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Don't fret. (Don't capo, either.) You can see the vast spectrum of everything else that's happening in the Guide's latest very full edition of LIVE MUSIC EVENTS, which is even a "Festival Special." It's here, at a separate click.
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THIS is our "DOO DAH" edition, for everyone who isn't already at or en-route to one of the many big name-brand music festivals happening this weekend.
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Doo Dah is FREE. Of course, there's plenty to recommended it, and we do. Read on, McDuff...
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Sat, Apr 27, in Pasadena:
11 am DOO DAH! The 36th "OCCASIONAL PASADENA DOO DAH PARADE" the annual event named by Readers Digest as “America’s Best Parade" and recently featured in the book "50 Places You Must Visit Before You Die," steps-off on Colorado Boulevard (between Altadena and San Gabriel Boulevards) in east Pasadena. The avant garde spoof of the Rose Parade includes live music in the parade and throughout the pub crawl of after-parties, all day and into the night. (There are some no-alcohol venues, too.) It's a hoot, it's free, and it's worthy of special attention in this single-item feature edition.
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First, there are no hidden costs. Plenty of free street parking is available. And public transit is a great option that's cheaper than gas. The parade route is just west of the Sierra Madre Villa Gold Line (light rail) Station. That's at Foothill Bl, a long block N of Colorado Bl, accessible by walking S on Sierra Madre Villa. Metro, Foothill, and Pasadena ARTS buses serve the station and some go directly to the parade area.
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What began as a bohemian satirical spoof of the Rose City's vaunted Rose Parade quickly developed an avant garde culture of its own, and it welcomes all. There's live music in the parade, and at numerous after-parties. Come early, and bring a camera and a lawn chair.
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Always FREE-of-charge. Except that one year when it was inside a fence and charged money to watch it orbit City Hall.
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The City of Pasadena has never quite decided whether to love or hate Doo Dah. The route has been changed so often that it's the Wayfaring Stranger of parades. This year "goes where no parade has gone before," onto a stretch of storied Colorado Boulevard that's east of the Rose Parade route.
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The colorful and sometimes contentious history of all-things Doo Dahian was the subject of a major exhibition in the Pasadena History Museum that ran six months, into this year. It could just as easily have fit into a sociology museum, if there is such a thing.
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In addition to storied stalwarts like the Synchronized Briefcase Drill Team, the Barbecue Team (who cook hot dogs and serve them to parade watchers), and SNOTTY SCOTTY & THE HANKIES playing en-route, the parade has dozens of inventive, if zany, art cars and floats accompanying a legion of frolickers past the mom-n-pop shops along East Pasadena’s shady tree-lined streets.
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Spectators will be startled and amused by Flying Baby Hammer, A Moveable Feast (based on a Hemingway novel), Ace Ketchum - Professional Vampire Fisherman, The Great Firewall of China, The LOH Down on Science (featuring NPR personality Sandra Tsing Loh), Suffer Jet-Set Planet for David Bowie, Camp Bimbo, World's Tallest Girl Scout, Jiffy Pop!, Happy Howard’s Harlequin, The Bearded Ladies, Long Beach Ukelele Club, Johnny Skunkmobile, Fashion on the Fly, Drunk in the Garage Band, Zombie Training Camp, Arrow Sign Spinners, and The Army of Toy Soldiers.
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The twisted sister of the conventional Rose Parade, the Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade began as a grassroots event in 1978 to gain national attention for its eccentric and, often irreverent satire. The parade has spawned numerous off-beat replicants across the country.
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This year’s spectacle will see the return of such wildly diverse entries as a fleet of motorized Kinetic Pastry Science Mobile Muffins, Captain MacHogwash’s Amazing Chundra, the world’s final appearance of robotic spitting cat named Boo-Boo Kitty, Senior Graucho, Mile High Bed, Yippie Hippie Sixties, Million Marijuana March, The Billionaires, Sloppy Swishers, Whistling Diva Champion, Amnesty International, Blues Brothers Tribute, L.A. Derby Dolls, Pizza Oven Art Car, Vegetables of Laguna Beach, classic, scary clowns, BBQ & Hibachi Marching Grill Team, Bus Target, Howdy Krishna, Horses on Astroturf, and the immortal Doo Dah house band Snotty Scotty & the Hankies, and much more.
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You can't throw tortillas like frisbees any more: Pasadena outlawed that Doo Dah tradition several years back, and enforces the ban with arrests. (Yep, the only town in the world where you can be put in the slammer for tossing a tortilla.) If thinking about that missing link makes you hungry, Robin’s Wood Fire BBQ booth along the parade route will offer all-American street food.
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For something enduring, buy a commemorative 2013 Doo Dah t-shirt.
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And Doo Dah has all those officially honored luminaries.
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The GRAND MARSHAL who will lead the parade is ALAN ZORTHIAN, architect, art lover, host of an annual international folk festival, and proprietor of legrndary Zorthian Ranch.
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FRANK GIRARDOT, Pasadena Star News editor,
will receive the 13th Annual "Order of the Thorny Rose" from a secret panel of judges who select a local personality each year -- someone who has generated significant controversy in the greater Pasadena community. The prickly honor has been euphemistically called the city’s “biggest pain-in-the-ass award.”
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Parade QUEEN is SUSANN EDMONDS, who was given the royal nod by a motley assembly of 50 judges and 250 spectators at the American Legion Bar in East Pasadena on Sunday, April 7th. She got stiff competition from Mia Bonadonna (3rd runner up) who incorporated four large pizzas into her performance and Tanya Piana (2nd runner up) who danced in burlesque style with pasties set to a punk rock tune. The belly dancer extraordinaire, Narayana, was 1st runner up. Susann, an Altadena resident, wowed judges with her singing enthusiasm and homemade cocktail elixirs.
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That should give you an idea about the after-parties, and attending them is easy, since all are within walking distance.
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AFTER PARTIES...
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The "OFFICIAL DOO DAH AFTER-PARTY" is sort of the parade's version of the Groundhog Day movie, and immediately follows the parade as if it never ended. Live music and "cheap/er" food and drinks are featured (pizza slices all day are just $2, for example). It's at the American Legion, 179 N Vinedo St (2 blocks N of the parade route (at Vinedo & Walnut; 626-792-9938). It features music by the legendary Doo Dah house band , SNOTTY SCOTTY & THE HANKIES, along with HORSES ON ASTROTURF, and assorted Doo Dah Glitterati. There are prizes and a full bar. There's a $3 cover.
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UNOFFICIAL DOO DAH AFTER-PARTIES immediately follow the parade, and they are numerous:
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* Colorado Bar, 2640 E Colorado Bl; 626-449-3485, features music by DRUNK IN THE GARAGE, and "the best jukebox in the world," plus pool, darts, cheap drinks and "fun people." No cover charge.
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* Poo Bah Records, 2636 E Colorado Bl (next door to the Colorado Bar); 626-449-3359; has live bands, records, coolness, and free admission.
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* MEOWMEOWZ!, 2423 E Colorado Bl (west of Altadena Dr, near Zephyr Coffee), will have a big sale on vintage rock clothing and footwear, LIVE entertainment, and will take an additional 10% off your entire purchase when you shout DOO DAH! Things commence immediately following the parade.
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* Plate 38, at 2361 E Colorado Bl; 626-793-7100; www.Plate38.com, is newly renovated and now serves craft cocktails in a 17-seat bar; you can dine al fresco on a 40-seat patio. They brag about their burgers there.
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* Queens Party starts at 4 pm and runs 'til closing time at The Altadena Ale & Wine House, 2329 N Fair Oaks; 626-794-4577. This one features Queen Susann’s famous homemade Jabberwockysmooth Jerk Sauce on pulled pork sandwiches (100% pulled pork) for a suggested donation of $3.50, and proceeds benefit the Light Bringer Project.
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If you live in Southern California and you're not at a music festival this weekend, you must experience the Doo Dahsity.
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MUCH MORE, including this weekend's vast array of FESTIVALS and plenty of concerts workshops, and other live music events, is in the most recent full edition of the Guide's LIVE MUSIC EVENTS, published April 26.
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Entire contents copyright (c) 2013,
Lawrence Wines and Tied to the Tracks.
All rights reserved.
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A fresh FULL edition of NEWS & REVIEWS is coming soon. Meantime, check the April 26 edition for ALL the events this weekend, through the coming week, and waaaay into the tuneful future.
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3 comments:
Omg! I thot it was Thanksgiving weekend. Thnx, we r going!
Hadnt seen Doodah in years. Had a fabulous time at parade and parties. Would not have known it was happening.
Most creative exhibition by creative people in this entire region where everyone thinks they are the most creative. The "moveable feast" with people pedaling a banquet table and eating and drinking is the coolest parade float ever!!! Yes some parts r dumb, like little kids from some elementary school just walking in the street. But most of it is amazing, with cupcake cars and a shaggy bear car and kinetic sculpture. If u didn't go u really missed out!
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