Sunset Strip Music Festival takes over Hollywood

Becky Kinder

Staff writer

Date: Friday, July 4, 2008
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Photo Courtesy of Becky Kinder

Photo Courtesy of Becky Kinder

Celebrities, stories of being discovered, and stories of being high — what more do you expect from a festival in Hollywood, let alone on the Sunset Strip?

More to honor the music industry icons that founded and have owned some of the most well-known venues on Sunset would be nice.

Opening night of the Sunset Strip Music Festival began on Thursday at the House of Blues with a tribute, hosted by Mark McGrath, to little-known Sunset Strip celebrities, Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine. Two familiar celebrities, Cheech & Chong, were together again to honor the men, as well as Slash and Michelle Phillips.

The tribute had too much talk about topics Sunset is notorious for: partying and drug and alcohol use. It could have mentioned more about the festival's honorees and their venues.

Following the tribute, Thursday's lineup began with Camper Van Beethoven, who even admitted to not knowing what a song meant because they were, "very, very high when (they) wrote it." Ugh. Overall, their performance was enjoyable, with sounds of a fiddle adding a pop of energy, as did some of the band members' movements while playing.

Best known for the 1990s hit song "Runaway Train," Soul Asylum is an example of the past having a future on Sunset and in the music industry. Visually they were quiet entertaining with a presentational style performance. Their sound, particularly the voice of lead singer Dave Pirner, was record-quality. They haven't lost their 1990s vibe or left out the new century, and after an eight-year hiatus they may be better than ever.

Everclear closed the night with a luminary performance, playing well-known hits like "Father of Mine." The audience was noticeably pleased with their set in its entirety, dancing and jumping to the beat of each song. It was a shame to not be able to see them play a full-length show.

Godhead and Hot Hot Heat were two of the bands playing Friday night, showing the array of scheduled artists. The Cat Club, House of Blues, Key Club, The Roxy Theatre, Viper Room and Whisky A-Go-Go have a united interest in promoting the experience of music on the Sunset Strip. It's needed, considering a venue like the Whisky was once thought a highlight of Sunset is now said by some to be in decline. With a modern flare outlining the musical history of Sunset, the festival is sure to bring in more and more fans every year, surging a new life into each venue.

Wasted Space was an all-ages event that ran Saturday afternoon and into the evening and was broadcast live on 103.1 FM. It closed before the main venue's events began. Saturday night included Mickey Avalon, who played to a severely packed (and seemingly hazardous) crowd at the Key Club. His performance was just boring and sad. One girl who had previously liked his music said that she lost her taste for him after seeing him live.

The only noteworthy performance on Saturday was that of a band playing covers: Starf**kers. Though their name is not my favorite, they played some really great songs, including some classic rock, and did so with their own style at times.

As the festival grows, the quality and variety of artists will grow, too. Packed with too many bands at too many venues to attend it all, there is something for every one at the Sunset Strip Music Festival, which was filled with a lot of fun.

‘Sex and the City’ leaves viewers wanting more

‘SATC’ is realistic, heartbreaking, and humor blended into one delicious cocktail.

Becky Kinder

Date: Friday, June 6, 2008

Photo Courtesy of New Line Cinema

Since the HBO series’ close in 2004, there have been talks of a film, muddled with rumors as to why it would never happen. Eventually the feature film of “Sex and the City” began production, dispelling the rumors of billing or salary disputes as cause for delay, and creating frenzy on the streets of New York during filming. What had the fabulous four gals been up to all this time and what would happen next?


Even if you’ve never seen an episode, a montage from the series is implanted into the title, catching you up well enough to follow the film as a “SATC” virgin. For the rest of us, it has been too long and that feeling lingers in the first few scenes of the movie. We join the cast five years after the series finale: Miranda is still in Brooklyn with Brady who is now five, Carrie has written two more books, Charlotte’s adopted baby is now about four years old, and Samantha (brace yourselves) isn’t even living in New York anymore.
The film continues to touch on the realities of life - women and men, single or married alike. Carrie is described as “The Last Single Gal” simply because she is forty and it’s still socially unacceptable that she has never been married. Samantha and Miranda begin to feel that they cannot bend any further for the men they love, and Charlotte’s perfect life begins to scare her.


Written with the same wit and heart as the series, it is easy to relate to the women and men of “Sex and the City.” Michael Patrick King writes realistic scenarios that still leave the audience wanting a fairy-tale ending of happily ever after, no matter what bumps or jolts along the path there are.


Jennifer Hudson may have her moments but was miscast as Carrie’s assistant, giving a stiff performance overall. Most of the other actors are superb and pick up their characters right where they left off. Standout performances are given by Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis, who both connect fully to the high emotion certain scenes call for, grabbing the viewer into those moments as well.


Though the film can sometimes have a sense of heightened reality, the actors sell the campy scenes well, connecting to those of us who have lived through challenging moments and found the humor in them.


The fashion is abundant, we see Parker in about five different looks in the opening sequence alone, as are the labels. There is plenty of sex, of course, and with the soft-core style scenes running rampant throughout, it’s hard to believe that it’s only rated R.


Loose ends are tied, it’s true, but I am still left wanting “Sex and the City” to never end. This is a love letter to friends and lovers - to you and me.
And as this single gal walked out of the theatre alone, I couldn’t help but wonder…who says I can’t have it all?