CATALINA ISLAND IS UNDERWAY
Weekend 2 is This Weekend.
Weekend 3…Finale Weekend, begins Oct. 15th
Still Great Seats and Hotel Rooms
All Catalina Concerts are being Webcast Live
Tune in at www.jazztrax.com
All Times are West Coast PDT.
See Festival Performance/Broadcast Times
http://www.jazztrax.com/jazz/catalina.html.
From anywhere in the world, LISTEN LIVE to the Concerts from Catalina, on your computer.
CLOSE YOUR EYES AND CONSIDER THIS YOUR WEEKEND
You arrive at the boat docks in Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point, Newport Beach, or Marina Del Rey. If you were wise, all your suitcases Are on wheels and simply roll behind you. This will become extremely Wise in Avalon where there are taxi’s, but it’s so easy to just walk…. Anywhere…if your luggage rolls.
While crossing the 26 miles between the Southern California Mainland and the Island, relax, look for dolphins, see who sites the Island lst, Watch for the giant Casino to come into view. The lst time is the Best.
Upon arrival an hour later on the Island….stop at the first corner and make Friday Night dinner reservations at Prego. Next corner behind C.C. Gallaghers order some Gelato….ice cream is a very important Part of our festival. Or ColdStones by Glenmore Plaza, or tried and true Big Olaf’s on Main Street. Check into Hotel. Hang your evening attire up. Throw daytime attire into drawer. Forgot your tooth brush huh?
Put on walking shoes and stroll down the boardwalk, alongside the hundreds of sailboats, the Tuna Club and the Yacht Club, to Casino to get a free Festival Program…which you’ve already read here, on-line.
Dinner at Prego. (or any of the many adorably quaint restaurants along Main Street) I recommend the Cioppino, or Lasagna.
Start towards Casino Friday Night round 7:10 p.m. Give yourself maybe an extra 5 minutes in case there’s a full moon shining across the ocean. Marvel at the big JazzTrax letters
projected across the entire outside of Casino Wall, visible all the way from town. Walk up Ramps…read all our promotional signs for upcoming events.
Enjoy your evening of Bob Baldwin and Euge Groove (or next weekend Michael Lington and Paul Jackson Jr.) Meet them afterwards, as you can Nearly ALL festival performers, in the JazzTrax Store. Purchase their new CD and have them sign it for you. Sip a nice Bob James Chardonay or Cabernet, or cool Foster’s Beer. (our festival sponsors)
End of evening Wander down Main Street to ………….after party at Ristorante Portofino.
or ………..Blue Parrot or a dive bar….Marlin Club or JL’s Locker Room
Go home, make love, go to sleep.
Wake up Saturday Morning (if it’s overcast, it’ll burn off by 9 a.m.) walk down to C.C. Gallagher’s for your double latte to erase the previous night’s Cabernet. If you’re staying at Hamilton Cove make sure you’ve purchased some ground Starbucks coffee upon arrival at Vons (closes at l0 p.m.) Play tennis or put around the 18 one-hole course.
Get to the Pancake House or Sally’s Waffle Shop early, ahead of the crowd (9:45 a.m. would work). Order a French Toast/Eggs/Saugage combo. Or Waffle. Look at everyone around you wearing their new JazzTrax Festival T-shirt, cap, or Ladies tank-top.
Watch for the LA Times golf cart to pull up by the green pier….grab one while you can. Liquor Stores also have the morning papers. Get mad At the guy you can’t stand, from your opposite political party running for President, and the Yankees.
Start towards Casino at ll:30 am. Daytime now so all along the boardwalk, the quarter mile walk to the festival, you can check out all The sailboats…..and yachts, you’ve always wanted to be rich enough to own.
If there’s no line….take the elevator for a change. If you’re lucky you won’t get stuck in it.
Happened to me once, at 5 a.m. alone with my l year old baby.
Walk around the verandah, just outside the French doors…
Look out across the ocean from 6 floors up….across
Avalon Harbor to the Wrigley Mansion (the Inn at Mt. Ada).
(maybe you’re staying there, you rich bastard)
Look north up Descanso Beach, Hamilton Cove and all those
Sailboats waiting to be sailed back to Newport Beach, Santa Barbara and Ventura at the end of the weekend.
At night…look down at the scuba divers lights underwater, doing night diving around the sunken ships just off Casino Point.
Go nuts to Pamela Williams.
Go nostalgic to the guitar of Craig Chaquico.
(and next weekend Dan Siegel and Pieces of a Dream).
Meet them afterwards in the JazzTrax CD Store.
Leaving the Ballroom after the afternoon session…..walk north up the Boardwalk, instead of south back to town. Just a quarter mile up to Descanso Beach Bar. Watch the baseball play-offs on the 2 Bar TV’s Right on the sand. Angels maybe. Yankees probably. Dodgers, Braves, Astros, Cardinals, Red Sox. Order another margarita. Imagine what it would be like to Stop at this bar, every day in October……waves rolling in…lazily…..Like me.
Head back to town…..Leave your name on the list at Armstrong’s Fresh Fish….relax in your hotel room…..by the time you get back to Armstrong’s, your name probably has come up. Order Sand Dabs…. Caught that day, in the ocean, off the Island.
Head towards the Casino…..getting there early enough to not get caught in a last minute line at the door. This Saturday Night will be our craziest of the entire festival. Might even be ticket scalpers along the way. Lalah Hathaway sold better than anybody else, all summer long. Sure to be a sell-out by Saturday night. About l00 tickets are left, right now.
Sip your Chardonnay as Marion Meadows sets up the Evening. He’ll probably introduce his brand new wife Desi and play his song for her. (then next week, James Vargas and Down to the Bone).
Lalah will then take the roof off the Casino. Meet her after show..get autograph on her new CD, just released this month.
Head back down the boardwalk towards town to raging Saturday Night Festival After Party at Ristorante Portofino. Order Mussels, caesars salad, and Chocolate Gelato on the late night Portofino Menu. Relish in Island Time.
Sunday Morning…….time to jog off some of that food and wine.
Put on the running shoes and head around the harbor, past the boat dock you arrived on. Just keep going, down Pebbly Beach…..my favorite jog in the world. Helicopters will be arriving and departing on your left. You’ll actually jog past the Island’s heliport. At the Island’s Electric Plant…turn around and return….OR keep going up the hill, (carry a bottle of water), The summit will eventually come, trust me, and the most incredible view From on top of the world. You oughta see it From up there….at night. You’d have another kid.
Pass the entrance to the Wrigley Mansion and wind back down into town. Carry money in your shorts for a double latte for you and your weekend companion. Watch a quarter of NFL football at the hidden bar at the back of the Busy Bee.. maybe order some Huevos Rancheros.
But then the Sunday Morning Brunch at the Avalon Country Club Is also one of the weekend’s biggest Don’t Miss. Made to order omelettes, prime rib, ham, fruits and deserts and we should all feel so guilty. The bar is filled with Chicago Cubs memorabilia from Their days doing spring training there in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. In fact, on the way to the restrooms you’ll be walking through the Cubs Locker room. Their original field of dreams is just down the hill where They actually practiced. Kids now use it for football and soccer.
Head again for the Casino.
Ronnie Laws and Incendio have just stepped off the boat.
(and next week Joyce Cooling and Eric Darius.)
Get there early and chill a bit in the JazzTrax Chill-Out
Lounge on the Mezzanine. Ask Art throughout the afternoon for the baseball & football scores, or bring your laptop. The ballroom is Wi-Fi ed.
Dinner …….take your pick….but for this final evening, maybe it’s The Landing with that great view overlooking all of Avalon Bay. Or Steve’s SteakHouse above the Green Pier.
On the walk to the Casino check out the Tuna Club…oldest yacht club on the West Coast? And the Halloween stuff set up to spook you from the entrance to the Avalon Yacht Club. Perhaps a cigar in the smoking section on the Verandah behind the stage, looking out across the ocean.
Because you’re about to be introduced to a brand new saxophonist from Wimbledon. And Sanborn is here. Finally…Sanborn has arrived for his lst ever visit to Avalon. (and next week Richard Elliot, Gerald Albright, Paul Taylor and Jeff Lorber doin’ their Groovin’ for Grover tribute to the late Grover Washington Jr and James Vargas returns). Enjoy the Ramp Portraits of Grover practicing his sax on the Casino Verandah when he appeared here in ’91.
Monday Morning….one more jog down Pebbly Beach, breakfast on the outside deck hanging over the harbor at Antonio’s Pizzeria, and then turn to your companion and say…..Let’s Just Stay an Extra Day.
Take the inner Island tour for a Buffalo Burger at the Airport in the Sky.
Fourplay bassist Nathan East flew himself into the Island airport last week in his own plane for his performance. (Fourplay drummer Harvey Mason Jr. sailed over on his son’s sailboat).
Go golfing …play the 9 holes twice to get in your l8.
Fishing. Scuba Diving. Laying by the pool at Hamilton Cove or read a book on the sitting benches at the end of Hamilton Cove boat dock.
Monday Night Football is at the Country Club Bar.
Don’t forget the German Chocolate Cake for desert….ask for a scoop of ice cream. Finish it….then order it again. Come on. You only live once.
Leave on a late boat on Tuesday. Go para sailing first.
Then…….make this your schedule our 3rd festival weekend. Oct. l5, l6, l7
The festival finale. Order same seats for October 2005 from the Early
Order Ticket Form in middle of festival program.
HOTELS
There are still plenty of Available Hotel Accomodations in Avalon
For all Festival Weekends.
www.ecatalina.com gives a complete overview of Catalina Island
Click this link to that site and see Listing of Avalon Hotels
Click this link to that site and see Listing of Island Condo Rentals
www.catalina.com also gives lots of Catalina Island information
Click Here for specific Hotel Availability This Week and the Following Week then click Hotel Availability
BOATS FROM THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MAINLAND TO AVALON
Catalina Express l hour
From Long Beach, San Pedro, Dana Point
Catalina Passenger Service Newport Beach Flyer
From Newport Beach….75-90 minutes
Catalina Classic Cruises
From San Pedro….2 hours
Catalina Explorer
From Long Beach 75 minutes
Catalina Marina Del Rey Flyer
From Marina Del Rey….90 minutes
HELICOPTER TO THE ISLAND
Island Express
From Long Beach, San Pedro 15 minutes
JAZZTRAX FESTIVAL FULL WEEKEND SERIES TICKETS .. OR SINGLE SESSION TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE
Ordering By Phone from TIX.COM 1- 866-TRAX TIX
1-866-872-9849
Ordering On-Line .. See on your computer exactly what seats are available
At www.jazztrax.com (click for tickets…on home page)
Next Select Either Full Series Tickets for Weekend 1, Weekend 2, or Weekend 3, or Select a specific Afternoon or Evening Session.
Next Click for the computer to tell you the BEST SEATS that are Available,
Or Click, SELECT SEATS. Click a Section to see Exactly Which Seats are still Available.
Weekend 2 OCTOBER 8, 9, 10
FRIDAY 7 P.M., OCT. 8
Bob Baldwin - Euge Groove
SATURDAY NOON, OCT. 9
Pamela Williams - Craig Chaquico
SATURDAY 7 P.M.
Marion Meadows - Lalah Hathaway
SUNDAY NOON, OCT. 10
INCENDIO - Ronnie Laws
SUNDAY 7 P.M.
James Vargas - David Sanborn
Weekend 3 OCTOBER 15, 16, 17
FRIDAY 7 P.M., OCT. 15
Michael Lington - Paul Jackson Jr.
SATURDAY NOON, OCT. 16
Dan Siegel - Pieces of a Dream
SATURDAY 7 P.M.
James Vargas - Down to the Bone
SUNDAY NOON, OCT. 17
Eric Darius - Joyce Cooling
SUNDAY 7 P.M.
AN EVENING OF GROOVIN'
FOR GROVER - STARRING
Gerald Albright - Richard Elliot
Jeff Lorber - Paul Taylor
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