John Easdale Brings the Fun to Poptopia 1999

Punk-pop, power-pop, garage-pop, Brit-pop--almost any kind of classic pop the faithful wanted--crossed the Troubadour stage during Monday’s kickoff of Poptopia 1999, an eight-day festival celebrating “song-oriented pop music.” Yet in spite of brief sets and brisk pacing, the initially packed club was nearly empty by night’s end.

The seven L.A. and out-of-town acts were a broad sampling from the loose collective of groups that, stuck in their chosen time warps, have made this festival tick for four years. But most displayed only hints of potential.

It was up to John Easdale, former singer for ‘80s local power-pop pioneers Dramarama, to drive home the point that good pop has to be not just melodic and artfully rhymed but also fun. His truly quirky presentation began with complementary musings on fame from two wildly disparate sources: David Bowie’s “Star” and Kermit the Frog’s 1979 hit “The Rainbow Connection.” After that solo acoustic segment came a handful of pure power-pop moments with his band the Newcomers, including their own “Bright Side” and the Bob Dylan obscurity “Abandoned Love.”

Nothing else came close, although psychedelic sextet Plastiscene might have, if its show-closing set hadn’t been truncated when the unforgiving schedule slipped slightly, and San Francisco trio the Groovie Ghoulies injected real energy into its old-fashioned punk-pop, but that was more than halfway through the night.

At least singer-songwriter Kyle Vincent showed some wit and pop perspective. Closing his stripped-down set, he donned a white jacket and square-framed glasses to sing Buddy Holly’s “True Love Ways,” in honor of today’s 40th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

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* Poptopia 1999 continues through Monday at several area clubs. Information: (310) 368-9598.