Oct. 17, 2006 — Three decades ago, an impromptu sing-along of traditional Appalachian folk tunes spawned a custom now second only to Carnival in longevity: The Birthday Beach Jam, coming around again Sunday at Magens Bay.
"When we started out, a group of us were on a trip to Virgin Gorda," said Fred Watts, a St. Thomas attorney. "We were on Jimmy Loveland's boat, the Fishing Fool. My family likes to play old-timey music, and we started singing there on the beach. Jimmy said, 'I love that kind of music. Where are you guys playing?' I said normally just in our home, where we play for other people."
Loveland convinced him, his wife, Polly, and the Watts' friends to share their act with the world. The informal private jam led to a public performance at Sib's On the Mountain, and a tradition was born. The shows at Sib's eventually attracted crowds large enough to fill a small coliseum, 8000 to 9000 people, before moving to the University of the Virgin Islands. The festival also expanded in musical scope over the years, and for most of the past decade has drawn crowds to its latest home, Magens Bay.
Performers at this year's Beach Jam skew toward the traditional end of the musical spectrum, but also include Caribbean music, rock bands and, of course, the folk stylings of the Watts and their friends. The couple will perform together with Harmony Dem and separately in two gender-specific acts: Women of Note and Men That Rock. Other acts on this year's bill include the Pop Tarts, the VI IV Band and Margaret Price, a sometimes gospel singer.
"In her other life she's a police detective," said Doug Dick, a Beach Jam organizer who also leads a double life: assistant attorney general by day, disc jockey on Sunday afternoons. Employing his middle name-derived nom de air, Dick hosts "The Doug Lewis Show" from 1 to 3 p.m. Sundays on WVGN 107.3 FM.
This year the Jam will formally embrace a participant from last year's event, the Family Resource Center. As a result, the Jam's official name has evolved into a mouthful: the October Sunday-Family Resource Center Birthday Beach Jam.
"We have no expectations except that when people come out they will enjoy themselves, they will learn about domestic violence in our community, and on a light-hearted Sunday afternoon we hope to touch many hearts," said Cynthia Farmer of the Family Resource Center (FRC).
The FRC began its connection by setting up a display table at the 2005 Jam.
"This year we're going much farther than that," Fred Watts said. "It's going to be a fund-raiser. The Family Resource Center performs an important function in the community. It's the first place that a woman having major troubles with her family can go and find a place to stay until she can start making appropriate arrangements. It's a place of first resort."
Polly Watts, a retired administrator at Antilles School, has joined the FRC board of directors since the 2005 Jam. Although no admission is charged for the Jam, guests will have the opportunity to donate money.
"Last year, our committee decided to let the FRC receive the benefit of donations from the event," Fred Watts said.
Years before that first informal jam in 1977, the Watts came to love traditional music through a long, organic process. Both of their parents played traditional music, differing Southern traditions meeting in the middle. Fred grew up in northern Louisiana, while Polly grew up across the river from Kentucky in southern Ohio.
"It was her mother bringing union songs from the coal fields; my dad playing guitar," Fred said. "It was only after he died that I learned he also played the fiddle. We've been involved for the 40-plus years we've been married, and even before that."
The official lineup for the 2006 October Sunday-Family Resource Center Birthday Beach Jam, Sunday at Megans Bay Shed No. 4:
11:30 Encore Band
12:00 The Pancakes Steel Band
12:30 Margaret Price
1:00 Harmony Dem
1:30 Women of Note
2:00 The Pop Tarts
2:30 Rob Kunkel
3:00 VI IV Band
3:30 Nicky Russell
4:00 The Sun Kings Band
4:30 Bob Wilkinson
5:00 10 K Band
5:30 Men That Rock
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