POP BEAT : CLUB MUSICAL ACTION MOVES TO BEACH

Don’t look now, but the hub of Orange County’s club scene has moved to the beach.

The recent closings of two Anaheim clubs (Spangler’s Cafe and Flashdance) leaves Radio City as that city’s only full-time outlet for local original music, causing club-hoppers to shift their focus from Anaheim to a pair of new Huntington Beach clubs.

Some of the most popular and adventurous acts from Orange County and Los Angeles are currently being booked at Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach and Spatz in Huntington Harbour.

Interestingly, the two could be considered near substitutes for the two Anaheim clubs. Safari Sam’s (411 Olive Ave.) is offering a varied fare of local music, poetry and miscellaneous performance similar to Spangler’s Cafe, while Spatz (16903 Algonquin St.) is booking many of the same punk and new wave acts that frequented Flashdance.

The good news from the Huntington Beach Police Department is that both clubs so far are running essentially trouble free. “There are no particular problems per se at either club,” said Sgt. Jeff King, who is in charge of vice and intelligence. “They have had no outside complaints from neighbors. Just the normal problems we run into at bars.” King added that provisions of both clubs’ entertainment licenses excludes dancing.

In the three months since Safari Sam’s opened, the club has devoted its music nights (Thursday through Saturday) to local bands such as Western Skies, Blue Trapeze and Abscess. Monday and Tuesday nights are reserved for improvisational theater performances. Wednesdays are “open” nights for special events, such as twice-a-month poetry readings and shows sponsored by Orange County public radio stations KSBR (88.5 FM) and KUCI (88.9 FM).

The comfortably informal interior of the 120-capacity club boasts a jungle decor of palm fronds, bamboo and ceiling fans. One patron at last Wednesday’s Blue Trapeze-Western Skies show described it as “Gilligan’s Island revisited.”

“We’re attempting to be a cultural center,” said Sam Lanni, who shares ownership of the 18-and-over club with his sister, Lisa, and partner, Gil Fuhrer. “At least, that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve got a lot of creativity in this area--oil painters, musicians, actors, poets, comedians--so we want to incorporate all of that into the club. “As long as we don’t have punk here, I don’t think we’ll have any problem. As far as I’m concerned, punk died a few years ago,” Lanni, 30, said. “People who are still into punk are like people who are still in to Led Zeppelin--they’re both part of history. There are a lot of good things going on now; we want to spotlight the counterculture.”

Admission to weeknight shows is usually $2 or $3, while weekend shows are $3 for over 21, $5 for 18 to 21. Upcoming shows include Rude Awakening (tonight), poetry night (March 20), Abscess (March 22), Plain Wrap (March 29) and Tupelo Chain Sex (March 30).

“We aren’t Hollywood and we aren’t big shot club owners. We aren’t trying to get rich. Right now, I’m just doing this for fun. But three weeks ago we started operating in the black. We’ve been getting busier every night,” Lanni said, “so, hopefully that means we’re doing something right.”

Spatz, located in the Harbour Mall at the same site as the old Duke of Huntington new wave dance club, in recent weeks has hosted the Screamin’ Sirens, the Vandals, T.S.O.L., M.I.A and dozens of other non-mainstream groups from Orange County and Los Angeles.

Opened last year as a jazz dinner club by entrepreneur Jack Richards, Spatz abandoned jazz after a few months of unsuccessful shows and began booking local rock, new wave and punk bands one night a week.

In February, local music was boosted to four nights a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday), with the other three nights devoted to disc jockeys who spin current hit records and dance music.

Sitting in his office Sunday prior to a performance by L.A.’s cowpunk band Screamin’ Sirens, Richards said, “My dream was to have one of the best top name jazz and dinner clubs in the world. But in (the first) 10 weeks, I lost $75,000 doing that. After realizing that whatever I did it would make no difference, I went to this.”

The jump from the Latin jazz of Pancho Sanchez to the blitzkrieg bop of the Vandals is a big one, and Richards said the new booking policy looked precarious at first.

“When we started this format, I didn’t know if it would work,” Richards said. “We didn’t know them (punk and new wave fans), and they didn’t know us. And they tested us--mirrors were smashed, they tried slam dancing and provoked fights.

“What happened, was that we treated them as people, not as outcasts. We treated them as individuals and they began to treat this place as a home. We don’t have those problems any more. Sincerely, I’ve made a lot of friends and met a lot of nice guys and girls. I like this music--not all of it, but that’s the same as with jazz or R&B.;”

Richards and booking agent David Levy said the club’s over-21 policy is largely responsible for Spatz’s success to date in handling the punk crowds. Indeed, one of the most startling aspects of the Spatz story is that the plush carpeting, booths, elaborate lighting and numerous bar stools have not been abused by audiences.

“These are the same punk fans who were at the Cuckoo’s Nest (Costa Mesa) five years ago,” Levy said. “But they are older and aren’t as rowdy as they used to be. When T.S.O.L. puts out a flyer for a show that says, ‘Please respect the club,’ you know they care about the place.”

Tonight’s bill at Spatz includes local up-and-comers Psychobud. Monday, Western Skies will play. Future shows will feature Tupelo Chain Sex (March 17), Radiohead (March 22) and 45 Grave (March 29).

Lest anyone think a trend is sweeping the county, there is the case of Deja Vu in Costa Mesa. David Levy also recently tried booking similar shows at Deja Vu, which for years has been one of the county’s prototypical Top 40 singles bars. So when the club started bringing in such adventurous groups as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Agent Orange, more than a few eyebrows were raised.

But after those two shows, club owner Tom Elsea has decided to halt similar bookings, “for the time being.”

“It was too much of a departure from what we usually do,” he said. “It was a shock to the system.”

LIVE ACTION: Jamaican reggae group the Wailing Souls and Kansas City’s Blue Riddim will play the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach on Thursday (March 7) followed next Friday by the return of Lone Justice. . . . Blue Trapeze will perform at Fullerton College March 15. . . . Gary Morris will be at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana March 18.