Nebraska Rocks has reached the tip of an period.
The celebration of Midwest music that has taken place in Norfolk for 29 years will finish or will bear a significant transformation after this yr’s occasion, which is about for Friday, July 22, and Saturday, July 23.
And whereas Matt Casey, son of the late Nebraska Rocks founder Jim Casey, stated he’s undecided on whether or not the occasion will proceed, he has provided the reassurance that “the model ‘Nebraska Rocks’ isn’t going to go anyplace.”
Matt Casey is bringing this yr’s reveals to fruition after the his father’s sudden dying in early Could. Planning for the occasion — together with the choice for this yr’s Nebraska Music Corridor of Fame inductees — already was underway when the elder Casey died.
“Friday Night time Rocks — that’s the evening we’re going to do a remembrance of Jim and a number of the different fallen brothers that we’ve misplaced over time from Nebraska Rocks,” Matt Casey stated. Saturday evening, he continued, pays tribute to the tip of the period of the dance music that was widespread for thus a few years.
Matt Casey stated Nebraska Rocks began as a chance for his father to collect his musician pals and to rejoice those that considerably contributed to the dance music of that period.
“This was all one thing my dad (began). The inspiration for it was to have a cause to deliver again his pals and his musician buddies to come back and play,” he stated.
It began in 1994. The primary Nebraska Rocks happened within the Ramada Ballroom and was a sold-out occasion. In an article previewing the second yr of the gathering in 1995, Jim Casey advised the Each day Information that it started as a reunion of members of the band, The Smoke Ring, however grew into one thing a lot bigger.
“I may see that it was growing into an all-Nebraska music reunion,” Jim Casey had stated in 1995. “We had folks from all elements of the state attending. It crammed up motels and introduced lots of income to city.”
Over time, quite a lot of notable musicians and music trade professionals with connections to the state had been inducted into the Nebraska Music Corridor of Fame throughout Nebraska Rocks. They included former Northeast Nebraskans Max Carl, who was the frontman of 38 Particular and Grand Funk Railroad; “Little Joe” Hupp, who started his profession enjoying music and later turned a expertise supervisor and reserving agent for a number of the nation’s high artists earlier than his dying in 2021; and John Grady, former president of Sony Music Nashville who helped launch the careers of artists like Miranda Lambert and Gretchen Wilson.
Some musicians — particularly, members of The Strollers — have returned to carry out yearly on the occasion, Matt Casey stated. However age has turn out to be an element over time, and that performs closely into the selections concerning the occasion transferring ahead.
“The crowds are getting older. They (musicians) are getting older. They’re not spring chickens. The bands usually are not spring chickens,” he stated.
Previously two years, The Smoke Ring alone has misplaced a number of members, together with “Little Joe” Hupp, Greg “Bosco” Goodman, Chuck Asmus and Jim Casey. In earlier years, the band already had misplaced Don Petersen and Nick Hupp.
“When you concentrate on simply these folks — when someone passes away — then that household doesn’t come again, and their children and grandkids don’t come again,” he stated. “You lose a little bit bit each time. It simply will get tougher and tougher.”
If the occasion continues in future years, Matt Casey stated, it should shift its focus. He envisions it turning into extra of a highlight on the up-and-coming musicians versus a characteristic of those that already had been established.
“If it does proceed on, I’ve acquired to determine easy methods to infuse some new life into it and incorporate the youthful viewers as a result of we’re dropping them,” Matt Casey stated.
By himself, Matt Casey shouldn’t be a stranger to the music scene in Nebraska. Along with enjoying, he handles sound for varied gigs all through the state. He has a number of initiatives — ongoing and new — within the works at Casey Audio Tracks, the Norfolk studio the place he may typically be discovered along with his dad, and he’s related properly sufficient with different musicians within the state to find out which of them could be prime for a highlight at future reveals.
However the focus proper now could be on the 2022 Nebraska Rocks celebration and marking the tip of an period.
“There’s lots of that spirit of my dad that’s a part of Nebraska Rocks. I made a promise to myself when Dad handed that I can’t be Jim Casey,” he stated. “I do know I’ve lots of his traits and his persona as a result of I spent lots of time with him. … However a part of the Nebraska Rocks spirit and the entire rock ’n’ roll reunion factor — that was Dad. I’ve to plant a little bit extra of my vibe into it.”