aznight buzz

BEYOND MUSIC 'WONDERLAND' FESTIVAL STRIVES TO BE ENVELOPING EXPERIENCE

By Veronica M Cruz

Each year thousands of music lovers flock to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Some might be inspired to check out a new band or maybe to make new friends.

And then there are people such as 22-year-old University of Arizona student Marina Shiferman who decided to start her own mini-Coachella in the Old Pueblo.

"I didn't know what to expect, and it changed my life," Shiferman says of the music festival that she attended in the spring.

She began working on making her epiphany a reality, and the Wonderland Music, Art and Imagination Festival was born.

But forget about Alice's wonderland - this one is entirely Shiferman's. The communications major, who will graduate in May, wrote her own business plan for her company, Wonderland Entertainment, handles the marketing and promotion, and handpicked the talent for the festival.

"I just listened to music all morning and night and afternoon, and I picked which ones I liked," Shiferman says. "It's basically my iPod out there."

The festival's lineup includes a variety of local musicians, from the country-folk guitar of Stefan George to the energetic reggae and funk tunes of 8 Minutes to Burn and Skitn. A San Diego Latin funk group, B-Side Players, will bring its blend of cumbia, hip-hop and Caribbean-infused jazz.

The Portland, Ore.-based March Fourth Marching Band, described as "Duke Ellington meets Sgt. Pepper" on its website, will close the night with its festive big-brass-band sound and drum corps, complete with parade-like antics including flag twirlers and acrobatics. Also on the bill are DJ Squints, Greyhound Soul, Jimmy Carr, Seashell Radio, Brothers Gow and Road Runners.

Though the festival is mainly about the music, Shiferman wanted to create a whole experience for attendees.

"I'm creating an environment that you only get to experience when you're dreaming and in your imagination," Shiferman says.

So she brought on board the pyro-performers of Flam Chen, who will set up a display of magical mermaids and a few other surprises. Local artists including Moises Orozco and Kyle Greenberg will show off their whimsical sculptures and canvases throughout the wonderland.

Shiferman also has offered to donate 50 percent of the merchandise proceeds from the festival to the Ali Adelmann Foundation to help 20-year-old Adelmann, a former UA student who suffered severe brain trauma from a car accident last year and remains in a semi-conscious state.

Having had a brain tumor as a teenager, Shiferman says she was touched by Adelmann's story and has been keeping in touch with her mother.

"Anything will help her family out," she says.

Shiferman says she hopes the Wonderland Festival will be an escape from the day-to-day pressures and that people will have fun.

"To me, it's doing exactly what you want to do and seeing things that you wouldn't normally see, like people on stilts doing fire dances, saying what you want to say and dancing how you want to dance," she says.