Tuning In to Free Fun : If you’re under 21 and on a budget, finding a nightclub with good live music can be a pain. But check out stores, campuses--and ‘anti-malls.’

Ages 13 to 17 1/2 will always be among my favorite.

My friends and I would hit a minimum of a dozen live music shows a month, a feat managed by keeping my parents happy and sneaking REMs whenever no one was looking. To maintain my GPA, I finished my homework long after curfew. I got extra cash working odd jobs. No work could have been more odd, either: selling green glowing necklaces at the Old World Oktoberfest or being a ballroom dance assistant.

Although we occasionally attended the mega-concerts with the mega ticket prices, we fancied the nightclub shows for regular consumption. Nothing duplicates the experience of a live gig up close and personal. And no nightclub stood too far. Hollywood, San Diego, Corona and all points of Orange County were within our tireless reach.

Sadly, today’s teens have been virtually written off by nightclubs. Sure, a hall here and a coffeehouse there will hold an all-ages show, but they increase the cover by 40% to 60% to make up for the loss of bar profits.

So what’s a young fan of live music with a limited budget to do?

You can hit one of the free concerts held at college campuses, alternative record stores, funky clothes boutiques, or sources such as the Lab “anti-mall” in Costa Mesa.

In-store concerts (or those held just outside the door) enable folks of all ages to check out an act before pledging a penny for a paid show or a recording. In turn, bands receive exposure and new fans. Increasingly, these events are turning into spontaneous scenes for the young masses, where friendships are forged, potential mates are discovered, intellectual and fashion ideas are exchanged. (Oh, yeah, and followings are cultivated.)

Juniors Anna Sacramento and Elise Irving of El Modeno High in Orange are live music junkies. They’ve met most of their friends at free concerts, as well as paid gigs, and have become tighter with existing pals who share their enthusiasm.

“I’ve gotten to be friends with a lot of bands,” says Anna, whose fuzzy shorn head contrasts with her sweet doll face. “You just see the same people at the shows all the time and eventually you talk to each other. It’s really cool.”

The two 16-year-olds raved to local ska favorites the Goodwin Club at the Lab on Saturday along with a crowd of about 50 that ranged from a toddler to a rockin’ grandma. They invaded the outdoor “living room” of the Lab, standing around the pool table and eclectic furniture, flopping down on plush couches, sitting cross-legged on the Oriental rugs spread out over the smooth concrete.

This is part of the treat about these free shows: the opportunity to turn a retail space into a part of the community. At record stores, independent or chain, patrons sit on the floor using compact disc racks as a backrest and crowd the aisles.

To the more charged tunes, Anna and Elise joined the daffy dozen front and center who swayed, jumped and rolled on their backs with feet in the air all in unison. Their leader was a green-haired guy in a matching green Hawaiian shirt who intermittently broke out in a spastic interpretation of a Richard Simmons’ workout, donkey leg lifts included.

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The site jived with what one twentysomething member of the audience noted the day before at a free concert with Supernovice at the Virgin Megastore in Costa Mesa: “Younger fans get more excited, they show their enjoyment, while older folks act like they’re too cool to dance or scream.”

Still, there floated an aura of cool at Virgin during the 40-minute punk show. Heads waved, and those seated up the wide stairway stomped their booted feet.

Virgin has featured a regular run of bands, mostly of the punk and alternative variety and mostly local. The store has also presented acts such as Green Day when it was on the brink of becoming a MTV staple.

It’s these types of bands that have actively sought out a following from day one with demo tapes recorded at home or at burgeoning independent record labels. (Orange County is home to countless such melody-makers.) The packaging--if not the recordings--are crude at times. They’re sold for $2 to $5 in hopes of landing in someone’s tape player.

But all too often, those bands that end up in constant rotation on some kid’s Walkman find few opportunities to play live for their younger fans. Flyers are handed to teens advertising shows they’re too young to attend and end up as wallpaper in their bedrooms or as recycling fare.

“We get these flyers, and it’s really aggravating because they end up being for clubs that are over 21,” says Fountain Valley High junior Marla Unruh, 15.

At least she and her best friend, Aileen Holmes, also a junior at FVHS, can count on one free show a week somewhere. In the warmer months, there are three or more. They usually happen after school, on weekend afternoons and less frequently on a Friday evening. Fans walk, bike, skateboard or hitch a ride from Mom. Marla and Aileen took the latter mode of transportation to the recent Goodwin Club and Supernovice shows.

Aileen, 15, usually learns about such shows from college radio. A poet and bassist, she believes more clubs should take a chance with all-age shows, providing they’re strict with drinking laws.

“We’d be more open-minded about music,” she says about her fellow high-schoolers. “The media tell us what’s in. But we should be able to decide for ourselves. There are local bands that will never get airplay. We should have the option of knowing about these bands so we can decide for ourselves.”

Elise of El Modeno offers other reasons: “Parties suck, movies are expensive, coffeehouses get boring. Live music is very important; it’s everything.”

And she insists teens need more free shows, if not cheaper covers. “It gets old rolling pennies every weekend.”

* The Scene is a weekly look at the trends and lifestyles of Orange County high schoolers.