The Nebraska Pop Festival launches again tonight…
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Tonight is the launch of the annual Nebraska Pop Festival, the most confoundedly strange music event of the year. Strange in that somehow, some way, organizer Christopher Beiermann manages to get bands from “around the world” to come to Omaha to play for free at places like the Barley Street Tavern and Shamrock’s.
Needless to say, these international bands Beiermann does attract are virtually unknown by anyone in our scene. Tonight, for example, Virginia band The Anatomy of Frank plays at Shamrock’s, 5338 No 103rd St., with Le-Li (from Italy), Croaker (Wisconsin), Sad Navigator (Kansas City), Prairie Tide (Kansas) and Classes (from Omaha). Heard of any of these folks? Neither have I.
Tomorrow night the festival moves to Barley Street Tavern with Saara Markkanen (Finland/Germany), Tony Memmel (Wisconsin), and handful of Nebraska bands that, again, I’ve never heard of: Brutal Pheasant, Miss Fick, No Triangles, and Amy Schmidt and The Restless Things.
The balance of the festival is sprinkled with a few familiar faces: Orion Walsh, In Love, Well Aimed Arrows, Thunder Power, Field Club and Ragged Company all will perform. Check the schedule at the Nebraska Pop Festival website, where you can download a .zip file that contains most of the bands slated to perform.
Tonight’s show at Shamrocks is free. The shows the rest of the week at Barley Street are $7, with proceeds going to Arts for All, Inc. Hats off to Beiermann for pulling this off year after year.
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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
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My band Island Alumni will also perform. We’re the best band you’ve never heard of.
Comment by George Tselentis — July 10, 2012 @ 10:29 pm
No but seriously folks, that’s part of the thing w/ this festival is to expose you to new music, bands that you’ve never heard of before but that you should hear b/c they’re all super talented. Since we got added on & I’ve listened to a lot of these bands’ music, I’ve been nothing but impressed. Remember, there was a time that you’d never heard of your favorite band (unless you’re in that band!). Cheers
Comment by George Tselentis — July 11, 2012 @ 10:36 pm
I agree- this is a very curious “festival” for a lot of reasons. However, I was really impressed by what I saw and discovered from these mystery artists. Two girls from Helsinki and Paris singing unplugged in the center of the Barley street while the whole room sang along in Finnish..Or Tony Memmel, who plays guitar like any professional songwriter I know, only he is missing half an arm.
Hype is also curious. You’ve never heard of me.. yet the first artist you called “familiar” was my support act on one of my European tours- where our hype levels were reversed. Its a matter of location sometimes. Anyhow, thanks for the shout out to NPF, Beiermann, and all these quirky, unheard of bands.
Comment by Amy — July 18, 2012 @ 1:39 pm