The second annual In the Flow jazz festival brought music and art fans out to Broadway's hub with more than 30 bands, poetry readings and live painting.

For $20, ticket holders were given wristbands that allowed entrance into all of the weekend's shows, which spanned five different venues along Broadway. For those who weren't wearing wristbands, several free performances were hosted at Records, Java Lounge and Records.

The back-to-back schedules at the venues allowed for a constant stream of activity, and if ticket holders didn’t like one performance, they could walk down the street to the next one.

The goal of the festival was to "showcase all of the different kinds of jazz you'll find in the area...not smooth jazz though....yikes," said Ross Hammond, who was the weekend's main coordinator and also a co-founder of the festival.

Hammond, himself a jazz musician, made an appearance with Vinny Golia on Saturday at Beatnik. He said that there is a huge jazz scene in Sacramento and the festival is a way to make people aware of the artists' presence.

“It was really hot, but the people were fun and I liked that there were so many performances to choose from,” said Mathew Zvonicek, who attended the festival Saturday evening.

Other highlights of the weekend's various shows included Byron Blackburn's CD release at Java Lounge Friday evening featuring Tom Monsoon, Alex Jenkins and Hammond. Jacob Felix Heule, Arom Shelton and Tony Dreyer performed a unique jazz set at Records on Saturday, using unusual techniques like scratching cymbals with drumsticks and vibrating objects on their drums.

Beatnik had a constant flow of talented musicians coming through its photography studio all weekend, including DJ Tommy V, the Harley White Orchestra and Tony Passarell and the Thin Air Symphony.

Jazz music wasn't the only form of art that made an appearance at the festival, however.

Java Lounge hosted the "Scary Art Collective Reception" Saturday to showcase works by local artists like Kathy Blackburn, who also has work on display at Beatnik. The walls of the cafe were filled with paintings and drawings of skeletons, owls and ghouls. Music served as the background to the reception, with five groups performing during the afternoon.

Saturday, a group of artists from the Pacific Art Collective in San Jose set up an art station in front of Beatnik, open to anyone who wanted to stop and paint. They said their inspiration for the music and art collaboration comes from "live paintings" that are popular in the Bay Area.

On Sunday, The Comedy Spot hosted music, poetry and the spoken word with Josh Fernandez, Frank Andrick, Mike Farrell and other artists.

Hammond and the other organizers were given a grant by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission that made the festival possible and enabled them to give all money raised through ticket sales to the artists.

The festival also received sponsorships from Swell Productions, The Greater Broadway Partnership and local businesses like Sacramento’s Skip's Music and Kline Music.

"We're planning on doing this festival annually, so just mark your calendars now," advises Hammond.

A.ll photos were taken by Paula Aguirre