Stars to Make Music for Wildlife Refuge

Two entrepreneurs have resuscitated a fund-raising music project featuring film stars such as Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt to raise money for the embattled Wildlife Waystation.

The pair plan to produce a compact disc, “Hollywood Goes Wild,” featuring original songs from A-list actors. Internet philanthropist Tony Jones said the CD would be distributed through major online retailers.

The Wildlife Waystation venture is the inaugural project for Jones’ Inique.com, a San Rafael-based venture that aims to channel some of the profits from technology to philanthropic causes.

“Everyone is dot-commed to death hearing about a 19-year-old kid who stubbed his toe on an idea and woke up an Internet millionaire,” Jones said Friday. “We have created a way to bring Hollywood, music, athletes and fashion individuals together with the dot-coms and give some of that new economy money a streamlined way to give back.”

The waystation will receive $1 for each CD sold, said executive producer Mark Fine, but the price of the disc has not yet been determined.

The animal refuge in Little Tujunga Canyon has been closed to the public since April 7, when the state Department of Fish and Game barred it from accepting any more animals. Waystation Director Martine Colette has said the temporary closing will prevent her from raising the money to make cage improvements ordered by Fish and Game inspectors.

The refuge’s recent problems have galvanized efforts to release “Hollywood Goes Wild,” said Fine, who is based in Los Angeles. A concert with some of the artists is planned for mid-September.

“The waystation’s current predicament has given it a real cause for being and pushed it forward,” Fine said. “At this pivotal point in the waystation’s evolution, this project will help answer a desperate need.”

The music project is the third major fund-raising effort announced for the animal refuge in response to mounting investigations by state and federal agencies. Last week, the Lund Foundation--a charitable organization started by the late Sharon Disney Lund, daughter of Walt Disney--donated $100,000 to complete a primate house, and an undisclosed donor contributed $50,000 for a crisis management team.

“I’m hoping that all the adverse publicity is not going to affect the production of this album,” Colette said in a statement. “A project like this can certainly draw more attention to the plight of the animals.”

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Fine first introduced the idea about 1 1/2 years ago when his Hammer & Lace label was distributed by Polygram Records. The label was later discontinued, and Fine hooked up with Inique.com in March to revive the project.

“I can’t think of a project more deserving than the Wildlife Waystation,” said Fine, who has held similar fund-raisers for breast cancer and hepatitis research. “And I can’t think of another project on this planet that has assembled such a Hollywood A-list on one piece of plastic.”

Some of the recordings, including Billy Bob Thornton’s New Jersey rock track “Island Avenue” and Jeff Goldblum’s big band creation “Born Freak,” were written expressly for the fund-raiser.

Goldblum performed the song during an appearance on the “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” last year. Other songs, such as Brad Pitt’s “Midtown,” were written for other projects but signed over to “Hollywood Goes Wild.”

Also scheduled to perform on the CD are Johnny Depp, Milla Jovovich, Juliette Lewis, Bijou Phillips and Mare Winningham, Fine said.