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All for the excess of smiling faces |
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Friday, 17 July 2009 |
 mammoth times photo/dave balcom Steve Murphy and Greg Newbry, co-managers of the Holler site, along with Newbry’s daughter, Kama, have been together as Jazz Jubilee volunteers for 15 years.
Mammoth Times Publisher
For Greg Newbry, the Jazz Jubilee is all about family.
Newbry’s sense of family doesn’t stop at his wife, two brothers, one sister and three daughters, his 3-month-old grandbaby, Kennadi, and his 86-year-old mother, who all came to this year’s festival.
It also includes the 73 volunteers who set up, maintain and take down the enormous setting in the woods that serves as the centerpiece for the 21-year-old jazz party.
And it extends to all those smiling faces that come back to the Holler year after year for the 15 years that Newbry has been managing the Jubilee’s keystone site.
The Mono County I.T. employee started his career with the Jazz Festival 17 years ago as the “ice man.”
“I drove all around, emptying the ice machines at the Mountain, at Snowcreek, everywhere. I was up before daylight gathering ice for all the venues.
“After that first year, they said, ‘he’s foolish enough; let’s make him a site manager!’” The next year he started at the Woods site up next to Nevado’s, and then moved to the Holler.
Newbry takes vacation each year to work for the Jubilee, and puts in monster hours. “My day usually starts about 7 and ends about 12:30 the next morning.” He said that erecting the site the weekend before the festival opened consisted of two 18-hour days.
And, to the inevitable question, “why?” his answer was immediate: “The best part of the volunteering here is the overabundance of smiles.”
But he’s quick to point out that he isn’t alone in his commitment to the Holler. His daughter, Kama, is a co-manager, as is Steve Murphy.
“We have a pact,” Newbry said about Murphy, “if he quits, I quit; if I quit, he quits. It’s as simple as that.”
Murphy is recovering from knee surgery which is coming along “fair” in his opinion.
“He’s supposed to be taking it easy, but we can’t keep him off his feet,” Newbry said. “Come on, let’s find him.”
When found, Murphy, who manages Mammoth West Condos and has a reservation business, is helping shove one of the beautiful pianos into position on the stage. “See what I mean?” Newbry said.
“I call him Dr. Murph,” Newbry said, “he’s a surgeon on whatever problem I encounter. He can fix anything.”
As the Jazz Jubilee ended on Sunday, Newbry and all his volunteers gathered in a farewell tradition. They lined the path out of the grounds, thanking every attendee with wishes for a great year and welcoming them back next year.
“We didn’t have all that much fun,” Newbry joked with one of the departing guests. “Let’s do it again next year.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 24 July 2009 )
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