As summer continued to wind down the local Great Plains Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association celebrated its 40th. Sunday the 11th a number of folks gathered at Venelyst Park off North 30th in Omaha for a great open mic hour or so, followed by a show presented by the Dirty River Ramblers. I for one didn’t even know that park was there and was pleasantly surprised to find a hidden little park with a nice building for the music events and plenty of open outdoor space for jamming.
One of the open mic groups were The Kopsas, who have recorded a couple of CDs at Tesco Productions. They were a few members short of their full family talents usually heard, but it was enjoyed anyway and I got to catch up with the family a bit as well.
The GPBOTMA is dedicated to keeping Bluegrass and Old-Time music going, and they do that by meeting the first Sunday afternoon each month (during the non-summer months) at the American Legion Hall #1, 7811 Davenport St. in Omaha at 2:00 pm. There’s a concert for an hour and then multiple jam sessions play for another 2 hours or more. The jams are open to players/singers of all skill levels and everyone that has any desire is invited to jump right in. There are sometimes jams dedicated specifically to a particular instrument for those in the earlier learning levels. You can become a member for $20.00 a year and this opens the Sunday event to you for $3.00 admission, otherwise it’s $5.00 for the general public. There’s free parking and various food/drink offerings from the Legion and certain times of the year the club brings in food as well. It’s well worth investing your time and resources into, and a great place to learn and stay in touch with other musicians and patrons of this musical genre. Here’s more info on the club. http://gpbotma.homestead.com/
