mailbox / By North Coast Journal Readers

Sharp or Flat?

Let me offer a meek word in defense of the Redwood Jazz Festival so ferociously dissed by Joseph Byrd last week. My office buddy Sean dismissed it, too, as a party for “bluehairs.” I’m a bluehair, but my 10-year-old, trumpet-playing grandson really got off on the clarinet virtuosity of Jerry Epperson, pictured playing in Joseph’s article. For the older generation it’s a total nostalgia trip. I don’t care whether or not the artists are local, I just love that old Dixieland.

What really is an “egregious example of a lazy community,” as Joseph described the festival, is the fact that local public school music programs are in danger of going down. We listened to the Zane Junior High School Band and were blown away by the skill, precision and spirit with which they executed no less than 13 numbers. They were even missing their first trumpet, who had just sprained his ankle at a basketball game. A violinist named Sarah played several beautiful solos, sax players Moctezuma and Casey performed with aplomb, Trevor was rousing on the trumpet, and the drums were terrific. The whole band filled me with pride in our community.

Where are they going to get music instruction if we cut them out of the budget? It’s sheer insanity, just like the Eureka High School swimming pool saga. In allowing our taxes to be sucked up into the giant sting of Wall Street or the demented escalation in Afghanistan, in remaining passive in the face of these savage cuts to education, in not passing on the culture and survival skills we inherited from our grandfathers to the generation who will be forced to pay for our folly, we are indeed an egregiously lazy community.

Ellen Taylor, Petrolia

Editor:

With regard to Joseph Byrd’s very negative and damaging article on the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival, I see no good reason why the Journal chose to publish it while the festival is going through such rough times. Mr. Byrd is an egotistical, self-serving, frustrated, second-tier accordionist who couldn’t make it in the L.A. music world and came to Humboldt County with a very large chip on his shoulder and an elitist attitude. His great contribution to music these days consists of accordion performances at Wildberries Market, clearly a case of sour grapes. As a music teacher at College of the Redwoods, he should know better than to denigrate the institutions that foster local talent and seek to improve the community.

While I too would like to see a bit more originality in the choice of bands, I would not criticize the organizers who work so hard to pull this off year after year.

Francis Scalvetti, Eureka

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