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| Shaul Zislan and Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Photo by Dave Vann |
The Hangout Music Festival Interviews
Part 2
Shaul Zislan
By Rusty Odom
One year later, are you glad that you pulled the trigger on The Hangout Festival
Shaul: Absolutely. We are very very thrilled about the prospect of this for years to come. From the beginning, this is something we planned on building over a number of years. We have a big responsibility to build it very carefully to make sure everybody has a great time. And it only becomes harder to maintain that great experience, it does not become easier. There are so many good ambassadors that are coming back this year and bringing their friends, so there's going to be so many more people there. We've got to make sure that folks still get that great experience they got in year one.
Attendance
Shaul: For where I want the Hangout to be positioned in the festival world, we are going to cap it. There are a number of major festivals out there and each one is the best at what it does. And I want to be the best at what we do, and that is to deliver an experience that features a more intimate and different lifestyle in terms of the condo's and the beach and the very laid back atmosphere. We want to be the best festival if that's what you're looking for. We just want to capitalize on the assets of the venue. If you're looking to be in a great camping environment with 60,000 other campers, there's better options for that, no doubt. We want to keep it a more intimate experience so we are going to cap it and I think we will be very successful with that plan.
New Goals
Shaul: As beautiful and intimate as it is, to support a lineup like this you need to sell out the festival. As far as this lineup goes, I think we are competing with anybody else out there. An I believe that we have maintained a ticket price that is very reasonable. I am very optimistic that we will sell out and if that happens we will not be selling day tickets. At the end of the day, it's about having people commit to it and having a nice weekend on the beach.
The Response from the city of Gulf Shores
Shaul: Both the city's elected officials and the wonderful community of citizens of Gulf Shores have been absolutely phenomenal. And I'm not saying this to score political points, I’m not running for office (laughs). The amount of cooperation we are getting from them and the partnership from local businesses...we could not pull this off without their remarkable support.
Do you think that local folks appreciate what you are doing for the Alabama Coast during what used to be its dead season?
Shaul: Actions speak louder than words. I'm not looking for praise, I'm looking for support, in terms of being able to enhance the experience as years go by. We need to make it more and more intertwined with the community and find new ways to upgrade the fan experience.
New to 2011
Shaul: One of the major differences will be the fact that we are limiting the amount of vending on site. And that's for the sake of ease and flow of traffic. My feeling towards that is that the festival shouldn't be a shopping experience. There are plenty of places in the community where you can go shopping if you want. We're working with a very finite space and you've got to pick and choose, so we reduced the vending scene.
We are also going to be announcing some special activities in the next few weeks. We upgraded some amenities on the VIP side of things as well. One of the biggest complaints we had last year was from people wanting to know why they couldn't get in the water. It would be impossible for us logistically to handle 30,000 people coming in and out of the water, and also I don't want to be a Shepard of human life, so this year we're going to bring the water into the site.
Last year we had four stages. This year we are adding a dance tent just east of The Hangout restaurant where the production compound was last year. We're putting a massive amount of production into the new tent as far as lights and things like that. We are going to have some really big late night parties in the new tent. Also, we are going to devote the stage that is inside The Hangout (restaurant) almost entirely to special programming treats. There will be smaller, different type of vibe shows inside the restaurant like last year. For those who want to go all night, there will be opportunities. We're even coordinating with some other venues outside of the festival grounds to help them book some additional entertainment that would fit the festival crowd. If "Bar X" generally does karaoke, they may be doing something else while the festival is going on. We're working closely with the surrounding places to work these things out.
Kids & The Family Atmosphere
Shaul: One of our mission statements for this year was to allow an environment where people could be totally comfortable bringing their family. There's not really one major festival that caters to that in the way that we want to. The closest thing to what we wanted to do is Kidsapalooza and we actually hired the person who creates that each year to help us. Our vision is for this to be a family vacation that involves the music experience on the beach.
For me the perfect Hangout day would be the family coming down, renting a condo, waking up on Friday morning and splashing around in the waves a little bit with the kids, then going to the festival and letting the kids have as much fun as the adults. It was very important for us to add that component to the festival.
The Oil Spill One year Later
Shaul: As a business owner, nothing's changed. You face adversity all the time. And you've just gotta keep marching along and figuring out ways to make it happen. You can't just lay back and put out your hand and say, hey government help me, you just gotta go out there are create opportunities to succeed.
We set up those summer concerts to bring people down here so they will go back home and be ambassadors of good will and let their friends know that the beaches are okay.
Orange Beach
Shaul: I'm working very closely with the lodging partners in the area and from what I understand almost all the stuff really close to the festival is already gone. And that's great, but what's even better is that between Gulf Shores and Orange beach, the area has close to 15,000 condominiums, and those vary from one bedroom to eight bedrooms, so there's still a lot of lodging opportunities available. You may just have to look a little harder to find it at this stage and it may be a little further from the festival but we are committed to a great shuttle service. And we will have plenty of parking opportunities north of the festival. We are planning on tripling the shuttle presence from last year. So people should not be hesitant to rent a condo even if it's a few miles down the road.
Credit
Shaul: As artistic director, Lilly Zislan comes up with the feel and vibe of the festival so she is in charge of what the people at the festival feel, from the fans to the artists. That was one of our great achievements last year. The artists loved it. And all that goes to Lilly and her attention to detail.
To purchase tickets visit www.hangoutmusicfest.com
For more information on the Hangout Festival visit www.worketrade.com
For more information on the Hangout Festival visit www.worketrade.com
For Blank's homepage visit www.blanknews.com
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