Save Banning Ranch, boost local music

MARC B by JOE MCGARRY

Call Banning Ranch another battle in the endless war against reckless development. The 412-acre property, filled with sagebrush, ospreys, willows, falcons, lizards and owls—and surrounded by Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and Fountain Valley—hasn’t faced the developer’s shovel since 2001. But now Banning Ranch owners Aera Energy (an Exxon-Mobil subsidiary) and their partners are threatening to build on it again. This time, the plan involves a large mixed-use plot that could introduce commercial property, a hotel and up to 1,300 houses to the undeveloped wetlands.

Enter the Save Banning Ranch Benefit, organized by members of the Banning Ranch Park and Reserve Task Force—whose aim, according to its website, is to buy the land outright from Aera and turn it into an enormous natural park. Terry Welsh, the Task Force’s chairman, believes preserving the land is crucial: “Banning Ranch is the largest remaining parcel of natural, privately-owned, coastal space in Orange County,” he says. “Other than this, it’s all spoken for.”

If your goodwill toward Earth won’t drag you out to the benefit, the bill might. The lineup is almost entirely made up of greater Banning Ranch-area fixtures that span Orange County’s rock spectrum. Scheduled to appear are Dana Point dark psych/surf natives the Growlers, 23-year-old blues guitarist Parker Macy and Newport Beach-based piano prog six-piece Dolphin City (“I just don’t wanna see another big hotel here,” says singer and guitarist Eric Sullen. “Newport is already too crowded”).  Acoustic guitarist/MC Marc B—the B stands for Beauregard—is also playing. His history with Banning Ranch is deeply personal: the Sublime-on-Marley folk song “The River” is based on the fertile wetlands. “That area is a huge part of my life! We go over there on bikes all the time,” he says. “It’s really sad. Because it gets you thinking: Maybe the rest of area around the Ranch would look just as good had we not developed it.”

SAVE BANNING RANCH BENEFIT WITH DOLPHIN CITY, PARKER MACY BLUES, THE GROWLERS, MARC B EVOCAL | 814 W 19TH ST | COSTA MESA 92627 | SAT 7PM | $7  ALL AGES | MYSPACE.COM/EVOCAL

Tags: banning ranch, evocal, Music, Orange County