Here are a couple of updates to some articles that I have written here in The Reader in the past couple of months.
In the April edition of The Reader, I talked about the lineups for the Maha Music Festival and Outlandia. Since then, the lineup for Petfest has been announced. Petfest will take place on August 19th at the Petshop Gallery in Benson. Close to twenty artists have been announced for the event. Included is BIB, a noise punk band that has been making waves far beyond the borders of our city. The band has been written about in Stereogum and has performed with many well-known bands in the hardcore genre. The band recently won Outstanding Punk at the 2023 Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards and will also be performing at this year’s Maha Festival. Rock band Cat Piss, who I interviewed here, will also be playing along with Atlanta, Georgia’s fuzzy rock band Chew. One of the highlights should be experimental electronic act Children Of The Night from Columbus, Ohio, who will also perform. Their dark sound will fit well with area act Jeff In Leather, who is also on the lineup. Longtime area mainstays playing the backlot of Petshop this year include Little Brazil, Machete Archive, Universe Contest, and Chicago-based Nebraskans in Head of Femur.
Other artists rounding out the lineup will be Queer Night, Spector Poetics, Xid, Pagan Athletes, Off Contact, Nowhere, Mike Schlesinger, FACE, Living Conditions, and DJ ScherriTaivo. Advanced tickets can be purchased for $30 at https://shopbffomaha.myshopify.com/ Tickets on the day of the event will be $40.
The July print edition of The Reader will feature an interview I did with Justin Strawstone of Nice Enough Entertainment. The focus of that interview is the Four Winds Festival happening at The Waiting Room and Reverb Lounge on August 4th and 5th. Performing at the festival are rock bands Alyeska and Names Without Numbers and hip-hop acts Faith Freeman, C-10, and Jay Influential. Pop artist Forest is on the line-up, along with electronic acts and one man band Problems. All in all, there are close to forty acts on the lineup, and single day tickets will run $15, or you can grab a two day pass for $25. You can see the entire Four Winds Festival lineup here.
Tickets are available at etix.com.
Septemberfest has announced their music lineup for their weekend of events at the Chi Health Center. On Saturday, September 2nd, Finger Eleven will headline a day of music also featuring School Of Rock, Up In Irons (Iron Maiden tribute band), Silverside Up (a Nickelback tribute band), Nevermind (Nirvana tribute band), and The Midnight Devils. Finger Eleven is a Canadian band that has been nominated for and won numerous Juno Awards in their home country. The band came up in the early 2000s and has multiple gold albums in the United States. On Monday, September 4th, many area bands will perform at Septemberfest, including The Jazz Ninjas, Tom Phillips Band, Blue House, E String Band, Lost Montunos, The Brits and Travis.
In the May issue of The Reader, I talked about Open Mic nights happening around town. I have been told that the open mic night at Dry Spokes is no longer a thing. There is a new open mic happening at The Tavern in the Old Market on Wednesdays from 9 p.m. to Midnight. The night features 15 minute open slots and is said to host singer-songwriters, poetry, spoken word, and mixed arts on their stage. The event is hosted by Yayo Trujilo of Las Cruxes, and you can sign up for slots on The Tavern’s Facebook events page.