San Francisco Chronicle

Music festival: Singer-activist Harry Belafonte will discuss his opinions in a conversati­on in Laytonvill­e this weekend.

- By Robert Spuhler

The first time Burger Records cofounder 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.

“The drums (were) on top,” Rickard said. “It was like a cartoon.”

It’s that spirit that infuses every element of Burger Boogaloo, the twoday festival that’s a collaborat­ion between Ribak’s production company and Rickard and Sean Bohrman’s record label. It starts Saturday, June 25, at Oakland’s Mosswood Park.

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.

“For Boogaloo, it’s ‘What festival would we want to go see?’ ” Bohrman said.

The 2016 lineup skews heavily toward classic acts, the types that Ribak,

Rickard and Bohrman may have listened to while growing up. The Flamin’ Groovies formed in San Francisco in 1965 and celebrated their 50th anniversar­y (a touch late) this year at the Chapel. Garage rock progenitor Psycotic Pineapple started in 1974, and proto-punk band the Real Kids formed in 1972.

That emphasis on the history of garage rock and punk continues throughout the lineup, with locals the Mummies (formed in 1988) returning for a secondstra­ight Boogaloo, and the Trash-women (formed in 1991) making their Burger debut.

“Finding the Mummies in the ’90s, that was how I got into the music we’re doing at the event,” Ribak said. “It has this immediacy to it that the music of the ’60s and late ’50s” had.

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.

The Boogaloo is one of three festivals that Burger Records hosts each year. 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.

But 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.

“In the Bay Area there are a lot of rock ’n’ roll lovers,” Bohrman said. “You can put the Real Kids and Angry Samoans onstage, these bands that young kids might not recognize, but there’s going to be an audience.”

“It’s a rock ’n’ roll melting pot,” Rickard added. “People from all over the world gravitate toward the San Francisco area, and with good reason. There’s so much energy and personalit­y, and there’s always an undergroun­d happening.”

 ?? Matthew Eisman / Getty Images ??
Matthew Eisman / Getty Images
 ?? Lily Chou 2015 ?? Filmmaker John Waters will return to host this year’s Burger Boogaloo.
Lily Chou 2015 Filmmaker John Waters will return to host this year’s Burger Boogaloo.

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