Summer-It's Festival Season!

By Laura Medina

Paul Frank's Julius & Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros say "Hi!"

You know it's Summer when festivals and fairs hit the scene.

Karson Photography of this scribe's 3 favorite people at Spoleto SCENE's White Party: Larry James, Chris Clark, & Maggie Winterfeldt.

Speaking of scene, the Spoleto Festival USA's junior art patron group threw their annual White Party in honor of Andy Warhol's 13 Most Beautiful Screen Test performance.

The Summer Festival cruised in when they took over a derelict wharf, pop up a glowing, white tent, and commemorate the season by launching a boat cruise around Charleston Harbor and the Ravenel Bridge twinkling in the background.

This White Party was one of four big bashes thrown in honor of the festival's hottest performers: hip-hop poet, Lemon Andersen; jazz starlet, Sarah Jarosz; Andy Warhol's 13 Most Beautiful, and saving the last for the best, the rocking Trombone Shorty, from HBO's "Treme."

These ignite the party festival season with major blow-outs. All for good causes. The Spoleto SCENE parties generate funds and a new generation of art supporters for Spoleto USA. The Billabong/VH1's Street Fair lives it up for Save the Music Charity; and Paul Frank wants to get to know you by kickstarting its nationwide traveling block party.

As soon the Arriviste rolled back into Hollywood, this scribe jumped into Billabong/VH1's Save the Music charity street fair, taking over Paramount Studio's New York City backlot.

VH1 provided the Skullcandy vendors, the food trucks, the art gallery, the graffitti artists, three of the hottest bands, with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros headlining.

Billabong threw in the sizzling swimwear fashion show and the surfboard workshop and its own photography studio.

Like the SCENE parties above, all that glitz goes into a good cause, VH1's Save the Music fund musical education for children, filling in where public musical education was.


Can't forget the little ones...and the big ones.

Paul Frank kicked off its national tour by doing an all-ages fair in the Pacific Design Center's backyard in the heart of West Hollywood's Melrose District.

Little kids and big kids slide off the inflatable slide, gobble copious amounts Korean/Mexican tacos, hot dogs, and mounds of ice cream.

They soon burnt them off bouncing from playing ping pong, cheering on the puppy pageant, and the two concerts.

What is really cool...is that the whole family can share in this. Unlike the two previous fairs and parties, Paul Frank wants the whole family together. Plus, this is a good way to know what the hipster parents and their cool kids want.

If you feel left out reading this, don't despair.

The Paul Frank Tour is coming to you soon. Traversing left to right, up and down, everyone can jump into fun by checking the tour's schedule at http://academyofawesometour.com/mobile-schedule.

Not only is it for the whole family, the Paul Frank Tour is free and open to the public, to all sorts of kids, young, old, big, small, plus-sized, and petite-sized.

The previous two festivals and fair, Spoleto SCENE and Billabong/VH1 Save the Music are foundations and a charity. Your donations and membership fees are tax-deductible.

Now, Summer is the time to party!