Behind the Scenes Breakdown at NMF2
Posted on | April 27, 2009 |
Months of planning, sweating and, sometimes, swearing came to fruition on Saturday at the Norman Music Festival.
For the 25 or so Norman Music Festival board members, thoughts like “What the heck am I doing?” quickly became “Heck yeah, this is amazing!”
It all began two years ago with a crazy idea to host a free music festival in downtown Norman. NMF chair Jonathan Fowler had the vision and it’s no small miracle that he and hundreds of volunteers made the 2nd Annual Norman Music Festival happen. And that 25,000 people showed up to watch it all go down.
So here’s a breakdown of the day from the perspective of a volunteer/board member who’s never been part of anything quite like this before (me).
8:30 AM — Arrive at nmf2 headquarters at MAINSITE Contemporary Art on Main Street — smack dab in the middle of all the festivities. Bump into Kent from Massive Graphics (thanks for all the awesome t-shirts, signage, projectors, etc.) He’s been on Main Street since 3 am setting up the stage and is pondering at what point he can go home and take a nap in preparation for the long, long day ahead. Also run into festival chair Jonathan Fowler who is giddily greeting everyone with “Happy Festival Day!”
9:00 AM — Media start showing up and I start handing out press passes — over 100 of them.
10:30 AM — Drum Mania kicks off the festival with their Asian-inspired drumline. Perfect way to get the party started (and wake up the town.)
11:30 AM — Husband picks me up for a quick lunch break at Pepe Delgados on campus corner. Nothing like delicious Rajitas to get you going. Afterward, I visit my friend/twinkie Katie’s artist booth.
12:30 PM — Back to work at the media pass booth. Also start preparing for my interviews with nmf2 performers Brandon Jenkins, Stardeath and the White Dwarfs, Tea Leaf Green, The Starlight Mints, Early Beat, Billy Joe Shaver, Todd Snider and Man Man.
2:00 PM — Am amazed by volunteers Christian Pitt, Sasha Clements, Holly Jones, Quentin Bomgardner, Steven White and everyone else who is keeping the boat afloat at headquarters.
5:00 PM — Of Montreal media interview on the patio at MAINSITE. Of Montreal gives major props to Norman. Lead singer Kevin Barnes says Norman was one of the first places to embrace the band. Also talks about power outage at OU Meacham Auditorium concert a couple of years ago (I was there and it was a disaster, but they made the best of it.) Bandmate James Husband echoes Barnes’ enthusiasm for Norman “There’s always a story to tell. It’s not like a stop where you just come through — you know you were in Norman.”
5:30 PM — Eat at Van’s Pig Stand with hubby and friends. Smoked turkey and green beans. Yummy, but I will definitely smell like BBQ the rest of the night. Starting to feel a bit dazed and confused from major lack of sleep two nights in a row.
6:45 PM — Kick off my band interviews with Brandon Jenkins. We talk about how Oklahoma’s music scene is exploding. He moved from OK to Austin six years ago, so I ask what OK can do to keep talented musicians here. He says the Norman Music Festival will certainly help. Also says radio stations need to promote local musicians.
7:00 PM — MeVersus.com does an impromptu interview with me about the festival. I talk about how it’s the progression of a movement to establish Oklahoma as a center of creativity for musicians. Continue telling them how cool Oklahoma is. After the interview, I realize MeVersus.com is a blog that promotes Texas. Seriously doubting anything I said will make it into their post… (UPDATE — MeVersus.com ended up writing a fabulous post about Oklahoma’s creative scene).
7:15 PM — Interview Oklahoma City-based Stardeath and the White Dwarfs. Frontman Dennis Coyne (Wayne Coyne’s nephew) is super nice. The band signed with Warner Bros 9 months ago and will drop their new album on May 19.
7:30 PM — Run into The Lost Ogle. He says “you look busy.” I think he says “you look dizzy.” At this point, I am both. So I grab a beer and hope for the best.
7:35 PM — Interview San Francisco jam band Tea Leaf Green. My interview questions are largely based on the fact that their new bassist Reed Mathis was a founding member of Oklahoma’s own Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. Only problem? Reed Mathis is the only one who doesn’t show up for the interview. Bummer.
7:45 PM — Interview Norman-based band The Starlight Mints. Drummer Andy Nunez was in charge of booking bands for nmf2 and what an excellent job he did! The Mints are releasing a new album on July 14.
8:00 PM — Interview Norman-based Early Beat. Their performance earlier in the day got a huge response and they are stoked.
8:30 PM — Realize Billy Joe Shaver and Todd Snider aren’t showing up for their joint interview. Shucks! Was really looking forward to that one.
9:00 PM — Interview Chang Wang (Billy Dufala) and Honus Honus (Ryan Kattner) from Philly-based Man Man. This is the one I am most looking forward to. But they are taking swigs from a bottle of Maker’s Mark and are in a silly mood. Considering their experimental music, I think they’re consistently in a silly mood… or consistently taking swigs of whiskey. I ask them about their pseudonyms. They go off on a tangent about mayonnaise and prophylactics. However, they are of sound enough mind to notice and compliment the “very cute” skirt I’m wearing (which was made by my very cute friend Katie Huskerson.) After the interview is over, I ask to get my picture with them. They won’t do it unless I let them hold me in the air. I think this is weird, but then I think about Twittering a photo with Man Man and me wearing my cute friend’s cute skirt. I agree. We take two photos. One is blurry and one is vulgar (unbeknownst to me at the time). I TwitPic the blurry one.
10:00 PM — After almost 10 hours, I am done with official nmf2 duties. Leave headquarters and join the Main Stage crowd waiting for Of Montreal.
10:55 PM — Of Montreal takes the stage. I’m loving Kevin Barnes’ puffy-sleeved purple jacket.
11:45 PM — Finally take advantage of all access pass and push my way up to the photo pit. Yes, I am taking pictures with my iPhone. The real photographers look at me like I’m crazy and cast glances at the security guards as if to tell on me for jumping the gate. Security tries to give me the boot. I do some smooth talking and they let me stay. Maybe it was the cute skirt made by my cute friend.
12:00 AM — Snap my last shot of Kevin Barnes. Realize I am worn out and head home to crash. What a long, strange, marvelous day!
(Big thanks to my husband Zach for taking all the photos! If you like documentary films, visit his blog.)
UPDATE: My friend Mike Windham took some AMAZING virtual photos of nmf2, so check them out!
Tags: Brandon Jenkins > Dennis Coyne > DrumMania > Early Beat > James Husband > Kevin Barnes > MAINSITE > Man Man > Massive Graphics > MeVersus > nmf2 > Norman Music Festival > Of Montreal > Stardeath and the White Dwarfs > Tea Leaf Green > The Starlight Mints
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5 Responses to “Behind the Scenes Breakdown at NMF2”
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April 27th, 2009 @ 12:14 pm
Fab recap… fab day… fab committee! Thanks for all the help. And I DO love the skirt!
April 28th, 2009 @ 12:19 pm
I would say we promote all things great and we happen to be from Texas. Great job this weekend and please keep ‘em coming!
May 1st, 2009 @ 5:01 pm
You can find press coverage, photos, interviews and more at NormanMusicFestival.com. Not sure when those specific interviews will be posted, but I will send a link on Twitter when they’re up — twitter.com/MaryAnnOsko.
May 9th, 2009 @ 11:40 pm
I suggest doing a little research before interviewing a band like Man Man. You even mispronounced their names.
May 10th, 2009 @ 10:46 pm
Great job with the festival. I look forward to shooting again next year.