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!