Pop goes the festival

Kidsfaire arrived at Orange County Fairgrounds this weekend, and with

it came throngs of pre-teen and teenage pop music fans.

A traveling family fair and exposition, Kidsfaire was headlined by

20-year-old heartthrob Chris Trousdale, a former member of the

boy-band Dream Street who is touring to promote his new solo CD.

“I love what I do, so it’s easy for me to be natural,” Trousdale

said. “I don’t have a need to be fake or phony with my fans.”

Trousdale said he’s been singing and dancing since age 3. He said

he wanted to be in the Mickey Mouse Club but was a bit young at the

time. He has starred in the movie “The Biggest Fan,” a romantic

comedy about a young girl who finally meets her favorite pop star.

Trousdale said touring has been a blast -- he kicked off the tour

with a show in New Orleans in June and will continue touring through

the end of the year. His next stop is in San Diego at the Del Mar

Fairgrounds. He said he enjoyed playing the Kidsfaire in Costa Mesa.

“It was awesome -- a lot of good fans here in California,”

Trousdale said.

Michelle Cohn, 12, of Woodland Hills, brought a large handmade

poster that read “I Love Chris Trousdale” and was bordered with

photos of him. She also wore a T-shirt that was hand-painted with the

words “Property of Chris Trousdale.”

“I love him,” she said, “because he’s such a good role model, he’s

really good-looking, and he’s a good person.”

Although Michelle came to the show to see Trousdale, she said she

is now infatuated with Andrew Stern, a member of the pop group that

opened for Trousdale.

“I’m going to marry him,” she said of Stern.

Savvy, a singing and dancing troupe of seven 9- to 16-year-olds,

recently wrapped up an intense Radio Disney tour to promote their

first CD and an instructional dance DVD.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun,” said Savvy member

Lauryn Story, 14.

Niki Peri, 12, is also a member of Savvy. She said the group’s

music sends out a positive message to children and shows them that

it’s possible to sing and dance professionally, no matter how old

they are. “It’s absolutely amazing because I love doing it,” she

said.

Shaun “Dante” Royer, artistic director for Savvy, said the members

of the group work together like brothers and sisters.

Royer started the group with a business partner, whom he described

as a mother who was looking for positive music for her daughter. He

said he was a school teacher at the time and agreed there was nothing

good for his 4th- and 5th-graders to listen to.

“It’s all clean,” he said of Savvy’s music. “It’s a positive

message. It’s done in a way that parents and kids can enjoy it

together.”

Jerry Kergan drove from Concord, Calif., with his 15-year-old

daughter and her friends to see Chris Trousdale and Savvy perform.

“He is very good,” Kergan said of Trousdale. “Of the Dream Street

folks, I think he is the most talented.”

Kergan said his daughter, Jennifer, first saw Trousdale perform on

July 4th and has been a huge fan ever since.

“The neat thing about this is there’s a connection between parents

and their kids,” Kergan said. He said listening to the music with his

daughter has brought them closer together. “There are a lot of really

good up-and-coming artists.”

For more information on Kidsfaire, visit o7www.thekids faire.com.

f7For more information on Savvy, visit o7www.savvymusic. biz.f7

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at

(714) 966-4625 or [email protected].