Concerts
to feature variety of musicians
By Akiko Sugimori
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
The
five Saturday night Grove series concerts
will be held by alumni volunteers at Cal
State Long Beach featuring a variety of
musical performances at the Hollywood Bowl-type
atmosphere of the Soroptimist House terrace.
“Twenty-seven years, we’ve been having the
event,” said Nancy Becker, alumni programs
coordinator.”“The purpose is to cultivate
alumni, to get alumni to come back to university,
to have events that they would enjoy.”
The concert will be outdoors, and audiences
can bring their favorite food and beverages
to enjoy before the performances. The admission
for each show is $20.
“The other purpose of this event is a fundraiser,”
said Becker. “We don’t make a lot of money,
but we make some money. The money we earn
from the concert goes for scholarship, grants
and alumni purposes.”
Opening day, July 12, will be “Beach Toys.”
They have re-created the authentic sight,
sound and mannerisms of the “Beach Boys.”
The five multi-talented musicians with a
background in vocal harmony stage production
and the most recognizable band from the
striped shirts, Sansabelt slacks, and the
suede “Beatle Boots,” right down to the
definitive harmonies and groundbreaking
lyrics about life in California.
July 19 is the high-energy Caribbean, reggae,
R&B band, “Jumbalaya.” They have been
a long time favorite of convert audiences.
The four-member band is led by producer-singer
Keidi Howard, a performer who has composed
more than 300 songs and performed all over
the world. The talent of Keidi is quite
varied. He sings, plays guitar, keyboards
and is practically an orchestra himself.
August 9 is “Ashley Jay” who has been dazzling
the country world with her strong vocal
talents from an early age. She has performed
internationally in Scotland, Wales, London
and the German Country Music Awards show.
The original performer,”“Ali Hall” has had
to cancel her concert date.
August 16 is the “ELM Street Band.” The
Long Beach Press-Telegram calls them “the
soundtrack for the City of Long Beach.”
The highly acclaimed “oldies” band performs
vintage Top 40 and popular tunes from the”‘40s
through the ‘70s like‘“Mustang Sally” and”“Some
Kind of Wonderful.” The admission tickets
have already sold out.
The final day, August 23 is “Breezin.” The
band is a versatile four-piece group that
brings high-energy dance music with an emphasis
on vocal performances that blend together
to create rich, tight harmonies and rhythmic
interpretations. Breezin has 20 years of
live performance experience in the hottest
dance spots throughout Southern California.
“I think it’s really fun event and well
received by people,” said Becker. “We have
twinkle lights in the trees, people bring
their own picnic dinners and eat, everybody
dances and have a really good time.”
The sponsors of this event are Republic
Master Chefs, Long Beach Memorial Medical
Center, Seaside Printing Company, Inc.,
Verizon, West Land Construction, Inc., Tau
Kappa epsilon Alumni and Universal Care.
Those sponsors donated as prizes some $100
gift certificate and five DVD players for
concert audiences.
Becker said, “It’s good way to get community
and alumni back to the campus and to have
fun event.”
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