Auburn’s Black & White Ball has been moved up to Aug, 29 and from Downtown to the Gold Country Fairgrounds.

But the high-quality live music people can dance to remains.

Lovetrain performs from 9:30 p.m. to 1:15 a.m. Aug. 29 on the Gold Country Court in the middle of the fairgrounds during the 2009 ball.

Lovetrain is a seven-member band that has been in the Sacramento area for two years. They were put together by Steve Bloom, who also represents Hip Service.

“I put the band together as a result of inquiries for a smaller band,” Bloom said.

He said the next step was finding the right players and the right performers

“Our goal was to form a real high-quality band,” Bloom said.

The band is not limited to one individual sound. They cover anything from Motown, to ’70s, ’80s and up to music from today. Their song list includes crowd favorites like “Walk like an Egyptian,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” and “What a Wonderful World.”

“They can go from a jazz diner set to the Black Eyed Peas,” Bloom said.

The band has three vocalists, two female and one male, all with diverse musical backgrounds. David Moorman is the lead singer and has background in singing, dancing and choreography as well as acting and directing. His singing has been described as a rhythm-and-bluesy style.

The female vocalists are Amy Ann Russell and Jessica Jolia. Russell has a pop-rock, and ’80s style. Jolia specializes in R&B and jazz .

Russell is a veteran entertainer. She has won three Sacramento Area Music Awards (Sammies) and in 2004 was inducted into their Hall of Fame.

Jolie went to Oklahoma Christian College on a music scholarship and has experience singing operas. She sang the National Anthem at a Kings game.

Bloom said the songs are geared toward the singers’ strengths.

“All three are strong solo vocalists,” Bloom said.

The band offers a large selection of music that appeals to anyone in any generation.

“The key is to do it all and do it all really well,” Bloom said.

The other band members are John Frazier, James Walker, Eric Dahm, and Michael Noche. These four are the musicians of the band and play either the keyboard, bass or guitar.

Each has a plethora of experience with their individual instruments. Noche has been playing since he was 12, Dahm has performed with many bands in the area throughout his career and Walker has been playing the bass since he was in college at the University of Oregon.

This will be the bands first appearance at the Black & White Ball, though Bloom’s other group Hip Service has performed there several times.

“They are looking forward to it,” Bloom said.

Rosie Mietzel, entertainment chairwoman, for the Black & White Ball, had positive things to say about the first-time band.

“They are going to be an exciting new addition to the ball,” Mietzel said. “They will have people dancing all night long.”

Bloom said that the band’s goal is keeping the energy up and the focus on audience interaction.

They sometimes have a person who goes out into the audience with a video camera and audience members are shown up on the on-stage screen. At bigger venues, they have dancers that come up on stage with the band as well as some choreography to go with the songs.

Mietzel said that they will be the band that all the people who flocked to Tainted Love will enjoy since they are a high energy dance band.

They wanted to give other bands a chance at performing at the ball and looked for something that would be equally as exciting.

“We looked for something affordable, but did not compromise on the quality,” Mietzel said.

Megan Sanders can be reached at megans@goldcountrymedia.com.

----------Black & White Ball

The theme of this year’s ball is Summer Nights, It’s America Anywhere USA. Tickets to the Black & White Ball are available for purchase at the Grass Valley and Auburn Raley’s and Bel $70, or $60 with the $10 off coupon from Raley’s/Bel Air. Tickets can also be purchased at the Auburn Chamber of Commerce,phone (530) 885-5616