The BUKU Music & Art Project

On March 21, 2014 I traveled from Houston, Texas to New Orleans, Louisiana for the BUKU Music & Art Project.I purchased my tickets at least four months in advance so all the buildup had me extremely excited for this event.
How BUKU and I found one another:
While I was attending Lights All-Night in Dallas, Texas during the month of December, I was handed a flyer for this music festival that Kaskade was going to be performing at in New Orleans. I was immediately intrigued and decided to enter into their Instagram contest which entailed taking a photo of the flyer and sharing it across all social media boards. After that I decided to look up the event online and see what the reviews were like from the previous year. BUKU had a great lineup the previous year, a lot of good things were said and the video clips from BUKU 2013 made it feel like I needed to be there, or I would be missing out. Needless to say I didn't wait to see if I had won the contest on Instagram. I went straight to the website and purchased TOOBUKU VIP tickets for my husband and I.

The T00BUKU experience was an offer that you could not pass up when it comes to more bang for your buck. It included your own personal butler for the whole weekend, a three level VIP riverboat docked in the Mississippi River, which was dubbed SS BLU-KU, access to the grand mansion, which was useless, unless you held a press pass to do interviews with the artist, and both nights you were provided bottle service.

I was extremely happy with the separate VIP viewing areas that were provided, unlike Lights All-Night where if you were VIP, you were stuffed off to the left side of the stage and there was no front stage access for you, only general admission. So I am thankful to BUKU and their thoughtful consideration of the people that paid a considerably higher amount for the best view possible of the artists. On the SS BLU-KU boat, which was sponsored by BLU-cigarettes, they were giving out free BLU e-cigarette's downstairs. I thoroughly enjoyed this perk, considering I cannot stand the smell of a real cigarette anymore since it gives me a headache.

There was one huge problem that I had experienced with the BUKU Project. I had been provided one big letdown and It just so happened to be on the very first night of BUKU. Basically what it all boils down to is the whole reason I decided to go to BUKU was to see Kaskade. I am a huge Kaskade fan, I love his music. Anyone that knows me can tell you that Kaskade has been my favorite DJ since 2007. Okay before I begin, let me say that I don't know if this was a personal preference but I very seriously doubt it was. There were several different stages set up at BUKU-the main stage which was labeled-the power plant stage, the next largest stage was an indoor arena and it was called the float den. The float den is actually a Mardi Gras float manufacturing warehouse. There were several other different stages, but are irrelevant to my story so let's just stick with the two main ones. The main stage-the power plant stage was outdoors and the weather that weekend was so beautiful. It felt really good to be outside and not be immersed in humidity like I would be if I was in Houston. Now the second stage-the float den, was not so lovely. Upon walking into the room you felt like you had just stepped into a steam sauna. So the person that I drove five hours to come see was put in a miserable spot to play, and that happen to be the float den. There were no VIP section viewing in the front of the stage like there should have been but rather in the middle of the room. To say the least I was pretty pissed.

What I really enjoyed about BUKU was the art section of the festival. They had live artist drawing and painting on large stretches of canvas throughout the whole festival, which could be purchased when completed. I always enjoy watching an artist at work and the whole creative process that goes into their masterpiece.

Another great thing about the BUKU Project was that I met a very diverse array of people that were all so genuinely nice and were all about having a great time. Hopefully I will have made new friends that will last a lifetime.I do not see myself making a mad dash to BUKU next year but hopefully I will make it back another year so that I may be with my friends nestled in between an active railroad, a dilapidated power plant and the Mississippi River with barges rolling by throughout the night.
So I leave you with the New Orleans skyline and Crescent city connection bridge looming in my future distance.