HOTENANNY CELEBRATES ITS NINTH YEAR
OF AMERICAN MUSIC AND CAR CULTURE JULY 5-6;
LOCATION CHANGES FROM HIDDEN VALLEY
TO LARGER CAL STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON FIELD;
STRAY CATS AND SOCIAL DISTORTION
HEADLINE TWO-DAY MUSICAL CELEBRATION

After eight straight years of sold-out shows, Hootenanny returns in July with headliners Stray Cats (July 5) and Social Distortion (July 6). This year marks the first time the Hootenanny--which celebrates American music and car culture--has grown to two days and has changed locations. While past HOOTENANNY shows have all taken place at Hidden Valley, this year the festival will move to Cal State University Fullerton Field, which not only is a larger space, but will also provide fans with an abundance of free parking.

The legendary Stray Cats will celebrate their 25th anniversary with their first show together since 1992, while the revered Social Distortion return for their fourth HOOTENANNY-headlining performance. The weekend festival of counterculture and classic cars also features performances by Little Richard, John Doe, Rocket From The Crypt, Junior Brown, and two dozen others, along with over 300 classic cars on display from various Southern California car clubs.

Tickets for the general admission festival are available now through Ticketmaster for $45 per day or $80 for both days. There are also a limited number of VIP passes on sale for $100 per day or $180 for both days.

Bringing together both the roots and offshoots of rockabilly, blues, country, and swing, Hootenanny 2003 is a weekend-long musical odyssey looking back and forward at the innovators and originators in American music.

Hootenanny veteran and Social Distortion frontman Mike Ness--whose solo spot in 1999 makes this his fifth Hootenanny performance overall--says: "It's our scene, and we helped create it. We'll keep coming back as long as we keep having fun." Stray Cats drummer Slim Jim Phantom--who's played at HOOTENANNY once before, while Lee Rocker has performed at the annual event five times--says: "The Hootenanny attracts the hardcore people who live this lifestyle and keep it going--this is the right way for us to get together again: to do it for the true believers."

Indeed, Hootenanny 2003 is filled with returning performers, including Dave Alvin, the Blasters, the Paladins, and Cadillac Tramps. John Doe (performing solo) and Exene Cervenka (with Original Sinners)--who have performed at past Hootenannys with both X and the Knitters--each grace the stage July 5, while Stray Cats bassist Lee Rocker follows up the band's July 5 headlining spot with a solo set the next day.

"To me, it's the best of both worlds," says Rocker. "Doing the Stray Cats on day one, the band that I started with, and then on day two getting up and playing my new stuff. That's always what Hootenanny has been about: connecting the present to the past. To be a part of that this year, for me, it's fantastic."

It's not just Hootenanny loyalists, but that connection to the past that makes this one of the summer's most anticipated musical events. On July 6, Little Richard adds to the long-standing tradition of seminal artists providing Hootenanny with a glimpse of the origins of rock n roll. Previous Hootenannies have featured the likes of Chuck Berry, Buck Owens, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Bo Diddley.

"This music has roots," says Rocker. "The fans--including the young ones--are really aware of the whole history of where this music came from, and who played it. It's a living thing, but it didn't start yesterday. I think it's really hip that the people who are into this music really know it."

And for those who don't know it, Hootenanny is the perfect place to get acquainted, as Mark Brown of The Orange County Register pointed out in a 1996 review: "The music was strong and also made a fascinating history lesson. Within the course of a few hours, the capacity crowd of 3,500 could hear the same rebellious thread running from Jerry Lee Lewis through the Blasters and Social Distortion" (July 9, 1996).

Lest there be any doubt that the varied music of Hootenanny belongs on one bill, Mike Ness puts it most succinctly: "Honest music works regardless of classification." It's not just the music's honesty, but its unmistakably American flavor that makes Hootenanny the ultimate Independence Day weekend event.

"Rockabilly, the music at the heart of Hootenanny, is one of the few distinctly American art forms," explains Slim Jim Phantom. "Jazz, blues, baseball--there aren't that many."

The Orange County Register's Shawn Price agreed in a 2001 review, noting that fans "were treated to a festival of truly American music, however modernly mutated it may have been. These are captured moments of an America that never really existed and that the English never effectively ripped off" (July 9, 2001).

In a review from that same year, Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times described Hootenanny as a "coming together of roughly 11,000 fans in a mini melting pot that crisscrossed age, cultural, and ethnic lines. Spiky-haired white punks stood alongside pompadoured Latinos next to old hippies next to surfer dudes, Elvis wannabes and long-haired hard rockers. The lesson seemed to be that anyone interested in promoting cultural diversity needn't waste time trying to pass a law. Just book the right bands and throw an all day party" (July 9, 2001).

Check out thehootenanny.com for more information.

The complete two day line-up is as follows:
Saturday, July 5:
Stray Cats, Cadillac Tramps, Blasters, John Doe, Original Sinners, James Intveld, Hot Rod Lincoln, Russell Scott, Moonlight Cruisers, Los Creepers, Devil Doll, Gypsy Trash, Crank Williams.

Sunday, July 6:
Social Distortion, Little Richard, Junior Brown, Rocket From The Crypt, Lee Rocker, Dave Vanian and His Phantom Chords, Dave Alvin, Nekromantix, Manic Hispanic, Tex & The Horseheads, Kingbees, Paladins, Jesse Dayton, Blazing Haley, Deke Dickerson, Mike Martt, Hellbound Hayride.

Retro rockabillies return with gusto, the Blasters nearly match them and two halves of X shine at first day of Hootenanny 2003.

By BEN WENER
Monday, July 7, 2003
The Orange County Register

The Stray Cats, that retro- cool trio from Long Island who 20 years ago got the masses cheering "Rock This Town," rarely have gotten their due as important revivalists.

OK, so maybe they were only fleetingly important, to most people a novelty - which is precisely why they were shuffled in with the rest of the anything-goes new wave of the early '80s and written off as a fun anachronism, albeit one with mighty chops.

They kept at it for far longer than most people realize, issuing uneven but spirited efforts well after their two smash albums, 1982's still-enjoyable "Built for Speed" and its identical follow-up the next year, "Rant 'n' Rave With the Stray Cats." They should have been celebrated for keeping fundamental rock 'n' roll alive and thriving in the mainstream when it was all but dead.

Yet for whatever reason - perhaps because, unlike their immediate roots-rock forebears, they were cute MTV stars in teddy-boy togs - by the dawn of the '90s they had been reduced to a "Jeopardy!" answer while bands like the Blasters and Rockpile were still revered. Ace guitarist Brian Setzer finally split for good, bound for the '90s swing craze, his old band now remembered largely through flashback compilations.

Thus the Stray Cats' rousing one-off reunion gig Saturday afternoon at Hootenanny 2003 - held before a few thousand greasers, hepcats, devil dolls and Bettie Page look-alikes at Cal State Fullerton - brought sweet revenge along with the sort of warm (actually, hot and sweaty) glow that comes when heroes reconnect with their faithful.

Outshining everyone on the bill - including the Blasters, two halves of X, local favorites the Cadillac Tramps and a slew of B-grade rockabilly fixtures - the Stray Cats ripped through a rollicking 90 minutes of Rock 101, Setzer's remarkably nimble solos matched by Lee Rocker's furiously slapped bass and Slim Jim Phantom's bouncing beat.

It would be an exaggeration to suggest they were as firecracker explosive as they were, say, during their galvanizing performance at the US Festival in San Bernardino two decades ago. They didn't have much to prove here beyond replicating hits. But for this, their first show since 1992, they came close to that fire, partly by offering more than the obvious, instead digging into their catalog for obscure covers like "Ubangi Stomp" and "My One Desire" and fitting hot-rod anthems like "Rev It Up and Go."

Emerging arm-in-arm, each slick-haired Cat clad in dark shades and a sleeveless shirt underneath a black leather jacket, they zipped into "Rumble in Brighton" and rarely let up, slowing only for a slinky "Stray Cat Strut," the doo- wop gem "I Won't Stand in Your Way" and, in tribute to returning troops, an awkward but soulful rendition of the National Anthem. It was a fantastic finish to the first day of what may be the best Hootenanny yet. Relocated once again - last year it was at Irvine's Hidden Valley, having bid farewell to dusty original home Oak Canyon Ranch - this year's bonanza managed to offer plenty of everything, though with some segregation. Saturday was more about rockabilly, while Sunday's lineup - spearheaded by Social Distortion and Rocket From the Crypt - was heavier on punk, despite an appearance from living legend Little Richard.

A more ideal Hootenanny would have moved the Cadillac Tramps' less-than-melodic grinding to Sunday, in exchange for, oh, Junior Brown and Dave Alvin. As it was, though the roll call included engaging notables such as James Intveld and Russell Scott, Saturday really didn't come alive until the Original Sinners took the stage a few hours before the Stray Cats.

Led by Exene Cervenka, the Sinners were vastly improved compared to their ramshackle performance last year; indeed, here they sounded almost as sharp as X at its rootsiest, though the band's sound lacks the sterling Chuck Berry riffs of Billy Zoom.

After watching his ex-wife's set from an adjacent stage, the other face of X, John Doe, delivered a solid half-hour of tunes split between social commentary (a reworded version of "The New World") and the intimate portraiture that comprises his excellent "Dim Stars, Bright Sky" disc.

Apart from the Stray Cats, however, the only other outfit that really cooked was the Blasters. Granted, they got off to a choppy start, Phil Alvin's usually bell-like voice inexplicably froggy for a few cuts. But eventually they were flying - stuttering through "I'm Shakin'," dancing off with "Marie Marie" and positively roaring through "One Bad Stud."

It was so good - yet so brief - that you had to wonder why only the Stray Cats were given more than 30 minutes to stretch out. Maybe next year some veterans will be given a grander showcase.

The Orange County Register

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