Ace Of Base Beautiful Morning

Norman Music Festival brings invasion of national, local musical talent

Leading the charge are such internationally known headliners as The Walkmen, Peelander-Z, Ty Segall and Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears , with ample support from such homegrown talents as The Non, Colourmusic, BRONCHO, OK SWEETHEART and the reunited Mimsies , just to name a few of the more than 200 acts scheduled to perform on various indoor and outdoor stages along the three blocks of Norman’s Downtown Arts District.

They’re even throwing in a few comedians, street performers, visual artists and a kid’s stage for good measure. And it’s all still as free as the Oklahoma wind that will no doubt accompany the festivities.

“Most of our funding is provided through corporate and business sponsorships, individual donations, day-of-event vending income, in-kind donation, and countless hours of volunteer service and love from the community at large,” said Robert Ruiz , festival committee chairman.

It also doesn’t hurt that an estimated $3.4 million - which is "new dollars" - was dedicated to Norman and the surrounding metropolitan areas by the festival last year, and the crowd this year is expected to leave around 4 million in tills and pockets of local artists , according to an economic report prepared by Quentin NMF committee member Bomgardner.

"New dollars are spent by Norman dollar non-resident Norman," Bomgardner said. "These expenditures generated approximately $ 120 000 in the city sales tax, which is more than 10 times the amount of public funding will be used for the festival 2011.”

And the public gets all kinds of musical bang for its buck, with a variety of musical styles from which to choose.

Take the New York City-based quintet The Walkmen , who grew up together in Washington, D.C., garage bands, moved to the Big Apple and turned experimental in such groups as Jonathan Fire*Eater and the Recoys before joining forces under their current moniker to evolve the beautifully spare, sometimes delicate, reverberating-guitar-centered indie sound that distinguishes such modern alternative album classics as “Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone,” “A Hundred Miles Off” and their most recent release, “Lisbon,” which charted at No. 27 on Billboard’s hit list — the band’s highest debut to date — and drew critical raves from The New York Times, the L.A. Times, NPR, GQ and Pitchfork.

Ace of Base Songs, All That She Wants, Cruel Summer, Wheel of Fortune, the Sign, Beautiful Life, Don't Turn Around, Lucky Love, Happy Nation

The Bpm List, A Music Reference Guide for Mobile Djs

International who's who in popular music

Joel Whitburn's top pop singles 1955-2002

Billboard