Susan Marquez

Madison, United States

Culture Editor at Magnolia Tribune

Writer and Editor at Freelance

Articles

Enjoy the Township Jazz Festival this Saturday

3 weeks ago | magnoliatribune.com | Susan Marquez

The free music festival that began in 2008 continues to bring out music lovers to enjoy big-name headliners each year. Raphael Semmes has been a familiar face in music circles in the Jackson area for decades.
Mississippians love pizza. Here are a few of the top spots to grab a slice

3 weeks ago | magnoliatribune.com | Susan Marquez

The Magnolia State has a plethora of outstanding pizzerias. New York is known for its pizza. You can step into a pizzeria just about anywhere in the City and order a slice – big, floppy, and gooey with melted cheese designed to eat on the run. Chicago pizza is a different thing altogether. Thick slices of deep-dish pizza topped with massive amounts of pepperoni, sausage, olives, mushrooms, and all other manner of delights. This is a pizza you sit down to eat with a fork and knife.
Stev and Nancy Rogeski present the County Bluegrass Festival

3 weeks ago | thebluegrassstandard.com | Susan Marquez

When the town of Fort Fairfield, Maine, was looking for entertainment for its annual Potato Blossom Festival in 2004, someone suggested bluegrass. “I didn’t know much about bluegrass music,” says Stev Rogeski. “I’m an electrician by trade. My son and I volunteered to set up the electrical connections to the campground and work in the fields. My wife, Nancy, worked at the check-in for the festival.” By 2008, the music had grown beyond what the festival organizers could handle.
Kevin Denney: Taking a Turn with Turnberry Records

3 weeks ago | thebluegrassstandard.com | Susan Marquez

Kevin Denney grew up surrounded by bluegrass music. “Some of my family members, Clyde and Marie Denney, toured in a bluegrass group called The Drifting Kentuckians from the 1960s through the 1990s, so I grew up around music. I suppose it came naturally to me.” A native of Monticello, Kentucky, Kevin began playing guitar when he was old enough to hold one.
Water Tower: Climbing Up and “Owling Out”

3 weeks ago | thebluegrassstandard.com | Susan Marquez

Kenny Feinstein began busking at the age of 12 in Santa Cruz, California. “It was the 1990s, and I was heavy into punk.” Kenny says he didn’t grow up in a musical family. “I just liked music—the Beatles. Blink 182. Nirvana. Also, gangster rap. All the stuff I watched on MTV. I grew up in the culture of skateboarding.” Kenny spent first through seventh grade in Singapore, then eighth through tenth grades in Mexico City before moving to Portland, Oregon.
Black Banjo and Fiddle Fellowship

3 weeks ago | thebluegrassstandard.com | Susan Marquez

Angela M. Wellman, Ph.D., had the good fortune of growing up surrounded by music. From the time she was in elementary school until she earned her Ph.D., she studied in music conservatories. Wellman has been a performing musician, a music educator, and an activist, now following in her family’s footsteps as an institution-building village woman.
What’s Happening, Mississippi? Things to do in the Magnolia State in April 2025

4 weeks ago | magnoliatribune.com | Susan Marquez

Enjoy Spring in Mississippi with gardens, catfish, crawfish, trains, meteors and more this April. It’s said that April showers bring May flowers, but in central Mississippi, tulips and daffodils are in full bloom, along with Japanese dogwood and azaleas. It’s a great time of year to walk through a local botanical garden or even stroll through an open-air shopping center and get inspired by the beautiful container gardens. There are events-o-plenty throughout the state this April.
National Cocktail Day: Not too late to celebrate!

1 month ago | magnoliatribune.com | Susan Marquez

If you missed it, don’t be disappointed. You can celebrate your favorite cocktail all week long. This week, a national day of celebration was held, but it’s entirely possible you may have been fighting the massive amounts of pollen to notice. Or you may have been busy keeping up with politics, or perhaps you were recovering from your mother-in-law’s recent visit. All of those things are enough to drive you to drink. Did someone say drink?
Hurricane Katrina: Mississippi Remembers opens March 8 at the Two Mississippi Museums

1 month ago | magnoliatribune.com | Susan Marquez

The exhibit, featuring photographs by Melody Golding and state-held artifacts, comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of the deadly storm. A new exhibit – Hurricane Katrina: Mississippi Remembers, Photographs by Melody Golding – opens at the Two Mississippi Museums on March 8. The exhibit opening is the first in a slate of programming marking the 20th anniversary of the devastating storm.
Fort Worth African American Roots Music Festival

1 month ago | thebluegrassstandard.com | Susan Marquez

Brandi Waller-Pace, a native of Atlanta, taught elementary school in Fort Worth. “I taught stringed instruments, and after hearing the banjo, I wanted to get one. I learned to play in the claw hammer style.” They began playing in a string band in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, playing backup guitar and banjo when needed while they were still learning.