Among the odd venues in which I played, the following are some additional ones.
Private homes are occasionally the site of a gig. One memorable one I played at with the Jelly Roll Jazz Band was the home of Francis Ford Coppola, maker of The Godfather movies and others. It is a large Italianate villa situated in the Napa wine country in Rutherford, a small community outside of St. Helena. The mansion is on a lane a good bit back from the main road, sitting amidst one of Coppola’s vineyards. It is surrounded by a porch, on which we set up to play for the guests who were treated to a barbecue. The guests that Easter Sunday were mainly Coppola’s employees who worked on his movie projects and in his wineries. We did, however, see some of the actors from his films, such as Talia Shire and a few others (but no Brando or Pacino). One other celebrity I remember was George Lucas, who attended with his family. Coppola was very gracious to us in the band and to his guests.
Another unusual gig at a home was one Professor Plum’s Jazz played for a long-time fan of the band. He and his wife attended just about every performance, including traveling to many festivals to dance there as well. Then we received the sad word of hi
