Photo provided by Doug Schwarz
Elvis walks into a bar.
He’s difficult to recognize without sideburns and a pompadour, but Jacob Snovel ordered a drink and chatted with the Saint’s Pub bartender. A couple of hours earlier, I was watching the Chandler-born actor shake, rattle and roll through “Mickey Reece’s Alien,” a surreal, psychological dramedy about a fictionalized Elvis struggling before a ’60s TV comeback special.
Photo by Nathan Poppe
Which brings us to The Hop Jam, Hanson’s craft beer and music festival, now in its fourth year. With a comprehensive array of international beer vendors and a music lineup, including John Fullbright and Mayer Hawthorne (and, this year, headlined by Hanson), the festival aims to breathe new life into an already-storied area of Tulsa.
This was a fun way to avoid the rain at Norman Music Festival.
Photo by Nathan Poppe
When your album sounds awesome then you gotta look just as rad. I met up with OKC-based trio Masterhand for a quick photo shoot.
Here’s some more shots.
Photo by Nathan Poppe
This show was undoubtedly the weirdest concert I’ve ever witnessed. A rowdy, sold-out crowd pushed a set of steel barricades into the The Criterion stage well before the headliner had even taken stage. The venue had to be evacuated so security and staff could rebuild the barricade wall. Fans booed, chanted and resisted leaving their cherished spot. After all, many had spent the entire day waiting to get up front. Everything restarted after about an hour of delays and everyone performed. The crowd wasn’t any less rowdy though.
Photo provided
“You gotta believe in yourself. … If your happiness is attached to what other people say about you, then you’ll quickly realize how disposable that is. Ultimately, you’ve gotta think what you’re doing is good because you have to believe in yourself about 150 percent to get the rest of the world to 80 percent. It’s fascinating to watch this all play out, and so I’m eternally grateful for the fact I get to do this for my life.”
Photo by Nathan Poppe
When Norman Music Festival performers thanked patrons for attending Saturday, they meant it.
Ceaseless rain and looming storms lingered above hundreds of soaked patrons instead of the many thousands of people who usually crowd the streets of downtown Norman during the festival’s big finish. Conditions weren’t ideal and the bad luck plagued several sets from going as planned. But those same difficulties made the devotion of fans, bands and organizers all the more impressive during NMF’s 10th rendition.
With the sheer volume of events happening last weekend (OKC’s Festival of the Arts and Memorial Marathon as co-headliners) it was a literal marathon weekend between Friday and Sunday, with a massive storm sandwiched in between. Straight-line winds, tornadoes, snow and floods delivered a state of emergency for all 77 Oklahoma counties last weekend. You know, your run of the mill, borderline apocalyptic weather.
Photo by Nathan Poppe
When Oklahoma City’s Lincka Elizondo discovered she was getting featured on NPR’s Heavy Rotation feature, she called me on the phone with the good news. She wanted some fresh photos to accompany the story so we met in Mesta Park.
Photo by Nathan Poppe
Norman Music Festival X starts today.
Don’t believe me? Well, here’s a ton of coverage that says otherwise. Ten things in fact because that’s a pretty magic number. Knock on wood that the weather holds up and it’s another excellent weekend of music in Norman.
A special thank you to Graham Lee Brewer for interviewing John Dwyer and Greg Singleton for shooting, producing and editing the preview videos.
Photo provided
Amir Mohamed just wants to stay home and cook.
His sixth full-band studio album in as many years, “The Iceberg,” dropped in February, and the rapper, better known as Oddisee, has been on the road ever since. When he answered the phone, he said he was standing in line at a New York grocery store. He was home for only six days, and it’d been months since he had the time to cook for himself.
Photo by Anna Lee
“I think being born in the mid-’80s lends to a huge connection between me and that time. I’m a huge Cure fan. … Pop music can really reach people, and many of my favorite pop songs and artists were definitely from that era.”
That’s Evan Crowley chatting about his latest musical venture, Saint Loretto.
You can read more from our chat here.
Photo by Kriea Arie
“What I realized was that if I didn’t tell my story, didn’t speak out loud and learn how to use my voice, that I was gonna die. That I would slowly kill myself. That’s just a very real truth for me. I began to write songs as they hit me. As a necessary extension of processing the huge emotions I was feeling.”
That’s K.C. Clifford sharing how necessary songwriting is to her life. We had a very engaging chat and you read about her upcoming live album recording here.
Photo by Maddie Gregory
I’m really happy to announce these little dudes are available to purchase tonight for the Women of Woody Fest fundraiser. I collaborated on this pin with Eastside Design and Woody Fest organizers.
I sat outside of Chimera in Tulsa and came up with the illustration on my way back from Folk Alliance. They’re 10 bucks and all the profits go to Woody Fest. I think it’s my favorite Poppe Pins creation so far.
Buy it online here.
Fun fact: You can buy them at Woody Fest this summer, too.
Photo by Doug Hoke
I broke some news about the new operators of a historic venue in OKC.
You can read all about that here.
Photo provided
“Kids liked me but I was not much of a disciplinarian. I’m sure that’s why they liked me. And now a lot of them like my undisciplined approach to making music.”
That’s Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices talking about his teaching gig. He taught at an elementary school before shifting gears and fronting GBV full-time. The band is making its first stop in OKC this weekend after 20 years.
Here’s my full interview with Pollard.
Tim Katz and I worked on this together and it’s just a beautiful performance.
Please enjoy Jose’s new album. Listen here.
