TOPANGA CANYON : Concert Will Benefit Victim of Brush Fire

Ronald Mass, still recovering in the Sherman Oaks Burn Center, is getting a little help from friends he’s never met.

Topanga Canyon residents are putting on a benefit concert to raise money for the carpenter who suffered second- and third-degree burns over 75% of his body during the Calabasas/Malibu fire on Nov. 2.

The concert came together in typical Topanga fashion.

Four days after flames started a devastating trek through the Calabasas and Malibu hills, Richard Lanchester posted a notice at a Topanga market asking residents to come together for a benefit for fire victims.

In less than 24 hours, 40 names had been scrawled on the poster.

“It’s amazingly easy to put something together like this in Topanga,” said Lanchester, a 47-year-old travel writer and English teacher.

When organizers realized the severity of Mass’ injuries, they dedicated the concert to him. The event, planned for Dec. 18 from noon until 5 p.m. at the Topanga Community House, includes entertainers such as Patty Smyth, former lead singer with Scandal, Colin Hay, former lead singer of the Australian group Men at Work, country singer John Andrew Parks, the Cajun/Zydeco band Crawfish Wranglers, The Grateful Dads, and flutist Susan Tang and her band.

So many musicians offered to play that most had to be given other tasks, including a Latin rhythm group that offered to put up posters advertising the event when members were told there was no room on the stage.

“We’d have to do a weekend extravaganza to use all the musicians,” said Debra Silbar, creative director for a Woodland Hills advertising firm, one of the benefit’s organizers.

Mass was severely burned the day the Calabasas/Malibu fire broke out as he searched for his friend British screenwriter-director Duncan Gibbins in a cottage on the 10-acre ranch where the two were tenants of art dealer Peter Alexander. Gibbins died the next day.

For more information about tickets for the event, which cost $15 for adults and $5 for children under 12, call (310) 358-6930.

Donations for Mass can be sent care of The Ron Mass Emergency Fund, General Delivery, Topanga, CA 90290.