07 Mar The Prodigal Son Returns

Posted at 18:03h in Blog by

Greetings, SunFesters! Jonathan Zwickel here, erstwhile Florida native and your SunFest.com blog host.

Last time I attended SunFest, it was a sleepy waterfront shindig for straw-hatted retirees and Spyro Gyra fans. The year was 1992, Crosby Stills & Nash were headliners, and, as I was set to graduate Suncoast High School and head to UCLA, I looked like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty years later, SunFest has become South Florida’s premier music and arts celebration, drawing talent and fans from around the world. And me—I live in Seattle and work as senior editor of a music and culture magazine called City Arts. I also write for SPIN, The Believer, and MTVHive.com. And Florida locals doubtlessly remember me as music editor of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach from 2004-2006, where I reacquainted myself with the easygoing, light-beer drinking, sunburn-dodging joys of subtropical life.

Now I’ve been recruited by the SunFest overlords to return to my old stomping grounds and act as the festival’s online ears and eyes. Come May 2, I’ll be staying at the ultra-convenient, ultra-hip Hyatt Place in downtown West Palm Beach—a short, sweet skip from the festival. (Hyatt Place, along with other participating hotels, offers Sunfest stay-and-play packages that combine discounted rooms and tickets to the festival. They’re well worth looking into.) I’ll be spending my days and nights stage-hopping and music-watching, delivering you festival highlights, interviews with performers, and reviews and previews of the festival’s best sets. There’s a lot in store and I couldn’t be more excited to dig into it all. See you in 56 days!

Oh, and by the way, these days I look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find me by the conch fritter stand!