he had done for the Gorge.

"They realize what we've accomplished out there, but it's a corporation and it has to answer to the bottom line," he said. "A call had to be made."

Parsons was with the Gorge for 14 years. He started working there while working on a series of festivals around Canada as a consultant for MCA Concerts.

"They expressed an interest in acquiring the Gorge and booking shows there, and they asked me to stop in late 1993 just to take a look at it and see what I thought," he recalled.

At the time, Parsons reported back to the company, which decided to purchase the Gorge and asked him to take the position, he said.

"It was MCA Concerts, which then was sold to Universal Concerts, which sold to House of Blues Concerts, which sold to Live Nation last year," he said.

Parsons said his feelings on departing were mixed.

"Obviously, I put in a lot of time there, and built great relationships, and I hope to maintain that," he said. "I'm not leaving the area right now and the Quincy area especially. I'm in the Rotary club and supported a lot of school activities. That was very gratifying to me, as well as seeing so many kids develop, that just got their first-time employment at the Gorge. To see them grow up there was just very satisfying."

Parsons said he put his life into the Gorge and made a lot of changes and improvements with the rest of his team.

"That's hard to leave, but there are new opportunities," he said.

After taking a week off to relax in Phoenix, Ariz., Parsons said he plans to look into possibilities and opportunities he's already been contacted about.

A resident of North Bend, Parsons said he plans to continue his support of the schools and athletics in Quincy.

"I think there was great satisfaction, if anything else, of seeing (the Gorge) develop from such a very rustic amphitheater and overcoming a multitude of issues with some neighbors and the impact we had on them," he said. "To make that change and improvement, that was very gratifying."