INAUGURAL SUNSET STRIP MUSIC FESTIVAL HONORS INFAMOUS PAST AND FUTURE AS THE EPICENTER OF LIVE MUSIC

For the first time in it’s celebrated history, all the live venues on The Sunset Strip came together for 3 nights June 26th-28th, 2008 at the inaugural Sunset Strip Music Festival. The event paid tribute to Hollywood legends Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine, who undoubtedly helped shape the landscape of the music industry with their clubs, The Roxy, The Rainbow and The Whiskey, respectively. Sunset Strip Music Festival featured performances by B Real of Cypress Hill with Slash, Camper Van Beethoven, Dilated Peoples, Everclear, Hellogoodbye, Hot Hot Heat, Juliette & The Licks, L.A. Guns, Louis XIV, Mickey Avalon, Soul Asylum and a Whisky All-Star Jam featuring McQueen with special guests Billy Duffy, Billy Morrison and Matt Sorum and Billy Boy On Poison. Participating clubs included Cat Club, House of Blues, Key Club, The Roxy Theatre, Viper Room and the Whisky A Go-Go. The Sunset Strip Music Festival kicked off on June 26th, 2008 with a special tribute to icons Adler, Maglieri and Valentine, which was hosted by Mark McGrath and featured appearances by Slash, Cheech and Chong, Michelle Phillips and culminated with performances by Camper Van Beethoven and Everclear.

We caught up with Art Alexakis, lead vocalist of Everclear, to get his thoughts on being asked to headline the kick off show for the first Sunset Strip Music Festival at The House of Blues.

“Well you know I grew up in Santa Monica and it was… I know it sounds cliche and cheesy to say, but it was really flattering to be asked to play this and to headline and kick off the gig. When they pitched it to me they were like, ‘the money is not really well the money is not to…’ ‘Yes.’ Say yes. We’ll do it. We’ll figure it out. It was just exciting. There has been a revitalization of the Sunset Strip, and it’s really good to see because I think this has always been the epicenter of what live music means to a lot of people, myself included.”

We also talked with the legendary Lou Adler, who opened the Roxy in 1973 with Elmer Valentine and continues to connect to its past and look ahead to the future, to get his thoughts on what hopefully will be many Sunset Strip Music Festivals in the future.

“I think it’s great. My son Nicolai, who runs the Roxy actually is a part owner now in the Roxy, it’s been a dream of his for about ten years to see it happen. I was involved with festivals many, many years ago but to see him do it really feels good. I think it’s going to continue. It’s going to get bigger and bigger. West Hollywood is taking a good look at it as far as the city government, and I think they’ll like what they see, and it’ll become very big.”

We also talked with Lou Adler’s son, Nick who spearheaded the idea for the festival and now who is one of the new breed of Hollywood promoters to get his thoughts on his vision finally taking off after 10 years.

“I think every single club probably talked about it for the last ten years, and finally it was our time. The east side started to come up and we started to feel this movement of music happening over there, and third street promenade was happening and Universal City and the Sunset Strip kind of got lost in all of that, and I think we started to feel that a little bit and were like, ‘Let’s come together,’ and that’s what we did. We got together every week for the last twenty weeks and tried to put this together. I can’t be happier. Especially the tribute to my dad and Elmer because without that so many bands wouldn’t be here but at the same time the Sunset Strip would probably not be here without them.”

On Saturday June 27th Larry King-moderated an “Icon Panel” at the London West Hollywood hotel where Adler and Maglieri told stories about the last 40 years of music history and their roles influencing the Strip with. Their sons, Roxy Theatre owner Nic Adler and Whisky A Go-Go owner Mikeal Maglieri, along with Viper Room owner Harry Morton, joined the panel to discuss the future of the Strip. During the day on Saturday, Los Angeles radio station Indie 103.1 broadcasted live from a free outdoor “Red Bull Music Academy Presents Wasted Space” event, which included performances by Camp Freddy–Billy Morrison, Matt Sorum, Donovan Leitch and Chris Chaney–with special guests Brett Scallions and Billy Duffy; Pop Noir; the Darling Stilettos dance troupe; and a Louis XIV meet and greet.