“Snoopadelic has such a great viiiibe, it’s undeniable!” BLOND:ISH tells HollywoodLife about DJ Snoopadelic, one of the headliners of the ABRACADABRA Festival. Taking place from Sept. 17-20, the four-day, 24-hour Livestream music festival and environmental fundraiser will see sets by Diplo, B.o.B, Paris Hilton, Tycho, and the previously mentioned DJ Snoopadelic, also known as Snoop Dogg. The event – available exclusively on Twitch – will be “free to attend” and 100% of the voluntary viewer donations will go towards environmental organizations like Lonely Whale, Parley for the Oceans, and BLOND: ISH’s own non-profit, Bye Bye Plastic.
BLOND:ISH (Vivie-Ann Bakos) has been putting on shows with ABRACADABRA, the “community of passionate dreamers, relentless in our pursuit to make a positive impact and drive change” that she co-founded with Liana Hillison, since 2017. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, BLOND:ISH and her team launched AbracadabraTV on Twitch. The channel streamed live shows weekly, merging music, magic, and wellness together as a beacon of positivity in a dark and socially distant time. In June, they put on the first ABRACADABRA festival, with Diplo, Themba, and Nightmares on Wax.
This second fest – dubbed “Abracadabra Virtual Festival 2.0” – will also feature sets by Robert “Kool” Bell (of Koll & The Gang), Channel Tres, Apache, The Kimonos, DJ Angelo, Renee Blair, and more. BLOND:ISH, speaking EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife over email, reveals if there will be a third installment before 2020 is over, what was the biggest hurdle AbracadabraTV had to overcome, and the main positive she’s going to take with her from this year.
HollywoodLife: You’ve been putting on events for years, and your team quickly adapted to these virtual events in the wake of the pandemic. What has been the biggest challenge in this post-COVID, streaming event world?
BLOND:ISH: I guess the biggest challenge is learning how to BE a tv network on the fly, that’s what deeeep rabbit hole we’ve found ourselves in and turning into with ABRACADABRA TV on Twitch, learning everything on the super fly as we go along, from all the technicals of live stream management, twitch product mgmt., DJing and interacting with a mic, engaging with audiences thru the camera instead of in-person but finding the secret sauce in creating that one vibe from afar (it’s totally doable), managing a team of people from all parts of the world that we’ve never met! Twitch product management… But the most challenging is being on the move and finding a good, solid internet connection each and every weekend while on the road.
100% of the proceeds of ABRACADABRA will benefit environmental organizations, including your non-profit, Bye Bye Plastic. What motivated you to pick up this cause?
Since Bye Bye Plastic’s primary mission is to reduce single-use plastics in the music industry by 2025, it only made sense for Bye Bye Plastic to have a platform on ABRACADABRA because of the synergy between the two regarding music and eco-activism. Bye Bye Plastic is actually curating the entire sustainability program for the festival and will be hosting panels and workshops throughout the weekend to educate viewers on the importance of moving to a plastic-free lifestyle and how to do so easily.
This has been dubbed “ABRACADABRA’s Virtual Festival 2.0,” after the first edition took place in June. Will we see a third installment before 2020 is over?
Haha nooooo omg I’m exhausted. For some reason, we decided to do this 24hrs a day for 4 days straight!!! 1st quarter 2021 will be the 3rd. I need some space for self loveeeee, some studio time, and maybe make some babies or at least some eggie freezing.
How excited are you for DJ Snoopadelic?
Snoopadelic has such a great viiiibe, it’s undeniable! Happy to cross-pollinate, and super grateful he was able to pull it off in between his acting schedule.
Many will have a negative view of this year (for just reasons.) Since this festival is about promoting self-love and positivity in the face of all that’s going on, what would you say is the biggest positive of 2020?
Being put into a position where your whole world is turned upside down and having to be forced to reimagine everything. Finding new opportunities by asking the questions, how can I bring value to my community now? Seeing the blessings in disguise. Re-evaluating everything, rewriting the system, new systems being born, old systems fading away or becoming very apparent that they don’t fit in anymore. From the darkness comes light.
What we’ve always strived for with ABRA, and what’s always mattered to me, is HUMAN CONNECTION. Bringing everyone together, like-minded souls, dancing together, educating each other… COVID messing up travel and live events actually brought us this newfound way of connecting with our fans and building lasting meaningful friendships – On ABRA, beautiful souls from all over the world bring their passion and talent to this platform and share them with our community – we can all inspire each other and experience things together.
It’s actually opened up so many other opportunities for people as well with regards to events, etc., and made music even more accessible. There are no physical or logistical boundaries or blocks to stop people from attending; live streaming has leveled out the playing field, and there’s still going to be a place for them when we start touring again, 100%.
—
The ABRACADABRA Festival takes place from Sept. 17-20 live on Twitch.