‘There Goes County Music Scene’ Is Reaction to Fire at Big John’s

The catastrophic fire that razed Big John’s Billiards in Anaheim on Sunday morning left Orange County’s rock music community collectively stunned at the destruction of one of only two places in the county where young bands could play original music.

“Oh, wow! This changes everything,” said an audibly shaken Jim Palmer, the independent booking agent who had brought literally hundreds of aspiring groups into the pool hall that became a nightclub each Friday and Saturday night.

“I’m in shock right now,” Palmer said. “You might have to ask me later what I’m going to do.”

Sam Lanni, former owner of Safari Sam’s in Huntington Beach, which had been the county’s local music headquarters before it closed in 1986, said: “Well, there goes the Orange County music scene--what there was of it. Orange County acts can’t play L.A. (clubs) very easily. It’s over.”

The loss of Big John’s--and the possibility that its owner, Gary Chopic, will not be able to rebuild--leaves Night Moves in Huntington Beach as the only club that provides a forum to acts that play original music. But Night Moves itself has been changing its bookings in recent months and focusing more on better-known Los Angeles-based bands than on Orange County acts.

“This leaves people with nowhere to go,” said Dan Koenig, lead singer of the Fullerton-based trio Blue Trapeze. “We have played Night Moves, but not too successfully. I don’t think they had a handle on what to book or what combinations (of performers) to use.”

Like many other frustrated Orange County musicians, Koenig said his band has been more actively looking for places outside the county to build a following.

“We just went up to San Francisco on vacation,” Koenig said. “The music scene is really vital up there. . . . It’s jumping, there are so many clubs. It’s really heartening to see a place where people wanted to go because it was fun and it was live music.

“Hope springs eternal,” Koenig said. “But if nobody steps in to fill this gap, it’s back to the Red Onion for everybody. And that would be a shame because there are a lot of really talented bands out here.”

Said Chad Forello of National Peoples Gang, who played Big John’s Saturday night: “There are so many bands in Orange County that are really good and deserve interest from record companies. Some of the best bands I’ve ever seen are down here. “

Orange County’s club scene has grown bleaker by the year as various clubs have gone out of business with nothing to take their place.

But the owner of the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano offered a glimmer of hope to local musicians by saying he would consider initiating a local music night at his club, which concentrates on national touring acts.

“I might be able to give it a try,” said Gary Folgner. “We tried last year to do an original band night. That didn’t work too well. Maybe I can work up something with Jim (Palmer) that will make some sense. I would like to support it, but it’s hard to do without having your pulse on that type of entertainment. It’s a completely different world than that of touring acts.

“To find a compatible space is what’s hard,” Folgner said. “What we need is to get a big barn out in the middle of nowhere where . . . there would be no neighbors to upset.”

Meanwhile, Sam Lanni said he is still trying to open a new club that would feature music, drama, poetry and other adventurous performing arts, but has been stymied in his plans by several city councils in Orange County.

“It’s a long tedious road,” Lanni said. “When you talk about opening a club, you talk about going into a city and dealing with city governments that presume they control everything that goes on in their cities: property rights, traffic. They make prejudgments as to what is going to go in there. If you are not an upstanding member of the community with a lot of money or connections, they assume you are going to open up some kind of hellhole.

“But I am definitely going to continue to be (indefatigable) because my priority is music. It’s the love of my life. I definitely want to get back into it, especially on the local level. There are so many good people--a lot of people with heart.”