OMC: A lot of cities have tried to copy your formula in the past. I'm wondering -- if there was a comparable festival running around the same time in another Midwestern city -- let's say Chicago, because a lot of your customers pay tolls to get to Summerfest -- how would that impact your bottom line? On one hand, you might lose some attendance. But, would it help you draw more acts because of routing? How would that balance out?

DS: I think it would probably be a plus on the routing side. If it is too close to you, obviously, it cuts into your ticket sales, but you are right, 17 percent or so of our audience comes from the Chicagoland area. They are coming up here and sleeping in hotels and hanging out for two or three days and spending their hard-earned money. So, we like that. They usually pay full price for everything, too. It is not that they are looking for a promotion to come up here ... Those are nice music fans to have, because they pay full boat. But, I think from a routing standpoint that would be helpful.

OMC: What changes will people notice when they walk through the gates on Thursday?

DS: Well, we repositioned the Classic Rock Stage, which we build from ground up every year. We repositioned it so that it plays a little bit northwest instead of due north. That will provide more room and little bit more breathing space for our fans that go to the M&I Fiduciary Classic Rock Stage.

We really have our eye on towards the future, and we want to spend anywhere between $15 million and $20 million completely redoing the south end or redeveloping the south end, which is going to include many bulldozers, a fine architectural plan and something that we can build for the next 20 years, so that the people who follow us in the management of Summerfest will have this type of infrastructure to work with for the next 20 to 25 years. We are working on a lease extension right now with the city so that it restores our lease back to the 20-year term that this lease started out at.

The reason that we need that lease extension is so that we can go ahead and spend that money, and that there is a reasonable time for some type of return on investment over the years. Obviously, you wouldn't go out and spend $20 million dollars when you only have 10 years left on a lease. So, we have been working cooperatively with the city on that. We are making some progress and as soon as that is done, we will get to the design plans, and the architects will get seriously involved, and then we will redevelop that south end all the way up the Amphitheater.

OMC: Given some of the problems that have happened at street festivals and gatherings in the city, how concerned are you about security entering this year?

DS: We spend a lot of money on our own security, and of course, the City of Milwaukee Police Department works very closely with us on traffic and of also grounds security. We do not take it lightly; we take it very seriously.

We have invested a lot of money in video cameras all over the grounds, so if you decide to be a knucklehead, that is fine, but you are going to be on television and we will be able to identify you and so on and so forth.

It is funny. More than 75 percent of the arrests over the last couple of years have come from out of the market, so in other words, the people in our zip codes that we are generally aware of in the surrounding counties that we call home. (These) people behave themselves very well and of course, there are a few knuckleheads here and there.

This is an event for all of us. The way we look at it, this is a mega event, and this needs to be treated like a mega-event. Just like Indianapolis has the 500, Daytona has their race, Louisville has the Kentucky Derby Festival, Pasadena has the Parade of Roses. Milwaukee and its surrounding counties have Summerfest. We draw anywhere between 825,000 and 900,000 people depending on the weather in any given year. When you look at the attendance for the Packers during an entire season, it is right up there with that type of number. We take it seriously.

OMC: Last question -- What's the best perk that comes with being the president of Summerfest?

DS: It's usually getting tickets to anything you want, if you want to do that. It is really hard to say, after there are 700 bands visiting your own backyard, that you want to go to any concert anywhere after something like that.

OMC: OK, this is really the last question. Do you ever get a chance to enjoy a show at Summerfest? I imagine that even if there is an artist you really like and you have great seats in the seventh row, you're still looking at your Blackberry and answering questions and worrying about operations. Do you get time to enjoy a show?

DS: You can enjoy half an hour. Absolutely, there is no question about that. I mean you are on your feet; you don't sit down and enjoy a show because you are always doing something or you are always on call.

You know, now that you brought that up, there is a great deal for Stevie Wonder this year. We just put a four pack on sale, which you can buy four tickets for $125. Four bleacher seats -- that is a savings of $100. We also put a four-pack on for The Fray. We are trying to put some bleacher seats out there, which is a four pack for The Fray at $99, which is also a significant savings. Those tickets can be purchased on ticketmaster.com.

But you are right. I mean, it is not like I can sit down for 2 1/2 hours and enjoy a concert and not be thinking or worrying about other things. It is just fantastic. Obviously, we know what times everything starts and what time he is going to sing or they are going to sing a certain song, so when we have the set list, it is nice to bounce in there and hear different songs that you like.