Johnny Hensley isn't wasting any time.

The newest member of the Augusta-Richmond County Coliseum Authority says he'll go back to the board at its next meeting in two weeks and ask for permission to run a full-page ad in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution aimed directly at megastar artists. He wants to get their attention with an image of James Brown and ask them what it would take for them to play in the arena named in his honor.

Mr. Hensley said he would like to run the ad either the Thursday before or the day of Elton John's March 14 concert at Philips Arena with Billy Joel.

It's likely to be a tough sell to the authority. At its last meeting on Dec. 23, Mr. Hensley just barely got $39,000 put in the budget for the plan. His fellow members seemed on the verge of nixing it until William Fennoy made a motion to appropriate the money with the condition that Mr. Hensley get permission -- in other words, six votes -- before spending any of it.

With only half of the board present, the motion passed 3-2.

The plan might not have come so far had it been someone else's. But Mr. Hensley brought an entertainment background to the authority when he was appointed by Commissioner Jimmy Smith last fall. He was a guitarist and singer for regional bands Johnny Hensley and the Red Hots and The Celestials in the late 1950s and early 1960s, then spent 12 years as a concert promoter.

"I looked at what other people are not doing," Mr. Hensley, now a real estate broker with RE/MAX of Augusta, said of his newspaper idea, "and there's not another city, another building, another venue doing this. And it's in your face."

In December, his fellow members expressed reluctance to pay for ads when the authority has already hired a management company, Global Spectrum, to recruit talent. They also questioned the bang for their buck, wondering if it would be better to woo artists through trade publications or mailings to their agents.

Mr. Hensley counters that Augusta's civic center complex needs a reviving jolt and that conventional tactics won't accomplish that. He said he's not trying to step on Global Spectrum's toes, but rather speed their efforts along by getting General Manager Monty Jones' phone ringing.

The message, Mr. Hensley said, is "we're back," letting the industry know that Augusta wants to book big-name acts.

"If you want the same ol' same ol', you buy a full-page ad in Billboard or Pollstar," he said. "It's not typical, and I'm looking for something atypical to stir things up."

Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar, a concert industry trade publication, said he has never heard of anything like it being tried before.

"It's certainly unorthodox," he said, but as a strategy it doesn't seem wise to aim a message directly at musicians.

"That's why artists have managers and agents. They want them to deal with that stuff," Mr. Bongiovanni said. "I would think there's a more cost-effective way to reach Usher, if that's what you're trying to do."

Mr. Hensley said he envisions an artist seeing the ad, being intrigued and instructing his or her agent to look into it. Or artists' managers, friends or family members might see the ads and point them out to the entertainers. The ads give contact information for Mr. Jones, of Global Spectrum.

Mr. Hensley said he has spoken to advertising reps and a full-page Thursday ad in the Atlanta paper would cost $28,000; a Saturday ad would run $30,000. He's also proposing an ad in The Tennessean in Nashville to appeal to country music stars. Any weekday ad in that paper will cost $5,500.

Markups for the two newspapers list artists by name. For Atlanta, it lists Elton John, Ludacris, Sugarland, Alan Jackson, Widespread Panic and R.E.M, among others. In Nashville, it lists Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, George Jones, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton and Rascal Flatts.

The $39,000 budget item allows for follow-up packages to be sent to these artists' agents, along with travel money for Mr. Hensley and Mr. Jones if they want to talk.

Noting that the civic center complex loses an average of $125,000 per month, Mr. Hensley called the money a drop in the bucket that would be well-spent even if just one performer bites.

"A building like this was never meant to make a profit. It's an economic generator," he said. "I honestly just want to see some shows."

Reach Johnny Edwards at (706) 823-3225 or johnny.edwards@augustachronicle.com.