Van Santen loved Hawaii
Hawaii fans of punk and alternative rock music should be wishing a big mahalo to the memory of Rick Van Santen.
The co-president of the Los Angeles-based Goldenvoice concert promotion business died Dec. 28 at his Ventura County home from what was later diagnosed as "flu-related complications." He was 41 years old. Services are being held today for Van Santen at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
It was Van Santen's love of the islands that had him branch his music business out to Hawaii, where Goldenvoice was a crucial part of exposing local audiences through much of the 1990s to such pioneering rock acts as Jane's Addiction, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Social Distortion and, for two memorable evenings at the old Pink's Garage, Nirvana, who had just broken nationally with "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
COURTESY OF KEN DENSON
Rick Van Santen, co-president of the Goldenvoice concert promotion business, died last month.
The business continues to this day, with appearances this month by The Strokes, punk vets The Vandals, up-and-comers Thrice and even Tony Bennett, all happening through the auspices of Goldenvoice and local office manager Nikki Robinson, with help from staff member Jason Miller (head of the local punk indie business Hawaiian Express).
With the help of business partner Paul Tollett, Van Santen always cultivated personal and friendly contacts with the bands Goldenvoice promoted, dating to the 1980s and the heyday of the SoCal punk scene. Those relationships spilled over into some of these bands arriving in Hawaii on Goldenvoice's dime. More often than not, profit was not the modus operandi for Goldenvoice shows here. Instead, the acts and Van Santen would benefit from a little R&R in the islands.
While much of Goldenvoice's local staff have come and gone over the years, when word of Van Santen's death got out, most reacted with a mixture of grief and gratitude for all he and the company have done for the local concert scene.
Kathy "with a K" Nakagawa of KSSK radio met Van Santen at the first Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at Aloha Tower in the early '90s. She became an all-round helper for Goldenvoice shows.
She remembered Rick "showered all of us with attention, remembering to send us holiday cards -- he did this with everyone, and it was just mindblowing, the effort he kept to keep friendships alive.
"He brought so many people together," Nakagawa said. "You have to realize, this was during a time locally when Radio Free Hawaii and other independent media were starting up. There was a feeling that there were so many different options of alternative music, whether it was punk, rap or hip-hop. And Goldenvoice always catered to that, even though it had its roots in punk music in L.A.
"Rick was instrumental in keeping the Honolulu branch of Goldenvoice open. ... He was somebody from our generation who made a difference, dating back from the era of 'Beverly Hills 90210' and up to 'Average Joe.'
"Rick would be so kind to everyone he worked with here -- the people at the hotels and the venues, the sound people -- he really made the effort to make you feel like you mattered. He would even recognize certain of the kids' faces at the shows. Plus he loved the 'Bows -- he was a big backer of the volleyball and football teams.
"He even had a second extended family on Kauai," Nakagawa said. "He would always say that, if he could work from Hawaii, he would."
ONE OF Van Santen's associates in Goldenvoice Hawaii's formative years was Bay Area-born Mari Imamura, who's since moved to Los Angeles, where she works for the Artist Network of Refuse and Resist.
"Rick set the tone for a certain era of punk rock, but he loved Hawaii. He really connected with the people. It was a place for all his special friends," she said from L.A. "It was not an issue of making money, because Hawaii is a really amazing and beautiful place to play. He and the bands could go out there and not feel like a piece of merchandise. The people there are so sincere, honest, nice and straightforward -- you could get something out of every handshake, it was so refreshing for that time.
"Kathy wrote me that, of this moment, making music meant saying something and represented a different outlook, that everything was so possible. And that represented Goldenvoice in the early years, just going ahead to do it. Those first few shows in Hawaii were to convince the locals that anything that would happen would be OK, whether it was Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam) diving off a lighting tressle (at the band's first concert at Andrews Amphitheatre) or walking with the Blaisdell Arena staff near a mosh pit.
Whether it was bringing out Gregory Isaacs or the Wu-Tang Clan, "Rick was always very fearless, prompting me to 'go ahead and do it.' ... I always had his support when it came to promoting acts that I liked. I'm going to miss him a lot. ... He was so young and it's just not right."
Now the torch has been passed to Nikki Robinson, who knew Van Santen since working at KPOI-FM. "I worked with him only over a year," she said, "and I'm glad to say that Goldenvoice will continue to do shows here, and I'll continue, to the best of my ability, to do what Rick would have wanted.
"When his partner Paul was out here for the Kokua Festival, he told me: 'Nikki, this is a great opportunity for you to step up to the plate. No one else will know the market like you and Rick,' and his saying that made me feel good."
Click for online
calendars and events.
