My favorite weekly event at the Festival of Art? Easy. Thursday evening’s “Art, Jazz, Wine & Chocolate.” It’s a great evening of wine and chocolate tastings, with great music to boot!

I’m not sure that this event needs a lot of salesmanship. When you have art, live jazz, wine and chocolate at your disposal for two full hours, life can’t get much better. It happens every Thursday night through the festival season from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

You’ll be able to sample a variety of Kendall Jackson wines, each of which is expertly paired with a variety of high end chocolates from XAN Confections. As you enjoy your chocolates and wine, you have free run of the Festival grounds to peruse art from 140 California-based artists. Meanwhile, different jazz ensembles entertain weekly. Thursday, Aug. 1st  features multitalented vocalist Billy Valentine. His glorious singing voice can be heard on the hit series Son’s of Anarchy and  on  the television series, Boston Legal, from the theme song right through to the end of each and every episode. Billy began his professional career as a solo artist opening for such luminaries as Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack in the 1970s. He also was the lead singer for the group Young Holt Unltd.

Billy and his brother John went on to form the duo The Valentine Brothers, touring and producing four albums from 1975-1989. The duo co-wrote the memorable hit single “Money’s Too Tight (To Mention),” which appeared on their album First Take. “Money’s Too Tight” gained widespread popularity in 1986 when it was released as a single, and on video, performed by Simply Red.

Billy’s singing career quickly expanded into theatre and film. In 1977, he toured with the first national touring company of The Wiz as one of its main orchestra voices, staying with the show for over 3 years. In the mid 1980s, he sang lead vocals for the documentary, Champions Forever, a film about Ali, Frazier and Foreman. In the early 1990s, Billy was the singing voice for the lead vocalist character in Robert Townsend’s feature film, The Five Heartbeats. He joined the show It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, performing at the Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles and the San Diego Rep in the late ’90s.

Tickets
Tickets for “Art, Jazz, Wine & Chocolate” are $20, which does not include Festival of Arts admission or reserved seating. You must be 21 to participate.
The Festival is always free to Laguna Beach residents and military. Otherwise, General Admission on Thursday evenings is $10, $7 for seniors and $5 children, ages 6-12. Gates open at noon.

VIP Seats a Plus
If you’re more interested in sitting and sipping vs. walking through the art show, limited reserved seating is available for the jazz at an additional $35 per person. Go online to http://foapom.com, click the CALENDAR, and then choose your Thursday evening attendance. You will be able to reserve your Thursday VIP seats from any Thursday page.

See you at the FOA!