Hip hop artist and activist Talib Kweli headlines a free concert tonight at Bo Diddley Plaza, kicking off the two-day social change festival that will include everything from films and stand-up comedy to poetry and virtual reality.
Pat Lavery, who runs the live music and events promotion company Glory Days Presents, said that lining up acts for the annual Changeville festival is about more than booking good talent. The performers must also have a positive message to share with audiences.
After all, Changeville is known as “Gainesville’s Social Change Festival.”
“Our collective task is to identify artists who are ‘changemakers,'” Lavery said. “These are Individuals or groups who are using their platform as artists to promote positive social change, whether it be in their lyrical themes or activism in their daily lives.”
It’s no wonder, then, that outspoken hip hop artist Talib Kweli is headlining Changeville’s premiere event tonight — a free outdoor concert at Bo Diddley Plaza. Gates open at 6 p.m. for a concert that will also include Purple Kloud (starting at 6:45 p.m.), Saint Tellah (7:05) and Big Sam’s Funky Nation (7:30). Talib Kweli takes the stage at about 8:40 p.m.
Later in the evening, at High Dive, Big Freedia (known as Queen of Bounce) headlines a concert that also includes DVWEZ (10 p.m.), Flat Land (10:45) and Azazus (11:30). Big Freedia, who popularized the hip hop genre called “bounce music,” will perform beginning at midnight.
Changeville actually begins this morning with the first of two one-hour panel discussions at the Bull, 18 SW 1st Ave. “Storytelling and Social Change” starts at 10:30 a.m., followed by “Artistry and Activism: Striking the Balance” at 2:45 p.m. Meanwhile, the Civic Media Center will host a VR (virtual reality) Showcase from 4-8 p.m.
Friday’s events include a concert at Loosey’s headlined by Moon Hooch, an early comedy show at High Dive, a concert at High Dive headlined by David Bazan and Amy Ray (from Indigo Girls), a film festival at the Hippodrome Cinema and a poetry showcase at the Bull. For a complete schedule and ticket info, visit the Changeville website.
Changeville is in partnership with the annual frank conference sponsored by the UF College of Journalism and Communications. The gathering brings together people who share a common goal of creating positive social impact through the use of strategic communications.
Lavery said that planning for Changeville 2017 started almost immediately after the completion of last year’s event in late February. The featured performer last year was renowned R&B, soul and funk artist Charles Bradley. In 2015, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band performed at Bo Diddley Plaza before the event became Changeville.
Last summer, Changeville executive board members Brandon Telg and Jennifer Vito met with the student participants of Changeville to brainstorm on performers for this year’s event.
“The Changeville board comes up with a long list of acts that they are interested in and presents the list to me,” Lavery said. “My job as the music director for Changeville is to determine which artists are realistic for a festival of our size with a modest budget based on what the artist will cost — and how many festival tickets their inclusion in the event will sell.
“I then reach out to the representatives of the best artist options to find out availability and to strike a deal with them to perform.”
Talib Kweli, whose given name in Arabic means “student” or “seeker,” was an obvious choice for Changeville. He is known for his strong political views, especially on the topics of racial stereotypes and police brutality. Kweli has stated that one emphasis of his would be the prison-industrial complex. He frequently speaks to inner-city high school and college students.
Kweli has often been quoted as saying “Life without knowledge is death in disguise.”
The Brooklyn-born rapper has released seven solo albums along with numerous joint projects with other artists, including Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. Kweli said that true activism cannot be done by just sitting at a computer.
“The world isn’t designed to be a perfect utopia, but we can damn sure make it better,” Kweli told the website noisey.
Meanwhile, Big Freedia is a strong proponent of gay rights. That’s because Freedia was born Frederick Ross in New Orleans. Freedia released his first single, “An Ha, Oh Yeah,” in 1999 but didn’t gain national exposure for another decade. For the past five years, Freedia has had his own reality show, Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce, on the Fuse network.
“I’m steadily working hard everyday to keep knocking the door down or a barrier for another artist like myself to get through and get their message and their music out there,” Big Freedia told Vibe.
This year is the first time Changeville will be a two-day event. Organizers have added several shows and events, including more concerts, artist discussion panels, side events and meet and greets.
“We have a lot of variety, which is our largest mission when it comes to putting together our music headliners for Changeville,” Lavery said.
A good example of that variety is Moon Hooch, which will headline Friday night’s show at Loosey’s. Moon Hooch is a trio that consists of two saxophonists (Mike Wilbur and Wenzl McGowen) and a drummer (James Muschler). They were discovered seven years ago while performing in the Union Square subway station in New York City.
“When we needed money to pay rent, we’d go busking,” Muschler said. “Mike Doughty saw us one day during rush hour. That evening he wrote us an email saying ‘Hey, we want you to come on this special tour. Will you do it?’ We all said yes. It was pretty crazy.”
At that time, the three musicians were students at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in Manhattan. Also, their band was then known as Moon Juice.
“I would describe our sound as intense dance music,” Muschler said. “It’s pretty improvisatory. We react to each other, but we play to the idiom of dance music based on rhythmic cycles and melodic cycles. With a DJ, he or she has tracks and the tracks are manipulated in time. We try to emulate that improvisational approach like a DJ would by manipulating knobs and buttons on a turntable setup.”
Tonight’s Talib Kweli concert at Bo Diddley Plaza is free, but VIP front-row tickets are available directly in front of the stage for $15. There will be six food trucks on site, as well as a locally brewed nitro coffee cart. Draft beers from Swamphead Brewery (a Changeville sponsor) will be sold at several tents throughout the venue.
Tickets for all Changeville events can be purchased onsite, as well as at Hear Again Records.
–– Noel Leroux
Coming Friday: A Q&A with Amy Ray of Indigo Girls.
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