Tag: May Erlewine

Living the Dream — Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert Builds Community Through Kalamazoo’s Sounds of the Zoo Music Festival

Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert, founder, curator, and director of Sounds of the Zoo. Courtesy photo.

When it comes to curating a music festival, Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert looks to Willie Nelson.

She remembers watching Nelson and other artists perform during Farm Aid when it aired on TV while she was growing up.

“I never went to it, but somehow, through the TV, it made me feel like there were legitimate people running it,” said Hudson-Prenkert, who’s based in Kalamazoo and is the founder, curator, and director of the Sounds of the Zoo music festival.

“There was something different about Farm Aid from a regular trying-to-make-money music festival. Obviously, we know it’s for farming, but it’s about quality. You get good artists to come in, and the artists want to be there.”

She took that inspiration and ran with it for planning, organizing, and spearheading the inaugural Sounds of the Zoo festival in 2022. The festival was the perfect antidote for reinvigorating local live music coming out of the pandemic.

“I feel like the Farm Aid mentality, to me, was given a mission and had the right people in play. It was the curated invite and not the mentality of saying, ‘You’re not worthy,’” Hudson-Prenkert said.

What resulted is a free-admission festival filled with 50-plus acts performing at eight locations over a week. It also includes music industry workshops and documentary screenings.

“I have different genres of music, and this is a community,” Hudson-Prenkert said. “It’s a mission-driven music festival, so it means all things.”

Hudson-Prenkert is gearing up for the fourth Sounds of the Zoo festival, which runs September 22-28, and features performances from Hannah Laine, Super Dre, Jordan Hamilton, Luke Winslow-King, Louie Lee, Jennifer Westwood and The Handsome Devils, Yolonda Lavender, The Go Rounds, and others.

There’s also a “Push the City Cypher” competition, the premiere of the Kalamazoo Gals documentary, busking stations, and workshops by Maggie Heeren and Chris Simpson.

To learn more, I recently spoke with Hudson-Prenkert about her background and the festival.

Continue reading “Living the Dream — Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert Builds Community Through Kalamazoo’s Sounds of the Zoo Music Festival” →

In Time – Rochelle Clark Releases Debut EP, Opens for Bones Maki and the Blue Water Boys Feb. 21 in Farmington

Rochelle Clark will open for Bones Maki and the Blue Water Boys Feb. 21 in Farmington. Photo by Jason Dennie

A tantalizing blend of acoustic Americana roots will waft throughout the Farmington Civic Theater on Feb. 21.

That blend will include singer-songwriter Rochelle Clark sharing a delectable opening set for Bones Maki and the Blue Water Boys as part of the theater’s “LIVE!” 2020 winter concert series. Special guest Caleb Peters also will open the show.

“Well, it’s not very often that you get to sing in a movie theater, and that in of itself, makes it unique. I wasn’t sure what to expect the first time that I went there, but I love the whole setup that they have,” said Clark, who last performed at the theater in November 2018. “You feel like you’re walking into a performance space, and the audience is really in tune with what’s going on.”

During her opening set, Clark will share raw, poignant tracks from her debut EP, “In Time,” which dropped in January. The EP beautifully chronicles Clark’s creative journey from half of the Americana roots duo The Potter’s Field to a flourishing solo artist.

“I wanted to have a progression of songs that are covers, songs that I helped co-write, and songs that I wrote by myself, and pay homage to where I’ve been coming from and where I’m hoping to go. It started as a creative challenge for myself because I was feeling like I was in a rut creatively,” Clark said.

“Music is really important to me, and I was disappointed in myself that I wasn’t pushing myself more. I started playing out solo shows more, which was scary at first. That was about two years ago, and that steamrolled this whole thing.”

Continue reading “In Time – Rochelle Clark Releases Debut EP, Opens for Bones Maki and the Blue Water Boys Feb. 21 in Farmington” →