It’s the most wonderful time of the year. SSMF, where you can stroll in and out of Sunset Strip clubs and check out a wide variety of music on two outdoor stages. In the past it’s been the Smashing Pumpkins, Slash, Bush, Public Enemy, and tons of LA bands. This year it’s Marilyn Manson, The Offspring, Steve Aoki, and well, I don’t know who else, but you can bet there will be more than enough LA bands represented.
I’ll see you there. I recommend sunblock, staying hydrated, and and time-outs in the Rainbow’s upstairs bar as well as On the Rox. Rock and roll doesn’t sunburn.
ColLAboration – the mobile craft beer garden from the brains behind Tony’s Darts Away, Verdugo Bar/Surly Goat, Blue Palms and 38 Degrees – is popping-up a second time in Hollywood on Saturday, June 4th at the corner of Gower and Hollywood, from noon til 7 p.m.
he garden will feature dozens of the best in California beers + beyond, including::
Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, Russian River, Beer Valley, Craftsman, Green Flash, Moylan’s, Avery, Alesmith, New Belgium, Dogfish Head, Port/Los Abbey, Eagle Rock, Hangar 24, Oskar Blues, Grand Teton, Uinta and many more.
Also, for the entire month of July, COLLAB will be held every Friday (4 p.m. to 9 p.m) and Saturday (noon to 9 p.m.) on the Sunset Strip right across from the world-famous Roxy Theater, featuring craft beer from California and beyond.
Saturday, June 4th
12 p.m. to 7 p.m.
6124 Hollywood Blvd. at the corner of Gower and Hollywood
Cost: Those who purchased the $10 glass from the first event can use that as their admission; most beers will be $5 to $6. Glasses will also soon be available for purchase online at http://www.collaboration.la/
Just got a sweet heads up from the Viper Room in my inbox:
Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland returns the world famous Viper Room May 24th. Tickets for this intimate performance go on sale Friday, April 22nd at 1pm online at the Viper Room and TicketWeb. Tickets to this event are extremely limited, and will sell out quickly.
Prior to this amazing show, you can also catch Weiland, in person, signing his new memoir Not Dead and Not for Sale at nearby independent merchant Book Soup at 7pm.
Beginning today, the Sunset Strip Music Festival is launching Fan Appreciation Day and offering loyal SSMF fans the chance to buy general admission tickets for the Saturday, August 20 street festival at a discounted price of $45, with no additional fees. The special SSMF fan pre-sale will expire soon and once sold-out will no longer be available. Tickets can be purchased here: http://tktwb.tw/SSMFpre or through SSMF.com.
If you missed last night’s “secret” Foo Fighters show at the Roxy because you’re either out of the loop or there’s no way you can make it to the Sunset Strip in time to snatch your ticket away from a bunch of teenagers that skipped school, here’s some video. (Though as Dave Grohl mentions in the Up In Arms video, the Foo Fighters will be more LA shows.)
This just in: Ozzy and Slash will sign a giant Gibson Les Paul at the House of Blues this coming Monday, January 10th. Check out the press release:
Ozzy Osbourne will appear at House of Blues to sign the one-of-a-kind 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model art guitar in his honor as part of Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip. Longtime friend and musical collaborator Slash will also be in attendance to sign the guitar. The ceremony will also serve to celebrate the launch of the second leg of OZZY’s U.S. Arena tour, which includes an upcoming Los Angeles area performance on Tuesday, February 1 at the Gibson Amphitheatre. Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy) will open the Gibson Amphitheatre show.
This just in: Ozzy and Slash will sign a giant Gibson Les Paul at the House of Blues this coming Monday, January 10th. Check out the press release:
Ozzy Osbourne will appear at House of Blues to sign the one-of-a-kind 10-foot tall fiberglass Gibson Les Paul model art guitar in his honor as part of Gibson GuitarTown on The Sunset Strip. Longtime friend and musical collaborator Slash will also be in attendance to sign the guitar. The ceremony will also serve to celebrate the launch of the second leg of OZZY’s U.S. Arena tour, which includes an upcoming Los Angeles area performance on Tuesday, February 1 at the Gibson Amphitheatre. Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy) will open the Gibson Amphitheatre show.
OZZY’s guitar joins an impressive array of 25 other fiberglass Gibson guitars designed to honor rock legends and the people and places that shaped The Sunset Strip. The guitars are placed along The Sunset Strip as part of a public art project that was launched in August 2010 with the completion of the 1.6-mile Strip’s beautification project. The guitar—which was designed by Los Angeles photographer Nic Adams and utilizes photographic imagery to celebrate the icon—is in good company with other custom-designed Gibson guitars inspired by the music of Slash, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Mötley Crüe, KISS, The Runaways, Brian Wilson, Peter Frampton, Cheech & Chong and more.
MONDAY, JANUARY 10
1:00 PM Media Arrival
2:00 PM Event Starts – sharp
HOUSE OF BLUES SUNSET
8430 West Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90069-1910
I was not planning on attending the Sunset Strip Music Festival this year because I have recently turned old and the only way I would pay $50-$65 for a ticket would be to see the Smashing Pumpkins again. But, I’ve seen them so many times in the past and I saw that amazing show at the Viper Room.. how could a big festival show compare? Well the good people at the Smashing Pumpkins’ PR agency kindly offered me a pair of tickets so I could attend and write about the show and I kindly and enthusiastically accepted.
I arrived at the SSMF around 4pm with my ladyfriend / LA Snark photographer for a day. We showed up in just enough time to hit up some drinks at the Rainbow Bar and Grill’s upstairs bar. If you know anything about me you know that I looove the Rainbow in a pretty-unironic way. Upstairs, they were playing some classic hair metal and that sunken sometime-stage-that-day-dance-floor was shaking to the rhythm of a few drunk girls grinding to Whitesnake or something. I don’t really remember, I was in drink mode and these bartenders, while friendly, were not able to keep up. So off we went to the SSMF beer garden. We paid $6 for some plastic cups of Bud Light and another $6 for a lukewarm veggie burger. Then we met up with a couple friends and they were both wearing hats.
We were not there for the cuisine or to taste barley and hops from across the globe, we were there to see Slash, Fergie (I was pretty sure she was making an appearance,) the Smashing Pumpkins, and also to discover some new local talent. Before long it was Slash time.
We all know very well that Slash is amazing. I should mention it again because it was his name on the program: Slash is amazing. Slash used to be amazing, Slash is still amazing, Slash will continue to be amazing. That said, Myles Kennedy is also amazing. That dude can sing. It’s amazing what an actual singer can do when there is no LSD (Lead Singer’s Disease) erasing his will to rock. Myles Kennedy hit notes that Axl probably took 20 takes to hit back in 1987. Myles Kennedy: Wikipedia that guy, he is something else. Looking all Ethan Hawke and singing like recording-studio-Axl meets Chris Cornell. You can probably tell how shocked I am to go to a rock show and hear a guy hit notes. It’s rare. Right? Yeah.
Hey you know who else will blow you away live? Fergie. Fergie, yes Black Eyed Peas, Fergilicious, FERGIE. Damn that lady is on fire. Slash set the bar high, Myles exceeded expectations by myles ( <– check that out), and Fergie lit the entire west side of the Sunset Strip Music Festival on fire. She sang Beautiful Dangerous, her contribution to Slash’s first solo album, then Heart’s Barracuda, and then closed with Paradise City. This woman is crazed. Have you ever seen Ann Wilson do cartwheels in leather pants? No you have not (wait, have you?) Fergie belted out all those Ann Wilson vocals AND did cartwheels in leather pants. Imma Be looking that up on YouTube:
After Slash’s set we headed to The Roxy where we caught Wicker. When I saw their street team waving around signs for Wicker I felt like they’d be some kinda Pier 1 Imports-themed band, but NO these guys were all early NIN meets Chemlab, meets other bands from the 90′s that had haircuts that made me think they had violent opinions about politics. These guys were great, very entertaining. The white picket fence around the keyboards made me feel at home while at the same time, very far away from home.
After Wicker we headed back onto the strip and bought a pretzel.
After watching Kid Cudi open up with the intro of Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh” I decided that was as good as that was going to get so I headed back to the West stage to see my Smashing Pumpkins. I’m pretty sure at this point they’re mine. Billy Corgan and Co. are a smart people: They know some drunk people holding themselves up on the Sunset Strip by leaning against a tree or police officer have no idea the band went through a huge lineup change and are currently releasing new music. The Pumpkins carefully constructed a set that included lots of old favorites like Today, Hummer, Tonight Tonight, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, 1979, and Zero while also throwing in some newer songs like Song For A Son to keep themselves and the real hardcore fans happy. It was a perfect set, the highlight being when Billy took the time to list his influences that had frequented the Sunset Strip in the past, including a shout out to “Guns n’ Fuckin’ Roses.” Awesome.
After the Pumpkins we headed back to the Roxy and caught Audible Mainframe, a super-amazing band that you should pack up and go see right now. Go knock on their door, they seem like the kinda guys that will play a show anytime, anywhere. Tell them LAist sent you (just in case they’re not the kinda guys that will play a show anytime, anywhere.) I soon learned that even before my ears had a chance to decide they loved Audible Mainframe’s music, my brain was already convinced because somehow I had been slipped the knowledge that these fellas packed up and left Boston for Los Angeles, JUST LIKE ME. These guys are my brothers. We are best friends. They don’t know it yet, but I do. Audible Mainframe: you don’t come up with a smart name like that in Los Angeles, you import smart names like that.
My best friends: Audible Mainframe
After the Roxy we headed upstairs to On the Rox, which was great because I. Love. Puns.
Next stop, The Cat Club, a place that has messaged my old band’s MySpace page numerous times asking us to play even though all of the members are currently living 3,000 miles east of here. This place was the hot, sweaty, rock-powered mess that you’re supposed to experience on the Sunset Strip. We caught the end of San Diego band Dirty Sweet’s set, which was great . I think they even had a second set to play later in the night somewhere inland. These guys are troopers.
Dirty Sweet @ The Cat Club
Highlight of the night: Adler’s Appetite at the Whiskey A Go Go. Holy balls, considering the fact that Axl is years past being able to sing a line without gasping for breath, original GnR drummer Steven Adler’s Appetite For Destruction cover band is the closest you’re going to get to hearing those songs the way they were meant to be played. Steven was psyched, the crowd was psyched, and I was psyched because I hung out til past midnight to hear what I was sure was going to be a sad cover band but what turned out to be an awesomefest.
I wish the Sunset Strip Music Festival was every weekend. I loved being able to wander in and out of clubs discovering new music all night. That is the way it is supposed to be, stumbling around on a weekend night and happening upon some band that just hits you the right way. That’s the way people used to be exposed to new bands. It was nice to remember a time when you didn’t need a production crew and a viral video to make some new fans. If there are ever any other “one price gets you into all these clubs” events on the Sunset Strip, TELL ME. I will be there.
Also, I thought the pretzel was pretty good but the girlfriend thought it was just ok.
The Sunset Strip Gibson Guitar Town was announced in June as a public art project that will compliment the newly revamped Sunset Strip. Yes, 25 10’ foot fiberglass guitars sprinkled down the 1.6 miles of the most tourist flooded areas to accompany the newly repaved streets of the sunset strip. With the unveiling August 12, 2010 many businesses and famous venues along the strip had set up special grand reopening events to celebrate . Venues such as The Roxy, and Whiskey A Go-Go had concerts, and other establishments such as Joes Pizza had special deal on pizza and beer to celebrate.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. SSMF, where you can stroll in and out of Sunset Strip clubs and check out a wide variety of music on two outdoor stages. In the past it’s been the Smashing Pumpkins, Slash, Bush, Public Enemy, and tons of LA bands. This year it’s Marilyn Manson, The Offspring, Steve Aoki, and well, I don’t know who else, but you can bet there will be more than enough LA bands represented.
