This week is the big lull when it comes to culture-based events in town, and for people like me that try to hit them all, this week can be kind of a let down. We have been running strong all summer with everything from the Gomez’s Goodbye Fahey Memorial Park show to the “that’s not the lead singer” Memorial Park Show this past weekend. In between there have been weekly neighborhood and arts festivals, outdoor concerts, that baseball contest, and so much more. This week we celebrate the birth of our country and no one is silly enough to put on a huge event during a weekend that everyone is typically out of town or trying to eliminate fingers from their hands. So what does a junkie do during an off week? We look forward to and plan what is still coming up this summer. The folks that call themselves YFC Inc. have thrown us a bone this week in the form of the lineup of the much rumored about “indie” music festival happening on Aug. 29 at the Lewis & Clark Riverfront Landing.

The Maha Music Festival has been the talk of many “local music insiders” for months now. A music festival of this nature is a decade overdue in Omaha and music fans have high expectations. We have had our fests, riots, stocks and paloozas, but they almost always seemed based in inane rap rock, post punk pop, teen pop, or bland eighth generation grunge. Sure, Iggy Pop played one of these, but other than that it was just flavor of the week stuff or bad rock bands recycling bad rock bands. So the Maha Music Festival is supposed to be the indie version of all of that, but it really falls short of what is happening in other cities. It’s smart booking, as there is something for a lot of people and a lot of milquetoast artists that may attract the masses, but it’s not very exciting. You could see most of these bands in one weekend here in town if you went out to the Waiting Room, the Slowdown and a couple of the casinos.

We can look at our neighbors to the east in Des Moines, who will be hosting their second major music festival this weekend – the 80/35 Music Festival – when looking at how a start up festival can be inclusive and yet interesting. They have G-Love & Special Sauce (who will also be at the Maha Festival), but they also have Public Enemy, Stephen Malkmus, Man Man, Brother Ali and a ton of great local acts and smaller touring indie artists. Their festival isn’t really all that impressive this year either, but for a start up in the Midwest it’s got some legs. Last year during their initial run they had the Flaming Lips, the Roots, Andrew Bird, Frank Black, Cracker, the Drive By Truckers and a lot more. That’s a great festival.

Here is the Maha Festival lineup: MTVemo kings Dashboard Confessional headline; casino acts G-Love & Special Sauce and Big Head Todd & The Monsters will support. The indie acts are Appleseed Cast, Serena Ryder and Army/Navy. I complained a few months ago in this column specifically about an act like Army/Navy being too small to play the big rooms here in town and being too big to play a place like O’Leaver’s. Appleseed Cast is also an excellent, long-running indie band that can pull in a hundred-plus people when they play here every six months or so. Serena Ryder is an excellent choice that very few people are aware of, and would benefit from being exposed to a large audience in any market, and she is playing festivals in a lot of those markets this summer. She will be a name sooner than later, and may be the act that people remember from this event.

I really commend the effort in putting this event together. Omaha is a town that in the past decade has developed a sense of pride in its music scene, and I think the expectations for a legitimate run at one was a lot higher than what is being delivered. I will be there and I hope a lot of people do attend the event. I was just hoping for something a little more out of the ordinary and maybe some major acts or sounds that Omaha doesn’t see every weekend already.