Mississippi Happening!

Echo Victor releases Echo Victor

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Fri, 4 Dec 2015 16:33:00 -0600

The title is not a typo. Echo Victor releases their debut album "Echo Victor" with a CD Release party DECEMBER 19 at Offbeat in Jackson, Ms!

EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1489837487987529/

LISTEN TO: "Follow The Radio" We can't stop singing and humming it!

EVENT:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1489837487987529/

The good and happy of Mississippi PODCAST is coming soon!!!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 12:14:00 -0600

It's been a while since we have produced a podcast. The music scene in Mississippi has been going through a stage of rediscovering, and we have access to some amazing new music! We can't wait to share new jams and we'll also travel around and get Mississippians to tell us about their AWSOME and diverse state! We'll be making an announcement of the release date soon!!!

Unicorn Fukr interview - VOODOO Experience 2014

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 3 Nov 2014 10:34:00 -0600

Unicorn Fukr

Unicorn Fukr is an indigenous creature from New Orleans born from mythical fornication. Since 2007, he has been thrusting his horn into the EDM scene, helping to pioneer the bass music takeover of Louisiana. Donning his disco vest and a wide range of electronic music, his ‘GET WEIRD’ ethos has spread like wild fire to all corners of the state and beyond. Through his legendary marathon DJ sets and infamous underground dance parties, Unicorn Fukr succeeds in his quest: to educate and expose people to the absolute dopest, cutting edge beats, and to bring people together to dance ecstatically all night, experiencing the soul-enriching vibes only high quality dance music can provide.

Mississippi Happening interview with Unicorn Fukr:

Listen to Unicorn Fukr

Mississippi Happening interview with Hello Negro

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 13:09:00 -0500

Mississippi Happening brings you the electronic sounds of Hello Negro, from New Orleans, LA! Hello Negro hits the 2014 VOODOO Experience this year with his electronic improvisations!

Hello Negro
OCT 31 | 2:15PM- 4:15PM | Le Plur Stage

The mysterious art that holds so many in its thrall is an exercise in aural alchemy for Hello Negro. Born and raised in New Orleans, a city steeped in the revolutionary traditions of Black music, he brings a solid foundation of musical theory and an almost preternatural ear for phrasing to an EDM genre that is often pervaded by repetition and convention.

Watch / Listen to Hello Negro

Mississippi Happening interview with
Hello Negro

Mississippi Happening: What led you from playing jazz piano to start experimenting in electronic music and performing it?

Hello Negro: Nothing lead me from it. I don't consider myself much of a musician, nevertheless, whatever it is I do consider myself, this electronic skylarking is in addition to - not in place of.

Mississippi Happening: You’re known for improvising with your electronic compositions. Why do you find improvisation important in your music?

Hello Negro: In all fairness, I'd have to separate myself from the act of instantaneous thematic development to justifiably make a proclaimation regarding its salience. Improvisation has been an integral element in all of the music I've studied - it's too inextricably tethered to what I do to be considered important. It's intrinsic.

Mississippi Happening: . What do you enjoy most about performing electronic music?

Hello Negro: Sojourning just beyond the precipice of sonic and emotional entropy - toeing a line that doubles as the Party Zone event horizon. [ suspenseful music crescendos]

Mississippi Happening: . How does your jazz background affect your electronic compositions?

Hello Negro: The language that I [ attempt ] to speak is one that has been heavily influenced by harmonic, rhythmic and melodic paradigms that are the fundamentals of Jazz.

Mississippi Happening: What are your favorite things about New Orleans?

Hello Negro: I know you want to ask me a better question than that, DG.

Mississippi Happening: What can the VOODOO audience look forward to seeing at your show?

Hello Negro: i dunno wut day gone c, but ikan tell u wut day gwine heer - a surfeit of frequencies in the 60Hz - 400Hz range at 95dB and up. "Whhhooooweeee - dass a lotta bass dare, cappy!"

Mississippi Happening: Will you be dressing up for Halloween, if so, what will you be?

Hello Negro: Yes. Cotton Mather dressed up as HN.

Mississippi Happening interviews Dirty Bourbon River Show!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:54:00 -0500

To continue our interview series for the 2014 VOODOO Experience, we are super stoked to give you our interview with the Dirty Bourbon River Show!

Dirty Bourbon River Show
NOV 2 | 12:15PM - 1:15PM | Ritual Stage

Dirty Bourbon River Show deftly melds sounds that range from hard-edged blues to Lisztian piano driven ballads to New Orleans brass into a result that is truly a blast of new energy into the musical landscape. Dirty Bourbon grabs hold of audiences, fascinated by their eccentricity and dexterity coupled with their ability to harken back to by-gone eras in music.Since forming in early 2009, the Dirty Bourbon River Show has released 6 studio albums and played over 500 live shows, fast earning them a stellar reputation for their tight, multi-faceted sound and high-energy performances. They can be found bringing their blend of “New Orleans Gypsy Brass Circus Rock” all over the USA, performing at festivals and respected venues year-round.

Listen to DBRS: Accordion Anthology (Digital Album or Vinyl LP) by Dirty Bourbon River Show

Watch DBRS:

Mississippi Happening interview with

Dirty Bourbon River Show

Mississippi Happening: Where did the name Dirty Bourbon River Show come from?

DBRS: I originally wanted to call the band "The Beekeepers" and release live bees at the show but the rest of the band thought that I was crazy and so I went back and meditated for another night and pulled these four words out of the sky Dirty Bourbon River Show and damn it felt right

Mississippi Happening: What led you to New Orleans?

DBRS: I've visited New Orleans many times before moving here I always knew it was going to be the place I would move to one day and then I moved here

Mississippi Happening: Coming from another city, how has New Orleans influenced the way you play music?

DBRS: I didn't play any music in any other cities I have only played music in New Orleans so I think that it's just the way it is the New Orleans Way

Listen to DBRS:
Volume Four (Digital Album or Compact Disc) by Dirty Bourbon River Show

Mississippi Happening: What are your favorite things about New Orleans?

DBRS: I have so many favorite things about New Orleans first and foremost definitely the people definitely the people that make this city and then everything its environment the architecture the food the music the history it's the most wonderful place in the world

Mississippi Happening: What can the audience look forward to seeing at your show?

DBRS: The audience can expect to see the greatest show on earth literally the best music people playing all sorts of instruments everything dancing women fire it's amazing

Mississippi Happening: Will you be dressing up for Halloween, if so, what will you be?

DBRS: Yes we will definitely be dressing up for Halloween we are going to be Luchadors I'm going to be Estrella Roja

Mississippi Happening interview with Innerlign

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 15:53:00 -0500

Mississippi Happening loves Louisiana, so we decided to hit up some artists performing at the 2014 VOODOO Experience in New Orleans happening this Halloween Weekend! Leading up to the VOODOO Experience, we'll post interviews with New Orleans artists we think you should check out! Today, we had the opportunity to talk to electronic music artist Innerlign!

Innerlign performs with Unicorn Fukr

NOV 2 | 11:30am - 1:00pm

Le Plur Stage / VOODOO Experience 2014

Innerlign

As one of the many well-kept secrets of New Orleans, Innerlign has vinyl releases on labels such as Pressing Issues, Bisto, Elevater Action (as Caprice) and his own label, Airtight Imprint.

An early purveyor of stateside bass music, Innerlign gained exposure on the global scene, with the co-founding of seminal bass weekly Weight and as co-host of radio show The Drawl on famed London station Sub.fm

His music can best be described as street-level, yet sophisticated, and his sounds have brought him all over the US, UK & Europe.

Listen to Innerlign

Mississippi Happening interview with Innerlign

Mississippi Happening: Being one of the first to bring dubstep to clubs in the USA, how do you see the changes electronic music has made over the last 10 years?

Innerlign: After being involved with DJing since 1997, I had the chance to curate a dubstep night in Austin with Grommit, Tyrant, I/O & Sloppy Jackson. At the time, the genre was still in relative infancy, and only a handful of clubs in NYC, LA and SF were hosting nights of this kind. After negotiations with legendary Austin underground club Plush, we were granted a chance to spread the sound of the bass, and soon our event Weight became known regionally as a cutting-edge underground night that was booking the freshest young talents in the world on a regular basis. Having booked and shared the booth with many eventual big-time artists on their first US tours has been an absolute pleasure, and watching these guys develop into what they have become is truly amazing!

Electronic music has had it’s fair share of flirtations with the mainstream, dating back to the first techno records from the founding fathers of Detroit Techno (Juan Atkinson, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson & Carl Craig)

For one reason or another, dance music has always gone back underground. But with the way technology has advanced in the last 10 years, young kids are seeing that they can write their own songs from the comfort of their own laptops. There is no more hardware sampling or crate-digging for obscure records, it’s all on the internet for anyone to use.

The playing field has been somewhat more level for a while now, so we’re starting to see a huge uptick in electronic producers in the US.

Mississippi Happening:  Your sound varies around subgenres of electronic music. Why is that? What is your favorite style to perform and why?

Innerlign:   I’ve always been interested in all types of music, and never wanted to pigeon-hole myself into only playing or producing one style of music. Some might say that may limit your marketability, but honestly i create music for the sake of the creation itself. I’ve never been bothered by that kind of talk. I started DJing with minimal tech house and hard disco stuff in 1997, but since then i have explored drum’n’bass, hiphop and now dubstep since 2006.

I still enjoy playing & producing the roots sound of dubstep the most, mainly because of it’s connection with the early tribal rhythms that date back farther than i know.
To this day, I continue collecting records of all electronic music genres, in order to support and help propagate the vinyl dance community.

Mississippi Happening:  Is there a distinct New Orleans electronic sound or scene that you are involved with?

Innerlign:   In New Orleans, I am a monthly resident at Church*, which is a great event at Dragon’s Den in the Marigny (in case you haven’t heard of it.) There is always fun to be had as the curator of the event, is consistently bringing in top-level talent from all over the world.

Sunday night after our Voodoo set will be the Artikal UK tour @ Church*, with J:Kenzo (an absolute NOLA favorite) and the rest of his label roster with him as well!
Church* (The Voodoo Sermon) feat. ARTIKAL TOUR w/ J:KENZO + THELEM + ESHONE + SLEEPER and more!
https://www.facebook.com/events/491032967697812/

Then there is the label Airtight Imprint, that I started with colleagues Slim & Rus of Second Hand Smoke & Transplant fame. I’ve operated the label since 2006, and we have released four 12” records and a slew of digital releases. Plans are in the works for a return to the vinyl market...hold tight!

Mississippi Happening:  What are your favorite things about New Orleans?

Innerlign:   My favorite thing is the musical history. You can arguable say that modern American music started in New Orleans, where ancient tribal African rhythms met the tonal order and tidiness of Western New Orleans, where ancient tribal African rhythms met the tonal order and tidiness of Western melodic composition.

This gave you jazz & blues, not to mention the seminal r’n’b/ rock’n’roll recordings done at J&M Studio of early Little Richard, Fats Domino & Professor Longhair. Modern music simply would not be the same without this contribution to the world by New Orleans.

Tied for second are the aspects of food and architecture in the city. Each stand out in their own way, and laid to the soundscape that is New Orleans, it makes for one of the most unique experiences in America.

Mississippi Happening:  What can the VOODOO audience look forward to seeing at your show?

Innerlign:   First off, I will be playing a 100% vinyl set. I love sharing the experience of a warm, tangible medium such as vinyl with a crowd on a proper sound system. I plan to play a big bass heavy selection of upfront dubstep and fitting in some classic sound system riddims along the way, including a few of my own records that i’ve produced along the years on my own label, Airtight Imprint. My sets are never planned, always freestyle, go with the flow keeping with the traditions of the original disc jockey dons. Expect the subs to be hitting for sure!

Mississippi Happening: Will you be dressing up for Halloween, if so, what will you be?

Innerlign:   Unfortunately, I’ve been too busy with some film projects to adequately prepare myself for Hallow’s Eve, but I really look forward to checking out all the crazy costumes people always wear to Voodoo and Frenchman street.

VOODOO Experience TICKET GIVEAWAY!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 10:05:00 -0500

Go to the Mississippi Happening Facebook page, like & share the photo to be entered to win a pair of 3 Day Credentials to the 2014 VOODOO Experience! Go now!
CONTEST ENDS OCTOBER 22!

Mississippi Happening and 2014 VOODOO Experience!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 18:00:00 -0500

Mississippi Happening is STOKED to announce that we'll be giving a pair of 3 Day Credentials to the 2014 VOODOO Experience! We will have more information about that SOON! We just got confirmation about this! Check our Facebook and Twitter feed for more info!

Check out this KILLER line-up!

Mississippi Happening interview with The Weeks!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Wed, 1 Oct 2014 13:44:00 -0500

As promised! Here's the Mississippi Happening interview with Samuel Williams of The Weeks!

////Listen to the Podcast:

Judy Dunaway: Known for her sound works for latex balloons in JACKSON, MS

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 1 Sep 2014 15:47:00 -0500

Interested in improvisation and improvisation-related works in our Jackson community?

Judy Dunaway is a composer, improvisor and conceptual artist who is primarily known for her sound works for latex balloons. Since 1990 Judy Dunaway has composed over thirty works for balloons as instruments and has also made this her main instrument for improvisation. Dunaway grew up in McComb, MS, and is currently a Visiting Lecturer in the Art History Department at Massachusett's College of Art and Design.

The Mississippi Improv Alliance will present Judy Dunaway in the Millsaps Lewis Art Gallery at 6:30pm, Saturday November 23rd.

This is being presented as a free, public performance. Please encourage others to attend. This is an early notice for Jackson's improvisation advocates to help get the word out.

Judy Dunaway has presented her compositions and improvisations for balloons throughout North America and Europe at many venues and festivals including Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, REDCAT, the SoHo Arts Festival, the Alternative Museum, the Knitting Factory, Performance Space 122, Roulette, Experimental Intermedia, Soundlab, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bang on a Can Festival, the Guelph Jazz Festival, Podewil and ZKM. She has performed as a balloon player in compositions by John Zorn and Roscoe Mitchell, and in improvisations and/or collaborations with the FLUX Quartet, performance artist Annie Sprinkle, video artist Zev Robinson, visual artists Nancy Davidson and Ken Butler, percussionists John Hollenbeck and Matt Moran, the Illuminati big band, DJ Singe, and numerous others. Her compositions for balloons include electronic and multi-media works, sound installations, and works that incorporate more traditional instrumentation such as string quartet, chorus and Japanese koto.

Awards include a recording grant from the Aaron Copland Fund of the American Music Center, a commission from the American Composers Forum's Composers Commissioning Fund, an artist/researcher-in-residency at Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie, a recording residency at Harvestworks/Studio Pass, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer and the Kalliste Foundation. Ms. Dunaway has published two articles in Musicworks magazine about her work with balloons: A History of the Balloon as a Sound Producer in Experimental Music (Fall 2001), and, Orchestration and Playing Techniques for Balloons as Sound Producers (Spring 2002).

Here is a performance from last year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wco4riogyw

Here is another video we enjoyed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCLCwAnZLl0

If you would like to participate further in presenting this work; helping to execute the day of or in contributing to an honorarium for the artist for presenting her work here in Jackson, contact Mississippi Happening mshappening@gmail.com

Figment in Jackson

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Tue, 1 Jul 2014 00:04:00 -0500

figment from Azod Abedikichi on Vimeo.

Mississippi's very own 5th Child releases NEW MUSIC VIDEO!

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 2 Jun 2014 08:39:00 -0500

Crossroads Film Festival 2013 APRIL 12-14 in JACKSON, MS

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Wed, 3 Apr 2013 15:45:00 -0500

Don't miss the 14th annual Crossroads Film Festival, set for April 12-14, 2013, in and around Jackson, MS. Enjoy films from every corner of the world, plus music, art, workshops, and much, much more.

WEBSITE:
http://crossroadsfilmfestival.com

FESTIVAL GUIDE:

http://crossroadsfilmfestival.strangertickets.com/Events

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:23:00 -0600

Mississippi Happening VOODOO Experience 2012

New Orleans brought together a diverse set of top notch creatives in music, art, food, and performance for the Voodoo Music + Art Experience. Mississippi Happening proposed for press credentials in order to investigate how Mississippi might slip over the border in this last weekend before Halloween. We found Mississippi musicians, stories from our neighboring musicians about experiences with Mississippi culture, and discovered the rather remarkable pull of Mississippi Blues around the world – all this steeping in the historically rich culture of the Louisiana low lands.

Public art installations. Markets. Creative New Orleans Seafood creations alongside Bulk Granola and Nut vendors. Amusement Rides. Trees and a Lake and Camping. Roaming Performance. …and Awesome Music - with New Orleans City Park as a backdrop. The Voodoo Music + Art Experience has become a solid core of creative local talent building a unique experience alongside unique artists from around the world.

We sat down for interviews with international talent like Thomas Dolby, Kid Koala, David A. Stewart, and Louisiana piano star Marcia Ball. Rising New Orleans groups like The Revivalists, The Vettes, and the Jayess, MS-born gospel band Leo Jackson & The Melody Clouds all shared their experiences and most exciting of all was the Picayune, MS band New Rebel Family callin’ out 6-0-1 to represent while playing the main stage Le Ritual on Sunday afternoon.

View blogs from our trip below with interviews and pictures from the Experience ~

Thomas Dolby

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:16:00 -0600

Thomas Dolby is an artist who has dabbled in a variety of disciplines – from running a Silicon Valley tech company to his recent project A Map of the Floating City, an entire online world for his fans to interact in and discover his latest music.

His interest in collaboration as well as green building projects are in line with a lot of the creative movement in Mississippi today so we sat down with him to get his thoughts. He did not disappoint – fluidly going back and forth from refurbishing an old life boat to the cutting edge of user-generated content involved with Alternate Reality Gaming.

www.thomasdolby.com

Kid Koala

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:10:00 -0600

Legendary turntablist Kid Koala met up with us on Sunday before his set on the Preservation Hall stage. An affable fellow, he gave us way more than we bargained for – a 19+ minute interview covering topics from the Blues to his approach to the turntables and the challenge of creating innovative art experiences to accompany his music.

Unfortunately, this was the most technically fraught of all our interviews – luckily we mostly just lost me talking. There is a little bit of radio silence at the beginning and at 12 minutes in the camera shuts off – i should have warned camera man Melvin Priester of this auto shut off but he caught it and quickly restarted the filming.

We targeted Koala for an interview because of his recent album 12-bit Blues. He was more than gracious in discussing his relationship with the blues and blues culture and went above and beyond in his willingness to discuss his art form with us. Sorry for the technical difficulties.

www.kidkoala.com

New Rebel Family

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:04:00 -0600

Picayune, MS funk-hop band New Rebel Family were truly representing Mississippi as they performed live on the main stage on Sunday.

Thanks to a connection from our camp site host Grant Ingram – we were able to get in touch with lead rapper Jeremy Meeks so we could sit down with the whole group and discuss collaboration, community and raising your groups profile from a Mississippi standpoint. In true Mississippi fashion, they brought along their boy Absolute, another Picayune, MS rapper to join us in the conversation.

They made their way to their performance at this years Voodoo Experience by winning the New Orleans radio station B97 B-the-1 contest. It was great to hear a chorus of “6-0-1” coming from the Le Ritual stage this year.

https://www.facebook.com/NewRebelFamily

Marcia Ball

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:58:00 -0600

We were delighted to sit down with grammy-nominated Louisiana piano player Marcia Ball. As a five time winner of the Blues Music Awards Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year award, we wanted to talk to Marcia about her experiences with Pinetop and over the years working with Mississippi musicians throughout the nation.

www.marciaball.com

Art Everywhere at Voodoo Experience

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:55:00 -0600

Art was everywhere at the Voodoo Experience. One way that the festival really set itself apart was the degree to which creativity was showcased everywhere.

Public art pieces were commissioned for the festival, pieces were in the trees, light fixtures were art objects, and New Orleans-based performance outfits were taking over the pathways.

We caught a shot with metal artist Christian Ristow (www.christianristow.com) showing off the controllers for his interactive face and below you can see his huge metal lobster –

Some of the most exciting events at Voodoo were the unscheduled appearances of local acts such as the Beatbot and the Noisician Coalition. It was great to have New Orleans art groups representing throughout the festival.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Noisician-Coalition/123514404105

Here you can see Guaqueta and i being attached by the flaming beat bot. This bot would insidiously break up any ho hum path loitering by festival goers to interject bass and compulsory dancing!

The Vettes

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:35:00 -0600

This New Orleans-based group is the project of four siblings from Gentilly who have been steeped in music their whole life. Despite having a driving live show well-suited to a massive venue, this young group found themselves up in Nashville recently writing in collaboration with Greenville, MS native Steve Azar.

We caught their show on Le Carnival stage and had a moment to sit down with them to hear about how they have been affected by their neighboring state.

www.thevettes.com

David A. Stewart

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:32:00 -0600

While we were scouring the list of performers at the Voodoo Experience looking for anyone with Mississippi connections, David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics was not someone i expected to end up speaking to. Turns out David spent his early years listening to vinyl sent from his cousin in Memphis - learning to play guitar from the blues licks of Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy and others.

Following the Eurythmics, David worked with filmmaker Robert Palmer to produce a documentary about the blues traveling from Memphis to the Delta. They called it Deep Blues and it features some amazing live performances from greats such as R.L. Burnside right on their porches.

We asked him about his journeys with Mississippi blues and also about innovative work he has done with the creative economy and how that relates to work the Mississippi Arts Commission has been doing to illustrate that the arts can be a primary driver of economic growth.

Stewart's recent book and companion iPad app, “The Business Playground: Where Creativity and Commerce Collide” co-authored with Mark Simmons made him a particularly interesting mind to prod on this topic.

www.davestewart.com

The Revivalists

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:24:00 -0600

We got a chance to sit down with The Revivalists after their set on Saturday to discuss their experiences in Mississippi. The group is a large ensemble from New Orleans who won Best Emerging Artist in 2011 in the Gambit Magazine Big Easy Awards and were nominated for Best Rock Act in 2012.

Being from New Orleans, they often travel through Mississippi touring and so we talked about some hard times they’ve hit along Hwy 49 and I-55 and how that Mississippi neighborly spirit helped put them on their way.

Check them out at http://www.therevivalists.com/ and watch for them to be touring through your town.

Leo Jackson & the Melody Clouds

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:20:00 -0600

Leo Jackson and the Melody Clouds trace their origins to Jayess, MS where in 1965, father Leo Jackson Sr. and son formed the Melody Clouds. Leo and his family grew up steeped in traditional gospel but over the decades, slowly evolved into a rousing rock gospel group which gets crowds dancing regularly at Jazzfest, the French Quarter Festival, the Voodoo Experience, and recently, added the Essence Music Festival to their list.

The senior Jackson left in the 80’s, but Leo Jackson Jr. carried on and moved the group to New Orleans to be closer to their regular gigs. They still pay tribute to their roots in Jayess though on crowd-pleasers such as “Country Boy” where they never miss a chance to talk to the crowd about their rural Mississippi upbringing.

Check out their Voodoo set online at http://vimeo.com/52442409

Mississippi Happening Voodoo Experience Backstage Antics

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 18:12:00 -0600

Mississippi Happening owes a debt of gratitude to the city and people of New Orleans for bringing us in and showing us an excellent time at the Voodoo Experience weekend. Nothing seemed traditional about this festival – even separate from the entertainment, the amenities were a notch above the norm.

The food selection was extensive and quite diverse and local – from specialty seafood to Vietnamese pho to bulk dried fruits. There were more porta-potties than you could shake a stick at. Security was nice and never overbearing. Lockers were available for a modest price and there was shade to rest in everywhere.

The locker was clutch all weekend for enjoying the festival when work was done. Toyota had some great exercise machines. We drank plenty of water and enjoyed some great conversations on the rising arts culture in Mississippi after some of our interviews.

Not pictured is Melvin Priester who was resident camera wiz all weekend. After downloading the manual to his smart phone – he was unstoppable.

The crew for the Mississippi Happening Voodoo Experience was:

daniel johnson – interviews

Melvin Priester – photography and film

Clay Harwick – film and stunt driving

Daniel Guaqueta – instigator

Special thanks to Grant and Jill Ingram for hosting the Mississippi Happening tent city in their backyard. Take a stab at whose tent is whose...

Mississippi Happening VOODOO Experience 2012

mshappening@gmail.com (Mississippi Happening) — Fri, 2 Nov 2012 11:28:00 -0500

Mississippi Happening VOODOO Experience 2012

October 26, 27 & 28 - New Orleans brought together a diverse set of top notch creatives in music, art, food, and performance for the Voodoo Music + Art Experience. Mississippi Happening proposed for press credentials in order to investigate how Mississippi might slip over the border in this last weekend before Halloween. We found Mississippi musicians, stories from our neighboring musicians about experiences with Mississippi culture, and discovered the rather remarkable pull of Mississippi Blues around the world – all this steeping in the historically rich culture of the Louisiana low lands.

Public art installations. Markets. Creative New Orleans Seafood creations alongside Bulk Granola and Nut vendors. Amusement Rides. Trees and a Lake and Camping. Roaming Performance. …and Awesome Music - with New Orleans City Park as a backdrop. The Voodoo Music + Art Experience has become a solid core of creative local talent building a unique experience alongside unique artists from around the world.

We sat down for interviews with international talent like Thomas Dolby, Kid Koala, David A. Stewart, and Louisiana piano star Marcia Ball. Rising New Orleans groups like The Revivalists, The Vettes, and the Jayess, MS-born gospel band Leo Jackson & The Melody Clouds all shared their experiences and most exciting of all was the Picayune, MS band New Rebel Family callin’ out 6-0-1 to represent while playing the main stage Le Ritual on Sunday afternoon.

More Interviews and pictures of the Mississippi Happening Voodoo + Art Experience 2012 coming soon~