What You'll Find Here: Music, Movies and Me

Since May 1976, I have written in journals. When I have nothing particularly resonant to say about my own inner turmoil, philosophic ramblings, sexual peccadillos or whining on about the state of the world around me...I have always fallen back on reporting the cultural time consumption that takes up in inordinate portion of my daily goings on.

In the 40+ years since my first concerts seeing Children's Symphony presentations on Sundays at the Pasadena Civic or The Hot Jazz Society's monthly Dixieland romps in an old meeting hall on the edge of the L.A. "River" across from Griffith Park, I have been sold heavily on the magic of live music. As Neil Young so aptly put it, "Live music is better bumper stickers should be issued."

Growing up a few orange groves and canyons length away from Hollywood also contributed greatly to my family's addiction to movie going. From the time I was a small there were weekly trips to the drive-in theaters that dotted the landscape, or the local Temple theater for the Saturday matinees. Once in a while we'd drive the 12 miles into Hollywood and see something in one of the magnificent old movie palaces like Grauman's Chinese, the Egyptian, The Pantages or later the Cinerama Dome. My dad loved Westerns and War movies, as if he didn't get enough shoot-'em-up as an L.A. County Sheriff in his day gig, my mom adored musicals and comedies. My brother and I loved them all.

At SDSU, I played in my first gigging band and began booking concerts on campus as part of the well-funded Cultural Arts Board, kindling for my future life in and around music.

So it's not surprising that my first jobs out of college were working in local video rental places (which were all the rage) or managing a couple of Sam Goody record stores in Mall's on the East Coast where we marveled at the new CD format and sold the first home computers and video games (yes Commodore and Pong and Atari).

So these are really just extensions of all of those journal entries talking about the great new movies I was seeing and LPs/CDs I was listening to.

Though iPODS/iPADs, apps, smart phones and downloads now make music and movies accessible in your own pocket, there is still nothing like sitting in front of a stack of speakers with a room full of people swaying to music created before your eyes. Nor is there anything that works quite so well for me to escape the real world and all of it's pressures just outside than two hours in a dark theater, absorbing the stories flickering across that wide screen as they pull you into their world.

But a really good taco runs a close third...

Thursday, September 13, 2012

55th MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL JUST AROUND THE CORNER

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2012
www.montereyjazzfestival.org



Monterey Jazz Festival Enhances Its Services and Offerings
for Patrons Including Live Webcast from the Night Club, 
Free Wi-Fi on Fairgrounds, Free 55th Festival Apps
for iPhone and Android Mobile Phones

Festival Increases Greening Efforts in 2012 to Include U.S. Pure Water Stations,
Food Waste Collection Program, Free Bicycle Valet Parking

Festival Parking Arrangements Courtesy of Monterey Peninsula College and JAZZ Shuttles for Patrons Provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit

September 12, 2012; Monterey, CA; Monterey Jazz Festival is proud to announce a number of enhancements to the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, all to benefit the patron experience. Once again, nightly concerts from the Night Club’s Bill Berry Stage will be available through a free live Web stream, brought to a global audience through a partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival and StreamGuys. Nine shows will be available September 21-23, beginning with Friday Night’s Pedrito Martinez Group featuring Ariacne Trujillo; Gregoire Maret Quartet; and Gregory Porter streaming live starting at 8:00 p.m. Saturday’s shows, beginning at 7:30 p.m., include Christian Scott; Tierney Sutton Band; and Bill Frisell’s Beautiful Dreamers featuring Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston. Sunday’s Web stream, starting at 7:00 p.m. includes the Hammond B3 Blowout with the John Abercrombie Trio; Larry Goldings Trio; and the Chester Thompson Quartet. All Webcasts are Pacific Standard Time. Visit montereyjazzfestival.org/2012/live for our 2012 live Web stream.

Also returning for 2012 will be the free 55th Monterey Jazz Festival App, for iPhone and Android and free Wi-Fi on the Festival grounds, so patrons can use these apps with ease. Each version of the Monterey Jazz Festival App gives patrons the ability to build a customized schedule of events, read artist info and bios, watch the live Webcast, access photo archives, and many more interactive features. The App can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or Google Play by searching for “Monterey Jazz Festival.” The free Wi-Fi is brought to Festival patrons by Meraki and Alvarez Technology Group.

Continued efforts to make the Monterey Jazz Festival as green as possible include offering a self-service filtered water station, beverage container recycling, food waste recycling, and bicycle valet.  The self-service filtered water program, in association with U.S. Pure Water, will help to eliminate the need for and the waste of single-use plastic bottles at the Festival.,  All Festival attendees will be provided free access to multiple USPW filtered water stations (using compostable coconut shell carbon) throughout the three-day festival. Patrons are asked to assist in the success of this new program by refilling and reusing drinking containers, leading to a huge reduction in plastic bottle waste from the event. Water bottles will also available for purchase, with the proceeds benefiting the Festival’s life-changing jazz education programs.

Ecology Action of Santa Cruz, in partnership with Pacific Grove’s The Offset Project will continue to implement comprehensive beverage container recycling programs and collect the food waste from the vendor areas, to help get closer to zero waste. The Monterey County Fairgrounds received hundreds of blue recycling barrels that are currently used during all venue events, and in 2011, the program transported nearly 3,000 pounds of food waste.

Returning to the Monterey Jazz Festival for the fifth year in a row is the free Bicycle Valet Parking for patrons who are able to commute to the Festival from local hotels and residences, provided in partnership between Monterey Jazz Festival, the Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey Green Action, and Green Pedal Couriers. The free Bicycle Valet Service is located at Fairgrounds Gate 3, on the corner of Fairground Road and Garden Road, at the southwest end of the Festival grounds. Monterey Green Action is committed to minimizing the environmental footprint of the city of Monterey, promoting green policies and practices, raising awareness, and spurring community action.

General Paid Parking for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival will be at Monterey Peninsula College, a short distance from the Fairgrounds, located at 980 Fremont Street, Monterey, CA 93940. The Monterey Jazz Festival will charge $10 to cover parking costs. Complimentary Bus Service, provided by Monterey-Salinas Transit, will be available every fifteen minutes throughout the Festival weekend, offering easy and eco-friendly transportation between the parking areas at Monterey Peninsula College and the Monterey County Fairgrounds.

The new JAZZ bus line will be unveiled for Festival patrons, which will serve the most heavily travelled route across Monterey beginning fourth quarter of 2012, reducing local travel times by as much as 25%. The JAZZ line will also connect over 30 custom designed shelters that feature displays highlighting the Monterey Jazz Festival’s 55-year history. Complimentary Bus Service to the Festival will begin when the parking areas open at Monterey Peninsula College, beginning at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, September 21; 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 22; and 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 23. All buses will be wheelchair accessible. We encourage all patrons to visit the Monterey Jazz Festival Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org  to view maps and more information regarding the parking for this year.
Tickets for the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival September 21-23 are available by phone at 888.248.6499 through the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Web site, montereyjazzfestival.org, or through walk-up service at the Monterey County Fairgrounds beginning Monday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m.
About Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of jazz and expands the boundaries of and opportunities to experience jazz through the creative production of performances and educational programs. The Festival, now in its 55th year, is the world’s longest continuously-running jazz festival.
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The 55th Monterey Jazz Festival partners include Alaska Airlines, Amoeba Music, Big Sur Land Trust, Carmel Road Winery, DownBeat, Gallien-Krueger, Inns of Monterey, The Jazz Cruise, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jelly Belly, KGO 810, KUSP 88.9, Monterey Peninsula College, North Coast Brewing Company, Remo, San Jose Mercury News, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, StreamGuys, Yamaha Instruments, and Casa Vinicola Zonin.

Monterey Jazz Festival also receives support for its Jazz Education Programs from AT&T Foundation, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Community Foundation of Monterey County, D’Addario Music Foundation, Joseph Drown Foundation, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Fund, Harden Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, Monterey Peninsula Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, David & Lucile Packard Foundation, Pebble Beach Company Foundation, Quest Foundation, Nancy Buck Ransom Foundation, Rotary International, Upjohn California Fund, Union Bank Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Robert & Audrey Talbott Foundation, Wells Fargo Foundation, and generous individual contributors.

THANKS TO TIM ORR AND MJF FOR PROVIDING THIS PRESS RELEASE...

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