Sunday in the Country Provided Fare of a Different Fab Four

With all the noise made in, around and over Saturday’s opening of the Hard Rock Cafe in La Jolla, it may be hard to imagine that people actually had other things to do over the weekend. And for those few hardy partyers who did the Hard Rock opening, then got up the next day for a Christmas musicale featuring the San Diego Opera and the San Diego Symphony, it must have been to live out the Divine Comedy.

There wouldn’t have been many of them, though. Most of the 600 performing arts patrons who gathered at Ramona Sahm’s country estate Sunday think of rock bands as diamond necklaces, and their idea of the Fab Four is Grieg, Handel, Bach and Gounod.

It was the music of G, H, B and G whose works were performed by the Symphony Brass Ensemble and the Opera Christmas Chorale. This Sunday in the country with Gounod marked the resumption, after a two-year hiatus, of an annual tradition established in 1974. Each event has been completely underwritten by Sahm, so that proceeds from the series in excess of $200,000 have been shared by the opera and symphony.

As always, the musicians and singers performed in a corner of the massive room that shelters the estate’s indoor pool. Seating for several hundred was arranged indoors, with overflow seating on terraces near the open doors. This is a remarkable setting, and one that helps lure repeat business to the musicale.

The program ranged from favorites like “Deck the Halls” to old traditions like “The Holly and the Ivy” and “Ave Maria.” The sparkling brass and low, rich voices occasionally suggested that snowflakes should be falling outside, but instead shafts of sunlight poured down to illuminate an exceptionally clear and warm day. Those guests who felt that music can be enjoyed from a slight distance strolled under open-sided pavilions sampling the roast turkey and chocolate-filled crepes offered as midday sustenance.

Elsie Weston and Joanne Warren shared the duty of chairing a sizable committee that included Emma Lee Powell, Nancy Podbielniak, Sue Teasdel, Canice Ciruzzi, Jerrie Strom, Margaret Gooding and Margaret Hilbish.

LA JOLLA--Now for some final breathless detail about that Hard Rock opening, the most over-hyped, over-covered mini-event to rock La Jolla since Gregory Peck dished up sundaes at a local pharmacy some years ago.

Surely some deep, cosmic lesson lay buried in the spectacle of this most curious and happy marriage of rock and roll and dig and give. The Hard Rock opening was a $100-a-head fund-raiser for the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation, and the 750 available tickets sold like oat bran.

The ticket beggers may have outnumbered the ticket holders by the time the doors to the new rock palace were flung open. But restaurateur Peter Morton and the account execs at the Berkman & Daniels public relations firm who handled the opening’s promotion kept a firm grip on the guest list and, if you weren’t on it, you weren’t going to be.

Those who did get in were young ! Those guests in their 30s were mostly reporters covering the event, and anyone over 40 was probably a board member of the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation. The elders kept mostly to themselves, standing around on the terrace a safe distance from the bandstand, marveling at the willingness and ability of so many young people to shell out so much money for the privilege of listening to so much noise.

The music followed brief formalities that acknowledged both restaurateur Morton and the beneficiary. Hard Rock openings traditionally benefit children’s charities, and the charities in turn traditionally present Morton with a bit of memorabilia for his collection. CAPF board members Larry and Junko Cushman instead gave a present with a message, a crystal ball in which, they said, Morton would be able to see how he has affected the future of children in San Diego.

Morton guaranteed CAPF a minimum donation of $25,000, which board president Norma Hirsh said would be directed to the organization’s program for infants born with drug addictions.

None of the expected stars showed up for the opening (unless you count former NFL lineman Ben Davidson), but that wasn’t as big a disappointment to some of the guests as the dress of other guests.

Noted fashion plate Barbara ZoBell described the scene as “totally eclectic” but was not bowled over by the crowd.

“Just like in New York and L.A. club life, there’s plenty of cleavage out tonight, and I’ve seen plenty of leather and beads, but no plastic. I’m disappointed.”

Nancy Hester, who arranged for the opening to benefit CAPF, also had an eye on style. “It’s been just a thrill a minute to see this crowd,” she said. “I’d like to own the earrings that some of the men are wearing.”