30 Separate Acts Congregate at Benefit to Feed the Needy

Sprawling over 10 1/2 hours, with more than 30 separate acts numbering more than 110 performers, the fourth annual Orange County Music For the Needy benefit Sunday may not have been the most time- or manpower-efficient way ever devised to help the poor.

Even so, the benefit that also serves as the local rock community’s annual Christmas party had its best year as a charitable event. Organizer Jim Palmer said Monday that proceeds from the show at Bogart’s in Long Beach came to $1,646 in cash, plus piles of food, clothing and toys donated by the estimated 540 people who attended the benefit. That will be enough to help 21 or 22 needy families have an ample Christmas, Palmer said, breaking last year’s record of 19 families.

The event’s aim isn’t just to raise money but to forge a festive common purpose and provide a wide-ranging talent showcase for the local music scene.

“I look forward to it because it gives the music community a chance to come together at one time,” said veteran Anaheim rocker Nick Pyzow, explaining after his early-afternoon set that he usually is too busy with his own music to keep track of what other local bands are up to. “And, as corny as it sounds, it’s real cool to help people at Christmas time.”

Fans had the same attitude.

“This is a good opportunity to see everyone play, plus we brought a box of clothes and food,” said Jill Travis of Huntington Beach. A sophomore at Golden West College, Travis also brought her geography textbook and notes, which she laid out on a cocktail table so the succession of bands could provide the sound track as she crammed for a final exam.

“If I were home I’d be thinking about (the show),” she said. “Here, I can get into studying and look up every once in a while to see what is going on.”

Actually, it was only possible to see half of what was going on at any one time. Musicians played simultaneously in both of Bogart’s show rooms--the regular nightclub for louder bands and the more intimate cafe for quieter music and poetry readings.

The day began and ended with humor. Loving Kindness, a parody of a Vegas-style lounge act, opened the proceedings with a kitschy reading of Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again (Naturally).” Boneshake, in its local debut, provided the finale with a blast of what can only be described as heavy metal be-bop, tied together with sight gags. Boneshake’s five-man lineup includes three alumni of the highly regarded El Grupo Sexo, and the new band appears ready to carry on in the antic but skillful vein of its predecessor.

There also were plenty of laughs in sets by National People’s Gang, who were in a coltish mood after just arriving home from their first tour, and by the always-endearing Swamp Zombies. The Squids, a frat party band out of central casting, and Cactus Jack, attired in bathrobes, also kept things light.

As is usually the case in the wider rock world, it was left to the solo folkies to put things in a more serious perspective. Mark Davis provided what could have served as a keynote song for the day when he sang “Hollow,” a moving affirmation of idealism in the face of a world that is all too conducive to cynicism (Davis also appeared in a reunion with members of his old band, Clockwork, which broke up after playing its last show at the 1987 Music for the Needy benefit). Another strong, appropriate original was Kerry Getz’s “Losing It,” which portrayed the despair of a person left homeless at Christmas.

Some of the day’s most enjoyable surprises were revamped renderings of Christmas songs. Ann De Jarnett and her band, playing an unaccustomed acoustic-based set, turned in a pretty “What Child Is This?” and a driving “Good King Wenceslaus” (no “White Christmas,” but they did finish with a good version of Cream’s “White Room”). Imagining Yellow Suns, young rockers from Newport Beach, capped an idealistic set with three-part harmonies on John Lennon’s “Happy Christmas (War Is Over).”

The Beat Pests, an intermittent rock band featuring members less known for making music than for scribbling about it for local newspapers, may have become the first group ever to do zydeco, funk-rap and anthem rock versions of Christmas songs within one 25-minute set.

“I like ‘em,” commented a member of the Scarecrows, who didn’t know the band’s three instrumental soloists were moonlighting literati. “They’re kinda cheesy, but likable cheesy.”

The benefit provided a showcase for several, still-developing young bands that have lots of promise. They included psychedelic guitar-rockers Black Daphne (sounding much more focused than they did a few months ago), Wood & Smoke, and Imagining Yellow Suns, and the punk-influenced Don’t Mean Maybe and Big Drill Car.

As a counterpoint, there was a contingent of bands drawing on older roots: 3D Picnic, heavily under the lively, catchy influence of mid-’60s British pop; the Nick Pyzow Band, with its American heartland rock style (although the addition of a keyboard player brought in some Elvis Costello & the Attractions textures); Fear and Faith, whose set was founded on rootsy blues and country, and Hard As Nails, Cheap As Dirt, purveyors of raunchy blues a la ZZ Top.

Joe Wood of TSOL growled smoky blues standards with help from Dee Dee Grisham and Robbie Allen of Gypsy Trash, while April Danielle’s solo set featured Costello-style word play (as in Elvis, not Lou). The guitar-vocal duo of Jack Drummond and Tripp Rezac came up with good, straightforward coffeehouse harmonies, while Big Yard brought an unusual twist to reggae by using steel drums, rather than keyboards, as the main melody instrument. Poet-comic Gil Fuhrer shamelessly bribed his audience by passing out candies before embarking on readings with an appealingly ironic, self-mocking tone.

The advantage of a sense of musical community became evident in strong performances by Old Flo, Burning Tree and the Scarecrows. The three kindred bands share personnel as well as a passion for blues-informed, Stones-style rock ‘n’ roll. For these groups, inter-band rapport has bred versatility and allowed the players to branch out creatively.