THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 22, 1996 TAG: 9606220252
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ANGELITA PLEMMER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: 40 lines
For 73-year-old Hazel Walston, attending the Hampton Jazz Festival has meant upholding a decades-old tradition.
Walston, who drove down from Richmond, has missed only one of the 29 annual festivals.
``I'm a youngblood,'' Walston said, laughing outside the Hampton Coliseum on Thursday. ``I make it every year, and it doesn't make a difference who's going to be here as long as I'm here.''
But for her sister, Rachel Freeman, from Buffalo, N.Y., attending the annual festival is a ``spiritual reunion'' and a homecoming of sorts.
``I left the South in 1951, and a lot of things that are peculiar to the South I can find right here,'' she said, as the aroma of barbecued ribs and fried fish wafted through the air.
And, ``I enjoy the fellowship and being together,'' Freeman said, standing alongside several other family members.
Liz Washington and Joyce Mack, both of Baltimore, said they've made the four-hour drive to the festival for six of the past seven years to see old friends and meet new people.
``I look forward to this every year,'' Washington said. ``They have good acts . . . and it's like a mini-vacation.''
``We're going to party tonight,'' Washington added, smiling.
While music lovers and tradition-keepers got into a festive mood, entrepreneurs were getting ready to take advantage of the ravenous late-evening appetites that would follow the end of Thursday's performances - featuring the Isley Brothers, Isaac Hayes, Millie Jackson, and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
Don Thomas, co-owner of Kelly's Ribs, a catering business in southeast Washington, was busy preparing 55 slabs of barbecued ribs.
He and his partners had brought a total of 45 cases of ribs to sell, in addition to 100 pounds of fish, two cases of spicy chicken wings and 15 canisters of soda for the weekend.
``(The ribs) are going to be special,'' Thomas said, ``just for the Hampton Roads Jazz Festival.'' by CNB