BUMBLEFEST RECAP

The Stargazer Lilies | Credit Steev Rullman

GOOD  VIBES!
THANK YOU SO MUCH for making BumbleFest a success! It was exactly what we were hoping for but better and it truly exceeded expectations! We raised at least $700 to pass along to our two charitable recipients. $350 to help pay down Thomas Fekete’s medical bills and $350 for Hope From Harrison!
THANKS to The Stargazer Lilies for making the trip south, putting on an amazing show and being excellent house guests!
THANKS to the venues for working with us: Sean at Subculture Coffee, Allan at Respectable Street, Rodney at Hullabaloo and Gary at O’Shea’s Pub!
THANKS to Downtown West Palm Beach DDA for their encouragement and support!
THANKS Pabst Blue Ribbon for keeping the bands hydrated.
THANKS especially to all the bands and everyone else for going with the flow and helping us stay on schedule!
Extra special THANKS to the 4 bands… Wallace, Pocket of Lollipops, Sweet Bronco and Jesse Dalton from Grey & Orange/Lazy Lovers… that really stepped up, said YES, and took charge of their stages by supplying PA and running sound. Not one of them asked to be compensated. They were willing to roll sleeves, get involved and help make this thing happen. That said, I’m glad we were able to set aside a little extra cash (and extra beer) for them.
THANKS Ates Isildak and Oz Del Castillo at Respectable Street for being on top of everything. I appreciate your dedication and attitude!
THANKS Pig Light Show and Big Kid Light Show / Ani Gonzalez for making the stages look amazing. Thanks Kismet Vintage for taping the Hullabaloo Garden stage! Once again, all saying YES and participating selflessly in the spirit of community!
THANKS Paul Klov from Bohemia AG and Kelly Green for handling merch!
THANKS to all press and promo sponsors for their shares, invites and features! Especially Jim Hayward at The Palm Beach Post, Ben Crandell at Sun-Sentinel, SouthFlorida.com, John Thomason at Boca Raton magazine, Hans Morgenstern at Independent Ethos and David Rolland at New Times Broward Palm Beach!
SPONSORS! THANK YOU!
The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, The Dubliner, Propaganda Lake Worth, Hullabaloo, Tucker Duke’s Lunchbox Deerfield Beach, Tucker Duke’s Boca Raton, Lost Weekend West Palm Beach, Wonderland Gift, Kill Your Idol, The Kelsey Theater, Kapow! Noodle Bar, Ink and Pistons, Tattoos & Art Gallery, Honey, Relentless Bicycles, Harold’s, Lisa Marie Owens Salon, Howley’s Restaurant, Decades Records, Dada, Go-Flaunt, Independent Ethos, Ghost Drag Records, Fuzz Baby Records, Houndstooth Cottage, Cheap Miami Records, Kismet Vintage, Jolt Radio, Strutter USA Presents, Limited Fanfare Records, PoDunk Radio, Raygun, Too Much Love, JMB Records, Endless Fight Booking, Summer of Sharkface, The Limitless Agency, The Infinite Channel, SoundBite Magazine, Sweat Records, Smallish Music Group, Radio-Active Records, Showskii, Afflux Studios, Dig Under Rock, Sad Dogs on TV.
Really looking forward to doing this again next year!

VIDEOS by Liam Milano at Kismet Vintage

PHOTO SLIDESHOW by Junette Reyes at New Times

PRESS
Bumblefest has the bands you need to know
by Ben Crandell, Sun Sentinel/SouthFlorida.com
The Bumblefest block party in downtown West Palm Beach on Saturday will celebrate the anniversary of Steev Rullman’s indomitable monthly culture magazine PureHoney, printed on paper, bound into 10,000 or so copies and hand-delivered to more than 300 bars, restaurants and shops, where it is eagerly consumed by Internet-raised masses. Rullman has been confounding the digital-media orthodoxy in this way for five years.
A one-man editing and design team, Rullman acknowledges his against-the-odds accomplishment, but only grudgingly. He has readers and advertisers, but the word “success” doesn’t quite fit, he says.
“The doors are open, but the lights aren’t always on,” he says, with a laugh, from his front porch in West Palm Beach. “But, yes, we’ve hit the five-year mark and stood the test of time. Maybe some potential advertisers who haven’t stepped up to the plate will see that we are a viable source for getting their information out to the public.” READ MORE

PureHoney magazine turns 5, celebrates with downtown West Palm music fest
by Jim Hayward, Palm Beach Post
Steev Rullman has never been keen on following trends. Going against the grain of most mainstream media, the longtime guiding light of the local indie music scene ditched his long-running website five years ago and launched a throwback to another era: A printed magazine.

“There’s not much out there anymore print-wise,” the West Palm Beach publisher/editor/designer said. “That’s basically why I did it. Nobody else was doing it. Why not?” PureHoney magazine celebrates its fifth anniversary Saturday, Sept. 17, with Bumblefest, a party in downtown West Palm Beach featuring 24 bands on five stages in four clubs and restaurants in the 500 block of Clematis Street.

Rullman said he likes the intimacy and sonic quality of having the bands perform indoors. Bands rarely sound that good playing out on the street, he said, comparing Bumblefest to events he’s attended in St. Petersburg, Jacksonville and Orlando. “I like the festivals where you just go from bar to bar and watch bands. No one’s really done that in downtown West Palm before.” READ MORE

Influential Music Promoter Launches Festival
by John Thomason, Boca Magazine
If you’ve attended concerts in South Florida with any degree of regularity over the past 20 years, you’ve probably breathed the same oxygen as Steve Rullman more than once. An influential musician-turned-promoter with a Palm Beach County focus, Rullman has booked acts at Respectable Street in West Palm for nearly 10 years, helped to open and brand Lake Worth’s Propaganda, and promoted the local music scene during editorial stints at Closer magazine and the Palm Beach Post. Though he’s too humble to admit it, he’s a central figure in South Florida’s emergence as a fertile breeding ground for indie music. READ MORE

PureHoney’s publisher talks Bumblefest Music Festival and the wonders and challenges of print ‘zines
by Hans Morgenstern, Independent Ethos
This weekend, PureHoney, our favorite South Florida-based, independent, grassroots entertainment ‘zine, will celebrate its fifth anniversary with an expansion of its usual anniversary party into a full-fledged music festival: Bumblefest. PureHoney publisher Steve Rullman says he is taking the ‘zine’s usual anniversary to the “next level.” Instead of two stages there will be five. Instead one venue there are now four, and instead of 10 bands, there will be 24. READ MORE

Grooves
by Evan Williams, Florida Weekly
FANZINES ARE FUN AND A PLACE TO find out what’s on the audio menu, and PureHoney Magazine is one of the best. It’s free online and in print at locations from West Palm Beach to Miami (purehoneymagazine.com).

Each edition opens up to the size of a big Sunday paper with gorgeous full-color graphics. It’s fairly short, but chock full of music reviews by talented writers, news about shows and — its best feature — the free mixed Soundcloud playlist, more or less all songs from Florida bands or ones coming to play at a show in town, curated by publisher Steev Rullman. His lists are given as if from a trusted friend who has dedicated much of his life to finding, playing and promoting rock ’n’ roll in South Florida. He digs up the work you just don’t have the time to seek out during your busy life, like Cog Nomen, for instance, and his favorite songs of the moment, from the West Palm musician Chaucer. You know that even if you don’t like everything he recommends, there is a level of knowledge, genuineness and authenticity about it that you can respond to. READ MORE

Stargazer Lilies Help PureHoney Celebrate at Bumblefest
by David Rolland, New Times
Guitarist John Ceparano was holding some flowers one day when a stranger approached, glanced at the blooms in his hands, and asked if they were stargazer lilies. “We thought that was such a cool name for a band,” Ceparano remembers. “It informed our sound. We thought, What would a band called the Stargazer Lilies sound like?” READ MORE

PureHoney Announces Bumblefest 2016 Lineup
by David Rolland, New Times
When human beings turn five, they get a birthday party with a piñata, clown, and cake with the cartoon character du jour on it. When South Florida’s favorite free monthly music zine PureHoney turns five, it gets rock ‘n’ roll — and lots of it. READ MORE