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Strawberry Alarm Clock to rock Venice

The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 50th-year celebration continues with a late-summer appearance at the Venice Beach Music Fest.

The band is headlining the Saturday, Aug. 26, event, supported by Barry “The Fish” Melton of Country Joe and the Fish Fame.

The Venice Beach Music Fest runs from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Windward Plaza (1 Windward Ave.) in the famed Southern California beach town. The Strawberry Alarm Clock goes on at 6 p.m. and tickets are free.

The appearance is another that brings back memories of the Summer of Love: SAC played Venice’s hippie hotspot the Cheetah Club in 1967, during filming for the movie “Psych-Out.”

The upcoming festival appearance comes on the heels of 2017 Strawberry Alarm Clock shows at the Whisky A Go Go, the Starry Nights festival in Santa Monica and Bogie’s Bar.

Multi-instrumentalist Steve Bartek again will join the band for the upcoming festival show.

Barry Melton started Country Joe and the Fish with Country Joe McDonald, first finding fame with the psychedelic music classic “Electric Music for the Mind and Body.” His All-Star band includes Roy Blumenfeld (the Blues Project), Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Company), David Aguilar (Big Brother) and Greg Douglass (“Jungle Love”).

Other performers include Champa 51, appearing as the Champa 67 Experience; Grateful Dead covers act Cubensis; and Cristina and the Blue Vanes.

> Read George Bunnell’s memories of playing the Cheetah Club.

SAC sets three gigs in Southern California

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The Strawberry Alarm Clock is wound up to celebrate its 50th anniversary with a trio of 2017 shows in the Southern California area.

Saturday, July 22, finds the Strawberry Alarm Clock headlining back at the Whisky A Go Go in Hollywood. Scheduled support are Write Minded, Three Sides and Return of the Leech. Buy tickets for the Whisky show.

(View 2012 Whisky show photo gallery.)

The Strawberry Alarm Clock plays a pair of shows the next night, Sunday, July 23, at Bogie’s Bar in Westlake Village. The shows, which have separate ticketing, are at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The band — joined by Steve Bartek — played the Starry Nights music festival in Santa Barbara on Saturday, March 18. SAC made its first appearance in Santa Barbara since 1967. Headliners for that night were the Kills.

The band has been hard at work rehearsing for its 2017 concert run.

Stay tuned for news of more gigs.

Pair of SAC shows: Valley and the Whisky

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The Strawberry Alarm Clock opens its 2015 gigging with a “slightly unplugged” concert in Canoga Park, followed by a trip back to Hollywood’s famed psychedelic den the Whisky a Go Go.

Feb. 7 sees SAC at the Guitar Merchant on Topanga Canyon Boulevard. It’s a “semi-acoustic set,” says band member Mark Weitz, who’s going to be playing a grand piano. The Guitar Merchant, a music store, seats about 100 people in its concert mode, so it’ll be a great chance to see the Strawberry Alarm Clock in an intimate setting.

The Guitar Merchant show is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7. Admission is $20. Support from Brad Lee Swanson and his CF Band. (map to venue)

On March 26, it’s back to the Sunset Strip and the Whisky a Go Go, where the Strawberry Alarm Clock tops a busy bill. The band played a well received set at the Whisky in the summer of 2012 — surprisingly, it was the first time the veteran L.A. band played the famed rock club.

Longtime SAC collaborator Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo) will perform with the band at both shows. Listen for some new Strawberry Alarm Clock songs at the shows, in the vein of the band’s recent CD “Wake Up Where You Are.”

Also scheduled to play at the Whisky are Their Only Dreams (“throwback psychedelic sound minus the ego”), Slow White, the Shag Rats, the Night Times, the Electric Magpie, the Wandering Gypsies and Major Minus. All-ages show; doors at 7 p.m. (get tickets)

The Sunset Strip venue is rich with psychedelic music history, of course: 1960s rock groups that made multiple appearances at the Whisky a Go Go include the Doors, the Byrds, Love and Buffalo Springfield.

SAC live at Sherman Oaks Street Fair

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The Strawberry Alarm Clock tops the bill as the Sherman Oaks Street Fair revisits the psychedelic 1960s on Oct. 19.

The band’s set will be bracketed by performances by a couple of Beatles and Doors tribute acts. The Strawberry Alarm Clock is the real deal, of course, with original members performing new songs from their latest CD, “Wake Up Where You Are,” as well as its classics such as “Incense & Peppermints,” “Tomorrow” and “Sit With the Guru.”

Video update: Check out the show:

The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s set is scheduled for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19. It’s a home turf show for the band, one of the best known rock acts out of the San Fernando Valley.

The 24th annual Sherman Oaks Street Fair sprawls across nine blocks of Ventura Boulevard, running from Van Nuys Boulevard to Kester Ave.

Sixties nostalgia is a major theme for this year’s Street Fair. In addition to the Wild Child and Paperback Writer tribute bands, organizers have set 50th anniversary tributes to the surfing film “The Endless Summer” and the 1960s sitcom “The Munsters.” Also look for appearances by actors from “My Three Sons.”

The Street Fair bills itself as the largest event in the San Fernando Valley. It runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., featuring more than 100 vendors, classic cars, arts & crafts and carnival rides.

Love Ride: SAC goes whole hog

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The Strawberry Alarm Clock woke up the SoCal motorcycling elite with a “short but sweet” set at the charity event Love Ride 29.

This time out, the band kicked off with “The World’s on Fire” (opening track of their first album) and closed with “Mr. Farmer” (opening track on their latest album).

The early-morning charity show was produced by Walter Roland Moore and his wife, Annet Peairs. “They are longtime friends of the band — great people!” bassist/singer George Bunnell said. SAC performed at Harley Davidson of Glendale.

Love Ride is billed as the longest-running motorcycle fundraiser in the world. It benefits the USO.

Bunnell says the potential for the band to put on its best show ever was there Oct. 21 — but the tech gremlins had other plans.

(Text continues after concert photo gallery)

Motorcycle charity event

The Strawberry Alarm Clock performs at Love Ride 29 in Glendale on Oct. 21, 2012

Of the 30 or so microphones on stage, none actually worked in the wake of a digital board synchronization snafu. One thing led to another, and the band ended up with only two microphones. The show that was supposed to start at 7:15 didn’t get going until 8:15 or so.

Here’s the set list:

“The World’s on Fire”
“Sit With the Guru”
“Lose to Live”
“Incense and Peppermints”
“Tomorrow”
“Mr. Farmer”

The show was “short but sweet,” Bunnell says.

Longtime band associate Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo) performed, as did Robert Cowan of the Neville Bros. band on harmonica.

L.A. Councilman Tom LaBonge presented the Valley rockers with certificates marking the 45th anniversary of “Incense and Peppermints” hitting No. 1. Jay Leno and the mayor of Glendale were on hand as well.

The band accepted the L.A. honors for Lee Freeman, who died several years ago, and for Ed King, who now lives in Nashville.

After the show, the band headed north to ride destination Lake Castaic, where they were part of the celebrity introductions. An emotional Randy Seol, the band’s drummer/singer, told the crowd of how the musicians grew up together and were lucky to still be performing as friends.

Also performing at Love Ride were Canned Heat, and George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Leno and Peter Fonda were event “grand marshals.”

The Strawberry Alarm Clock have been performing in support of their new CD, “Wake Up Where You Are.” The album is a mix of new SAC songs and reinterpretations of their classic psychedelic hits.

More new Strawberry Alarm Clock songs are in the works, keyboardist/singer Mark Weitz says.

Photos by Claire Bunnell and MacMac

Other band performances in 2012:

View more Strawberry Alarm Clock photo galleries

SAC lights up San Diego: photo gallery

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The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s show in San Diego kicked off in dramatic fashion:

A young Dick Clark introduced the even-younger band — the time travel courtesy of vintage video projected behind the band. For a few seconds, the Strawberry Alarm Clocks of 1967 and 2012 played together. The song, of course, was “Incense & Peppermints.” (View the video.)

The Adams Avenue Street Fair crowd roared its approval of the psychedelic light show and the dazzling go-go dancers from La Bella Danza Burlesque.

The Sept. 29 event continued the psychedelic vibe with a performance by Kofi Baker’s Cream Experience (Ginger Baker’s son). Text continues.

SAC in concert -- San Diego 2012

The Strawberry Alarm Clock performs at the Adams Avenue Street Fair in San Diego on Sept. 29, 2012

Adams Avenue is one of the largest free music festivals in California. The event also included a reunion of local crazies Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper, blues guitarist Coco Montoya and a reunion of rockabilly specialists the Paladins.

More Strawberry Alarm Clock photo galleries!