Dispatches from Sunset Junction
It wasn’t even that big a flub. Poppy boy/girl group Castledoor had a slight musical miscue during “The Birds and the Fleas,” their opening number at Silver Lake’s Sunset Junction street fair Saturday afternoon, and lead singer Nate Cole wasn’t having it. “Normally, I would just roll with it, but this is Sunset Junction,” Cole said as he brought the music to a halt. “And we’re going to give it all we’ve got.” Heck, they even brought a bubble machine.
What began 28 years ago as a free neighborhood mixer, an attempt to connect longtime Latino residents and their newer gay and lesbian neighbors, is now, well ... let's just say its official schedules came festooned with logos from the likes of VitaminWater and Season 4 of "The Office." This year, tens of thousands crowded into the five block stretch of Sunset Boulevard to avail themselves of three stages of nonstop bands, a handful of carnival rides, shooting galleries and, of course, many, many opportunities to shop.
The fair, which started Saturday morning and ends tonight, still draws heavily from the surrounding area, but Toto, we’re not in 1980 anymore. To wit, the Sotheby’s Realty booth and ATMs dotting the landscape. Friends found each other by screaming into cellphones, “I’m under the Red Bull tent. I’M. UNDER. THE. RED. BULL. TENT,” and a buzzing plane dragged a banner declaring Coors the world’s most refreshing beer over festival airspace.
Trouble brews at Sunset Junction
Three hours before the 28th annual Sunset Junction street fair in Silver Lake was set to kick off this morning, tensions between area business owners and festival organizers from the Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance rose to a bitter crescendo. Insults flew as business owners absorbed the news, broken this morning by the SJNA, that alcohol will not be allowed along the stretch of Sunset Boulevard between Sanborn and Edgecliffe, where the bulk of Sunset Junction's businesses stand.
For the dozens of businesses lining those three blocks, this was the final blow in a yearlong dispute about the boundaries of the festival, which until last year had always extended from Fountain to Edgecliffe. Last year the SJNA put a pay gate at Sanborn and detoured the festival south down Santa Monica Boulevard, using the area in front of the Sunset Boulevard businesses as a vendor parking lot.
"We all lost money last year," said Sarah Dale, owner of Pull My Daisy Boutique, who with the aid of her neighbors has been lobbying the SJNA and Councilman Eric Garcetti's office to make sure that the same exclusion wasn't repeated this year.
Sam Moore reflects on Isaac Hayes, Jerry Wexler and a life in soul
Last week was a terrible blow to anybody invested in the soul and R&B music of the late '60s. Between the deaths of Isaac Hayes and Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler, it seemed as if one of the greatest eras in American pop music began to fade.
Sam Moore (above, left, with Hayes), one half of the R&B duo Sam and Dave, is performing an Isaac Hayes tribute at Sunset Junction this weekend, and he knew the players of the decade as well as anyone. He spoke with Soundboard last week about his fractured friendship with Hayes, his decades-long reconciliation with Wexler, and his life at the front lines and the forgotten margins of soul.
Obviously this has got to be an especially hard week for you.
Oh, isn't it something...? I’m telling you. Isaac, man, now Jerry.
Had you stayed close to them up until their deaths?
Every so often we would call [Jerry] to see how he was doing. He wasn't getting out that much, so we would call and check in on him. Isaac, I attempted to stay in touch with, but as I guess you've heard, it's no secret, his organization of people, they kind of separated that. So I didn't have that much communication with Isaac. But fast forward here, I didn't have that much connection after he had joined the Scientologists.
Malfunction at the Junction?
Tensions surrounding the 28th annual Sunset Junction Festival in Silver Lake have escalated dramatically this week, with area businesses referring to themselves as “angry villagers” and the Junction’s organizer, Michael McKinley, saying that the business owners “all want to make bank” and that they’re cranky because they never got “strawberry ice cream as kids.”
Less than 24 hours before the start of the festival, which is expected to draw as many as 50,000 people, the dozens of businesses lining Sunset Boulevard between Edgecliffe Drive and Sanborn Avenue are still unsure who will be within the official boundaries of the festival, which is organized each year by the non-profit Sunset Junction Neighborhood Alliance with headquarters at Tsunami coffee shop.
Those boundaries determine the flow of foot traffic to area businesses, as well as which employees and residents need to pay entry fees.
Your guide to Sunset Junction
Despite growing pains and last-minute petition issues, Sunset Junction is still the Eastside's biggest weekend. This year's lineup of acts is deep and
diverse and includes indie rock boldface names and vintage soul and
pan-Latin party starters. We'll have coverage over the weekend. In the meantime, here's a few of our favorites to look out for:
SATURDAY
Sam Moore Tribute to Isaac Hayes, 9:30 p.m., Hoover Stage.
Hayes' inimitable baritone and crack musicianship is a tough act for anyone to follow, but the "Soul Man" Moore is as apt a pick as any could hope for. As part of the R&B duo Sam & Dave, he recorded many of Hayes' early tunes for Atlantic and Stax Records, and he finally seems to be riding a deserved wave of retrospective acclaim. Word is that he's as nimble and warm-hearted a vocalist as ever.
Cold War Kids, 9:20 p.m., Bates Stage
The Fugazi-meets-bar-blues Long Beach quartet will preview songs from their hotly-tipped second album "Loyalty to Loyalty." Early hints at its sound have suggested even more open spaces for singer Nathan Willett to deploy those fiery, desperation-dripping pipes of his.
Entrance Band, 4:10 p.m., Bates Stage
Power trios are a dying breed, but this monster Led Zeppelin-inspired act (who, if you've even driven down Sunset Boulevard in recent months, you've probably heard live at least once) might be this year's local breakout.
Rock the Bells: The backstage interviews
Surely, there are better ways to enjoy a concert than to stand around and mingle with rappers. But observing the buzz behind the scenes provided lots of shade from the intense heat at Saturday's Rock the Bells, especially when 16,300 sweaty hip-hop fans were milling about the San Manuel Amphitheater (formerly the Glen Helen Pavilion). Of course, some entertainers don't really want to be bothered with pictures or questions (Redman!). The only time that really becomes a problem is when you see cool things like M.I.A holding court with Nas outside his tour bus. M.I.A had earlier denied our request for a quick snapshot while she was on the sidelines watching her friends Spank Rock and Amanda Blank perform on the second stage. But, hey, we got these other folks to pose for the camera and take a few questions. For more on Rock the Bells, read Jeff Weiss' review.
Ghostface Killah
You mentioned a few upcoming meetings for possible acting roles. Whatever happened to the cameo you were supposed to have in "Iron Man"?
For whatever reasons, they didn't use that. There were a few scenes that were cut. My manager hooked it up, I think he talked to Jon [Favreau], and I think the movie was too long or something. The scene they didn't use was a party scene in Dubai.
Sub Pop 20: That loud-soft-loud formula still works
Back in the so-called grunge era, rock songs often followed a pattern: soft verse, loud chorus, soft verse, repeat. It couldn’t have been a coincidence, then, that the first day of the weekend festival in Seattle celebrating 20 years of Sub Pop -- the record label that helped define that moment, and American indie rock in general -- was structured like a giant version of one of those pulse-quickening anthems. Quiet sets gave way to torrential bouts of noise, then settled back into peace and melodicism before exploding again.
The formula not only beautifully organized 10 hours of music by 13 acts, but it also added up to a revelation about Sub Pop’s remarkable run on the indie scene. As the day unfolded, two streams of music formed, complementing each other like two parts of the same song.
David Lee Roth says ‘nuts’ to allergic reaction report
David Lee Roth has scotched reports that he recently suffered a near fatal allergic reaction after eating nuts while he was in Canada.
According to the report that originated on Southwestern Ontario’s CTV station, Roth had been pulled over for speeding in Ontario in June and told officers he was having a medical emergency, and they subsequently called paramedics.
"I was in Canada only from July 1st through the 4th for a performance at the Quebec City Summer Festival,” Roth said in a statement issued Thursday. “I had no encounters or incidents with the police."
Van Halen’s on-again, off-again lead singer added: “The only thing I'm allergic to is criticism."
We shudder to think of the perils on the road awaiting Peanut Butter Wolf.
--Randy Lewis
[Photo: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times]
American Apparel sample sale ‘08: come for the unitards, stay for “Secret French musical guest”
As anyone who attended last year's American Apparel sample-sale blowout at their downtown factory (guilty!) knows, few things will pry pan-ethnic art school dropouts from their weekend hangovers like the promise of $1 terrycloth headbands. This year's installment on July 27 is upping the ante with the promise of a "Secret French musical guest," and the obvious list of suspects -- Justice, Yelle, the Ed Banger crew, heck, maybe Daft Punk -- is making the feverish speculative rounds.
Silly hipsters. Of course the correct answer is Sebastien Tellier, who not only has the sample sale date blocked off on his tour schedule as "AA Show" in Los Angeles, but Tellier debuted his new album "Sexuality" on American Apparel shelves before it ever hit music stores. Expect deep, deep discounts on Sexual Sportswear of all stripes at the sale, that is, if any of you kids even wear clothes these days.
--August Brown
Dov Charney photo by Jennifer S. Altman/For The Times
Exclusive: Hard Festival lineup to make for some hard choices
Steve Aoki or N.E.R.D.? DJ A-Trak or MSTRKRFT? Kid Sister or Danny Masterson?
Those and other weighty questions (OK, so two of them were difficult, anyway) face attendees at the inaugural Hard Summer Music Festival, scheduled for July 19. An exclusive preview of the event's two-stage lineup reveals some interesting head-to-head match-ups. One stage will be erected outside the Shrine Auditorium in downtown L.A.; the other will be indoors. The all-ages event -- staged by the same folks who put on the Hard New Year's Eve fest in downtown L.A. -- will feature ambitious visuals and demonstrations from street skater Terry Kennedy and friends.
Capacity is 7,500 and ticket sales are said to be brisk.
After the jump, the schedule for Hard:
Coachella in the City: Electric Daisy Carnival’s huge crowd Saturday stuns even promoters
So, how many dance music fans, exactly, descended upon downtown Los Angeles Saturday night for the Electric Daisy Carnival?
That all depends on whom you ask. Several local media reports estimated that the crowd of rave-happy teenagers was between 15,000 to 20,000 at L.A. Memorial Coliseum and the surrounding area, who were there to take in acts like Moby and Paul van Dyk.
But promoters for the event told Soundboard that the actual numbers were closer to 60,000. Take a look for yourself at this photo gallery.
Image, attitude and snarl at the Sunset Strip Music Fest
Last night the Sunset Strip Music Festival started off with a bang as Everclear, L.A. Guns, Soul Asylum and several other bands including Camper Van Beethoven rocked the House of Blues and the Whisky.
Tribune Co. sister Metromix was the co-sponsor of the brand-new three-night fest that continues tonight with the likes of Juliette Lewis, Hot Hot Heat, Slash and others playing at historic West Hollywood venues like the Roxy and the Viper Room, to name a few.
Gas prices, Jamaican me crazy!
The second annual Reggae Rising Music Festival is giving away $100 gas cards, in hopes of luring reggae fans to the festival grounds in remote Piercy, Calif., a town about 200 miles north of San Francisco. Performers include Sizzla, Cham, Junior Reid, Julian Marley and UB40. "Let reggae pick up your gasoline," its website explains. What a brilliant idea! Now, if only rock could pay for my hotel and hip-hop for my food.
