The Sunset Strip Music Festival
September 2009
By Victoria Joyce
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
SugarBuzz Magazine
The second shot for the Sunset Strip Music Festival was a rousing success all down the line. Nic Adler should be proud. Just like his daddy did, this second- generation rock entrepreneur is filling the footsteps of his pop, the legendary Lou Adler, producer of the Monterey Pop Fest in 1967. That’s when Rock and Roll established credibility as an artistic and social force. Jimi Hendrix poured lighter fluid on his guitar and the world has never the same.
No pyrotechnics on the Strip September 12th 2009. Just a whole lot of happy faces and loud music. Everything went off without a hitch. It was beautiful. Getting anything done in the City of West Hollywood is like pulling teeth. Out of a Mountain Lion. Without anesthesia. But Nic did it. Michael Maglieri helped too. That’s Mario’s kid, their family owns the Whisky and the Rainbow. It’s a brand new day. We are the world.
Last year, the fest consisted of club-walk of coordinated shows. One ticket fits all. But this year, they blocked off the street. We all grown up now. Two stages at either end, at Doheny and San Vicente. The enclosed space included bands playing the stages of The Key Club, The Roxy, The Cat Club and the Whisky. Poor little Viper Room got left out, one block over with it’s participation being evening-only. Bragging rights had the Vipe featured Ace Frehley of Kiss gigging and Billy Morrison DJ’ed the afterparty. Full circle for Morrison who MC’d the opening night at the House of Blues on Sunset.
In the preceding weeks, 50 bands for a $40 was a tough sell until Ozzy Osbourne was announced as the headliner after Chris Cornell canceled. A blessing in disguise. Ticket sales took off and at post-time 23,000 were sold. The crowd was loud and proud.
Rockers unaccustomed to daylight wandered in and out of the bright sunlight and into the dark air-conditioned clubs. The crowd was predominantly 20-somethings and very musician-heavy. We saw tons of old friends. WeHo probably has the highest musician population of any American city. But try to find that stat in the next US Census.
The line up of bands was perfectly diverse with locals, punks, indie, metal, rock, rap and reggae. Mos def the big attraction was the Prince of f*cking Darkness himself. Especially for the musicians who played the fest. Mr. O (and Black Sabbath) is a serious inspiration for several generations as demonstrated by the awards gig at the House of Blues two nights 
prior. He got the Valentine Award, named after Elmer, the founder of the Whisky who entered Rock and Roll Heaven earlier this year.
The security by the LA County Sheriff was a lovely peaceful presence with only one rumor of an arrest for some drunk knucklehead. Very cool. Booths with food, promos of sponsors lined the street between the stages. We stopped at the silent auction stand for Sharon Osbourne’s fave charity featured signed guitars and books.
Catching a bit of the Donnas on the main stage we ducked into the Key Club for The Ringers, in mighty fine form. Then running down the street for No Thanks at the tiny Cat Club where we had to wait outside until the inside crowd subsided. A vicious set against the open window with white sunlight gave lead singer Kenny Price an angelic effect. This is called an Oxymoron! A few steps outside we caught Shiny Toy Guns just as the sun was passing over the horizon. Got a nice break from the weather too. The blasting LA heat went down to Just Right.
The evening show of Ozzy 
was the best ever. Period.