Magazine, Entertainment, Ricky Richardson
The City of Inglewood and Public Works Department presented the annual Earth Day Jazz Festival. This year’s themes were “Celebrate Inglewood: Quality Living & Visionary Leadership”.
The City of Inglewood raised the bar on this year’s festival with it’s line-up of top notched entertainment.A large crowd gathered on the South Lawn of City Hall long before the start time of 10:00am. The crowd was a mixed of Inglewood residents, people from surrounding cities as well as out of state visitors.
The City of Inglewood celebrated Earth Day Jazz Festival focused on saving the Earth, living healthier and protecting our natural resources with a variety of booths sharing information about energy and water conservation as well as other valuable Environmental information. There were some delicious, healthy food options available for purchase, activities to engage kids and a self-defense demonstration.
DJ Jeff Onee held down the control boards of the ones and twos as he kept spinning tracks to enhance the festival going experience. Radio Free KLJH 102.3 host, Roland Bynum served as Master of Ceremony for the first half of show.
Stephen Hines Band kicked off the program with a tight set of tunes for the early arrivals to the festival grounds.
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts welcome the crowd to the wonderful City of Inglewood, and gave everyone an update of the many projects that are either underway or will be coming to Inglewood in the near future. The City of Inglewood is a hot destination for entertainment, sports and a great place to reside. Several City Council members were also on stage consisting of George Dotson, Council District-1, Alex Padilla, Council District 2, and Ralph Franklin, Council District-4.
The entertainment continued with crowd pleasing sets from new and old school artists to the delight of the large, captivated crowd in attendance to Party Hearty!
The music was provided by Elaine Gibbs and the Nu-Soul Band. Ms. Gibbs also shared her time in the spotlight with some special friends to take the crowd down memory lane. Rory Darvel in a tribute to Prince, followed by Side Effect to thrill the audience.
Phillip Lauth is a returning artist to the festival, if memory serves me well, he has performed at every installment of the festival, which is a great testament of his talents. One of his latest songs is receiving a lot of airplay on Radio Free KJLH Radio 102.3FM.
Adai Lamar, Radio Host, KJLH Radio assumed the duties of Mistress of Ceremony for the second half of the festival. She was very funny during her version of “working the crowd” to meet and greet members of the audience. She introduced vocalist Janiece who performs at the Sunday Brunch in Pasadena.
Rose Royce never fails to put on an electrifying performance. This gig was no exception, as they left the crowd wanted longing for a longer set. The presented Pat Bush her long overdue Gold Record for her contribution to several tunes from back in the day.
Loose Ends featuring Jane Eugene and DW3 performed an energetic, high-octane set during their respective time in the spotlight. Loose Ends set featured many of their songs from their brilliant catalog of hits.
DW3 could easily wear the crown of the hardest working band in Southern California. If you see their name on the line-up, you can be sure that that is where all of the party people will be gathered.
The Earth Day Jazz Festival was held on the South Lawn of Inglewood City Hall, One Manchester Blvd., from 10:00am-6:00pm. Bookmark www.cityofinglewood.org to stay in the know about happenings in the City of Inglewood.