Give Them Liberty or Debt : Pop music: Promoters loyal to Independent’s Day, a showcase of local alternative bands, are now free to hold the event after a disagreement with the county.

The plug that got pulled on “Independent’s Day ‘94” over the Fourth of July weekend is being reconnected, and the daylong showcase for the local grass-roots, independent-alternative rock scene is now scheduled to go forward on Oct. 22 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.

Two Fountain Valley promoters, Tony Cardullo and Jaime Munoz, tried to stage the ambitious event July 3 at Oak Canyon Ranch in Silverado Canyon, but they had to postpone it at the last minute after a permit disagreement with county officials.

Now they are planning a much bigger show--60 bands, up from the original 30--in hopes of washing away any bad taste from the earlier postponement and establishing Independent’s Day as a regular event on the local-rock calendar.

“People felt burned” by the earlier postponement, Munoz said. “This is to prove ourselves, to show it was on the up-and-up, and it wasn’t our fault.”

The show will take place not in the amphitheater itself, but on four smaller stages set up on Irvine Meadows’ town-green style concourse. The stages, each facing in a different direction, will be placed at the center of the oval-shaped green, which is ringed by a walkway and concession stands. Plans call for nine hours of nonstop music from 3 p.m. to midnight, with all four stages going simultaneously.

Cardullo said about 40 bands have been confirmed so far, with at least 20 more expected by the day of the show. All the acts either release their own records or are signed to small, independent labels. Typically, they play in clubs that hold no more than 300 or 400 fans.

The bill is a wide-ranging sampler of the Orange County-Long Beach rock scene (promoters may add additional bands from Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

Among the bands confirmed so far are Sublime, One Hit Wonder, Standing Hawthorn, Uniform Choice, Primitive Painters, the Crowd, Humble Gods, Just Plain Big, Bitch Funky Sex Machine, Psychic Rain, Supernovice, Vitamin L, Gameface and the Grabbers.

Cardullo said that he and Munoz, who operate as Taurus Enterprises, need to draw at least 2,500 people--half capacity for the concourse--to break even. Tickets from the July 3 event will be honored; Cardullo said about 900 people kept their tickets rather then take refunds.

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While the Taurus partners, both 25, have mainly promoted in local clubs, they previously have produced two bigger shows: a reggae festival in Long Beach and a ska-rock show in Colton.

In an unusual twist, all bands will donate their performances, even though Independent’s Day is primarily a for-profit event (the promoters say they will give 15% of any profits to charity).

Cardullo said the bands are willing to play for free to help make possible a large-scale event that will draw more fans and call more attention to the local scene than their normal run of club gigs.

“It’s a chance to be seen by more than 300 people at Club Mesa,” Cardullo said, adding that Taurus will invite “every A & R rep (record company talent scout) in L.A. Because we are taking the risk, we haven’t had any complaints from the bands that are playing for free.”

Promoters say the original festival was canceled after they learned that the permit covering the Silverado Canyon site did not allow for tickets to be sold at the gate, and that county officials were not going to issue a special permit to save the show.

The promoters led a protest at the Sheriff’s Department on the day of the aborted show. Cardullo contends that county officials wanted the plug pulled because they were put off by the idea of an alternative-rock show, and by such provocative band names as Bitch Funky Sex Machine.

The Taurus partners had hoped to donate some of the profits to the Orangewood Children’s Home for abused children, but controversy over some of the band names and the musical style apparently has prompted the county-operated facility to distance itself from the rescheduled Independent’s Day show.

One Orangewood official, who asked not to be named, said that the facility’s board was leery of being associated with a concert involving punk rock or heavy-metal bands, and because “in terms of the band names it wasn’t real appropriate for a children’s organization.”

In the past, Orangewood has been on the receiving end for many benefits by local grass-roots bands from the same rock scene that Independent’s Day will showcase--including annual Christmas benefits at Linda’s Doll Hut in Anaheim.

The Taurus partners say they still plan to give 15% of any profits to a charity that helps abused and neglected children.

Tickets cost $20 at the gate, or $15 in advance. Outlets include Ticketmaster locations and phone charge (714) 740-2000, Bionic Records locations, and the Lab in Costa Mesa. Concert information: (714) 991-2055.

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BRANCHING OUT: On a smaller scale, the two Taurus partners next week will launch a Monday night series of grass-roots alternative rock shows at Music City in Fountain Valley. They have dubbed the series Funkpunkandjunk, and will inaugurate it Monday with a bill featuring Her Own Hands, Homegrown, Sketch, Birdbrain, Zoombuladelic and Humble Gods.

The series, open to fans 18 and older, continues with the Decline, Regression, Circushead, Fungus Mungus, Crimson Sky and One Eye Open on Sept. 19, Thirteen, Iron-ons, Windowpane, Perfect Sunday, Supernovice and Tremolo on Sept. 26 and Her Own Hands, Peace Corp., I Found God, the Scenes, Twister and Just Plain Big on Oct. 3.

Music City is at 18774 Brookhurst St. Shows start at 9 p.m., with tickets $7. (714) 991-2055.

Cardullo also has begun co-hosting, with deejay Danny, a weekly Friday night radio program devoted to the Southern California independent-music scene. Dubbed “OCX Indi Radio,” it made its debut Sept. 2 on KWIZ, 96.7-FM. The hourlong show runs from midnight Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday. The producers record it in advance and air it in time bought from the radio station.