www.stillisstillmoving.com

Photo credit:  Jim Durbin

www.pnj.com
by Julio Diaz

Music legend Willie Nelson will headline the Sunday lineup at DeLuna Fest, the three-day music festival set for Oct. 15-17 on Pensacola Beach.

The final day of the three-day festival will be presented free of charge thanks to $300,000 organizers received last week from the Escambia County Tourist Development Council. That money came from $25 million given to the state of Florida by BP in light of the Gulf oil spill.

Known as the “Red-Headed Stranger,” Willie Nelson’s career spans more than 50 years as a singer, songwriter, performer and actor. The winner of 10 Grammy Awards, his many hits include “On the Road Again,” “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” “Always on My Mind” and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”

Nelson is no stranger to the Gulf Coast, however. He has performed several times at the Amphitheatre at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ala., most recently on a triple-bill with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp in July 2009. He’s also no stranger to helping Pensacola recover from disasters, having performed a 2005 benefit for Rebuild Northwest Florida at the Pensacola Civic Center in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

Organizers also announced the addition of New Orleans jazz legend Kermit Ruffins & the Barbeque Swingers and New Orleans funk band Big Sam’s Funky Nation to the bill for Oct. 17, and said they would be announcing 10 or more additional acts for the festival’s free day in the near future, as contracts are signed.

Nick Bodkins, a partner in DeLuna Fest organizers Five Flags Tourism Group, could not have been more thrilled to announce the addition of Nelson to his festival’s bill.

A lot of people have a bucket list,” Bodkins said. “I don’t know that ‘book an American Icon’ was initially on that list, but I certainly think (fellow organizer) Scott (Wheatley) and I have thrown that one in the bucket. We’re so excited about Willie Nelson, giving back to the community with such an amazing artist, and we’re even more excited about how well the entire lineup for Sunday is coming together. Kermitt Ruffins and Big Sam are legendary New Orleans entertainers, and we still have so many acts to announce, but this is going to be one of my favorite days of the festival, for sure.”

Nelson fan Lindsey Dinsmore said that the opportunity to see the Red-Headed Stranger perform live would fulfill a childhood dream.

“The DeLuna Fest Facebook page posted a clue (before the official announcement), and from that, I knew Willie was a definite possibility,” Dinsmore said. “From that point, my heart started racing and I was refreshing the page at least 15 times a minute so I would catch the announcement. When I saw it, I squealed so loudly I woke up my 19-month-old daughter from her nap. It’s still a little hard to breathe. I love his music and his no-nonsense attitude about life in general. He is who he is, and no one will ever change that.”

Dinsmore said the addition of Nelson to the bill only makes her more excited about a festival she’d planned to attend even before the additional day was announced.

“My husband and I had tickets and hotel accommodations before the first round of additions were added to the festival,” she said. “I’m trying to get my mother-in-law to go with me on Sunday to see Willie, because she loves him, too.”

Those who have already purchased tickets for the festival are guaranteed entry on Oct. 17 as a free day added on. Any weekend passes purchased going forward include Oct. 17 admission, as well.

For those who do not wish to purchase weekend passes, free tickets for Oct. 19 will be made available starting early in September on a first-come, first-served basis. As many as 50,000 free tickets will be distributed, including the weekend passes.

Headliners for the two paid days of DeLuna Fest include Stone Temple Pilots, Daughtry, 311, Bush, Dierks Bentley, 30 Seconds to Mars and Michael Franti & Spearhead. In all, the two paid days encompass more than 20 acts on three stages.

Advanced weekend passes, which include admission to all three days of the festival and guarantee admission to the free third day, are available for $80 at www.delunafest.com through Aug. 31. On Sept. 1, that price goes up to $90. Also on Sept. 1, single-day passes for the first two days of the festival will be made available at $47.50 each. Purchase of single-day tickets will not guarantee admission for the free day. Festival organizers expect to announce the daily festival lineup when single-day tickets go on sale.

Aside from the free day, which is being paid for by public money, the festival is largely supported by more than a dozen private sponsors including Sam’s Club, Tom Thumb, Kona Longboard Beer, Drifter Pale Ale beer, the Pensacola News Journal, GoPensacola.com, MediaCom, Cox Communications, the Hilton Pensacola Beach Gulf Front, Hampton Inn, Land Shark and Bud Light.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 9:29 pm and is filed under News and Reviews, Photographs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.