LOS ANGELES FESTIVAL : FRINGE FESTIVAL SHIFTS GEARS

The Fringe Festival jumped into gear Friday, as observers rode decorated buses to various arts events, sampling such eclectic fare as an 8 1/2-minute rendition of the adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, a half an hour of comedy improv or a short “Nap” performed by a woman sleeping on a mattress in a parking lot.

As part of “24 Hours of Art/L.A.,” opening the festival with an event almost every hour on the hour from dawn Friday to dawn Saturday, the five “Party Buses” introduced the curious to the month-long Fringe, a 457-event multimedia celebration of mostly local art--by lesser-known and established groups and artists--running concurrently with the Los Angeles Festival.

By about noon, a confetti-colored “Lunch Bus,” sporting yellow dragons with forked tongues, left EZTV video center in West Hollywood for Echo Park with a small but spirited crowd of about 15 children and adults (well under the bus capacity of about 40) plus Silly Willy the red-nosed clown.

“I’m a great-grandmother of seven children but I thought this trip sounded like it would be fun,” said bus rider Elinoar Bardeen, 77, of West Hollywood.

“This sounded like it would be fun,” echoed Judy Ebner, a fifth grade teacher from Tarzana, munching Cheez-Its. “The stuff in the Fringe looked more appealing to me than the Los Angeles Festival--it’s not quite so serious.

“We plan to see mostly comedy and dance,” added Ebner, and a “spectacle” on Venice Beach she couldn’t pronounce called “Godmothrozilladan,” in which a giant puppet named after Japanese science-fiction movie monsters acts out the tale of an alien being invading earth. “That sounds wild, really strange,” the school teacher said with a smile.

One of five buses traveling four four-hour routes throughout Los Angeles for “24 Hours,” the “Lunch Bus” made a stop for improvisational comedy by the Groundlings after leaving EZTV where about 50 people watched Sandra Lowell perform “Nap,” a take-off on Andy Warhol’s film “Sleep” in which an actor slumbered on screen for eight hours. Next, the bus stopped at Echo Park for a picnic, the abbreviated Nicholas Nickleby saga by Bill Mack of the Royal Short Company, and more.

As the sun beat down on the park’s lake, helium-filled balloons were given to “Lunch Bus” riders and children playing in the park by the Fringe Audience, a group of five visual artists who will paint their faces, don wigs and costumes and watch various events during the Fringe (officially ending Oct. 4, with some events running longer) to just “ be an audience,” said Fringe Audience organizer Patty O’Sullivan.

“We won’t be entertaining per se,” said O’Sullivan, her face painted blue with multi-colored polka dots. “The point is to reflect the diversity of an audience and particularly of the Fringe, which is obviously a very diverse festival.”

At Echo Park, Sullivan’s corps also created their Floating Paper People, constructing two life-size, human-like figures with plastic bodies and heads made of big white helium-filled balloons. As about 100 children squealed with delight, the Fringe Audience let these fly over the water like kites. Only one, fashioned of bubble wrap, rose above the nearby palm trees however, the other diving downward.

“It’s great. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s great,” said Mona Field, an Echo Park resident watching the action with her daughter and some friends. “Listen, balloons for kids and a woman with yellow and black hair--how can you beat it?”

“This has been super,” said observer Mary Arzuman, who awoke at 5:30 a.m. Friday with her three daughters to watch a Nigerian dance and music troupe perform at 6 a.m., the first official Fringe event.

“I wish I could do the fireworks at midnight and the 3 a.m. magic show (events in the festival’s “24 Hours”), but I can’t bring the girls to that,” she said, adding after a beat: “Only in L. A., right?”