by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Petfest has the honor of being Omaha’s most-eclectic one-day festival, featuring mostly local indie acts and singer/songwriters. Held on the red-carpeted loose-rock parking lot behind Petshop Gallery in the heart of Benson, this year’s festival, slated for Aug. 17, will be no exception.

Unless my eyes deceive me (very possible) this year’s line-up is almost all Nebraska acts, though there are a couple names I don’t recognize. The 21-act list as of this morning:

• – Problems
• – Dance Me Pregnant 
• – Ebba Rose
• – Jeff in Leather 
• – Flamboyant Gods
• – Size Queen
• – Western Haikus
• – Heet Deth
• – McCarthy Trenching
• – Mesonjixx Trio
• – The Dirts
• – Clubdrugs 
• – Saving Fiona
• – Riké
• – Universe Contest
• – Queer Nite
• – Bumpadump
• – Mike Schlesinger
• – Vempire 
• – Ex-Lover 
• – Ol’ Mo and the Varmits

A few highlights: Dance Me Pregnant is a golden nugget from a bygone era of Omaha indie/punk; Vempire is a newish Lincoln project featuring Mike Elfers from Thirst Things First; The Dirts are an emerging showgaze/indie act that has been a regular opener at Reverb indie shows; Mike Schlesinger is perhaps the most overlooked talent in the state, who I’m told has been working on a new album. And Darren Keen will be making the trip from Chicago to provide a return performance as PROBLEMS. 

The performance schedule hasn’t been released yet but the show will run from 2 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $30 Adv/$40 DOS. More info at the BFF FB page. See you there.

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Speaking of festivals, late last month an organization called “Hook n Sync” announced a three-day, three-district music festival taking place this year during the heart of the College World Series weeks, June 13-15.

Called “One Omaha Music Festival,” it’s brought to you by the Hook N Sync Foundation, a non-profit “focused towards creating an extended support platform and performance exposure for local singer songwriters and musicians across the mid west community with a special side focus on uplifting gender equity in creative fields.” 

According to their website, last year “Hook n Sync already had 6 different diverse outdoor festivals including some 2 Day 2 stage ones with multiple National Artists, Grammy Winners, regional and other touring bands and many local artists.” Impressive. The organization’s executive director isn’t listed on their website or on their FB page. Considering the CWS connection, is MECA also involved, or the NCAA? 

Hook n Sync has alredy published a district schedule (Old Market, June 13; Benson & Midtown, June 14; Benson June 15) but no venue names are listed, though they say it’ll take place on “up to 20 stages” and will feature “up to 100 bands” who they appear to be in the process of booking. Hook n Sync posted a couple requests on their Facebook page last week. One asked for your ideas as to who they should book; the other is seeing out local “female influenced music” in Omaha and the surrounding area. 

According to their FB posts this NEVER DONE BEFORE event is a HUGE STEP FOR OMAHA MUSIC. This no doubt is a tremendous undertaking for someone. Just pulling off a one-day music festival like Petfest that focuses primarily on local bands is a major effort that involves lots of planning and coordination. One Omaha is three districts over three days with 20 venues and more than 100 bands during two of the most chaotic weeks in Omaha.

More info as it becomes available…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.