WILL CLUB HAVE TO FACE THE MUSIC?

Depending on the result of Tuesday’s Anaheim City Council meeting, a pair of benefit shows this weekend at Flashdance club will either usher in a new year of concert activity or they will serve as the club’s swan song.

The City Council is scheduled to vote on whether to renew the club’s entertainment license. If the application is rejected, it will mean the end to live concerts at the club, which in the last six months has presented adventurous acts such as Tex & the Horseheads, Social Distortion, T.S.O.L. and others that have few performing outlets in Orange County.

Because such acts have drawn predominantly punk audiences, Flashdance’s operators feel that they may be waging an uphill battle to win the renewal. “We’ve had about 20 arrests here in the last six months, which I didn’t think was a lot of people,” said Ed Christensen, who books Flashdance’s acts.

“We have a petition circulating and we’ve got about 500 signatures from people who want us to stay open,” Christensen said. He also said he hopes Flashdance patrons will attend the 9:30 a.m. council meeting to show support for the club.

“Emotions are high about this place,” Christensen said of the feedback he’s received from various city officials. “But maybe you can’t blame them. It’s just like the ‘60s--the hippies were different and everyone was scared of them.”

Several city officials offered comments that were at least somewhat encouraging.

Anaheim City Atty. William P. Hopkins said Thursday, “I haven’t seen any reports--good or bad--from police on the club.”

Said Dave Bergman, inspecting agent for the Anaheim Fire Department, “As far as the Fire Department is concerned, we haven’t had any major problems with code infractions or exceeding fire capacity. The owner (Jim Schumann) has been more than accommodating.”

Anaheim code enforcement officer Vaughan Herrick said, “According to what I’ve seen, there is no reason why the club shouldn’t be allowed to continue. I haven’t heard anything from other agencies about denying the license. It takes quite a bit for the ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control Department) to deny someone (a permit) on those types of things. But I see no problem with anything.”

Sgt. Jim Brantley, supervisor of the Anaheim Police Department’s vice division, which enforces state liquor laws, could not be reached for comment early Thursday.

Sunday’s concert will feature M.I.A., Uniform Choice, Justice League and Doggie Style. Monday’s lineup will include D.I., Bleeding Hearts, Condemned to Death and Partners in Crime. Bands are donating their services to help pay for the club’s legal representation.

THE HEAT IS ON: Ex-Eagles singer Glenn Frey will be behind a microphone Saturday in UCI’s Crawford Hall. But this time he won’t be singing.

Instead, Frey will be sportscaster-for-a-day, providing the color commentary during the radio broadcast of Saturday’s basketball game between UC Irvine and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

It’s not that Frey is looking for a second career. He currently has a Top 10 single with “The Heat Is On,” featured in “Beverly Hills Cop.” But he has long been an avid sports fan. The Eagles’ softball team gained fame in the late ‘70s for its numerous challenges to the staff of Rolling Stone magazine. Frey also went to civilian winter baseball camp in Tempe, Ariz., in 1983 through a venture called “Baseball Fantasies.”

Frey’s involvement in Saturday’s game is the result of a similar program for would-be sports announcers set up by the Englebrecht Co., a Fountain Valley organization that provides radio coverage of numerous local sports events.

“I get so many people who want to be broadcasters calling me because I’m in sports production,” said company President Roy Englebrecht. “They see Howard Cosell and say, ‘I’m twice as good as Howard’ or ‘My wife says I’m as good as Chick Hearn.’ When I ask them to send me an audition tape, they don’t have one.

“In 1984, the light went on and I thought that with all these fantasy things going, why not give someone a chance to do a broadcast of a major college game on a commercial radio station,” he said.

Englebrecht came up with a program he calls “So You Want to Be a Radio Sportscaster for a Day.” For a fee of $350, a person can do color commentary of a major college game over a commercial station. In preparation for the sportscast, participants attend an all-day seminar with broadcast professionals and at the end of the game receive a tape of their work.

“There’s a vicious circle in radio, in that you can’t get hired unless you have an audition tape, but you can’t make a tape unless you’re on the radio,” he said. “This gives people a way to break that circle.

“Glenn was the second person to have his money in,” Englebrecht added. “He’s really jazzed up about doing it.” Frey could not be reached for comment.

The game is at noon, but Frey’s duties begin with an 11:45 a.m. pre-game show. The broadcast will be carried on San Clemente’s KWVE-FM (107.9).

EXUDE LEADER INJURED: Frank Rogala, lead singer of Exude, the Orange County group that scored a local hit last year with its Cyndi Lauper parody “Boys Just Want to Have Sex,” has been sidelined with multiple fractures to his right kneecap. The knee injury, reportedly incurred when Rogala fell from a tree after rescuing a stranded kitten, has postponed the group’s rehearsals for a planned spring tour. Rogala’s injury, however, will not prevent production of a video for the band’s forthcoming album, “Play With the Boys,” which will be released by A&M; Records/Canada. (A 12-inch single, “Life Is,” will be released in the United States by Greenworld distribution.) Said cameraman Robert Jacobs, “If they could shoot around (Pretenders’ lead singer) Chrissie Hynde being pregnant, we can shoot around Frank’s cast.”

LIVE ACTION: Tickets go on sale Monday for the Firm’s March 16 concert at the Pacific Amphitheatre. The Firm is the group formed by ex-Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and ex-Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers. Tickets will be available at Ticketron and Teletron outlets, but not at the amphitheater’s box office until the day of the show . . . Jerry Jeff Walker returns to the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana on Feb. 25 . . . Manhattan Transfer will perform at Cal State Fullerton’s Pub on Feb 23 and at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach Feb. 26 and 27 . . . Tex & the Horseheads will play Radio City in Anaheim Feb. 22 . . . The James Harman Band will perform at Deja Vu in Costa Mesa Wednesday and Feb. 27.