Paladin

Issue date: 6/16/08 Section: City Style

Media Credit: Christian Millan Jeremiah Marley, center, waves the Rastafarian flag as father Stephen Marley, right, sings to the audience in the UCLA JazzReggae Festival on Mo

Over Memorial Day weekend UCLA hosted a student-produced Jazz Reggae Festival. LBCC alumni Frank Refuerzo was the festival's online marketing director.

Refuerzo posted the event's information on various Web sites that publicized the festival. He was able to reach professional online marketing sites and networking outlets that spread across the Internet, attracting people from as far as Belize and Jamaica.

Refuerzo said, "JazzReggae Fest has played an awesome part in making my first year at UCLA amazing." Refuerzo transferred last semester from LBCC to major in history. He joined the Cultural Affairs Committee that planned the event and worked shifts on both days of the event with about 25 other students.

Refuerzo said, "Being involved in events that you're passionate about play a big role in adding to a well-rounded college experience."

The estimated 30,000 in attendance filed on to the intramural field for headliners on jam day that included the versatile hip-hop group the Roots and immortal technique, reggae day roots reggae and dancehall artist Capleton and Stephen Marley.



The mellow jazz tunes and the sweet sounds of reggae attracted a diverse crowd. The range of music genres spread into hip-hop, world and folk. Also, the food vendors served dishes from more than 20 different cultures, including authentic Jamaican jerk-chicken or funnel cake.

The festival was also pushing to conserving energy and become a "green" festival. To that extent solar-powered second stage and LED screen showed the stage performances.

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