Overview
The Bloom Music & Arts Festival, hosted frequently by Mergeculture, brings together a diverse celebration of arts, culture, and entertainment to downtown Tampa and the Bay Area. In February 2023, I was offered a unique opportunity to perform a curated mix for both attendees and the Tampa Fire Jam, a community of Bay area fire spinners performing at the event.
A slight departure from my usual performances, Bloom presented a unique opportunity to curate a 2-hour mix to ensure that both the event’s fire spinning community could perform while satisfying attendees of the event. Leveraging my prior history in fire spinning — spanning over seven years on and off — I assembled a genre-hopping mix of 1990s and 2000s trip-hop, electroswing, neo-soul, and current EDM selections from new and established artists (i.e. Fred again.., Skrillex, etc.)
The 2-hour set ebbed and flowed in intensity, providing unique opportunities for spinners to mimic the vibe of the music while providing a complementary experience for attendees perusing the event space. Additionally, I took a few minutes nearing the end of the 2-hour mix to perform an impromptu fire spinning freestyle — leading to some unintended minor burns that often come with the territory.
Special thanks to the Bloom Music & Arts Festival, Killa Studios, and Michael Leon Photography for shots taken during the event. You can find more information about Bloom, Killa Studios, and more by visiting the Credits section below.
