[Dixielandjazz] Jubilee News - Sacramento Bee Newspaper Story

[Steve barbone]

Jubilee fans step out with flair  (Sacramento Bee Article)

Swirling colors, diverse musical genres enliven Memorial Day weekend
festival's 33rd edition.

By Blair Anthony Robertson Saturday, May 27, 2006 Metro section, Page B1

You didn't need a sign or a program or an explanation. This was the
Sacramento Jazz Jubilee, all right, because there were women dancing in the
streets while twirling parasols, and men wearing boas or strings of colorful
beads around their necks.

And Bill Van Velkinburg was looking absolutely fashion-appropriate in his
red, white and blue windowpane suit, stars-and-stripes bow tie and straw
hat. At 78, he was primed for a long day and was wearing white rubber-soled
comfort shoes.

There was music everywhere, and everywhere there were people tapping their
toes and clapping along to the upbeat tunes as the 33rd annual Jazz Jubilee
got under way Friday with a parade around Old Sacramento.

It was no accident that traditional jazz led the parade through the cobbled
streets even as the festival continues to expand and reach out to all kinds
of styles and tastes and age groups.

Better known as Dixieland, traditional jazz is the foundation of the
festival, for better or worse. While many embrace the genre as a unique part
of Americana, others bicker that it caters to a crowd that's less hip and
more hip replacement.

Indeed, there was plenty of gray hair and many a white beard along the
parade route and more than a few pairs of comfort shoes accessorizing
flapper dresses and seersucker suits.

But the age range was varied, and organizers presenting 105 bands and 850
musicians playing in a variety of musical styles -- salsa, swing, blues,
zydeco and gospel, to name a few. More than 80,000 are expected to fill
downtown, Old Sacramento and across the river over the long weekend.

Friday's crowd was as eclectic as the music, but not so eclectic that Gerald
Frink's outfit didn't require an explanation (he was wearing a pink boa and
a multicolored beaded cap with earflaps).

"I come every year, but this is the first time I've worn this," said Frink,
71, looking down his nose at the boa. "It's my anti-Republican, pro-gay
marriage outfit."

Frink is a jazz fan, but he's more into the spectacle than the specific
venues, which require an admission fee ($25 a day for adults through
Monday).

"It's just good music. I've come since it started and watched it grow, but I
never buy a ticket. I just hang around and hear the free stuff," he said.

There was plenty of free stuff Friday. Bands were all over Old Sacramento,
warming up the crowd before the parade as the people gathered with their
folding chairs and portable seat cushions.

While the musicians and the fans were the focus, lost among them were the
2,700 volunteers, most clad in purple T-shirts, who have held the festival
together since the beginning.

"I always thought this festival was worthy of a Harvard Business Review
piece. The volunteer organization is so incredibly strong," said Gene
Berthelsen, 68, who attended the first jubilee and began volunteering and
playing in the second.

"They're everywhere. We have people who drive rigs around. We have
communications people. We have a whole bunch of people we just call grunts,
who do just about anything that needs to be done."

Berthelsen plays cornet in the seven-piece Catsnjammer Jazz Band and is
scheduled to perform 10 times during the jubilee.

Dave and Teresa Halley are in their fourth year as volunteers, minding a
temporary gate in Old Sacramento near where the musicians are given special
access for parking.

The West Sacramento couple attended a Jazz Jubilee four years ago and liked
it so much they decided to pitch in.

"We feel like we're doing our part to help the community," said Teresa, who
works a four-hour shift each day alongside her husband.

"When we're not volunteering, we go see every band we can," added Dave. "We
put our life on hold for this, because it is so much fun."

One spectator who was looking very un-jubilee was Mel Belotz, an 81-year-old
retired schoolteacher who now volunteers at the State Railroad Museum,
wearing the uniform and cap of a sleeping car conductor.

What caused him to step outside and watch the start of the parade?

"The variety of costumes, the good music, it's something completely
different from your ordinary day," he said.

On the other side of Old Sacramento a few blocks away, Van Velkinburg was
just arriving with his wife, Lil, as the parade passed by.

A retired professor of health science at California State University,
Sacramento, Van Velkinburg wanted nothing to do with jazz until five years
ago, when Lil dragged him to the Jubilee.

"She indoctrinated me," he said with a wink. "I love it now."

Lil, a longtime fan of the Jazz Jubilee, has some advice for newcomers.

"We like to go to one spot and stay there awhile. Otherwise, you can spend a
lot of time with transportation." she said.

Getting around the festival is less of an issue than years past because the
venues are centralized.

And when the Van Velkinburgs do move around from one venue to the next, no
one seems to look twice at the man wearing the suit that's as loud as a
marching band.


About the writer: The Bee's Blair Anthony Robertson can be reached at (916)
321-1099 or brobertson at sacbee.com.

Jazz Jubilee

Where
Old Sacramento, Crocker Park (Third and O streets), Convention Center, Crest
Theatre, Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Sheraton Grand and Raley Field.

Tickets
€ Four-day all-events badge - $95 general, $50 ages 7-20. Children 6 and
younger with an adult are admitted free to all events. € Single-day badge -
Saturday or Sunday performances, 10 a.m.-11 p.m., $40 general, $20 ages
7-20; after 7 p.m., $25 general, $15 ages 7-20. Monday performances, $18
general, $9 ages 7-20 (free if accompanied by an adult), $9 seniors 60 and
older.

RT Trolley
 € Fares: Light rail is $1.75; 85 cents for riders 62 and older. In the
central city zone the fare is $1.

€ Routes: Interstate 80 and Watt Avenue to downtown; Folsom to downtown;
Meadowview to downtown € Frequency: Every 15 minutes during the day; every
30 minutes after 7 p.m. Outbound service will be available until 11:30 p.m.
For additional information, call RT at 321-BUSS.

Information
Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society: (916) 372-5277 or www.sacjazz.com.

For the complete Jazz Jubilee schedule, more photos and coverage, please go
to € sacticket.com/music/jazz