Culture
Watch Artists From Around the Globe (On Your Phone) at Nutstock May 3-5
By: Emily Votaw
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A wise person once told Drew Hooper to “attempt the absurd to reach the impossible,” which is exactly what Hooper (perhaps better known as Ron D) will be doing May 2 through May 5 with Nutstock, a 72-hour Instagram live music festival that will be free and viewable to everyone and anyone starting at 12 a.m. CDT (1 a.m. EDT) Saturday, May 2.
The lineup is packed with performers from around the globe who have connected with Ron over the “Nutwork,” a network of Instagram live content that was passed onto Ron from Athens, OH’s own DJ Barticus, who received the network from the one and only Steven Mandel, longtime engineer for The Roots. Ron explained to me that all of them crossed paths because of Questlove’s weekly podcast, Questlove Supreme.
“I encourage people: if you want to do something, just take little, baby steps to do anything,” said Hooper. “When I created my food trailer — it used to be a fireworks stand and I didn’t have much money to make it, but I just did something little every single week to accomplish my goal. And it is the same with Nutstock, I do something every single day to try and make this thing work.”
The festival will start at 12 a.m. CDT (1 a.m. EDT) on Saturday, May 2, and you can find the stream on Instagram @thenutstock. You can hear my interview with Hooper embedded above, and you can find the lineup for the festival below.
