Local artists and entertainers gather to display their talents at the grand opening of a downtown arts gallery on Friday night, March 11.

            The gallery, Downtown Sound on 115 S. Crawford, was first established as a place for local musicians to practice.            

            “We created it mainly as a practice space for bands that need to rehearse,” Robert Scafe, founder of the gallery, said. “We wanted to do that in the downtown area where all of the art galleries are so that we could exhibit music in some way and also art as well.”

            Downtown Sound’s open house included a wide variety of art forms.

            “There was poetry, there was music, there was art on the walls,” Scafe said. “It’s to create connections between different art forms. We want it to be a place where musicians and artists can come and network.

            “We want to promote the arts but we have an emphasis on music. Since there’s a lot of galleries down there, we feel like it would be good for there to be community space for music that’s not run for profit like a record store or something else.”

            Local musician Jayare Connaughton, Father Phil, performed at the open house and appreciates what Downtown Sound has to offer local artists.  

            “They’ve given us a venue to not only perform at but come together and practice. Downtown Sound is a good place to connect with other artists and musicians, wheter like-minded or not.

            “It was a really nice show.”

Tulsa Original Music Showcase continues success for fourth year

TULSA – An Oklahoma rock band performs their first show for Tulsa’s Z-104.5 The Edge on March 4.

Ashlee McManus and Drew McKenna of Z-104.5 organized and presented the fourth annual Tulsa Original Music Showcase at Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St on Friday night. The event included performances by Eric and the Adams, The Del Toros, Fiawna Forté, and Taddy Porter.

For Taddy Porter, it was their first opportunity to play a show for The Edge.

Taddy Porter Interview

“We hadn’t really got a chance to play for this station yet,” lead singer, Andy Brewer said. “We try to play in Tulsa as often as we can. We weren’t really sure how it was going to be situated because there are so many great bands in Oklahoma.”

            McManus introduced the idea of an Oklahoma music showcase to The Edge because she wanted to expose the potential of various local bands.

“There’s so much talent in Tulsa,” McManus said.

            “Why can’t we all just get together and help each other out and get all of these different bands and play a show together? So I took it to the station and made this happen. We pretty much just want to show people how much talent there is and how much diversity.”

            McManus was pleased with the outcome of the show.

“I think it went awesome,” McManus said. “This is probably one of the best lineups we’ve had. A lot of people have said Fiawna Forté stole the show but I’m a big fan of all of the bands that were on the showcase this year.

            “We noticed this year that we had more presale tickets than walkup. I guess people are hearing about the Tulsa Original Music Showcase and wanting to go every year. It’s an event that people look forward to.”