By Doug Hill
The Norman Transcript
NORMAN — Main concert attractions of the third annual Norman Music Festival take place today starting at noon through 10:30 p.m. in 14 different locations downtown. Main Street will be closed to vehicular traffic from Jones Avenue to Porter Avenue and primary stages will bookend those three blocks. All performances are free.
An interactive map with stage locations and band performance times is posted at www.normantranscript.com and the times also are listed in last Friday’s Pop section.
Governor Brad Henry has signed a proclamation designating today as Norman Music Festival day and everyone is encouraged to attend. Restrooms, food, drink, ATMs, information, first aid and security will be on hand. “The Little Rockers Kid Stage” and activities such as arts and crafts tables and science experiments conducted with Science Museum Oklahoma will be going on.
OU international students students Janet Huang and Kevin Weng from Shanghai and Fujian China, respectively, came out for Saturday’s shows.
“This is great. We don’t get to hear music like this in China often,” Huang said.
“It’s really cool because it’s free. You pay a lot of money for concerts in China,” Weng added. “And you can even drink beer here.”
Particularly in Norman’s arts and entertainment community, anticipation has been building for months. Hundreds of central Oklahoma musicians were given the opportunity Saturday to perform in club venues around the city’s center. Rock ‘n’ roll, country, hip hop, funk, Latin and electronica are among the genres represented. Poetry slams, a spoken word stage and standup comedy are also included.
Saturday night, upstart bands jammed and veteran combos reassembled for another chance to wow old fans and make new ones. Alternative rock outfit Love Button played the Brewhouse stage mid-evening.
“It’s really exciting to play here for the community,” Evan Henley (bass) said. “There’s so much going on this weekend I don’t want to go in with preconceived notions on who to see.”
Henley said he’s looking forward to hearing unfamiliar bands.
Another combo called Klipspringer has rocked Oklahoma for years. They played Saturday night as well.
“Norman Music Festival is great for the entire state,” front man Ty Kamm said. “We got to play the first festival and had a blast.” Living in Tulsa now he said the festival’s buzz has built to a crescendo there too.
“I work at Tulsa University and know several groups of students who are attending,” Kamm said. “Some are coming for both days.”
Today’s headlining acts range from graybeard rocker Leon Russell to uber-hip, experimental collective Dirty Projectors who played the trendy Coachella festival in California a few days ago and will be on the bill at the massive Glastonbury, UK, festival in June.
Norman Music Festival has not been without controversy in its short history. The previous two years, Main Street’s central three blocks were closed to all but pedestrian traffic on festival Saturdays, a regular business day.
“The idea of the festival itself is wonderful,” Steve Calonkey, owner of Mister Robert furniture store, 109 E. Main said. “It would seem a park-like setting with trees and grass would be more concert-friendly than inner-city concrete.”
He didn’t share the opinion of some merchants that exposure to crowds of people who may not ever be in downtown Norman otherwise would yield sales later.
“We do gain a retail day this year that was lost in 2009. Last year we closed because they put the stage right in front of our front door,” Calonkey said. Calonkey doubted he would attend the festival except possibly to ensure people weren’t on the roof of his building.
Naturally, entertainment-related businesses have a greater probability of profiting from the crowds.
“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Emily White, manager of the Abner Ale House, 121 E. Main St., said. “A two day festival will give everyone more chance to see downtown Norman. We will be serving a full menu with our wide selection of beer all day until 2 a.m.”
Joined at the hip to Norman’s music scene, Guestroom Records 125 E. Main St., an independent record store, served as a venue for shows Saturday as well as being open for business.
Andrew Hannington, who promoted bands in central Oklahoma for many years, traveled from his current home in Albuquerque, N.M., for the festival.
“Norman has always been a hotbed of creativity,” he said. “A festival with so many acts in a town this size is just amazing.”
