Sunset Fair Celebrates Differences

The musical aim of the Sunset Junction Street Fair in Silver Lake is to celebrate the flamboyant diversity of this gritty, glammy corner of the city. In the spirit of this motley neighborhood, the music on Saturday, the opening day of the 16th annual two-day event, explored an eclectic musical gumbo. To the tune of raunchy New Wave and rockabilly swing, punky hip-hop and oldies doo-wop, back-alley punk and sultry salsa, Silver Lake brought its children out to party on an eight-block stretch of Sunset Boulevard.

Attuned to the crowd--much of which sported leather bondage gear, cross-dressing attire, full-body tattoos and snow-cone shades of hair--hard-edged bands ruled at the fair’s Hully Gully recording studio stage, but each entry boasted a unique sound. Texas Terry’s Babybird served up a woozy punk romp, while Fluorescein sported a more aggressive attack.

The day’s highlight was Touchcandy, a Silver Lake band that walked onstage with two of its members slathered in KISS-style makeup and then delivered its version of Gene Simmons’ fake-blood theatrics. Touchcandy served up a gamy set of debauched disco grooves and New Wave noodling on a Space Age-sounding Moog keyboard. Singer David Willis is an emaciated Brit with a fondness for love songs about the young and terminally debased. “I wanted to save the world--from people like me,” he drawled with disturbing, upper-crust aplomb.

Extra Fancy followed with an imperfect set built on new material. Hurling his words from a perch atop a huge oil drum, Brian Grillo, who sings about his gayness, launched into “You Look Like a Movie Star, Honey” and hauled friends and audience members onstage to help. While Extra Fancy is known for its powerful, primal live shows, on Saturday it settled for just having a good time.