A musical bash

Young Chang

Here’s what you need to room-hop your way successfully through

Sunday’s music festival at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis

Club: 12 hours, comfortable shoes and an appetite.

Bash 2000, the 30th annual Orange County Musicians Festival, will

feature big band swing in the hotel’s Pacific Ballroom and classical

music in the Newport Ballroom. The California Ballroom will offer a mix

of styles. The Jazz Room on the 17th floor will have -- you guessed it --

jazz.

But remember: You only have from noon to midnight, and there is the

work of 285 musicians to sample.

The festival, started in 1970 by the Orange County Musicians Union,

was intended as a one-time fund-raiser and an opportunity for music

lovers to perform for each other.

The event is still exactly that, except somewhere along the way

organizers found that the public was interested and profits grew.

“And it kept going and going,” said Frank Amoss, 64, president of the

musicians union, which sponsors the festival.

He expects about 1,000 visitors and almost 300 musicians Sunday.

Full-size, 17-piece bands will perform in the Pacific and California

ballrooms. Smaller groups will play in each of the other rooms.

The goal is to have musicians enjoy their fellow colleagues’ talents

and to say something about the art.

“We’re celebrating the art of live music,” Amoss said. “Live music --

we call it an endangered species. Today, music is, for most people,

something that comes out of a box. We’re trying to say we’re the ones who

put it in the box.”

He calls Bash 2000 a “showcase” of local talents. A few musicians come

from Los Angeles and surrounding areas, but most hail from Orange County.

For some, it’s a reunion and a chance to catch up. For others, it’s an

opportunity to just jam and meet local performers.

Marilyn Mayland of Newport Beach lined up performers for the Newport

Ballroom.

Her classical music program will feature nine groups, including

violinists, string quartets and brass ensembles.

Visitors also can see an exhibition of the theremin, a rare and unique

instrument that is played by manipulating sound waves to change pitch.

Mayland will perform with the International Strings.

“We do music from sort of throughout the world,” she said. “And we try

to use some of the instruments of the countries’ music we’re playing.”

Mayland will play the mandolin if the group is playing a song from

Italy, but her main instrument will be the bass. This will be her 12th

stint with the festival.

“We see a lot of musicians there that we know in other groups, and

there’s all kinds of music in the different rooms,” she said. “There’s a

tremendous variety.”

Amoss, a percussionist who has played the drums since he was 15, will

perform music from the big-band era with the Frank Amoss Orchestra. Glenn

Miller and Charlie Barnett classics are part of his repertoire.

The highlight in the Pacific Ballroom, where Amoss will play, will be

a “Tribute to the Dorsey Brothers” with the Bill Tole Orchestra.

“What I like is the idea of so many of us getting together at one

time, at one day,” Amoss said. “That’s the best part of it -- playing for

each other.”

FYI

* WHAT: Bash 2000, the 30th annual Orange County Musicians Festival

* WHEN: Noon to midnight Sunday

* WHERE: Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club, 900 Newport

Center Drive

* COST: $12.50 to $26; free for children 12 and under

* CALL: (714) 546-8166