ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : With a Sneer in Their Hearts, Punk Rockers Plan a Benefit

For 15 years, Orange County officialdom has fought the county’s indigenous punk rock movement--by treating early ‘80s punkers as if they were a gang movement, by revoking or denying club and theater permits and generally by recognizing punk for the disorderly force it is and acting accordingly as guardian of the public tranquillity.

But hey, no hard feelings, said John Pantle, a concert promoter on the local punk scene.

Wednesday, Pantle announced a “Save the County” concert intended to demonstrate solidarity--in a sneering, punk sort of way--with the Orange County Board of Supervisors in its time of crisis.

Headlining the concert at the Ice House in Fullerton on Feb. 3 will be Greg Ginn, the former Black Flag guitarist whose respected punk/alternative label SST Records is based in Los Alamitos. Also booked are DFL, FYP, Nonsense and Massengill. Pantle promises to set aside “a very, very small percentage of the proceeds” to help bail out the county government, which filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

More important, Pantle says, he will send invitations to the members of the Board of Supervisors in hopes that they will check out the show and see the possible advantages of putting some county money into punk rock--as opposed to, say, the high-risk bond investments that got the county into its little jam.

“One of Orange County’s best natural resources is teen-age angst , anger and resentment,” Pantle said on the phone from Los Angeles, where he books acts into the House of Blues. “That’s a very valuable resource that has yet to be tapped.”

From the sound of it, his tongue was either firmly in cheek, or sticking out.

Pantle said he is willing to show the supervisors some tricks of the punk promotion trade to help get them started: “The government has done so much to help the music, by burying it underground, that it’s only natural we should help in their time of need.”