BANDS STRIKE UP IN SPIRIT OF GIVING

With Christmas less than a week away, nearly a dozen Orange County bands are getting into the holiday spirit by mounting two benefit concerts in coming days.

On Saturday, Big John’s in Anaheim will host the third “Noise for Toys” concert at which toys and clothing will be collected for abused children at the Canyon Acres Residential Center in Anaheim Hills.

Then on Monday, The Bell Jar, Medicine Man and Exobiota head an eight-band lineup performing at Night Moves in Huntington Beach to raise food and money for needy Orange County families.

The “Noise for Toys” concert features the Tazers, Kingpin & the Harlots and the All-Star Decadent Debutantes, an ad hoc group of local musicians formed exclusively for the benefit. In past years, toys collected were donated to Childrens Hospital of Orange County.

The beneficiary of this year’s show was switched to the Canyon Acres facility because “we wanted to feel like we were having a bigger impact,” said Linda Rider, who is handling publicity for the event. “And at CHOC, the kids are there because of illness. With these kids, what happened to them could have been prevented.” Canyon Acres is a state-licensed facility for543253109maximum of 20 children at a time, with stays averaging 12 to 18 months, before they are returned to families that have been counseled or are placed in foster or adoptive homes.

The majority of the center’s funding comes from federal, state and county sources, but some 25% of the budget is supplied through donations from the community.

“All of the kids here are from Orange County and most--18 out of the 20--have been sexually abused,” said Canyon Acres executive director Daniel McQuaid. “One child had to be treated for venereal disease within days of being brought home from the hospital (after birth).

“So these kids deserve a Merry Christmas,” McQuaid said. “But we need to raise $10,000 a month to stay open, and if Santa didn’t come, I don’t know if we’d be in the position to spend money on toys.”

Admission to the 8 p.m. concert is one new unwrapped toy, an article of new clothing of the appropriate age bracket or $3.

“We are interested in giving them what they need, not money,” Rider said. “So we might buy them a microwave or more clothes or something like that, depending on how much money we make. The kids go to nearby public schools, so they shouldn’t have to run around in used clothing.”

In addition to donated services from the bands and the club, the concert has been given collateral support in the form of donated printing services for flyers and press releases and free rehearsal time at Red Duck Music in Whittier, Rider said.

“The community needs to be involved in a place like this, and I think these people are doing a real public service by giving attention to the program,” McQuaid said.

Monday’s benefit at Night Moves has a double-edged purpose, said co-organizer Jim Palmer.

“The bands have sent out invitations to their fans inviting them to the show to thank them for their support,” said Palmer, who manages The Bell Jar. “We’re just asking them to bring an unwrapped new toy or canned food as admission. So it’s helping some people who might not have much of a Christmas without it. We also think it might show people that rock musicians are not all drug addicts and prostitute-sponsoring people.”

Palmer was referring to complaints that some Huntington Beach residents leveled at local musicians during recent battles over the termination of live entertainment at Safari Sam’s nightclub in Huntington Beach.

“We’re not trying to pat ourselves on the back,” Palmer said, “but we do want to show a positive image to the city.”

Palmer said that one of three families that will receive goods collected at the show was recommended by the Huntington Beach Police Department. The other two families were selected through St. Barbara’s Church in Santa Ana, where Palmer has worked with an assistance program in the past.

Along with The Bell Jar, Medicine Man and Exobiota, the bill features Psychotic Fungus, Swamp Zombies, Suicide Kings, Penguin Slept and the Lexington Devils. For those who don’t bring an item to donate, admission is $5, Palmer said. Any proceeds will be used to buy additional food.

The show will begin at 9 p.m., but Palmer said the pace should be fast because all the bands will use one set of sound equipment, rather than taking time to set up their own.

Palmer isn’t worried that all the cause-oriented rock concerts in the past two years have rock fans “benefited out.”

“There are always good causes to work for,” Palmer said.

SAFARI SAM’S UPDATE: The attorney for Safari Sam’s nightclub in Huntington Beach will take the club’s case to U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Jan. 26 to request a preliminary injunction against the City of Huntington Beach and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Judge Consuelo Marshall denied the club owner’s bid for a temporary restraining order earlier this month on the grounds that “there wasn’t enough showing of immediate need,” attorney Gene E. Dorney said. “The court didn’t consider the Constitutional issues.”

Dorney filed suit in November on behalf of club owner Sam Lanni, who charges that First Amendment protections of freedom of speech were violated when Huntington Beach city officials denied him a live entertainment permit. Lanni is also fighting restrictions against live entertainment that the ABC placed on the club’s beer and wine license under a previous owner.

Safari Sam’s has been closed since Nov. 23 because Lanni and his partner, Gil Fuhrer, said they could not pay rent on the building without revenue from concerts, poetry readings and plays.

LIVE ACTION: Duran Duran/Power Station member Andy Taylor will be joined in a solo outing by ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones and Berlin’s Terry Bozzio at Bogart’s in Long Beach on Monday and Tuesday. . . .