Fullerton has always had a rich musical history. This is the town where Leo Fender produced his legendary electric guitars; where Mike Ness regularly engaged in gnarly fistfights as a Troy High School student; where Jackson Browne lived (at 1607 Brookdale, and yeah, we've snapped pics of the house—we're obsessive fans like that) while attending Sunny Hills High, back when he was known as Clyde. Fullerton even has cool sonic urban legends, some truer than others (yes, Frank Zappa really did play a show at Cal State Fullerton, but no, Black Sabbath never performed a free gig in Hillcrest Park).
Add to that mix the thriving club- and live-music scene that has sprung up along Harbor Boulevard in recent years, and it's sort of remarkable that nobody has ever put on a Fullerton Music Fest—at least one with the burg's name in the title. That changes Sunday with the birth of this nine-hour extravaganza, the first of what organizer Pat Gallagher says will be an annual event.
For the bill, Gallagher (you might recall his superb '90s band Room to Roam) has picked a handful of genre-spanning acts, among them the country/gospel-leaning Pawnshop Kings; the gritty pop of the Neighborhood Bullys; the transcendent, incapable-of-playing-a-lousy-note-even-if-he-tried Eugene Edwards; the zydeco (we'll assume—they're not on MySpace) wheezings of Zydeco Blue; Gallagher's own band the Peace Bombs; Long Beach's irrepressible Shave; and, topping the nine-hour shindig, Dramarama svengali John Easdale.
The show goes off at the snazzy Maverick Theater in the city's SoCo district, which, seeing as it's indoors, may not be the best setting for an all-day music fest, but at least you won't have to worry about sunburn. And all ticket proceeds go to the Leo Fender Gallery at the Fullerton Museum Center.
The Fullerton Music Festival at the Maverick Theater, 110 E. Walnut Ave. (across the tracks from the Amtrak station), Fullerton; www.mavericktheater.com ; www.fullertonmusicfestival.com . Sun., 1-10 p.m. All-day pass, $25; two-band pass, $10.
One Reply to “Cool Stuff North of the 91”