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Lodi jazz band Cell Block 7 will be touring Budapest, Hungary later this month. (Courtesy photo)
Lodi's Cell Block 7 breaks out ... around the globe
Even though Bob Romans has retired from teaching high school band, he is still all about the music. With Cell Block 7, his Dixieland jazz band made up of eight musicians, Romans is performing and traveling as near as Galt's Golden Acorn restaurant and as far as China and Israel.
After their Sunday performance in Oregon, the band will pack for yet another overseas trip to Budapest, Hungary that is scheduled for March 23 through 30. They are ready, he says, especially for the food, beautiful sights and a great time.
Q: How did Cell Block 7 get its name?
A: I was in Texas after the army and I heard a band that was having so much fun. They were dressed in full jail house uniform. Their name was Cell Block 7.
Q: I was wondering if you were all a bunch of jailbirds.
A: (Laughs) We look like a bunch of ex cons, I know that.
Q: Can you please describe your music?
A: We're very eclectic. Our main style is West Coast traditional (trad) dance. We're patterned after the King Oliver Band of the 1920s.
Q: How many musicians are in Cell Block 7?
A: There are eight of us.
Q: What instrument do you play?
A: The clarinet and double bell euphonium. It's like a baritone horn, but has two bells.
Q: It seems Cell Block 7 does a lot of overseas performing. Where are some of the places you have performed?
A: In March, we're gong to Budapest, Hungary. We've been to England three times and played at the Butte Jazz Festival in England. We've been to Scotland. We played in Taiwan and they told us we would play at a shopping mall. There, shopping malls are 20 stories tall and there's an atrium all the way around. It was amazing. We just try to have fun and go where they want us to.
We've played in British Columbia, Big Bear, San Diego Jazz Festival.
Q: Have you played in Hungary before?
A: Never before. We have our tickets already. We have gigs all set up.
Q: Do you have any plans for your stay? Any place you want to see?
A: We'll be sight seeing. I want to try Hungarian Goulash and cuisine. It's supposed to be beautiful and is close to Austria.
Q: Are most of the Cell Block 7 musicians retired?
A: Dan Calbert is still teaching. I am a retired band teacher from Lodi. My wife, Carole Romans, still teaches. She plays flute in the Stockton Symphony. She's played for 32 years.
Q: Where's your favorite place to perform?
A: That's a hard question. Any place where there's a jazz crowd.
Q: Are there any musicians you look up to or that have inspired you?
A: I guess my all-time favorite would be Louis Armstrong. I met him once in 1964 and he let me play his trumpet. I also really like Ix Bix Beiderbecke.
Q: Are there any modern musicians you admire?
A: Chris Botti — he's really great. Winton Marceles is one of the best trumpet players today. And Sergei Nakariakaop — he's just incredible.
Q: What do you see next for Cell Block 7? More traveling?
A: We're always going to travel. I'm looking to do another trip to China and we want to go back to England. In August I went to the Red Sea Jazz festival on the Riviera of Israel. The red sea is turquoise.
Q: Do you do anything locally?
A: We play the Golden Acorn every second and fourth Friday nights. We did the grand opening of the Lange Brothers Winery. We play private parties, too.
Q: What do you like to do around Lodi?
A: I still give private lessons at home. We have a lake in our backyard. Cell Block went three years in a row to a fishing lodge in Alaska. I like to go into San Francisco to see shows. "Beach Blanket Babylon" was great.
I started a youth band, The Barkin' Dawgs. I had five youth bands altogether in Lodi. A lot of them have gone on to be professional musicians.
Q: If you could play with one person, alive or dead, who would you want to play with?
A: Probably the King Oliver Jazz Band.
Q: Does your wife make you do any chores that you can't stand?
A: The dishes.
Q: You'd rather be playing?
A: Yep, you got that right.
Cell Block 7 can be seen live every second and fourth Friday of the month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Golden Acorn restaurant in Galt. For more information on Cell Block 7 or to find out where they will be performing next, visit http://www.cellblockseven2002.net.
Contact reporter Lauren Nelson at laurenn@lodinews.com.
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SHARON wrote on Mar 6, 2007 1:28 PM:
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