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Voodoo Artists Share Why They Love The “Experience”

October 23, 2014 By Chad Downs

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Voodoo Experience is set to be the most exciting Halloween event in the south. Boasting an incredibly eclectic lineup, in an incredible location (City Park in New Orleans) – can’t get much better than that for Halloween. Fans aren’t the only people group who are pumped about the experience. A host of artist are psyched to revisit New Orleans memories and experiences.

Last week we focused on Voodoo Experience’s past, showcasing a selection of pictures from each of Voodoo’s past years, but this week lets dive into what artist are looking forward to.

WhiteRaverRafting.com caught up with a couple DJs playing Voodoo this year to get their stories of past Nola trips and experiences, we were surprised as to what we found.

heRobust

“My favorite New Orleans moment was that some friends and I were partying and went to an art show. I saw this guy looking at a painting of the Fleur De Lis. It’s a pretty famous symbol, popularly used by the New Orleans Saints if you didn’t know it by name. I went up to the guy and said I thought the painting would look better with a falcon on it. He looked displeased and walked away. Later someone informed me that guy was the Mayor, go Falcons!

Mother’s Po Boys is the truth, ask anyone from New Orleans.

My favorite part about New Orleans is how accepting they are of the arts. Everywhere else if you play the tuba in high school, you’d probably get shit for it, but in New Orleans everyone is about it. If you want to accepted for your creativity no matter what your medium, New Orleans is an awesome place to be.”

Thomas Gold

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“This will be the first time I play Voodoo Festival and also the first time I will come to New Orleans. I have heard a lot of great and exciting stuff about Voodoo and I can’t wait to experience it myself!

Also I0 hope I will have some time to spend doing sightseeing in New Orleans as there is so much history about this city! I definiteley want to go and see the French Quarter!”

Sam Shahin, drummer of Naughty Professor

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“Every time we get to play New Orleans it’s a treat. Audiences here are so responsive and so clearly accustomed to seeing music and it’s awesome to have the energy of the city pumped into us on stage. Some of the band’s all-time favorite New Orleans shows would have to be our album release show at One Eyed Jack’s, opening for Snarky Puppy at the Howlin’ Wolf, and each time we get to play the Tipitina’s Free Friday series.

It’s hard to go wrong in this city, really. The band loves crawfish and shrimp and tend to either boil our own or head straight to Cajun Seafood. Then other spots we frequent depend on the neighborhood including Parkway, Mid-City Pizza, Domilice’s, Coop’s, and so many more. For drinks we find ourselves finding beauty in many of the cheap dive bars including Prytania Bar, Snake and Jake’s, Ms. Mae’s, and Mick’s but also love catching a drink at Cure, Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse, and Pravda (before it closed). Really the list for both of these categories is endless, one of the many reasons we all love living in New Orleans so much.

Man I remember bouncing back and forth between two insane shows [at Voodoo] the first year I went: KISS and Parliament Funkadelic. They were both closing out the night on their respective stages and were both raging out of control. P-Funk didn’t want to stop playing, and didn’t. Finally the sound and lights turned off and they just kept playing on stage. Meanwhile KISS was setting off insane pyrotechnics and putting on a mind-blowing performance.

Voodoo was also how I discovered the band Red Baraat, a band I’ve come to see many times and enjoy very much. I first saw them at the interview stage at Voodoo talking about the similarities between Bhangra and brass band music. They went on the perform a few captivating songs and I was hooked.”