Sunset Junction, What's Your Function?
Regrettably I missed the Fuck Yeah fest this last weekend. It looked like a good line-up. My impression is, despite the 20dollar a day price-tag, that its integrity and passion for "underground and local" talent seems legit. At the very least, it seems like a solid weekend of booze and music. Seemingly unlike another local festival that arrives this upcoming weekend. Yeah, I'm talking about the Junction. Sadly, this festival has been going down the tubes for the last few years. It has been debated that the festival has been flawed from the get-go. Regardless, this year a festival that was supposed to be a fund-raiser and community-building event now also carries a comparatively steep entrance fee of a mandatory 15bucks at prime time. I remember when the event had a suggested donation of 5 dollars.
A mailing list I’m on has developed a flurried dialogue on the whole thing. Much of it about the question of whether its lawfull to force a price on the public for an entrance fee. There has also been talk of whether or not the person organizing the event is really donating all the money to youth organizations as he promises he does. Every year more questions and more problems arrise and the character slowly gets stripped away...
"OK, the fee ($12.00 before 4 PM, $15.00 after) is mandatory. The City Attorney did an investigation and nowhere in the City charter does it say someone using the city streets must let people in for free. The City Council members Garcitti's staff and two members of the Silver Lake Neighbor Council have been in negations with the Sunset Junction organizers to work out the following for the affected community: The neighbors one block north and one block south of Sunset from Bates to Edgcliff are entitled to two wrist bands per day per house hold. All they need to do is bring ID or something with their address to the
Sunset Junction office (Tsunamis cafe on Sunset and Sanborn) Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this week to get the wristbands. Also, in public meetings the fair organizer, Michael McKinley, has stated that no one will be turned away for lack of funds...."
Response: "I'd rather just boycott it instead...anyone interested in playing Mr. T's this Saturday night right back...."
Another observation on the new VIP section of the festival went something like this:
"This weekend's festival will have a "first-ever VIP hospitality lounge." It will be at the Cliff's Edge restaurant on Sunset, where the flakkery says that "headliners from the street fair and other special guests and celebrities can relax in The Oronoco Green Room, a custom-created environment that showcases the latest music-inspired trends and environmentally-friendly fashion and design." It's nice that they are finally carving out a special refuge for celebrities at Sunset Junction."
Response: I'm seeing the last pillars of Silver Lake's unpretentiousness crumble before my eyes. How sad that so few down to earth voices are left in this neighborhood to protest this latest concession to the phony and elitist Westside celebrity worship bullshit we were once immune from. ...
"A special refuge for celebrities", Yes, God forbid they have to come in contact with the rest of us. (there was a time when the bands actually were us.)The "environmentally friendly" design must be a catch-phrase for excluding any "non-celebrities" and normal people who might be seen and could offend the eye.
Perhaps what we really need is a "special refuge" from the "latest music-inspired trends and environmentally-friendly fashion and design." I just wanted to put the word out that not everyone here believes this hype or buys into this Bullshit. Many, like you, may try to create your own world within a world here in Silver Lake but the truth lives on here and will hopefully rise up to bite you on your lipo'd asses while you're savoring your Silver Lake gelato. I believe that this event was founded on the principal of peace, unity and tolerance among ALL the constituents of the Sunset Junction community. The Sunset Junction Street Fair has officially SOLD-OUT, and I don't mean tickets.
Just some food for thought. Me, well, I'm probably going to hit the Junction on Sunday simply because I want to check out The Cramps, a band I've always wanted to see. I'll be sure to feel a bit ashamed. Watch out Junction, I have a feeling in future years people will be saying Fuck Yeah.
Oh, by the way, I'm hoping to sell some Silver Lake Air Freshners at the Junction, so for no other reason maybe the event will fulfill some selfish marketing needs.
A mailing list I’m on has developed a flurried dialogue on the whole thing. Much of it about the question of whether its lawfull to force a price on the public for an entrance fee. There has also been talk of whether or not the person organizing the event is really donating all the money to youth organizations as he promises he does. Every year more questions and more problems arrise and the character slowly gets stripped away...
"OK, the fee ($12.00 before 4 PM, $15.00 after) is mandatory. The City Attorney did an investigation and nowhere in the City charter does it say someone using the city streets must let people in for free. The City Council members Garcitti's staff and two members of the Silver Lake Neighbor Council have been in negations with the Sunset Junction organizers to work out the following for the affected community: The neighbors one block north and one block south of Sunset from Bates to Edgcliff are entitled to two wrist bands per day per house hold. All they need to do is bring ID or something with their address to the
Sunset Junction office (Tsunamis cafe on Sunset and Sanborn) Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of this week to get the wristbands. Also, in public meetings the fair organizer, Michael McKinley, has stated that no one will be turned away for lack of funds...."
Response: "I'd rather just boycott it instead...anyone interested in playing Mr. T's this Saturday night right back...."
Another observation on the new VIP section of the festival went something like this:
"This weekend's festival will have a "first-ever VIP hospitality lounge." It will be at the Cliff's Edge restaurant on Sunset, where the flakkery says that "headliners from the street fair and other special guests and celebrities can relax in The Oronoco Green Room, a custom-created environment that showcases the latest music-inspired trends and environmentally-friendly fashion and design." It's nice that they are finally carving out a special refuge for celebrities at Sunset Junction."
Response: I'm seeing the last pillars of Silver Lake's unpretentiousness crumble before my eyes. How sad that so few down to earth voices are left in this neighborhood to protest this latest concession to the phony and elitist Westside celebrity worship bullshit we were once immune from. ...
"A special refuge for celebrities", Yes, God forbid they have to come in contact with the rest of us. (there was a time when the bands actually were us.)The "environmentally friendly" design must be a catch-phrase for excluding any "non-celebrities" and normal people who might be seen and could offend the eye.
Perhaps what we really need is a "special refuge" from the "latest music-inspired trends and environmentally-friendly fashion and design." I just wanted to put the word out that not everyone here believes this hype or buys into this Bullshit. Many, like you, may try to create your own world within a world here in Silver Lake but the truth lives on here and will hopefully rise up to bite you on your lipo'd asses while you're savoring your Silver Lake gelato. I believe that this event was founded on the principal of peace, unity and tolerance among ALL the constituents of the Sunset Junction community. The Sunset Junction Street Fair has officially SOLD-OUT, and I don't mean tickets.
Just some food for thought. Me, well, I'm probably going to hit the Junction on Sunday simply because I want to check out The Cramps, a band I've always wanted to see. I'll be sure to feel a bit ashamed. Watch out Junction, I have a feeling in future years people will be saying Fuck Yeah.
Oh, by the way, I'm hoping to sell some Silver Lake Air Freshners at the Junction, so for no other reason maybe the event will fulfill some selfish marketing needs.
posted by lakeside at 9:23 PM
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