JournalStar.com - Ground Zero Online

Scenefest is leaner, meaner
BY HILARY STOHS-KRAUSE / GZO
Friday, Apr 21, 2006 - 11:05:36 am CDT

The first Scenefest had 18 bands in one venue over three nights. It was the same in 2004. Last year, the local music festival featured 20 bands in two venues over two nights. For the fourth installment, Scenefest has been pared down to 10 bands playing in one venue over two nights. Podcast: Scenefest on Ground Zero Live

Scenefest is here again, and this time organizer Tery Daly thinks he has just the right formula.

“Last year’s was the biggest, and last year I did it in two venues, and that was nuts,” he said wryly. “It was great for everybody else who went to the shows, but for me managing it, it was nuts.

“We’ll see how this one goes. … It’s kind of what the audience wants.”

Scenefest 4 will take place Friday and Saturday at Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St., from 9:15 p.m. to 12:45 a.m. Five bands will play each night. Co-sponsors include Dietze Music House and Mookie Recording Studio.

Daly, who runs StarCityScene.com, a Web site dedicated to Lincoln’s music scene, said Scenefest is a “natural extension” of the site. “The Web site is all about promoting the local music scene,” he said. “The natural thing was to have a concert to have the bands perform live.”

The idea is to showcase as many different local bands as possible, Daly said, so he tries to change the lineup every year.

“I definitely try and pick a variety of different styles of music,” he said. “I try and make each one of the shows pretty diverse so that we’ve got a bunch of different styles represented.”

In all, 61 different bands will have performed 66 different slots during the four Scenefests. Only five bands have been featured more than once.

Tie These Hands is scheduled to perform tonight at 9:15. Naum Stauffer, one of the band’s singers and guitarists, said Daly invited the band to play.

“We pretty much take a lot of the shows we get asked to play,” he said, adding, “It’s for a good cause.”

Daly said the festival does a lot to promote bands such as Tie These Hands.

“With certain people, there’s a mindset that if a band is local, it’s not any good,” he said. “But all bands are local somewhere. … And the talent pool here in Lincoln is incredible.

“People don’t necessarily know what they’ve got available to them right here in their own backyard.”

Making people aware of Lincoln’s scene is the main purpose of the festival, he added.

Stauffer said he’s looking forward to the performance by Prints of Apple Island because he hasn’t seen them yet. They’re scheduled to play tonight at 10, immediately following Tie These Hands.

Daly said that even people who don’t normally go to local music shows should come to Scenefest, especially since it only happens once a year.

“It’s a lot of fun for people to come and check it out, and it’s an easy and convenient way for people to see a whole lot of bands at one time,” he said. “If they only come out to one show a year, they should probably make it this one.”

Reach Hilary Stohs-Krause at 473-7254 or hstohs-krause@journalstar.com.

If you go

What: Scenefest 4

Where: Duffy's Tavern, 1412 O St.

When: 9:15 p.m.-12:45 a.m. tonight and Saturday

Tickets: Admission is $6 each night; tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance through E-tix by visiting www.starcityscene.com. The festival is 21 and over.

Band lineup

Friday

9:15 — Tie These Hands

10 — Prints of Apple Island

10:45 — The Goddamn Rights

11:30 — The Static Octopus

12:15 — Straight Outta Junior

Saturday night

9:15 — Robot, Creep Closer!

10 — Producers of the Word

10:45 — Electric Soul Method

11:30 — Once A Pawn

12:15 — Sinikil