Jess Phillips



Nestled deep in the Spanish moss and oaks at The Spirit of Suwannee Music Park, Hulaween is lurking just around the corner and ready to celebrate Halloween in its own unique way: With plenty of art, music, love, and jetpacks.

Returning for its sixth year at SOSMP, the organizers of Hulaween have continued to make improvements every year in the hopes of making it the most incredible experience it can be. With many referring to Hulaween as “the Electric Forest of the South,” Hulaween has big shoes to fill each year.

I was able to speak with Paul Levine, owner of Purple Hat Productions and the man responsible for bringing Hulaween to its current home, and I was reminded once again that those shoes will fit just fine. With new camping areas cleared, a theme announced, and jetpacks ready to take flight, this year’s Hulaween is sure to be another one for the books. See what Paul had to say about this years festival in our interview.

Suwannee Hulaween w/The String Cheese Incident/Odesza/Jamiroquai/Janelle Monáe/Tipper/more. Oct. 26-28. Spirit of Suwannee Music Park. suwanneehulaween.com.

Hey Paul, how are you doing? What's the theme for Hula this year? Can you explain it a little to me?

Hey! I’m doing good. Well, Creatures of the Galaxy is what we call it. We’re going to kind of have fun with the space theme for Halloween, but there’s also a musical aspect that’s going to happen within, which people aren’t aware of yet.

That’s awesome, I’m excited. What’s going to be different this year, what’s coming back?

Last year we made some improvements, and I think we’ve made quite a few more this year. The park in the last year has done a tremendous amount of work. There’s a number of new paved roads, the Spirit Lake trail has been widened significantly, the roads by the cabins have been paved. What that does is keep the dust down a little bit more, and it makes people’s ability to get around easier and faster. In the event we have some weather it’s also helpful as well; you don’t get bogged down in mud or what have you. There’s a lot of positives.

There’s better internet at the park now, there’s more water outlets, just a lot of improvement that people are going to see. I think people are going to have a better experience at the park. We’ve cleared a lot of underbrush to expand the fantastic primitive camping that we have, so we have even more space to find your perfect spot. I think that people are really going to notice the improvements when they come.

That sounds incredible, I can’t wait to see all the changes. Speaking on Spirit Lake, last year was incredible. Are you guys bringing back a lot of the same artists or installations, or what new things can we expect to find around Spirit Lake this year?

Andy Carrol is the director of Spirit Lake. I get to participate in the process, but I also like to maintain some secrecy and wait to see it. There are a lot of folks that are back with us from the past. Thomas Danbo is back; he’s the gentlemen who creates those fantastic wooden sculptures out of recycled wood and pallet materials. I can tell you without giving away too much — Charlie Smith is back. Everyone will recall the fellow with the jetpack last year on Spirit Lake. We’re going to expand that program actually, and there’s going to be a lot more emphasis on the water this year, including some fire installations, more lasers and video, and holograms and things of that nature over the water with orchestration to music. I probably gave away too much already.

Jess Phillips



What bands are you excited for that may not be some of the big headliners?

That are not the big headliners? Well, there are so many local bands from Florida and surrounding area that really work hard, that put in the grind and are world class. Having the opportunity to have many of those folks, who have become friends, on the bill is exciting for me. I get to give them a nice platform here.

Holey Miss Moley is going to be on the amphitheater stage for the first time during Hulaween. I think they’ve played there for other events, Purple Hatters Ball probably, but I know how excited they are to be on that stage. They’re going to play such a great show, ‘cause that excitement will translate, the fans are going to come support them. Melody Trucks Band is playing for the first time, she is Butch Truck’s daughter, and she’s played music in the campgrounds and onstage, so to have her out here I know means a lot to her. I think a lot of those I’m really excited to see. The Fritz will be great. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this region. I’m really excited to see Ralph Roddenberry and the Jones. Ralph, I have always thought, is one of the best songwriters in the United States and hasn’t received all the attention he deserves. I think that him playing a late night set at Spirit Lake, he’s about to make thousands of new friends. They were innovators and pioneers in the jam world. I know you said not headliners, but I’m of course excited about Jamiroquai.

But I think closing the festival with Janelle Monáe sends a powerful message. She’s an inspiration to many people, many women, many LGBTQ folks, and I know what a powerful force she is to those communities. Her message of inclusiveness and love is the kind of message that we want people to leave Hulaween feeling and bringing back into the real world.

Speaking of Jamiroquai, I saw a lot of people in the Hulaween groups online say that they really wanted Jamiroquai and they really wanted Tipper — and you guys got them both.

You always want the one you can never get, and we’ve been paying attention to him for a long time. He doesn’t usually come to the States so when there were rumblings that he may consider doing it two years ago, we’ve been diligent about staying in touch with his management and letting them know that if he ever wanted to come to the U.S. and join us at Hulaween, we would be fantastic hosts for him and his fans, and they would be warmly embraced. We’d be giving him the perfect platform for him and his music.

It’s a dream come true for me and his fans who never thought they'd see him in the United States, and Saturday night on the main stage, right after the String Cheese Halloween set and Wolf String on the Patch, as well as Tipper on the Amphitheater, the set is going to be possibly the most incredible thing and moment in the history of my career at Spirit of Suwannee.

Jess Phillips



That's incredible, I can’t wait to feel the energy in that crowd. Can I ask what happened with Jade Cicada?

Some scheduling stuff, I don’t really even know. It was internal stuff. Hopefully nobody is ill, but I really don’t have all the details.

That's alright, some people were just inquiring about it in online forums so I thought I’d ask. Is there anybody that will be replacing him?

Were discussing what happens there and if we are going to give somebody a longer slot or bring in somebody new. It’s a little frustrating for all of us to have to change the app so much though.

I bet. So the Patch stage, is it going to be the same as last year?

It’s going to be similar. There are going to be more amenities over there, we’re going to have more vendors by the entrance to Spirit Lake. I felt like last year we really kind of improved the Patch stage significantly to the point where it was a comfortable arena to see music. The sidelines were good, the visuals were really good. We’ll always make tweaks but we feel that we found where that stage needed to be and how to use that space as effectively as we could. Now it’s just finishing touches: Improving bathroom service, food service, all that. It will be very similar to last year.

It’s placement last year was an improvement I know lots of people took notice of. I saw that you sold out again this year — what is your cap usually?

We’ll sell it to 20,000 tickets. There's of course the staff and artists and volunteers, so that all adds up.

Jess Phillips



That’s a solid number to fit into the park. I had a lot of people requesting me to ask about Aurora and Bear Creek. You worked with those festivals correct?

Yeah actually, I was one of the founders of Bear Creek and I helped bring Aurora to the park.

Are either coming back anytime soon?

I would never say something could never happen, but sometimes something happens at a time and a place. The people putting on the show are at a certain point in their lives, the bands have rooted in over years of performances, the audience is at a certain time in their life, and there’s a beautiful love and magic that forms because of those certain moments. I’m not saying they couldn’t come back and be fantastic, but sometimes they’re just something that you’re always trying to reach back and grab for that just doesn’t exist anymore. So I’d say probably not. I’d say new, really exciting events will fill those voids, and new experiences and traditions will be developed.