O.C. Blues Festival Creators Locking Horns in Court

Call it the battle of the blues festivals.

Former partners who split up acrimoniously after creating last year’s inaugural Orange County Blues Festival are planning rival large-scale blues shows on successive weekends in Dana Point this fall--and their squabble has ended up in court.

John Christian and John Dew filed a complaint in South County Municipal Court this week claiming the rights to the festival name and asking $100,000 in damages from former partner Jim Oakes.

But that’s apparently not stopping the show--or shows--from going on.

State rangers confirm that Christian and Dew are planning a two-day blues concert at Doheny State Beach on Oct. 1 and 2. And Dana Point officials are discussing whether to allow a blues festival produced by Oakes at scenic Heritage Park--where the event was held last year--on Sept. 24 and 25.

“We are a tourist city and these are the type of events that are good for Dana Point,” Planning Commissioner Lynn Dawson said Thursday.

However, Dawson added, “I don’t know how good two of these festivals back-to-back will be for the city.”

In the legal dispute, Christian and Dew claim they were victims of fraud and mismanagement because Oakes allegedly spent money without authorization that left some creditors still unpaid nine months after the 1993 festival.

They believe, and Oakes agrees, that last year’s festival lost $30,000 despite a three-day attendance of about 22,000 people.

“He was the (certified public accountant) in charge of the accounting,” Christian said. “He is solely responsible for what happened.”

Oakes, however, contends that Dew, Christian and another former festival organizer, Eric Jensen, worked for him and were fired for improperly spending revenue from the event.

“The day after the event, I sent a memo to the city saying I was no longer associated with these people in any way,” Oakes said. “I own the name (Orange County Blues Festival) and they’ve never paid me to use that name.”

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Members of the rival group contend that they and Oakes were part of a corporation that owns the rights to the name.

“The name belongs to the corporation,” Christian said. “We will file an injunction if necessary to prevent (Oakes) from using that name.”

Meanwhile, not all is serene in Dana Point over the prospect of another blues festival.

Several homeowners upset over the noise created by last year’s festival in Heritage Park strongly opposed Oakes’ application for a special events permit at a Planning Commission hearing Wednesday night.

The commission postponed action on the matter until July 20, but heard testimony from several residents.

“What we don’t want is to fight this annual autumn festival every year,” said Ed Smyth, a neighborhood resident who helped design Heritage Park. “This park was never meant for such heavy commercial use. To hear this noise bombard us from such close range is inexcusable.”

Many expensive homes ring the park, which is situated on a bluff overlooking Dana Point Harbor. Residents say that besides the noise, they had to put up with people throwing trash and urinating on their lawns.

Oakes, who did not speak at the public hearing, said the festival was for the common good of the community, not just for the approximately 50 residents who complained.

“Their feeling is ‘not in my back yard,’ ” Oakes said. “Then why did they buy (a home) next to a park?”

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Most of the residents backed the idea of a blues show at Doheny State Beach, as did Commissioner Dawson.

“It’s in a place that’s far away from residential areas,” she said. “It’ll make money for the state, which badly needs revenue these days, and it’ll bring business to Dana Point.”

However, the Doheny State Beach show is not under the jurisdiction of the city, “and we’ve been told by our city planners that we can’t consider it as a factor” in the Heritage Park festival, Commissioner Robert Montgomery said.

Senior Park Ranger Mike Tope said backers of the Doheny State Beach show still need to work out traffic and law enforcement plans, “but everything seems to be going along smoothly. I don’t see any problems so far.”

Christian said the concert will be held in a four-acre section of the 62-acre park. He added that confirmations from several major blues acts have been received and contracts will be signed soon.

Southern California already has several major blues festivals in early fall, including the Long Beach Blues Festival, which was held the weekend before the Orange County event last year.

But drawn by several quality national and local blues acts, the first Orange County Blues Festival surprised several area concert promoters who had predicted oversaturation and a poor turnout.

Oakes said he felt that having his Heritage Park show take place first would be an advantage.

“Our date is the same as it was last year and people get used to coming out at the same time every year,” he said. “I think our show happening first will be a significant advantage in itself.”