The Hangout Fest and The Hangfest, Reality Meets Fiction
Random Rants and Rambling from
a Rock n Roll Drama Queen
The Hangout Fest. Heard of it?
Been to it? The music festival
takes place on the beach in Gulf
Shores Alabama every May, and
has for the last 5 years. A mini city
is built 10 days prior to the gates
opening to 40,000 (this year)
visitors, consists of several stage
setups for music performances,
rides, and vendors. Every year we
may come back blistered, but
never enough that we’re not
making plans for the next Hangout.
If you’ve been there, chances are
we’ve passed. If you haven’t,
maybe you have been and don’t
know it…
Have you read Six Silver Strings
Series?
The HANGFEST on the coast in
Gulf Shores is where Marissa and
Jack meet. Every book has an
inspiration, and The Hangfest is
the fictional Hangout Fest of that
fateful fictional day. Here’s a
story, and if you follow me on
this—and know a little background
on certain musicians—you may
see deeper into the G-String Series
inspiration.
Readers of the series know Jack
and Marissa ran into each other in
a tour bus parking area. A chance
meeting because of “that stupid
dog,” and the rest is history for this
metal maniac and jilted fiancée.
The first Hangout Fest came just
after the BP Oil Spill, nevertheless,
it went off fine. You know those
events you go to, and the jerks
seem to come out to play? Hangout
Fest is not one of those places,
even under the harshest of
circumstances—and that was a
weird year.
Next year. Foo Fighters, surprise
show announced just a couple of
weeks prior, and The Black Keys. I
knew, no matter how many came
afterward, they would never get
better than that. And you know
what I’m going to say next. It
did—or at least was equaled.
The White Stripes was one of my
favorite bands, still is, but I use
“was” since the band is dissolved.
This particular year, Jack White
and his mobile record store had
been at the SXSW Music Festival
in Austin—another great music
(arts and everything) fest in a great
venue. In the weeks between
SXSW and HF, I had a feeling
Jack White would be at Gulf
Shores. I was obsessed with the
possibility, because he–as a
musician–is my obsession.
Every year, The Hangout Fest has
‘surprise guests.’ Sure enough, that
year, Jack White showed. I’m sure
Jack stayed in a really nice hotel, I
wouldn’t know…
What I do know is several months
later, I entered a short story contest
thrown by one of my favorite
authors Victoria Ashley. The
guidelines for the story were:
humor genre, festival setting, and it
had to contain a Jack Russell
terrier.
After mulling that over for an hour
or so while washing dishes, I
banged out Jack Who? in less than
two hours—the short version. My
readers on Wattpad went crazy.
Having never experienced Wattpad
fame, I found it cool when every
comment after the last chapter was
a plea for the story to continue.
And so the story continued. The
same after book one for book two,
and so on. We still aren’t finished
with Jack and Marissa.
I know I’m being random here, and
if you’re still reading, you’re about
to put the pieces together. While
washing dishes, I thought about the
area with the buses, and private
tents, and the day I was sure I
walked by Jack White. You know
the dog is fictional—he had to be
in the story. The bang is
fictional—although I’m pretty sure
my husband would let me do Jack
White. But the festival is real, and
if you love music, it’s one of the
best places you will ever go.
A little disappointed because you
read all that crap I typed up while
I’m two-glasses-of wine-chatty,
and you think that’s as deep as the