Hollywood fashion and music
Summer has turned to fall in a blink in Hollywood but not without the grand finale of the season, Sunset Junction. This year’s festival fell on one of the hottest weekends of the year but that didn’t stop hundreds from venturing out to checkout the vendors, bands, rides and foods of this lively fair that takes place every year along the Silver Lake strip of Sunset Boulevard. I went after the blazing sun began to set to catch headliners New York Dolls (who made the hefty entrance fee of $10 a little easier to pony up.)
Though Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan, and Arthur Kane have all since passed on, the ever-charismatic presence of David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain were enough to carry the band through all the classics (with a little help from former Hanoi Rocks bassist Sami Yaffa.) Lanky, gaunt David Johansen looked cooler for the wear of over 30 years of rockin’ as they turned Silver Lake into their own version of the lower east side with all the classics, “Trash,” “Personality Crisis,” and a touching tribute to their lost members with “Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory.” I’m looking forward to their new record, due out on Roadrunner records next year.
I got my groove on when two of my favorite now-defunct clubs, Clubs Shout and Café Bleu, reformed for a one night stand at the El Rey Theatre with full playlist of shimmy-worthy mod and soul. It was a blast to see the sharp-dressed crowd with their dancing shoes on, and a row of tricked-out scooters outside as I worked myself into a fever to the sounds of Ike and Tina, the Who and the Jam. Who needs the gym when you can dance all night like this!
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show celebrated its 30th Anniversary at Hollywood Bowl which the largest audience participation screening in its history. I embraced my inner “Magenta” and headed down for the action.
Openers Louis XIV officially made their way to my top five bands of the year list with their cheeky, big stomp, sexed-up rock ‘n’ roll that reminds me of a mix of Sweet and Velvet Underground. While the daylight of the early show didn’t do them justice, especially with most of the crowd distracted by the parade of Frank N. Furters and stripped down Janets streaming into the Bowl, I would love to see them tear the roof of a smaller theater. Mistress of ceremonies Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go’s did a cameo as a backup singer on “Finding Out True Love is Blind” before bringing a bit of naughty humor to her MC duties before the movie began.
I took the opportunity to run to the merch booth to grab a Rocky Horror prop bag for $1 that consisted of a newspaper for the rain scene, a bag of rice for the wedding scene, a couple of cards, confetti and more. But it wasn’t ammunition enough for those brought their own heavy duty props to make the rain scenes a little too realistic by shooting super soaker water guns and pelting everyone with Scott toilet papers and real toast. Dammit Janet! (By the way, if you have to ask what’s all about, you obviously haven’t been to audience participation “Picture Nights” at Midnight Madness, so get your butt down there!)
Thank goodness some of this city is keeping its kook flag flying, because lately I’ve been driving around Hollywood noticing the sea of Gaps, Bed Bath and Beyonds and Banana Republics, I never thought I’d see MY Hollywood follow the path of the rest of America and start to turn into one big mall! But it’s happening and I was shocked when I went to one of my favorite lingerie stores, Frederick’s of Hollywood for a naughty shopping excursion to find it moved from its notorious Hollywood Boulevard location down the street near the Highland intersection into the path of more tourist foot traffic (and car traffic for me, grrrr!)
The new Hollywood-based Frederick’s now matches its mall chain versions. Gone are the girly purple awnings out front and the fascinating lingerie museum inside stocked with sweet nothings of decades past worn by the women who put the va-va-voom on Hollywood’s big screen. Their collection that used to mix unique, show-stopping titillations with more practical styles, used to be the key to Frederick’s charm, now has a generic department store feel. Clearly they are trying to tame their risqué reputation in favor of a more mainstream-friendly image. All I can say is that is BORING!
So I turned for a fashion fix elsewhere by playing supermodel for a day when I was asked to pose for a book on knitting. Now, who knew this little craft could ever be considered cool but put a couple of crochet needles in the hands of Bubble’s lead vixen Share Ross, and you have some way-out handy work! With her new label Punk Knits, Share’s not only making rockin’ gear for the masses, she got a book deal to show off her wearables. Look for the book, which will feature other local rockers including Coyote Shivers, Texas Terri, Blair Bitch, Pam Neptuna and others, due out in 2006.
(Punk Knits photo by Bam. Kastle is modeling “Faithfull’s Gauntlets” knit arm warmers, named after Marianne Faithfull from the upcoming book “Punk Knits” published by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, due in bookstores Fall 2006.)
Finally, I joined some of my rocking pals at the Dragonfly to mourn the loss of our friend J.D. Terziu who was killed in car crash on August 21st. As Dragonfly co-owner and partner with Taime Downe in the long-running and fun-filled Pretty Ugly Club, J.D. was the type of guy everyone loved to say hello to. Every Wednesday I could count on seeing him at the soundboard, a smile on his face, distributing a roll of drink tickets to his friends, enjoying the bands, and wishing everyone a good time. He was someone you always looked forward to seeing. To celebrate his life and friendship, bands Faster Pussycat, Motochrist, Coyote Shivers and others rekindled the Pretty Ugly fire for a tribute to a true rock ‘n’ roll spirit. He will be terribly missed.
Life is short, live it up,
K.
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