The scoop on the Monterey Jazz Festival.

So I finally made it to the Monterrey Jazz festival.  I was so excited as
this is supposed to be THE FESTIVAL!  My Dad and Mom were regular attendees for many years, back in the day.  While there I met many attendees that had been going for 30 years plus.  So then why is it that I found it to be a very irritating festival?  Is it because I didn't quite understand how it worked?  Here is my problem.  If you want to see  the main performers you have to buy what is called "Arena seats.  This is the main stage in the festival and has assigned seating. If you want a good seat in the arena you have to, have been going for a while, as the long time fans get to have their same seat yearly or an upgrade as others drop off.  Doing my research ahead of time I knew that to really have a great experience with the heavy hitters I needed to buy our Arena Ticket from someone on Stub Hub that had good seats.  This worked out really well as when we got into festival and over to the Arena our seats were awesome..  We were about 20 rows back center.  So now I am excited as I think I get to see some greats performances up close for the whole day.  Naomi Shelton, Trombone Shorty,Billy Childs Quartet, Dianne Reeves and Chick Corea.  Well boy was I wrong.  Here is how it works.  They split up the day into two categories.  Day time shows and night time shows. When I bought my ticket it was for daytime shows only.  (The 1st two bands I listed above) and I had no idea.  If you want to go to night time shows, that is a whole other ticket.  The worst part is, the daytime Arena shows and Billy Childs went to the garden stage to play after they were done at the Arena.  You don't pay extra for those tickets. You have to get to that stage way before they start but I will go into that later.  Now in between the daytime and nighttime shows there is a 2 hour break where none of the 5 stages have anything.  Does this sound confusing to you?  That's because it was.  Because we missed Naomi Shelton at the Arena, we pretty much paid way to much to see Trombone shorty at the arena and then our tickets were void.  We could have seen him 2 hours later for  free at the Garden Stage. Talk about feeling like a sucker.OK so I don't want this to happen to anyone else so here is what I learned from my experience and from talking to some veterans.  Don't even bother with the daytime Arena tickets if you are buying from private party.  If you buy from festival you will get the whole day but your seats will be bad.  What you want to do is take a folding chair and get to festival in morning.  Set up your chair up front at the Garden Stage and just leave it there for the day.  This way you can come and go from that stage and see half of the performers from the Arena stage.  (The website actually recommends you don't bring a chair which is absolutely bad info.) In between the shows you want to see at Garden Stage, you can check out the other 3 smaller stages that have some cool surprises of up and coming or international performers.  As for what to do during the two hour break.  I don't know what to tell you.  I do know that if they just skipped the break you wouldn't be finishing up at 12:30 at night after a 12 hour day.  Oh well.  This is why I will stick to the playboy jazz festival..  It is so much better.  I think I will take Dr. Jazz's advice and check out Detroit's Jazz festival next.  He says its the best in US.

 Trombone Shorty was the highlight of day, just as he was at Playboy.  Watch out for this band of mid 20 year olds because they are on their way up the charts.

Does anyone know who this is?  She played with John Firman & the Nocturne Band.  She was not listed but man she had some outrageous pipes.  Loved her.

 This Woman has a band from Korea called Ritsuco Endo & FRV.  They were amazing  I think my husbands favorite.  They are contemporary Jazz but so good you just don't care if you are a straight ahead listener..

I know I didn't give this guy much credit on my 2010 playboy review but WOW. Jake Shimabukuro will blow you away as a one man show.  Truly breathtaking.

          The only other surprise was I got to hear one of my favorite piano players Gerald Clayton.  He used to play at my favorite little Jazz club but has now gotten to big.  Good for him.

Do you Remember Richard Blade?

So I went to a friends 50th birthday party Saturday night.  The DJ they had hired for this great affair was Richard Blade.  For those of you who don't remember him, read below, He has quite a history.  So Being the music whore I am I just had to know how many songs Richard had in his library.  The answer? over 38k.  WOW!  I love it and am also very jealous.  He told me he could play anything from Frank Sinatra to Lady Ga Ga. So with all that music he defiantly has the the tools to be a music icon but what is his he like as a  fellow human?  Well that's the greatest part.  He is very down to earth, allot of fun and best of all seems to have a true passion for his trade.  My husband and I were watching him and no matter the song being played he was either dancing in spot or singing.   That passion is easily recognized by any fellow music lover.  So after truly enjoying his 80's themed play list for the night Richard really made by night by letting me hear a few of his favorite jazz picks on his headphones.  Not bad picks either for an 80's icon.  He then showed me his setup and all the amazing things he can do with it.  Was very interesting, and again, "Jealous". You can hire Richard for your party so look him up on http://www.richardblade.com/  and  read on for a little Richard Blade History.

Blade worked as a DJ "The Young Dick Sheppard" in the United Kingdom and Europe before moving to Los Angeles and starting work as a DJ there in 1982. He took a new name from the Sci-Fi film, Blade Runner.
Within a few months of working in Los Angeles, Blade had become the #1 Arbitron-rated radio personality on the West Coast, and in 1982, he began to host a weekly television program on KCAL-TV called "MV3," which later became "Video One."
In 1984 Richard created, produced and hosted "VideoBeat" for KTLA. The weekly series ran for two years.
Blade also worked as an actor in the 80's, appearing in Square Pegs, Hunter, Divorce Court, as contestant Dick Sheppard from England on the television game show Card Sharks, and in other programs.
Between 1991 and 2003, Blade hosted several music-related television programs, including "America's Top Ten", which he took over from Casey Kasem. He hosted several "Flashback" radio programs on KROQ, and was a frequent host at Los Angeles dance clubs on their KROQ Nights, including the famous Palace Theatre in Hollywood. He appeared on the cover of a six-volume set of 80's music compilations called Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites.
In 1998 Richard wrote for the UPN TV Sci-Fi series "7 Days" including writing the second season's finale "The Cure".
In April 2000, Blade moved to St Maarten in the Caribbean and took a two-year break from the industry to work on several writing projects.[1]
Returning to Los Angeles in 2002, Blade returned to his career in radio and television.
In June, 2003, he consulted for MTV Networks on the television program "Bands Reunited", then worked for VH1 as a writer and producer on both seasons of the series.
In 2004, he returned to radio on Los Angeles station KYSR (Star 98.7), originally as host of a Saturday night "Totally 80's" program and short features in the afternoon drive-time period. In 2006, when the station became more 90's and current-based, the Saturday night program ended.
Today he has gained a national audience in North America where he is a host for the Sirius Satellite Radio channel First Wave, a 1980s New Wave Music channel. He hosts his own signature show "First Wave Rewind". He also hosts a twice-daily short feature on Sirius' The Big 80's channel called "Behind The Big '80s". Recently, Blade has taken over for Ray Rossi on The Pulse on weekends.
In April 2006 Richard co-starred with Gabrielle Anwar and Craig Sheffer in a movie he wrote called "Long Lost Son". The film, which was shot on location in the Caribbean, premiered on Lifetime in August 2006. He currently has a TV series he created being edited for airing on Animal Planet in 2007 called "My New Wild Life".
In August 2007, Blade made an appearance on the reality show "Rock of Love" featuring Poison lead singer Bret Michaels.

Brea Jazz Festival

It is that time of the year again.  The Brea Jazz festival is one of my favorite events. The talent seems to get better every year.  They call it the Jazz Festival but you will see allot of Blues on the line up too. It is free to the general public but I highly recommend the VIP.  It is $40.00 this year but with that you get a $20.00 gift card to Cha Cha's "My favorite Latin Restaurant in Downtown Brea", a $10.00 gift card to Yard house and a T-shirt. Your seats are the best in the house and you don't have to fight the crowd to find a seat. Website to buy tickets is to the right under upcoming events. 
Can't wait for this Friday Sept 10th.  Check this band out. The Reno Jones Band.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ7ou1DP4E4