SST WON’T FIGHT THE COUNTY OVER CANCELED PICNIC

SST Records has decided not to take legal action against the County of Los Angeles after a permit for the label’s FESST ’87 at the Santa Fe Dam Recreational Area was revoked just two days before the Sept. 27 event.

The festival, which would have been the largest in SST’s series of free community barbecues, was to have featured live music by SST bands including Opal, Firehose and Sonic Youth, plus free food for up to 1,000 people. Label spokesman Mike Whittaker, saying that SST had spent about $7,000 organizing the event, charged that park officials “got cold feet” about hosting the punk-oriented picnic.

“Our lawyers have said that we do have a case, but the amount of money and time it would take wouldn’t be worth it,” Whittaker said. “We’d rather spend it on doing another festival somewhere else.”

Besides money, Whittaker claims SST lost “prestige and good will” among its fans, as the late notice of cancellation prevented the label from getting word out to fans who had planned on coming. Whittaker estimated that 500 people showed up at the park unaware that the picnic had been canceled, some having come from as far as San Diego.

Park superintendent Dick Wulfing, though, insisted that the cancellation had nothing to do with the style of music involved and claimed that the permit was rescinded because SST had misrepresented the nature of the event.

“The official reason was that they scheduled a picnic for their employees and advertised it as a rock concert,” Wulfing said. “We thought it was a group picnic, which we allow. Rock concerts we don’t allow. We don’t allow things that are advertised. We can’t handle affairs with free rock concerts and food for the general public.”

The reason for the last-minute cancellation, he said, was that it wasn’t until then that a park employee heard a radio advertisement for the festival.

But Whittaker countered that the nature of the label’s plans was made clear on the application for the permit, which was accepted when a check covering permit fees and deposits was cashed on Aug. 13. In the application, SST described the event as being a picnic for “employees, business associates and friends,” and said that it would include musical performances by SST acts. It also stated that SST intended to advertise the event. However, Wulfing said that the understanding when SST first approached him about using the park was that advertising would be limited to music business-oriented publications.

In any case, with SST rejecting the possibility of legal recourse, the matter appears to be closed, pending a refund to SST of the permit fees (around $1,600), which Wulfing said would come soon.

TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: Bands don’t usually even discuss record-company rejections, let alone include them as part of a promotional package. But that’s just what Trash Matinee, a local teen quartet, has done. The band’s publicity material includes pro and con quotes from--and comments about--record company reaction to the band, making it something of a primer on music-biz politics. Some negative samples:

“Atlantic Records/Nick Loft, A&R--Likes; the record but didn’t like the band live. ‘They’re too young.’ He also thought the guitar was out of tune on the first two songs and decided to leave.”

“RCA Records/Bennett Kaufman, A&R--Hates; the record. (Under questioning he admitted he only listened to two cuts--no doubt he was also on the phone the same time.) Thinks the whole concept is stupid.”

“A&M; Records/Brian Huttenhower, A&R--Almost; impossible to get on the phone. Hasn’t heard the record so far.”

This unusual approach is the brainchild of Mark Nine, a colorful musician/producer/promoter whose Underworld Records released Trash Matinee’s debut EP in August. Nine has overseen the group’s development, helping form the band around brothers Danny and Phillip Sidlow, two guitar students of his. (Nine has also taught guitar to all of Bob Dylan’s children, one of whom--Jakob--guests on one track on the record.)

Isn’t Nine afraid of alienating record-biz bigwigs with his comments?

“I’m really kind of fed up with people in the record business,” he said, though he was quick to point out that the general response to the record has been positive among the companies, as well as at college radio.

Also in the group’s promotions: a form letter that in all false sincerity pleads with record company reps to save Phillip from the horrible fate of a Yale education (the Beverly Hills High School graduate was accepted at the Ivy League school for admission this fall).

“Phillip’s parents both agree,” reads the letter, “that there is only one thing that can keep him here in Los Angeles--a major label recording contract.”

And . . . Phillip left for Yale last month.

HAPPENINGS TEN YEARS TIME AGO: The lineup for Madame Wong’s 10th anniversary celebration Oct. 30-Nov. 1 has been sweetened with the addition of the Knack, the first superstar band of the L.A. music renaissance that was launched when Esther Wong first hosted rock acts at her Chinatown restaurant a decade ago. Another sure highlight will be the debut of Martha Davis’ new band, though at press time Wong was uncertain which day it would perform.

The confirmed schedule so far for the shows at Madame Wong’s West in Santa Monica:

Oct. 30: Naughty Sweeties, Code Blue, Rubber City Rebels and the Pop; Oct. 31: the Knack, Sumner, the Twisters and Plane English (a new band featuring Astrid Plane, formerly of Animotion). The third day’s lineup is not set yet, and many other names associated with the New Wave era are expected to be on hand to help with the festivities.

FRONTIER DAYS: Frontier Records continues to live up to its name as one of the few truly independent labels left. Unlike many others, the Sun Valley-based company, essentially a one-woman operation run by Lisa Fancher, has not entered into a distribution deal with a major label. But now Fancher is trying to show that independent doesn’t necessarily mean low-profile. She’s recently expanded both her staff and her roster, with several new releases slated for the next few months. Just out now are albums from two San Francisco bands, the American Music Club and Flying Color, and coming up are albums from Wisconsin’s EIEIO and locals Naked Prey, plus EPs from Thin White Rope and Young Fresh Fellows.

NEWS ‘N’ NOTES: Cindy Lee Berryhill’s debut album, “Who’s Gonna Save the World?,” is due Wednesday from Rhino Records. Among the titles on this smart, funny record: “Damn, Wish I Was a Man” (Dylanesque whimsy) and “Steve on H” (Patti Smith meets Olive Oyl). . . . Singer/guitarist Alain Johannes, formerly the leader of What Is This, has resurfaced in Walk the Moon, a duo with Lithuanian-born Natasha Shneider, formerly of the group Black Russian. The group’s debut album has just been released by MCA, and the single “Daddy’s Come Home” is starting to pick up airplay around town. . . . Welcome to L.A.’s latest rock immigrants, Let’s Talk About Girls, recently arrived from Detroit. The band is currently shopping a demo tape that features original songs by leader Barry Holdship, as well as a couple by his brother, Creem magazine editor Bill Holdship, and one by Dave DiMartino, former Creem editor and current Billboard magazine L.A. bureau chief. L-TAG (as the band is also known) will be at the Anticlub on Nov. 11 and at Wong’s West on Nov. 21.