The honoree for this year's festival is Slash, and a special tribute is being held at House of Blues. In addition to the famous rockers that stopped by to honor him, including Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx, there was a video tribute featuring a number of celebrities including last year's SSMF honoree Ozzy Osbourne, as well as late night talk hosts George Lopez and Conan O'Brien. Joining Slash on stage (as pictured above, left to right) Sunset Strip club mogul Michael Maglieri and, representing the City of West Hollywood, City Councilperson Abbe Land, Mayor John Heilman, Slash, City Councilperson Lindsey Horvath, and Mayor Pro Tem John Duran.
 

A variety of bands perform in every Sunset Strip venue

Gibson GuitarTown guitar art adorns Sunset Boulevard

The Sunset Strip has an even more musical feeling right now thanks to a public display of guitar art. Gibson GuitarTown features 26 10-foot-tall guitars decorated for a person or event in the colorful history of the Sunset Strip. The giant guitars can be found along Sunset, as well as mounted conspicuously on area hotels and clubs. And those clubs are now filled with music lovers that have paid up to $250 each for tickets to SSMF. Among the many bands performing in the various clubs along the Strip are The Expendables, Cisco Adler, Vanaprasta, and Lady Sinatra.
 

Steel Panther rocks the festival's West Stage

Neon Trees certainly seems to be a crowd favorite

Thousands of people have packed the Sunset Strip for the SSMF Street Fest. Sunset Boulevard has been closed from San Vicente to Doheny, and two outdoor stages are keeping the crowd entertained with some of today's most popular performers and groups. The festival's West Stage is playing host to such groups as Steel Panther, The Smashing Pumpkins and Slash. The East Stage serves as home base to Neon Trees, Semi Precious Weapons, and Kid Cudi, just to name a few.
 

Travie McCoy has a unique sound...and expression!

Common is not just a rapper, but an actor too

And while music is the main thrust of the Street Fest, there are other things to see and do. Vendor booths feature a variety of products and services and, as people work up an appetite, there is a seemingly endless line of gourmet food trucks to keep everyone well fed. Trucks with names like 'The Greasy Wiener' and 'Shrimp Pimp' (personally, I think those would be really cool names for new bands) are among those parked along Sunset. I don't see anything called 'Tofu-Mobile' or 'Watercress Wonderland', so I'm guessing that the food served here is not necessarily for the health-conscious, but it sure does taste good.
 

Hungry crowds enjoy the variety of unique food trucks

The Gibson booth encourages a future rock star

And, of course, you wouldn't come to the Sunset Strip Music Festival without catching a performance by this year's honoree, Slash. I had to take photos from a distance because, by the time I arrived, bodies were already packed so tightly at the West Stage that there was no possible way to push any closer without risking a sexual harassment charge. The energy on stage was multiplied by 10 with the enthusiasm of the crowd. Slash is a dynamic performer with roots on the Sunset Strip and today, once again, he has West Hollywood rockin'.

For more information about the Sunset Strip Music Festival: http://www.ssmf.com
For Eye On Weho's highlights of SSMF 2009: Click Here