After nearly a year of assuring concerned neighbors that it is "doing everything we can" to avoid the burdens and inconveniences of back-to-back Zoo Tunes concerts, the Woodland Park Zoo announced yesterday that it will offer not one but two sets of back-to-back concerts this summer.

The announcement was one of several met with frustration bubbling over into anger at a particularly contentious Neighborhood Liaison Committee meeting. Feedback from community representatives on the committee raised questions about whether zoo neighbors are being heard in the Zoo's planning process, and moreover whether the public-private "partnership" of the Woodland Park Zoological Society can be said to be working.

Zoo Tunes dates announced are:

Tuesday, June 24
Wednesday, June 25
Sunday, June 29
Wednesday, July 16
Wednesday, July 23
Either Tuesday, July 22 or Thursday, July 24 (to be decided)
Wednesday, August 13
Thursday, August 21
Wednesday, August 27

The total number of concerts remained at 10, another figure questioned by neighbors after it was bumped up from 9 last year. Names of acts will not be announced until April 28, the Zoo said, but representatives are "very excited" by headliners, including one back-to-back act that played last year at the Ste. Michelle Winery. (Ironically, this notification came after an extended discussion where Zoo representatives said they avoid winery-type acts because they cost more and tend to be louder.)

The second back-to-back nights will feature different acts. The number of concerts free to immediate neighbors who receive coupons from the Zoo has not been set but will not be fewer than seven, said Zoo spokesperson Jim Bennett.

Bennett tried to put the best face on the schedule, saying it was "better than last year" because it avoided four-concert weeks. Somehow, two potential three-concert weeks and two sets of consecutive shows translates to "better" in the zoo's book.

Wallingford Community Council representative Tom Veith put the hassle in perspective, noting that residents can "plan around" separate concert nights once or twice a week. But multiple-concert weeks turn neighbors into prisoners, because those without garages or driveways have no place to park after around 4 p.m.

Noise is another problem. In a heated exchange, Phinney Ridge Community Council representative Corey Satten noted some concerts are louder than others and asked if automatic level-limiters could be placed on amplification equipment. Zoo sound contractor Dan Mortensen of DanSound said all concerts stay within city and county legal limits, but no level restrictors are used because they would hamper the quality of the music. Mortensen also suggested that neighbor perceptions of some concerts being louder than others was imaginary, a result of varying and uncontrollable atmospheric and environmental conditions.

"I have monitored sound levels and I can tell you there are times when you cannot hear the concert and times when you can hear it, and those aren't the same volumes," Satten said.

Mortensen dismissed Satten's observation, saying, "The overall maximum volume level does not change," adding, "It's a matter of science. There's no arguing the laws of physics. Sound changes by temperature, it changes by humidity."

"These are infinitesimal effects, this is not what is causing the sound level differences we're hearing, and any assertion to the contrary is disingenuous," said Satten, who studied physics at UCLA and has degrees in engineering and computer science. "Sound travels 1100 feet a second, wind moves a few feet a second, it's not going to make a difference. I completely disagree and dispute that sound blows around in the wind."

Veith seconded Satten's observation, noting that one concert last year could be heard in Wallingford.

"Most of the time the sound is OK, some of the time it is not," Satten concluded. "If you could work on the some of the time it's not, then everything would be fine."

Not heard from was the zoo's primary population, the animals, although Zoo officials say they make efforts to avoid levels that would disturb animals. That point has been challenged as well by animal-rights defenders in the past.

Satten, who has done decibel measurements of concerts reaching gas lawnmower volumes at his home on N. 59th St., said he would send results to Mortensen as evidence of unacceptable levels.