Sunset Strip fest to honor Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine
The Sunset Strip is a neon name in the music history of Southern California. Three of the district's backstage legends will be honored in late June during the Sunset Strip Music Festival, a three-day event that will unite the marquees of the Roxy, the Whisky A-Go-Go, the House of Blues, the Viper Room, the Key Club and the Cat Club.
It kicks off June 26 at the House of Blues with a concert tribute to Lou Adler, Mario Maglieri and Elmer Valentine, impresarios who were key figures in the Strip during its glory years in the 1960s, when Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and the Byrds were making history.
Mark McGrath will host, and a music guest will be announced in coming weeks for the event, which will be open to the public. The three honorees will also be sitting down June 28 for a round-table discussion moderated by Larry King of CNN.
"They have amazing stories about what it was like to be there during the years when Sunset Strip became what it is," festival organizer Todd Steadman said Wednesday. "There are so many chapters to that history, and I believe this will be the first time the three of them have sat down together in decades."
More festival information will be posted at www.sunsetstripmusicfestival.com.
geoff.boucher@latimes.com
