George McMillan is the rock of City Stages.

Angela Karen

Magnify

Over twenty years ago, when George was approached to lend leadership to the creation of a city center musical festival, he was hesitant. “I sung in a monotone voice, I played no musical instrument, and I’d never been to a music festival,” he said. But, his nay saying wasn’t enough to deter the Convention and Visitors Bureau. “They said, ‘yes, but you know how to bring people together and make things happen.’” Compelled by what he saw as a civic responsibility, George then helped compose the first City Stages. Now, as President of McMillan Associates, a special events production firm, George is still an instrumental part of stringing together the not-for-profit, three-day music event every year in the heart of downtown. The theme is still to simply gather people from all walks of life together with music. “It truly is Birmingham’s front porch,” he says.

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How long have you called Birmingham home?

Since 1970.

What’s the main object of City Stages?

To bring the entire community together. The price of the ticket is well below market price. You can attend the entire weekend for $30, which is $10/day. The only way that we could do this is through a nonprofit.

What does your weekend at City Stages look like?

Not one spent enjoying music. It’s spent making sure that everything is running as it should. The enjoyment that I get out of the weekend is seeing thousands of people come together in Birmingham, in the heart of the city center, from all walks of life, having a good time. Seeing that happens makes me feel good.

Why do you think music is the great equalizer?

If you think of it, most sporting contests have people who are in opposition to each other. There are so many things that are confrontational in nature. Music, I think, is to bring out the best in all of us. That’s the reason I chose a music festival as the mechanism. So long as you have a program that have all genres represented, people will come. Whatever their ethnicity, whatever their age, their gender, they come together. Birmingham, that weekend, is truly Birmingham’s front porch.

What’s the farthest anyone has come to attend?

We had one couple that I know came twice from Melbourne, Australia.

Tell me about some of your City Stages memories.

When Johnny Cash was alive, he was one of our headliners one year. I’ve got every Johnny Cash CD there is. Another of my favorites was not a musician, but a story teller: Katherine Tucker Windham. She’s performed at at least half of the City Stages. The Sacred Heart Singers –a dying art—performed several times. They most definitely would be at the top of my list for something that got my adrenaline flowing. Every year, I find some artists, of who I’m completely unaware, will just capture me. I just like memories and I like people. People stimulate me.