‘Something Indie Water’: Free event to have 50 Va. artists during Something in the Water weekend in VB

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — You’ve heard about Something in the Water, but how about Something *Indie* Water?

That’s indie, as in independent artists.

50 of them from across Virginia are scheduled to perform at the free three-day event happening in Virginia Beach on April 28-30. It’s the same weekend as Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water music festival, which will feature homegrown stars in Williams, Clipse and possibly a few others (Missy Elliott?)

Something Indie Water will run from noon to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, with more music during a brunch event that Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s one of the many free events happening that weekend, including live music at 17th Street, 24th Street and 31st Street parks and the Something in the Water Pop-Up Church on Sunday, April 30.

Will Keck with theMSQshop, a creative agency that specializes in helping independent artists, created the festival to highlight Virginia talent in particular through the national spotlight of Something in the Water.

*Will Keck with Something Indie Water* (repping Missy Elliott with the shirt)

“It’s really something that’s in support of Something in the Water … it’s something that we hope spans past this and can create connectivity between these major artists and regional artists,” said the Richmond native, who also goes by the rap name OG Illa.

“We have over 45 acts, we have rappers, singers, bands, all types of music,” Keck said. “We have acts coming from 757, 804, Fredericksburg, NoVa, Roanoke, it’s really a collaboration of the entire state.”

More than half of the artists will be from right here in the 757, including Virginia Beach’s Shaolinn and Gee Litt, both female singers that blend R&B and alternative elements.

To make the festival happen, Keck reached out to a longtime friend in Virginia Beach hip-hop artist Intalek, who’s serving as a community liaison for the event.

“Being in the scene for over 15 years, we don’t much opportunity like this, where you’ll get thousands of fans of music, media, things like that to come to Hampton Roads,” Intalek says. “So the importance of getting our artists and creatives in front of a crowd that normally doesn’t come here is a very big deal for me.”

Who knows? Maybe the next in a long line of Virginia-grown talent, from Missy Elliott and Timbaland to Clipse and The Neptunes, gets their big break.

“Pharrell’s got the national acts, we’ve got the Virginia, soon to be national acts,” Intalek says.

*The FFX (orange canopy) is right off Atlantic Avenue at 16th Street.*

It’s all going down right near the Something in the Water entrance, at the FFX Theater at the corner of 16^th Street and Atlantic Avenue.

The address might ring a bell for some older Tidewater natives. It was the longtime home of Chester’s Upper Deck, which closed back in 2014. The Upper Deck and the nearby Peppermint Beach Club were instrumental in popularizing beach music back in the 1960s.

The FFX, a non-profit interactive theater that mostly caters to families, actually features a sign from the Peppermint behind its bar.