Norman Music Festival

[kmf563]

I think there is another thread with info about this in it - but it deserves it's own thread. So here it is.

The First Annual - Norman Music Festival
Saturday April 26th, 2008
Downtown Norman
Cost : FREE FREE FREE

Headliner:
The Polyphonic Spree

Also confirmed for the main stage:
Chainsaw Kittens (re-union)
British Sea Power
The Octopus Project

Elsewhere in the festival:
Grupo Fantasma
Debris (re-union)
The John Arnold Band
The Starkweather Boys
Tall Cotton String Band
Dorian Small
The Neighborhood
Umbrellas
Colourmusic
Evangelicals
Ryan Lindsey
Cheyenne
Ghost of Monkshood
Terry “Buffalo” Ware and The Shambles
Klipspringer
The Wickers (re-union)
Citizen 5
Refuje
Gravity Propulsion System
Born A Number
Galvin and Wilson
Hoff The Monkey

MAINSITE Contemporary Art Gallery:
White Wall Series by Jon Mooneyham
Anvil Salute
Dreamer Concepts Studio Venue
(featuring Coach’s Brewhouse)
Camille Harp
Mama Sweet
Resident Funk
Gregg Standridge
Ivan Peña
TAJJ

Blue Fish Companion XXI
(after-party)
Mama Sweet
Black Christmas
DJ Bronzai

[kmf563]

Note from Tyson Meade and information about NMF:

Hi there Everyone!

Below I have pasted the original post from the people who are bringing you the Norman Music Festival. If anyone has been a naysayer about this whole thing, I definitely have. I am so accustomed to people talking big and not coming through with the goods which is neither here nor there. I am not bellyaching just stating some facts.

Well, the Norman Arts Council and some Norman merchants and such are coming through with the goods. British Sea Power and the Polyphonic Spree playing on the same stage! Oh my Gawd! How cool is that ?! As a Kitten, I am honored to share the stage with both of these bands. This is a super cool event which they are trying to keep FREE of charge.

When I lived in Norman, I remember people always complaining that Norman never had cool stuff going on. Of course, these people were not people who were out trying to make something cool happen but they did like to complain as they loaded another bowl or opened another Lite. Well guess what, now it does; this is cool. This is so cool, that people are driving and flying from both coasts to see it. If you live in Norman or in the area, in this instance, you are one of the lucky ones.

And that it is free and you do not have to pay some crazy festival price, Are you kidding me?! This is great!

Okay, so this is the deal. The powers that be really need your support. I am sure that Polyphonic Spree do not come cheap. There are like 50 people in that band. And I love every single one of those people! Who knows Bowie may show up and sing a song with them. Who knows?! Enough of me gabbing, please read below and if you can help out please do.

(Also, this is not the place to bellyache because the band that you love to go see at the Deli every week is not playing. I love those bands as much as anyone, but you can see them at the Deli every week.)

Read Below! Do what you can.

I am only the messenger (not the ferryman, I don't think I am the ferryman anyway!)

Love
Tyson

Hey everyone, we are coming down to the wire. Less than 4 short weeks to the first annual Norman Music Festival! We've had much support, and feel very, very lucky. That said, it's quite expensive to pull something like this off and we find ourselves still needing about $5,000 to achieve our budget.

We need your help!

We are seeking any individuals willing to make a micro-donation through our Paypal account. One suggestion is to consider what you'd have to pay for a concert ticket of this sort, and then donate something in that area.

We want to keep this festival free!

How to do it? We have a link set up on our formal website.

Here's the location:

www. NormanMusicFestival.

com

Just click the link above, and you can find the donation area in the bottom right corner of the home page.

No amount is too small, and every donation is greatly appreciated!

We are also seeking more business support. If your are associated with a business, large or small, that might be interested in supporting NMF... please drop us an email!

nac@normanarts.

org

Thank you, thank you!

XXOO --
NMF

[Intrepid]

I'm not trying to deviate from the main topic, but does Norman still have their annual Jazz Fest?

[kevinpate]

Yes, every June, rain or shin .... nah, it usually rains :0

[SoonerBV]

This promises to be a great event!

[unconcerned]

I'm excited to see how this goes. I'm looking forward to it.

[quentin]

Hi everyone. Hey, I just found this thread. I originally penned the myspace bulletin (regarding fundraising) that Tyson reposted (thanks Tyson!) in his note copied above. I wanted to let everyone know that we got many great micro-donations at paypal, following that push, and a few larger sponsors as well. The financial ends came nicely together. Everything is set and ready to go. I will no longer worry about money, and will instead start worrying about rain.

But rain or Shine, this thing is happening!

And it's gonna be free.

Join us!

Bring a friend!

Bring 10 friends!

Be our myspace friend too, if you like:

MySpace.com - Norman Music Festival !! April 26 !! FREE - NORMAN, Oklahoma - Other / Other / Other - www.myspace.com/normanmusicfestival

Yep!

[kmf563]

YAY Quentin!

I'm so excited!! Rain or shine, I'll be there. Happy.

Glad your finances came together. How's the volunteer status?

[kevinpate]

Any changeups for the lineup?

[quentin]

Hey, let me answer both questions here in one note.

First, on volunteers... we could use a few more! There's a blog on our myspace site, and links in the body of the profile, with all the details. If you're interested, please consider volunteering. (myspace.com/normanmusicfestival)

On the lineup, there is one change that I haven't published yet. Our final act on the second stage (grupo fantasma) got an offer they couldn't refuse. Get this... Prince wants them to open a string of shows for him! Obviously, they gotta take that - and the Norman Festival wishes them all the best. Hope it boosts their career even further. So.... there will be some very small changes on that stage coming soon. Other than that, it's all pretty much done.

I was fortunate enough to have a radio feature on Buzz last night, with Chainsaw Kitten members Tyson Meade and Trent Bell there with me. (thank you Lacey Lett, and The Buzz) It was fun, and those guys are as stoked as we are about the whole thing. They have friends/fans coming from many states from coast to coast. This reunion will be their first show in roughly 7 years.

Weather forecast is looking good. Fingers crossed!

[SoonerBV]

This was an awesome event! Big shout out to everyone involved! Here is to next year!

Obviously the Kittens were great, and I really enjoyed British Sea Power. Fun show. And the Spree was incredible as well.

[Lord Helmet]

My wife and I went down after working the arts festival all day and got there just in time for the Kittens. Great turnout, and great music. Polyphonic Spree was incredible. Norman needs to do this every year. We go up to DFest in Tulsa, and really love it. I'd love to see Norman continue to have this festival. We bought a couple of tshirts to help support the show!

[kevinpate]

> Polyphonic Spree was incredible

Missed them and I regret it

[quentin]

I'd love to see Norman continue to have this festival. We bought a couple of tshirts to help support the show!

Hey man, first of all thank you for the attendance - and for the t-shirt support. It does help! Not to get too commercial, but if anyone else wants to support the fest, check out our myspace blog for details about paypal micro-donations:

MySpace.com - Norman Music Festival 2008 Was Fun! ------ THANKS! - NORMAN, Oklahoma - Other / Other / Other - www.myspace.com/normanmusicfestival

Obviously we couldn't have pulled off this thing without our sponsors, both big and small.

We've already begun discussions about next year. Our plan is to make this thing annual, and we couldn't have asked for a better first year. The community support at the event makes all the difference in the world.

Oh yeah... some newspapers are reporting 6000 attendance, but we think that's wrong by a factor of two.

Thanks everyone...

[centaurian]

you think it was off by being more or less than what they reported?

[quentin]

We estimate total attendance to be between 10,000 and 12,000.

By the way, in re-reading the article the claim was that 6,000 watched the Polyphonic Spree. My bad. That's actually probably pretty close to being right. The crowd peaked during the Kittens set, overall - but by the later night hours we had lost some of the young and family type crowd. There was also turnover during the day.

We've very comfortable saying 10,000 attended. Probably more, but that's the safe guess.

[centaurian]

I m glad Norman did this and hope that it will be successful next year, hope there is a plan for next year??


This was great to see in norman, I know the GrooveFest has been the only real fest here for years
(which was ironically the sunday after NMF) hope that planning gets better next year.

[quentin]

I m glad Norman did this and hope that it will be successful next year, hope there is a plan for next year??

I think we have our first meeting on NMF 2009 next week.
As for Groovefest, I do believe they intentionally picked the day after NMF to make a weekend of free music - which is cool.

By the way, we made a post-event release today and put the attendance number at 13,000. Check out this pic!
The Polyphonic Spree at NMF:

(photo by Christian Pitt)

[TakeAShot]

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this

[kmf563]

This year's lineup looks promising again. I'm excited to be a part of it again this year!!

[Easy180]

Just noticed Tea Leaf Green is in the lineup...Saw them with Moe last year in Dallas and they put on a great show

One of the top jam bands out there right now...Looks like they are on the Jagermeister stage at 9PM

[kmf563]

Full line-up is now up on the website. Saturday, April 25th, Main Street in Norman.

Welcome to the Frontpage

I too am looking forward to Tea Leaf Green. And Todd Snider is before them. I actually already have a full day's schedule planned out! If anyone is out, say hello. Here's where you can find me:

11:45AM - Resident Funk - Jager Stage
1:00 PM - Lemma - Sooner Theatre
2:30 PM - Press/Media Area
3:00 PM - Gabriel Marshall - Sooner Theatre
5:00 PM - Vandevander - Studio 360
7:30 PM - Todd Snider - Jager Stage
9:00 PM - Tea Leaf Green - Jager Stage
10:30 PM - Of Montreal - Main Stage

[OnlyinOK]

I saw on Norman Music Fest's twitter (Norman Music Fest (NormanMusicFest) on Twitter) that there's a contest to win $$, hotel stay and more for the 2009 NMF,

Sounds like fun! I didn't go last year, but I will be there this year for sure. Hope it doesn't rain...

[Stan Silliman]

It was a great event last year.

For those who wish to cool off inside with coffee or smoothies, Mike Krawczyk and I'll be performing and signing books at Winan's Coffee and Michelangleos 207 E Main from 2:30 to 3:30.

Stop by. I'd like to meet anybody from the board.

If you don't know Mike Zyk, he's my cartoonist and partner in four books.
He used to do political cartoons for the Gazette and a super guy.

[kmf563]

Just a reminder this is tomorrow!!

Over 90 performers this year and it's all free!

Bring the kiddos - it's a family friendly environment. You can bring your own drink and food as well.

Hope to see everyone there.