Tag: Music festival

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” →

Fun Fest Gears Up for Fifth Edition at Ypsilanti’s Frog Island Park on August 9

Dani Darling performs at the inaugural Fun Fest in 2021. Photo – Tim Blackman II

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on the Ann Arbor District Library’s Pulp blog.

Taylor Greenshields didn’t anticipate he’d be doing Fun Fest this long.

The Ypsilanti audio engineer, producer, and drummer started the annual event in 2021 after envisioning Frog Island Park’s amphitheater as the ideal space for an outdoor music festival.

“Yeah, it’s crazy that it’s the fifth year,” said Greenshields, who’s curating and hosting the event on August 9. “The first year was like a test run, and then seeing people enjoy the fest so much the next couple years, I had to keep it going.”

Since then, he’s featured an eclectic group of local artists performing at Fun Fest, including Travis Auckerman, Stormy Chromer, Ki5, The Macpodz, Thornetta Davis, and others.

“It’s almost like the festival is its own organism at this point,” said Greenshields, also the owner and operator of Fundamental Sound Co., an Ypsilanti-based recording studio.

“The festival has grown in many ways over the years by having different activities for kids [and] all sorts of different vendors, bands, and artists. Just the word getting around about the festival has really evolved over the last few years [as well].”

Now, he’s gearing up for the fifth edition of Fun Fest, which includes returning acts Al Bettis, Dani Darling, Ma Baker, and Violet Sol. It also features the new additions of Marcus Elliot, Peter Madcat Ruth’s C.A.R.Ma Quartet, and Jacuzzi Beach to the festival’s lineup.

“I want to keep the lineup different every year, but wanted to bring back some of the staples from the first couple Fun Fests,” he said. “I like how Marcus represents Detroit and Madcat represents Ann Arbor, and we are bringing them together in the middle in Ypsi.”

I recently did an email interview with Greenshields ahead of the festival.

Continue reading “Fun Fest Gears Up for Fifth Edition at Ypsilanti’s Frog Island Park on August 9” →

Fun Fest – Fundamental Sound Co. Hosts Local Music Festival Aug. 7 in Ypsilanti

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Fun Fest will spotlight local artists who have recorded with Taylor Greenshields’ Fundamental Sound Co.

For Taylor Greenshields, a recent conversation quickly morphed into hosting a local music festival.

The Ypsilanti audio engineer, producer and drummer chatted with Ma Baker guitarist Guy Williams about putting on a daylong music event at Frog Island Park.

“Both of us have talked about how cool it would be to have something on the stage at Frog Island. We were sitting on the grass, and I said, ‘I’m done talking about it. Let’s do it for real. I’m going to follow through on this idea,’” said Greenshields, who owns and operates Ypsi-based recording studio Fundamental Sound Co.

“This year, I invested in a bigger PA system. After that, I thought, ‘We have to do this because I don’t want to have all this stuff and not use it. It’s meant to be used for the people and the community. I’m so lucky to work with so many amazing, dope artists that it’s like, ‘Well, why not?’”

That epiphanous “why not” quickly led to Fundamental Sound Co.’s Fun Fest, a one-day Ypsi music festival showcasing a star-studded lineup of local artists at Frog Island Park on Saturday, Aug. 7. The festival will feature ANA, Al Bettis, Ma Baker, Travis Aukerman, Jesse Clayton, Dani Darling, The DayNites and a secret set with some special guests, plus visual artists and vendors.

“It’s so eclectic with Travis and Al each bringing their own jazz vibes for you to bask in. Jesse’s set is going to be more electronic, and he’s going to take you on a roller coaster of all sorts of dynamics. They each will bring something different,” said Greenshields, who’s previously recorded, produced and performed with all the artists on the Fun Fest lineup.

“I’ll be playing with Dani, Jesse and the secret set, which will include some familiar faces. People might get called up from the audience to jam during the secret set.”

Continue reading “Fun Fest – Fundamental Sound Co. Hosts Local Music Festival Aug. 7 in Ypsilanti” →

Saturday’s WhateverFest 9 Boasts 40 Emerging Detroit Acts at Tangent Gallery

A Detroit grassroots music and arts festival will showcase some 40 emerging artists Saturday at Tangent Gallery.

Known as WhateverFest 9, the homegrown festival will feature the Motor City’s Torus Eyes, Jemmi Hazeman, Violet Sol, Panda House and others as well as artists from Columbus, Indianapolis and Cincinnati.

Originally scheduled to take place June 1 at Dequindre Cut Freight Yard as an outdoor festival with overnight camping, WhateverFest 9 organizers postponed the event due to inclement weather.

Instead, they’ve moved the event to Tangent Gallery, which will host WhateverFest for the third time. The festival also was able to retain most of the original lineup, including out-of-town acts, said Sophocles Sapounas, WhateverFest co-founder and co-organizer.

“There’s not that much of a difference other than the cool factor of the Tangent Gallery itself. You can go out, you can go in. It’s got a big ballroom and a gallery space, so the experience is more centered around Tangent,” he said. “Tangent is an institution. If more people can learn about it, then more people can have a good time there. That’s the experience we want to give people.”

WhateverFest offers a platform to Detroit artists of all practices who might not have one or who are having a hard time getting onto the music circuit. It also emphasizes collaboration and camaraderie in some of the city’s hippest and most unconventional live music spaces.

“We’re incredibly grateful to be able to put on all these artists,” Sapounas said. “It gets tough going through submissions because there’s so much talent in and around this city. Our goal is to show you your favorite Detroit artist you’ve never heard of.”

In its ninth year, the one-day WhateverFest will feature three stages and include live art, a photo booth and an after-party DJ set starting at 12:30 a.m. To get a preview, check out the WhateverFest 9 playlist on Bandcamp.

A mainstay since 2011, WhateverFest started as a Detroit apartment-based event hosted by Sapounas and several friends that morphed into a multi-day festival at Tires, Tangent Gallery and Scripps Park.

This year, the festival’s organizers, including Brent Szczygielski, Jake Cramer, Jakob Harris, Anthony Zito, Nick Sapounas, Kelsey Hubbel, Steve D’Agostino and Sapounas, decided to scale back WhateverFest to a one-day event.

“We had a WhateverFest at Scripps Park that was a three-day one, that was awesome, but it was also super taxing,” Sapounas said. “After that, we decided to keep it smaller, rethink ourselves and figure things out because it was a lot of money, and it was a lot of people working.”

To support this year’s event, WhateverFest is charging a $10 admission fee at the door. The fee will allow the festival’s planning team to bring the event back for its 10th installment next year.

“For years, we’ve been getting by DIY, but we want to elevate the experience for both artists and those attending. This could end up being ‘that’ music festival in Detroit, but one where the importance is on local and not national headliners,” Sapounas said. “It’s an opportunity to bring everyone together from all scenes for an amazing day of music, good vibes and whatever the day brings.”

Festival details:

WhateverFest 9

Saturday, noon to 3 a.m.

Tangent Gallery, 715 E. Milwaukee Ave. in Detroit

Admission | $10