Vernon Hills narrows star search

The joke early on was that logistically, Century Park would be easier than other local venues to corral the crowd for whatever big band was chosen to play next summer at Vernon Hills' 50th anniversary celebration.

Well, almost.

"Unless we plan on bringing in the Stones or something like that," said Trustee Thom Koch.

After considerable discussion, trustees have decided to pursue negotiations with two bands: Creedence Clearwater Revisited as the headliner and Gin Blossoms, a 1990s pop band, as the opening act.

Throughout the process, the village board has been in agreement on one thing: The entertainment for July 16 should be memorable.

That the Rolling Stones would even come up in conversation involving Vernon Hills showed that trustees wanted some serious firepower to fuel an event that would not easily be forgotten.

And they provided a serious bankroll, authorizing an expense of up to $100,000 for the musical entertainment. Trustees tossed around legendary names like booking agents: B.B. King, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, to name a few.

A list of about 50 band prospects was assembled for consideration, price list included. Some were obviously out of range and may have been included as comic relief. The Eagles' asking price, for example, simply was listed as "millions."

Putting on a show of that magnitude raised several questions that needed answers before the talent could be chosen. Should it be one band or more? Should the village charge for tickets? How would security be provided and how much would it cost?

After some give and take, the board informally decided that it would not charge and that the Wednesday event should be held in Century Park, where the annual Summer Celebration festival will open the following day.

Ultimately, the board decided two well-known bands would satisfy more customers.

There was some debate about the headliner. Creedence Clearwater Revival had many hits in the late 1960s and early 1970s. While the Revisited version has two original members from the venerable band, John Fogerty, the main singer and songwriter, is not among them.

"Creedence (Revisited) was the band most people wanted, but I wasn't sure," said Trustee Jeanne Schwartz. So she listened to all the choices on YouTube and was convinced the band would appeal to all ages.

"They sounded fantastic," she said. "Even my 18-year-old son has heard the songs -- he hadn't heard the (band) name."

Trustee Koch had lobbied for Rockford's Cheap Trick, but is OK with the majority choice.

"It was my second choice, but I thought it was a good choice," he said. "The music is the music, that's the big thing."

Some bands that didn't make the anniversary night cut, like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, will be booked for Summer Celebration.

"This could be a really, really good week of music," Koch said.