Oakland’s Burger Boogaloo a labor of rock ’n’ roll love
The first time Burger Records co-founder Lee Rickard met Total Trash Productions impresario Marc Ribak, the latter was on tour with his band Rock n Roll Adventure Kids and, in true do-it-yourself fashion, the group’s tour bus was a Honda hatchback.
From garage rock to the micro-budget early films of John Waters, the seventh edition of the festival has remained steadfastly independent-minded, no matter the commercial pressures.
Garage rock progenitor Psycotic Pineapple started in 1974, and proto-punk band the Real Kids formed in 1972.
The modern-day carriers of the DIY rock and punk torches will be represented by acts like King Khan and the Shrines, Shannon and the Clams, Death Valley Girls, and Thee Oh Sees.
Baltimore’s finest merchant of filmed filth, Waters, will be host, and actress and recording artist Traci Lords and “comedian”/Andy Kaufman creation Tony Clifton will be on hand to help introduce acts and meet the crowd.
Burgerama, featuring more of the label’s own acts, and the Burger A-Go-Go, featuring female-fronted groups, take place at an Orange County club closer to the Burger Records store in a nondescript strip mall in Fullerton.
[...] with Ribak being able to handle the logistical load in Northern California and a Bay Area audience receptive to the spirit of the label, holding Burger’s longest-running event in Oakland makes perfect sense.
Robert Spuhler is a freelance writer who covers entertainment, travel, technology and the intersections thereof.