Trying to use occasion_data.status

Run the 

SELECT subject, view_href, occasion_data, images FROM messages WHERE board.id='instructurelive' AND occasion_data.status IN ('upcoming','ongoing')  ORDER BY occasion_data.start_time asc LIMIT 1

 query in the API browser in studio, and see what the data structure looks like. I don't have a good place to test at the moment, but if you're having issues with that, I'd guess that potentially the occasion status isn't in the exact structure you expect.