Festival brings Good Vibes to St. Petersburg

Vetnough started out with Julia Powell (left) and Carlos Reyes (right). They both played open mics as solo acts around the Tampa Bay area before starting as a duo. Dinorah Prevost | The Crow’s Nest

By Dylan Hart and Dinorah Prevost

Artists and musicians from around St. Petersburg congregated in Williams Park on April 6 for the Good Vibes Only Festival.

Student Government at USF St. Petersburg collaborated with Student Government at St. Petersburg College to host the festival. Between sets, SG president Daniel “Kaeden” Kelso used a plastic canon to shoot T-shirts into the crowd.

The event hosted 11 bands and was headlined by CeCe Teneal and Soul Kamotion. Additionally, the festival had a virtual reality experience from SPC Seminole, a paintable bus, food trucks and several local artists displaying and selling art.

A dance from around the world

On a stage near the fountain in Williams Park, a crowd gathered, hugging the shade to avoid the Florida heat. The crowd stood transfixed on Lydia Segovia, her teal dress swinging in broad motions as she sang and danced to Mexican folk music.

She held long notes and made broad motions with her dress, emphasizing notes and words as they came. As people applauded, she stepped down from the stage and began a dance, grabbing the tip of her dress and swinging with it in coordinated steps.

Segovia was born and raised in St. Petersburg, but she spent much of her childhood in Mexico.

“I do authentic Mexican dances,” Segovia said. “I do different styles from different states of Mexico.”

Segovia referred to Jalisco, where Mariachi music originated. Traditional dances from states across Mexico often exist to tell local, regional and national folk tales and captivate audiences, often with bold, colorful costumes and graceful steps.

She has been dancing for over 20 years and relies on her memory to dance. She had a strict instructor as a teenager who pushed rote memory on her, and she knows many traditional dances by heart.

But much of her experience comes from practicing with St. Petersburg-based Grupo Folklorico Mexicano, which translates to the Folkloric Mexican Group.

Segovia says that Mexican music and dance takes heavy inspiration from a variety of international cultures, not only Latin ideas.

“Not a lot of people know this, but we have a lot of German influence in our costumes,” she said, pulling on the puffed-out sleeve of her dress to reference traditional German dresses. “Mexican dance is a mix of cultures and colors from around the world.”

The rock band with a Prophet

If prancing around on stage in 76-degree heat bothered Julia Powell, she sure didn’t show it.

The singer and guitarist threw herself into frontwoman mode.

Julia Powell, a St. Petersburg College student at the Gibbs Campus, is the singer and guitarist of rock band Vetnough. The band will release a new EP at the end of May. Dinorah Prevost | The Crow’s Nest

She frequently pulled back from her mic to crouch with her guitar, that thing people do when they’re about to play a solo. And she often strutted up to Carlos Reyes, who played a Prophet Rev2 synthesizer and a Nord keyboard, on her right.

Behind Powell, Christina Piasecki’s drum kit was outfitted with the band’s logo, a stick figure with two heads, and its name – Vetnough.

The rock trio was swallowed up by the green bandshell above them. But Powell stuck out in a dark red top and playing a cherry red, semi-hollow body Ibanez guitar.

Vetnough was one of five acts to play the main stage at Good Vibes Only.

Powell said the band got roped into playing the festival through her. She’s a St. Petersburg College student at the Gibbs Campus.

Based in Tampa, they released “Conversations,” their second EP — first with drummer Piasecki — in February.

Songs from “Conversations,” like “Human I Am” and “Satellite.” made up most of their 30-minute set. Powell’s singing voice is surprisingly husky.

Reyes’ synths are spacey and 1980s-esque. He said those sounds are made with an eye for visuals.  

“When it comes to the Prophet (the synthesizer), I try to think of sounds that not only sound near futuristic but also… fit the picture of the music,” Reyes said in a Facebook message. “When we write songs, I usually think of it as a video or a still shot of what I can visually think of and then make the sounds that match it.”

He said playing synths also “keeps my hands busy throughout the show.”

Vetnough started out with Powell and Reyes, according to the Bandcamp page for their “Screed” EP. They both played open mics as solo acts around the Tampa Bay area.

Reyes produced Powell’s EP “Rice in a Bottle” in 2017 and they later recorded “Screed” as a duo in May 2018. Piasecki, who played bass on both EPs, was added to the band’s lineup after “Screed.”

Powell said the band is prepping to release a new EP at the end of May.

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