September Fest : Street Scene to Offer Record Diversity in Food, Music, Art--and People

The Street Scene, Los Angeles’ annual two-day celebration of cultural diversity, will begin Saturday, offering a mix of textures ranging from the elegance of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra to the grit of blues singer Etta James, from the old-world charm of the Gypsy Flamenco Dance Company to the electric guitar insanity of the Ramones.

As many as 1.5 million people are expected to jam 14 blocks of the downtown Civic Center between 10 a.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. A parade featuring 100 entries will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday.

The Street Scene’s traditional staples, music and food, will be in ample supply: 350 performances on 19 stages and 150 booths selling a wide variety of ethnic dishes. In addition, artists and craftspeople will sell handcrafted wares in another 150 booths.

The festival’s boundaries, closed to auto traffic, are Aliso Street on the north, 1st Street on the south, Alameda Street on the east and Broadway on the west.

Sylvia Cunliffe, manager of the city’s General Services Department and producer of the festival, said her staff’s crowd estimate--which would represent a 50% increase in just two years--is based on “a tremendous response this year from vendors, performers and sponsors. We always have far more performers asking to be involved than we can accommodate, but this year it was even more than usual,” she said.

This year’s Street Scene is dedicated to two campaigns: The Save the Books Fund of the city’s main library, gutted by fire in April, and the Campaign for Child Survival, an international anti-poverty coalition.

With an eye toward maintaining civility amid the anticipated crowds, Street Scene officials say they have asked the Los Angeles Police Department to play a more visible role and have also tried to schedule the myriad acts at venues calculated to disperse visitors throughout the Civic Center.

In addition, organizers have added several new wrinkles to broaden the Street Scene’s audience beyond the hundreds of thousands of young rock music fans, who regard it as a major showcase for many of Southern California’s most popular club acts.

Fans of other types of music--classical, country-western, jazz and assorted forms of ethnic music--have scores of artists to choose from.

Among the first-time attractions:

A boxing match at 2 p.m. Saturday. Junior middleweight contender Johnny Sale will box his brother, Robbie Sale, in an exhibition.

A fireworks display patterned after a Mexican castillo , or castle-like creation . At 8 p.m. Saturday, a derrick-shaped structure on which various multicolored fountains, pinwheels, cascades and lances will be lit.

Performances by winners of the first Los Angeles International Music Festival, which was organized by the Street Scene and held earlier this week. Contestants from 15 countries were invited to Los Angeles, and the winners will be on stage Sunday.

A stage in the Civic Center Mall devoted to classical music and ethnic dance performers.

Tonight, Mayor Tom Bradley will host an invitation-only buffet dinner featuring entertainment coordinated by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers as part of the organization’s campaign to build opposition to licensing legislation in Congress. ASCAP contends that pending bills would allow broadcasters to pay one-time fees to performers instead of perpetual royalties.

The Street Scene is produced by the city’s General Services Department with a budget of about $700,000, most of it raised from corporate sponsors.

1986 STREET SCENE

THE STAGES 1. Parthenon

2. Parker

3. International I

4. International II

5. Totem Pole

6. Triforium

7. Star Fountain

8. Main

9. Terrace

10. Step

11. Forum

12. Spring

13. Times Plaza

14. Broadway East

15. Broadway West

16. Rock ‘n’ Roll

17. Flag Court

18. Parade Stand

19. Command Post

SCHEDULE OF PERFORMERS, SATURDAY SEPT. 20, 1986 10:30 a.m. 4 Snake Rock

14 Ingin

16 Vega

11:00 a.m. 2 Surprise Guest

3 Lock Up

5 Gypsy Flamenco Dance Company

7 Sackbutt Rind & Red Hot Rivets

8 Stranger

10 Blackstreet USA Puppet Theatre

11 Britton

15 The Witcher Brothers

16 In Camera

17 L.A. City Youth Band

11:30 a.m. 2 Surprise Guest

4 Surprise Guest

6 Delala Mur Dance Co.

9 Richmond Shepard Mime Theatre

13 Trans X

14 Hamilton Camp Family Band

16 Screamin’ Sirens

12:00 p.m. 2 A Sleight Touch

3 Cap’t Cardiac & The Coronaries

5 S.T.A.R.C.O.

7 Arco Iris

8 Four Reasons Unknown

10 Butterfly and the Lotus

11 Trish and Angel

12 UB 40

15 Big Daddy

16 Mushi-Mushi

17 Aquari String Quartet

12:30 p.m. 2 Avant Shant

4 Chuck Jonkey & Latindia

6 Karpatok Hungarian Folk Dance

9 Surprise Guest

13 Animotion

14 Billy Ciofee & The Monte Carlos

16 Innocent Tongues

1:00 p.m. 2 The Italian Stallions

3 Surprise Guest

5 African Fashions

7 Bobby Rodriguez Band

8 Isle of Man

10 Arthur Nakane

11 Surprise Guest

15 The Tokens

16 20 Times

17 Sarah Elgart & Company

1:30 p.m. 4 Surprise Guest

6 Peggy Gilbert & Dixie Bells

9 Rhythms of the Village

13 Dramarama

14 Diamonds

16 Little America

2:00 p.m. 2 Johnny Sale & Robbie Boxing

3 Black Sedans

7 Scott Henderson and Tribal Tech

8 Larry Raspberry

10 Firebird Theatre Co.

12 International Show

15 The Champs

16 Bel Fires

17 Voci Celesti

2:30 p.m. 2 Surprise Guest

4 Stanley Kipper

6 Klapa Trogir

9 Lou Adams, I Can Folk ‘N Mime

14 Rivingtons

16 The Mutts

3:00 p.m. 2 Brian Paige

5 MCR/Feet

10 Judi Garratt

15 Cricket

16 Sixty Nine

3:30 p.m. 2 Bruce Logfgren Jazz Orchestra

3 Brazilian Embrasambra

4 Bonedaddys

5 KXLU Dance Party

7 Horace Tapscott Quintet

9 Rollo, The Happy Hamster

11 Cruzados

13 Device

16 Dexter

4:00 p.m. 2 Candy

6 L.A. Choregraphers--Dancers

9 D’Anne Hutchinson

14 Walter Egan

16 Faith No More

4:30 p.m. 2 Perri

7 Terra Nova

8 Danny Wilde

10 Bakra Bata

11 Jef Scott

15 Mar Dels

17 Steed Woodwind Quintet

5:00 p.m. 2 Bohiems

4 Amigos Cosmicos

6 Philippine Pamanlahi Dance

9 Ballet Socariba

14 Don Julian the Meadowlarks

16 Smilin’ Jacks

5:30 p.m. 2 Dianne Schurr

3 Grupo Yatiri

7 Surprise Guest

8 Surprise Guest

10 James Lee Stanley

11 Guns & Roses

15 Phranc

16 Agent Orange

17 Aman International Music

6:00 p.m. 4 Surprise Guest

6 Diamond Coura W. African Dance

8 Rave Ups

9 Polski Iskrie

13 Sparks

14 Rosie Flores

16 Little Kings

6:30 p.m. 2 The Modsters

3 Rebel Rockers

7 Phil Upchurch

10 Talk Back

11 Poison

15 Jason Richards & Silverado Band

16 Lions and Ghosts

7:00 p.m. 2 Surprise Guest

4 Joe Louis Walker/Boss Talkers

6 Nakapaku

8 Chain Reaction

9 Magic Supreme

12 Renegade

14 Tin Star

16 Other Voices

7:30 p.m. 2 The Myxx

3 Delgado Brothers Band

7 L.A. Jazz Choir

10 Nile

15 Kathy Robertson Band

16 L.A. Guns

8:00 p.m. 2 Surprise Guest

4 War

8 The Wild Cards

11 Precious Metal

12 Surprise Guest

13 Surprise Guest

14 Surprise Guest

16 Tomorrows Game

8:30 p.m. Fireworks Show, Temple and San Pedro streets