SAN DIEGO — Louis “Louie” Procaccino, a production manager who was dubbed the “MacGyver” of the local live music scene by the San Diego Union-Tribune for his ability to make things happen, died Sept. 9 at age 68.
“Everybody who passed through San Diego on tour from 1975 on dealt with Louie,” noted production manager Kent Black. “He was quite the local character — like Steve Gudis was in Nashville.”
Raised in San Diego, Procaccino attended Oceanside High School in the late 1960s and studied journalism at San Diego State University from 1971 to 1978, building on a wide array of backstage know-how in both lighting and sound.
His personal warmth, humor, humility and technical skills made him a local legend, as did his ingenuity and willingness, in a pinch, to use anything from bolt cutters to a chainsaw to keep a show from getting canceled by a fire marshal or enhance sightlines for an outdoor concert.
Working freelance, then as a member of IATSE, Local 122, Procaccino helped the shows go on for big acts like David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Fleetwood Mac. He also worked with local promoter Marc Berman on local happenings such as the Humphreys Concerts by the Bay and KGB Sky Show, and served as the longtime sound tech for Makeda Dread’s Bob Marley Day Festival concerts.
As industry friends make plans for a memorial service in his honor, one venue, the Casbah nightclub in downtown San Diego, has already announced that they will be hosting a free concert in Louie’s honor on Nov. 2, with a lineup of local bands that knew Louie well.
