Banned Aid Concert Is a Sign of Ignorance

IRVINE — The cancellation of the O.C. Help Fest concert at UC Irvine is hardly the first time local officialdom has been overcome by a fear-and-flight reflex when confronted with the county’s indigenous, youth-oriented rock scene. But it may be the most dismaying one.

The Help Fest was booked for today at Aldrich Park in the heart of the campus. Fifteen grass-roots local bands were ready to play a daylong, daylight festival to raise money for the Sutton Foundation, which operates three group homes in Orange County for developmentally disabled people.

Equally important to its organizers, the show would have given the often-marginalized developmentally disabled a way to be part of the mainstream for a day. It seemed a commendable use of one of pop music’s finest qualities--the ability to bring different types of people together for a good time.

But campus administrators saw only trouble, the kind that comes from loud, aggressively played music feeding a large, raucous crowd’s response.

That concern, in general, is legitimate. Moshing--that idiotic ritual--has turned musical appreciation into a contact sport, carrying at least as much risk of injury to trend-happy slam-dancers and crowd-surfers as a game of sandlot tackle football. Nobody should put on a concert without a good, strong plan for crowd control.

In this case, though, the reasons for proceeding with caution--but proceeding nevertheless--far outweighed the security worries administrators cited for the last-minute cancellation.

In banning “Help Fest,” campus authorities have forgotten one of the essential purposes of a university. They have sent a terrible message.

Scores of young people--musicians and other volunteers--were poised to do a good deed for the most vulnerable minority we have. As an institution of social enlightenment--geared especially to teach young adults--it’s hard to imagine why UCI would do anything but encourage, foster and, where necessary, provide guidance for such an effort.

Guidance may well have been in order. Spearheading the Help Fest was Monica Salci, a Sutton Foundation administrator who also fronts a local rock band, All Day Wire. Salci has lots of idealism but little experience as a concert promoter. She and Chuck Pieper, the UCI associate vice chancellor who vetoed the show, have offered conflicting accounts as to whether the Sutton Foundation gave UCI a clear and timely rundown on the event’s specifics.

Salci probably would have done better aligning herself with an experienced concert promoter such as Goldenvoice or Ninety-Eight Posse, which could have smoothed her path considerably.

Setting aside contested but ultimately beside-the-point matters of bureaucratic procedure, the Help Fest posed no great security threat and deserved to go on. While some of the bands involved put out a lot of energy, perhaps even ferocity (which, after all, is what rock in the ‘90s is largely about), none of the key acts--Lit, Dial-7, My Superhero and Burnin’ Groove--has a history of trouble in scores of local performances.

These aren’t hysteria-generating hit bands who would draw the overflow, uncontrollable crowd UCI administrators saw in their nightmares, but earnestly striving solid citizens of the O.C. scene who have developed club-level followings. You might get moshing at shows by Burnin’ Groove and some of the others, but nothing that a handful of burly concert security guys can’t keep under control.

There is a considerable local track record for shows similar to the Help Fest--mid-sized outdoor festivals geared to 2,000 to 3,500 fans and built around talent from the Orange County grass-roots. The record is virtually trouble-free, including a fine series of concerts at Oak Canyon Ranch featuring punk, ska and roots-rock bands, and the punk-oriented Independent’s Day shows at Irvine Meadows in 1994-95.

For years, UC Irvine was a godsend to Orange County fans of punk and alternative-rock. Working with major area promoters, the student government annually booked an attractive handful of cutting-edge acts, including John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd., R.E.M., the Replacements, Sonic Youth and the Pixies. They handled without serious mishap such notable security challenges as hard-core punk bands Pennywise and Suicidal Tendencies.

But things have tightened considerably since punk went mainstream in 1994, culminating in the university’s refusal seven months ago to allow a show by the O.C. punk icon, Social Distortion--a move akin to banning Frank Sinatra from Las Vegas.

Lance MacLean, a university official who has overseen concerts for the UCI student government since 1981, says that even though “we’ve got a virtually perfect record injury-wise,” punk’s new prominence has made his superiors in the administration extremely wary of injury lawsuits, and “much more conservative” when it comes to aggressive shows.

“I understand that absolutely . . . [but] that doesn’t mean I agree,”’ MacLean said. He added that he had to “work like crazy” in 1996 to get approval for a show by the decidedly nonthreatening Alanis Morissette.

Maybe the embarrassment UCI has endured in its fertility clinic scandal and for giving O.J. Simpson a classroom forum has left the administration too frazzled and scared to contemplate anything risky. The answer isn’t ostrich behavior, but playing a positive role in the community on many fronts.

It is a university’s responsibility to take a reasoned, informed stance toward youth culture, and the evidence suggests UCI has crossed the line from due caution to undue fear of some of Orange County youth culture’s favorite music.

Here’s a suggestion to UCI’s leaders for a first step in restoring a proper balance: Call the Sutton Foundation and say that the O.C. Help Fest, now seeking a home, belongs at UCI.