Posted on by Anne Sandler

Music, music, music: The Sacramento Music Festival, Sacramento, California, part 2

Will we have a music festival? That’s the question we hear asked each year. This year the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society put on its 42nd festival and made money by working with an all volunteer staff and cutting down on venues outside of Old Sacramento.

We are not involved in the yearly pre-planning, but only work the festival during the weekend. It’s fun and I love listening to the youth bands, called the Next Generation bands. And you never know who will drop in and jam with them. This year our usual 3 1/2 shifts were lengthened to 4 – 4 1/2 hours. But, that still left us enough time to see acts and listen to wonderful music.

And, we have one of the half days off. Ours was Monday. Because we had the closing shift Sunday night and are not used to staying up after midnight, we didn’t go in Monday morning. We did help break down the venue. Why does it always take less time to break down than put up? It’s the same when you travel. It takes longer to get there than it does coming home!

Home was sweet on Monday morning. I had time to prepare for our out of town dinner guest.

Will there be a 43rd festival? I’m sure they will have it. This format worked, and the newspaper reported that a small profit was made. Till next year!

Posted on by Anne Sandler

Sacramento Music Festival, part 2

It takes a lot of volunteers to run a weekend festival like ours. Although we just help during the weekend, I do feel like I’m a part of the whole operation. As a volunteer, we get free admission and a T-shirt. That shirt and our badge will get us into all the venues free. Of course, we work our own venues each day.

We work a youth venue on the Delta King dock. The ship’s staff is very gracious in their sponsorship and support of youth. Some of the older kids are just as good as some of the adult bands, and the younger kids are pretty good too. This year we had a group of  4th and 5th graders, and they were so cute! Evolution from North Bend Oregon drew crowds that numbered more than 100. They are a community band with children from 12 to 21. They were excellent. A local band from River City High School in West Sacramento drew crowds also.

Just watching the kids filled me with joy. They have a passion for music, and it keeps them away from other destructive activities. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to say, “I saw him/her play in our youth venue!”

While we do get to listen to wicked good music, we also work. The entire crew gathers on Friday morning to set up the venue. We put out the chairs, zip tie them together, help get the band area ready and our own table set up. During the performances that run all day, we keep the venue clean, patrol the fire lanes, and introduce and close the bands’ sets. It’s not too difficult, and it is fun. Next year I’ll take before and after shots!

Here are the last of the pictures. We’ll continue with the parade.

Posted on by Anne Sandler · 2 Comments

Sacramento Music Festival: a Memorial Weekend tradition

It was HOT! During the entire Memorial weekend at the Sacramento Music Festival (sponsored by the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society) mother nature turned on the furnace. I’m sure it could have been worse; but then, it could have been better. The heat did put a damper on our weekend of listening to wonderful music, but we handled it. Well, I handled it until Monday morning when I realized that I was suffering from some form of heat stroke. We did not go to the Festival that day to listen to bands, but to just help tear down our youth venue. I rested and slept most of Monday.

The sets we attended were great. Our favorites did not let us down. I kept wondering how the performers were handling the heat. I guess they give it their all no matter what. We also enjoyed seeing bands we haven’t listened to before. One stand out was a band from Poland. In addition to being great musicians, they were funny and entertaining.

The standout was Dave Bennett. For the past two years he has appeared with the Memphis Boys, doing Jerry Lee Lewis style rock and roll, and some country. He plays the piano like Lewis, uses Lewis’ style and does the vocals. However, he also plays the clarinet, and this year he did two “Tribute to Benny Goodman” sets. He was amazing–so much talent.

Now, in the past, I’ve posted mostly photos of the various groups we’ve enjoyed. This year, I decided to focus on street photography and show you what the Festival looks like outside of the venues. I only brought my camera in one day. I hope you enjoy them. I’ll put them in two posts. Today you’ll see most of the parade. More to come tomorrow.

Oh, today (the Tuesday after the Festival) the temperature was in the ’80s and a nice cooling breeze was blowing. Talk about bad luck!