Will Shows Go On at Freedman?

Roger Shepherd watched in dismay in November as the Freedman Forum Concert Theater lapsed back into suspended animation.

Show after show booked by the veteran concert promoter into the troubled, 2,500-seat Anaheim theater was canceled, sometimes on short notice.

Yet Shepherd hasn’t given up trying to resuscitate this once-prosperous but now mostly comatose venue. His latest attempt is a solo-acoustic concert Friday by the ‘70s-vintage folk-pop singer Dan Fogelberg. Unlike fall shows by Echo & the Bunnymen and Pat Benatar that were canceled at the last minute, Shepherd says this one will go on.

The problem last year, he said, was an unexpected loss of financing in the partnership he had formed to run the theater. For the Fogelberg show, the Los Angeles-based Shepherd says he has found a new financial partner, Florida concert promoter Jack Utsick. If all goes well, Shepherd hopes to secure the financial backing to book concerts on a more or less weekly basis.

Shepherd recognizes that the spate of cancellations last year, which also included a soul oldies review and country singer Neal McCoy, damaged the theater’s already shaky credibility. (Formerly known as the Celebrity Theatre, it has been virtually unused for four years.) But he believes the Freedman Forum is a solid venue, and that its unusual in-the-round setup should lend itself to more than 50 shows a year.

“The new financing guarantees that the [Fogelberg] show will play,” Shepherd said. “The artist has been paid; he’s going to show up. All the bills are being paid in advance. The cancellations cost me a lot in reputation. I’m committed to making it work, and I can’t afford any more cancellations.”

Rather than being part of the Freedman Forum’s management team, as he was in the failed attempt to revive the theater last year, Shepherd is acting as an outside promoter who rents the hall on an event-by-event basis.

But, he said, “my goal isn’t to do these as one-offs; it’s to go in and operate the building.”

Shepherd’s former partner, Richard Stern, said he is “coordinating activities” at the Freedman but isn’t prepared to have the venue book its own shows.

For now, Stern said, it makes sense to have outside promoters pay rent and hire the talent. “There’s less risk, and it keeps the building viable.”

Stern said he has been contacted by three other promoters who would like to rent the theater on a show-by-show basis, but only the Fogelberg concert is booked.

Stern, whose brother, Ellis, is a trustee of the charitable foundation that owns the Freedman Forum, said the theater’s best chance of long-term survival might lie in a combination of rentals and self-promoted events.

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FREE ‘N’ EASY: In a variation on a theme by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Club 369 is giving it away now in hopes of raking it in later. The Fullerton rock club has been giving away hundreds of tickets to selected shows by emerging local bands eager to build a grass-roots following.

Club booker Randy Cash says he became concerned a few months ago that the Orange County scene wasn’t fostering enough new bands with the potential to join such acts as Manic Hispanic, Lit, Hed(pe) or Burnin’ Groove as reliably hot draws at Club 369. His answer: Find bands he believes have the talent and drive to succeed, and, if they’re willing to play gratis, give them bunches of free tickets to distribute for their shows.

Bands that otherwise might draw 50 or 80 paying fans at the club’s typical $6 or $7 admission price have been quadrupling their audience, Cash said. He hopes that once club-goers get a look at bands such as Funhole, Crazy Wizdom and Rooster, they will become paying fans as the bands develop and continue to play 369.

“It has worked out really well,” said Geoff Yeaton of Funhole, which has played two free shows at Club 369 and plans another next month. He figures it’s worth giving up the small payday of an emerging band for the chance to play to a packed house.

Cash says he will experiment with sponsoring five or six free shows a month; increased bar income only partly compensates for the sacrificed cover. Still, he sees it as an investment that will eventually pay off.

“You can play the same 20 or 30 local bands that draw well all the time, play them till you beat them to death, or you can develop new bands,” said Cash, who has been booking Club 369 for four years. “This is only for good bands that are serious,” he added. “You can’t do it for bands that just get together to drink beer and have their friends come.”

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SERENADING: Seven Orange County bands will play a benefit concert Jan. 28 at Club 369 in Fullerton, returning the loyalty of a fan.

Roberta McCafferty of Yorba Linda was paralyzed in a car wreck while driving home early this month from Las Vegas, where she remains hospitalized. The bands hope to raise enough money to pay for medical transportation back to Orange County, said Daren Carlson, the Burnin’ Groove singer who is organizing the show with Club 369’s booker, Randy Cash.

Burnin’ Groove, Lit, the Ziggens, Liquorfish, Bingerfang, D/Railed and Fuel Syndicate will play. The show starts at 9 p.m., with $5 admission. 1641 N. Placentia Ave., Fullerton, (714) 572-1816.