Angie K, Kevin Griffin and more to play at Tortuga Music Festival

By Bryce Johnson •

COURTESY OF ANGIE K
Angie K will perform at Tortuga Music Fest on April 4 at 1:45 p.m. on the Main Stage.

Michelle Mair, graduate student in the Marine Science program, will be at this year’s Tortuga Music Festival for the NSU Coral Reef Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Lab.

“This year we’re doing a Build the Reef mural, so we have a mural of the ocean and then kids can come up and paint different coral species and turtles, dolphins and stuff like that,” Mair said. “We also have a dice trivia game where they roll a big inflatable dice and then whatever number they land on, that’s how many trivia questions they have to answer.”

Tortuga Music Festival is an annual event, featuring country and rock music, from April 4 to 6 at Fort Lauderdale Beach. The festival will have performances from musical artists like Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Marcus King and Luke Combs. It hosts more than 100,000 guests annually.

Angie Keilhauer, known professionally as Angie K, will perform on April 4 at 1:45 p.m. on the Main Stage. Angie K is a former contestant on NBC’s “The Voice.” She is also one of the singers of “Happily Ever After,” a song that plays at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World Resort.

“My music relates to people in college because the music industry is very similar. It feels like every decision you make is everything. And there’s these people that are older than you telling you, you’re doing it wrong, or this is how you have to do it,” Angie K said. “These songs like ‘Death of Me’ or ‘Red Dirt on Mars,’ when you’re navigating these heavy feelings, I feel like it could really relate to somebody going through a lot.”

Kevin Griffin, along with Mark McGrath and Emerson Hart, will perform as part of the band Ezra Ray Hart on April 5 at 5 p.m. on the Sunset Stage. Griffin has previously written songs performed by artists like Taylor Swift, Blondie and Christina Perri. Griffin also co-founded Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in Tennessee, which has hosted artists like Jon Batiste and Justin Timberlake.

“I love seeing other bands perform live, because I always learn something that they do cool. Like, oh, that’s a cool thing to do on stage. That’s fun. Maybe we could do that,” Griffin said.

The CRRAM Lab is a part of Tortuga Music Festival’s Conservation Village. Groups and organizations, including the CRRAM Lab, Keep Florida Beautiful, the NSU Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program, and the NSU Marine Environmental Education Center, will come and help guests learn about ocean conservation.

“I’m most looking forward to reaching out to the general public and just educating people about coral restoration, because it’s a huge issue and Florida’s coral reef is such a big part of our economy and our culture in this state, and for the whole country, honestly,” Mair said.

For more information about the CRRAM Lab, students can follow its Instagram account, @nsu_crram_lab.

Tortuga Music Festival is open for all ages.

“Get out to Tortuga Festival this year. If you don’t have tickets yet, grab them. Come see Ezra Ray Hart. It’s songs that you know, it’s fun, it’s silly,” Griffin said.